Opinion Crowds for R1 so far.

[Tassie27]

Hi all. I heard on the new that the AFL was hoping this round would break the attendance record for Round 1 given that there has not been live football in Melbourne for quite a while. In fact the crowd number have been down on expectations. I think the rules/umpiring is have an effect. What is your take on this?

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

I hope so...

 

[Tiges1229]

Hi all. I heard on the new that the AFL was hoping this round would break the attendance record for Round 1 given that there has not been live football in Melbourne for quite a while. In fact the crowd number have been down on expectations. I think the rules/umpiring is have an effect. What is your take on this?

All the covid bolox of having to be vaccinated to get into the ground , also people now scared to go out of Omricon 2 or whatever the **** media call it , 7 times more transmitted blah blah blah , throw in fuel prices and cost of living etc affect stuff

 

[Crumpet_avenger]

I blame digital memberships

 

[Dunger]

Wednesday the place looked empty with only 58k.

Thursday the place looked full with only 72k.

Definitely felt more like 80k to 90k.

 

[Googstar]

Lots of reasons why I think. Firstly, while TV Networks love Wednesday & Thursday night games, people don't. Most of us punters work for a living so either cannot make it to the game outright or rest up for the next day. Add in travel time for country and interstaters which makes going to a game a no go. Obviously families are restricted even further by kiddies going to school. Then as you say, there are the rules........

Where to start? Bascially the AFL in their infinite wisdom have turned what used to be Australian Rules Football into some sort of Basketball/Netball/Soccer hybrid. We now have the beginning of zones with the 6/6/6. They made up prior opportunity "guidelines" where it's now ok to drop the ball, throw the ball or as I hear umpires often say, the ball spilled out (doesn't that mean they dropped it?).

We then add another layer of rules with dangerous tackles, contact below the knees which every now and then becomes rule of the week before going into hibernation for a month. These rules are further exasperated by certain players who shall we say cleverly exploit the rules (ducker Selwood, diver Cerra, Buddy's arc).

Then there are the 2 new rules which have pushed punters over the edge, stand and make a reason to give a fifty. Only in AFL Exec Narnia do they believe these rules work. All they do is frustrate punters more and more until they decide they are better off doing other things.

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

NRL is still a good watch compared to AFL...

 

[NZ_Tiger]

The sport is boring. Where once I’d go along with mates to a neutral match now I’ll just meet them after.

Also people are scared of getting sick. I can’t relate but I see it everywhere, in empty malls and restaurants.


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[Masotiger]

Lots of reasons why I think. Firstly, while TV Networks love Wednesday & Thursday night games, people don't. Most of us punters work for a living so either cannot make it to the game outright or rest up for the next day. Add in travel time for country and interstaters which makes going to a game a no go. Obviously families are restricted even further by kiddies going to school. Then as you say, there are the rules........

Where to start? Bascially the AFL in their infinite wisdom have turned what used to be Australian Rules Football into some sort of Basketball/Netball/Soccer hybrid. We now have the beginning of zones with the 6/6/6. They made up prior opportunity "guidelines" where it's now ok to drop the ball, throw the ball or as I hear umpires often say, the ball spilled out (doesn't that mean they dropped it?).

We then add another layer of rules with dangerous tackles, contact below the knees which every now and then becomes rule of the week before going into hibernation for a month. These rules are further exasperated by certain players who shall we say cleverly exploit the rules (ducker Selwood, diver Cerra, Buddy's arc).

Then there are the 2 new rules which have pushed punters over the edge, stand and make a reason to give a fifty. Only in AFL Exec Narnia do they believe these rules work. All they do is frustrate punters more and more until they decide they are better off doing other things.

All of the above.

Add to that, last Thursday the AFL was expecting 80k+, top deck of the southern stand in AFL members area had only 1 food outlet and 1 bar open!! F'kn 1!! Queue's of about 50m to get a bite!! Disgrace.

This on top of just about having to bare your backside to get into the F'kn place.

Just watch the crowd numbers dwindle from here.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Hi all. I heard on the new that the AFL was hoping this round would break the attendance record for Round 1 given that there has not been live football in Melbourne for quite a while. In fact the crowd number have been down on expectations. I think the rules/umpiring is have an effect. What is your take on this?

There is only one game so far that is significantly lower than expectation and that is the Dees vs Dogs (originally predicted to be 80,000 but ended up 58,000) . The Carlton vs Richmond game (72,000) and the Collingwood vs Saints (40,000) games were only down 8,000 and 5,000 from predictions.

I don't think there would be much discussion about crowds being down if the Dees and Dogs game wasn't in the equation. The AFL just appears to have fallen into their own hype with that one.

 

[rmcq]

The only reason is COVID. Pretty simple. Crowds down probably 10% because people don't want to catch it (for good reason too).

Yeah rules are annoying but they don't stop people going to the game.

 

[A Tiger 4 lyf]

Digital ticketing is a crowd killer


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[Tiges1229]

The only reason is COVID. Pretty simple. Crowds down probably 10% because people don't want to catch it (for good reason too).

Yeah rules are annoying but they don't stop people going to the game.

Yeah interesting I went to a music festival yesterday and it was packed ages 25+ all the way up to people in 60’s and 70’s .

 

[NZ_Tiger]

All of the above.

Add to that, last Thursday the AFL was expecting 80k+, top deck of the southern stand in AFL members area had only 1 food outlet and 1 bar open!! F'kn 1!! Queue's of about 50m to get a bite!! Disgrace.

This on top of just about having to bare your backside to get into the F'kn place.

Just watch the crowd numbers dwindle from here.

I’d add also, that no-one wants to work in these shit jobs. Wasting your weekends on a casual gig, getting 4-5 hours work. All the students can’t get in and the cheap foreign labour tap got turned off.

I got asked to work the grand final in Perth for triple time, after the embarrassment of being under staffed for the prelims.

The racing were offering a $400 sign on bonus if you worked all 3 major meets for double time.

Still couldn’t get enough takers.


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[Truetiger]

Wednesday the place looked empty with only 58k.

Thursday the place looked full with only 72k.

Definitely felt more like 80k to 90k.

All the talk from AFL house was Melbourne vs Dogs would be a sell out hahahaha.

 

[Tigeron]

The only reason is COVID. Pretty simple. Crowds down probably 10% because people don't want to catch it (for good reason too).

Yeah rules are annoying but they don't stop people going to the game.

Bull dust they don't, l will not be going to another game with these stupid rules and soft fifties stick your game Gil

 

[Mr Magic]

Bull dust they don't, l will not be going to another game with these stupid rules and soft fifties stick your game Gil

The change in interpretation over the games has been staggering.

If you where a player you would go nuts.

The 50 metre situation and man on the mark is insane

The umpires/rule makers need to sort out play on from the mark!!

See Kennedy of West Coast grabbed a guy from behind the mark on the weekend. Why was that not fifty??

I would be telling the players just do not get injured. Save yourself until a time you can make a difference

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

The change in interpretation over the games has been staggering.

If you where a player you would go nuts.

The 50 metre situation and man on the mark is insane

The umpires/rule makers need to sort out play on from the mark!!

See Kennedy of West Coast grabbed a guy from behind the mark on the weekend. Why was that not fifty??

I would be telling the players just do not get injured. Save yourself until a time you can make a difference

Absolutely Orwellian in rule interpretation...Tower of Babel stuff in that no one understands each other or the umpires...
The AFL have boxed themselves in with bull sheet...
As the game/rules/interpretations currently stands...it makes no F****** sense...
But by heck aren't those new Scoreboards sexy...BT!!!

 

[Mr Magic]

Absolutely Orwellian in rule interpretation...Tower of Babel stuff in that no one understands each other or the umpires...
The AFL have boxed themselves in with bull sheet...
As the game/rules/interpretations currently stands...it makes no F****** sense...
But by heck aren't those new Scoreboards sexy...BT!!!

RFC could lose a match and Dimma can't say anything against the umpires in the press conference but the players and supporters know the rules and interpretation beat them

It is troubling because no matter how well your team may go and be the umpires through interpretation seemingly can create a defeat against your team no matter what the matchup

 

[59Stanley]

The change in interpretation over the games has been staggering.

If you where a player you would go nuts.

The 50 metre situation and man on the mark is insane

The umpires/rule makers need to sort out play on from the mark!!

See Kennedy of West Coast grabbed a guy from behind the mark on the weekend. Why was that not fifty??

I would be telling the players just do not get injured. Save yourself until a time you can make a difference

That Kennedy one was just insane that it wasn't a 50 compared to that 50 against Soldo which i still cant fathom why it was a 50. The Edwards below the knees and subsequent handing of the ball to him from Graham was bizarre and a reason why people wouldnt go. They have ruined our great game.

 

[rfctigerarmy]

Too much hassle for people to go. Most footy fans would have Kayo, and it's very expensive to take the family to the footy, so I can see a lot more people just watching it at home.

 

[beema limapep]

Digital ticketing. It's a pain in the arse and completely inconvenient. Puts a burden of ti keting bureaucracy onto fans.

Another layer between the fans and the game.

 

[Wooden Robot]

NRL is still a good watch compared to AFL...

I'll agree with you for once.
100% right.
NRL gets first preference here Friday nights.

 

[Wooden Robot]

I reckon a lot of country people will give going to the footy the flick.
I had to travel down to Melbourne on Friday to pick something personal up.
Extremely difficult to justify hopping in the car for a four-hour round trip at $2.20 a litre.
PS Umpiring and ridiculous rules have made the game unrecognisable and sanistised.

 

[best]

the stand rule and the new bullshit umpiring rules will take off 5-10k per week

its turned into a basketball/netball hybrid. its like aflx and its exactly how they wanted it to be