I'm really not sure about all this hysteria about the 19k crowd figure and how it is being contributed to the doom and gloom of another Sydney based team, considering this is the sole time it has happened.
1. The weather was atrocious along with the game being shown live contributed.
2. $75 a ticket combined with the economics issue.
3. Marketing and advertising for the game was atrocious irony is the promo ad was still running on Sunday morning...
4. Vlad predicted prior to the game it would be lucky to attract 20k he was right.
5. It's North... 1.5-2k? from what i saw lucky if there was 200 there, we got ~35k in round 13 against the Pies.
So i ask whats everyone surprised about?
I know what you are saying but I think you might have missed the point. Yes, there were mitigating factors of course. But could this (a crowd for a one-off home finals match equating to about 60% of a club's membership) have happened in Melbourne, Adelaide or Perth? NEVER - regardless of weather, location or promotion.
There has been an evening-off in support for the Swans that has been noticeable for the past 3 years at least - at the very time we were having one of our most successful periods in history. This trend is across the board, including falling corporate support. Given the Swans are the only team we have, you don't have to be a research/marketing genius to equate this with a plateauing in support for the game itself.
If you believe Colless (and I accept it is his role to politicize the issue), he has been telling this to the AFL and they won't listen. One match attendance is not to be-all and end-all of course, but it sends up a huge red flag to those banking on a growth of the game in Sydney. An organisation that wouldn't even bother to get off their arses to promote a single football match - are promoting a whole new club in a whole new area in a city that is not a huge supporter of the game anyway where the market may have already reached its saturatiion point (albeit a low one!). It's a reality check, at the very least, a (very public) shot across their bows.