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Analysis Dwindling Crowds

  • Thread starter Thread starter Willo_
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THE CAT WRANGLER said:
All of this will result in less members & a drop off per game so everyone get prepared for a financial loss again.

Also reduced crowds next year whilst new stands get built will impact greatly.

I don't think the club has handled the transition well losing players,Balme + discipline issues with Simpson etc & Hartman.
I really like Steve Hocking as a person But will he be ruthless enough to to cut the veterans, secure Dangerfield & retain Motlop etc I have my doubts ?
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What, in your opinion, could the club have done with Hartman exactly? I presume you have internal knowledge of what happened, what they did and how they should have done better….

GO Catters
 
ANDYG5 said:
On the drive down I heard BT predicting less than 20k, and questioning whether Cats fans were a fairweather bunch of supporters.
Hate to admit it, but I think BT was right. Got to the standing area, and there was free space everyhere.
Worst part was at the end of the game it looked like there were more North supporters still in the area than Cats.
Dark dark day when any team gets outnumbered by North supporters.
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On the other hand, BT has a history of sticking it to Geelong fans even during the good times. So if you believe anything he says then you need your head read. I agree with SJ though, that a smaller more invested crowd may give the ground more atmosphere than a full house of ppl sitting back expecting an easy win.
 

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It's disappointing, especially when you see sell out crowds of 50,000 in Adelaide and 40,000 in Perth making twice the noise that Cats fans do.

We've got a capacity of 34,000 at SS and we've barely got over 27,000 in the past couple of years. I know we've never had a huge supporter base, but I'd hate to think we have a lot of fair weather fans.
 
All very interesting points so far in this thread.

Willo_ said:
I do just find the crowds an interesting topic.... particularly given that Membership is apparently ahead of where it has been at this time previously... so that indicates the fans aren't dropping off?

Or just that more are happy to commit to the club in some way, but not wanting to watch us struggle at games.
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I too find it interesting with regards to the membership tally vs. attendance figures. Of course, a side factor to this is those clubs like us who have a home ground capacity which is lower than the membership demand or at least potential.

We have so far been fortunate to have a percentage of fans that are willing to purchase a membership to contribute to the club, yet not demand some value back by attending home games in Geelong. This is one of the areas in which the club and the league will need to remain innovative and develop memberships to suit wide ranging groups of supporters.

Partridge said:
Not just that. But for at least the last 20 years, the opinions of fans have been treated with more and more contempt by the sport's governing body. Not everyone is going to keep coming.
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I'm sure that this is one of the reasons why many supporters choose to follow from afar. Many have already been out-priced and that will continue.

There are also now so many options to keep in touch with the game, that it can lead to a form of apathy. This is not even mentioning the number of sporting/entertainment options around now that didn't even exist years ago.
 
Let's not forget last I checked the idiots at the AFL who invented this 3-game membership apparently include it in "total memberships" tally.
sorry, but a membership surely has to be a "Home" or "Home & Away" one. This is not to discount other member types, but from a financial gain ones, these were historically the one that clubs and the league looked to for how things are going. or do I have really wrong?
 
I think a lot of the old style fans who used to stand up at the footy and have a couple of cans have dropped off. Now that the game is more commercialized and paying for seats is expected and $7.00 for a plastic cup of beer, I think a lot of those fans now watch it on tv and maybe spend more time at local footy. A lot of my mates that I stood with in the 90's no longer go to the footy but still follow the cats from afar.
 
THE CAT WRANGLER said:
I'll be going to MCG knowing we will probably loose but I want to support the boys.
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If we play as 'loose' as we have been it'll be a smashing.

I heard a few people in the line prior to the Fremantle home game say that they will never go to another game again and are not renewing their membership. Waiting in line until almost half way through the first quarter to upgrade our membership to a ticket is ludicrous... I understand.

The way the AFL and club operate is losing peoples vested interest in the game. Its no longer about the supporters, its the money, and its losing more and more supporters each year.

I certainly don't trust the credibility of the sport either. I go to get out of the house and let my hair down for a couple of hours, not because my passion for the game is where it once was.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with the way we're travelling either. I used to live breath and sleep the sport... now its just meh.
 
Two Planks said:
I think a lot of the old style fans who used to stand up at the footy and have a couple of cans have dropped off. Now that the game is more commercialized and paying for seats is expected and $7.00 for a plastic cup of beer, I think a lot of those fans now watch it on tv and maybe spend more time at local footy. A lot of my mates that I stood with in the 90's no longer go to the footy but still follow the cats from afar.
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I note for all the stadium redevelopments and "match day experience" promotions, not a skerrick has improved for this type of supporter since I was a kid walking down at three-quarter time and heading to standing room.
 

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THE CAT WRANGLER said:
I don't think the club has handled the transition well losing players,Balme + discipline issues with Simpson etc & Hartman.
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They've still got time to fly them to Indonesia to be executed tomorrow morning if that'll make you happy
 
CarAttack said:
I have perm seats at SS but a 3.20 start coming to and from Melbourne with two young kids doesnt work. Later games and school nights are out for me. But happy to pay for the yearly seat anyway.
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New category? I didn't notice it on the membership form? :P
hair-dryers.jpeg
 
Willo_ said:
I do just find the crowds an interesting topic.... particularly given that Membership is apparently ahead of where it has been at this time previously... so that indicates the fans aren't dropping off?

Or just that more are happy to commit to the club in some way, but not wanting to watch us struggle at games.

I do agree with your point catempire that ask 10 people and get 10 different answers
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That would be it, I'd guess. Support financially, but not always at the game due to conflicts/losing/weather/scheduling/distance/etc, etc.
 
Do we have a player with the 'X-factor'? The one who brings everyone else along.

The type that makes the 10 year old kid drag their dad off the golf-course, the depressed 50 year-old drunk leave the TAB, the grandma forget her knitting when packing the thermos, the teenage girls get in a tizzy?

We all love Joel, but I don't think since Gazza Jr. left have we had that pure excitement buzz-merchant. The rock star.

To a lesser degree Moons had it, Maxy had it, Scarlo had it.

Tommy has always had the potential, but he's never kicked those bags each and every week that we may have romantically had hoped for.

For the first time in years, the Dees have it with Hogan - he's gonna bring in thousands more to their games.

It's a small factor, but one nonetheless.
 

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Partridge said:
Not just that. But for at least the last 20 years, the opinions of fans have been treated with more and more contempt by the sport's governing body. Not everyone is going to keep coming.
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EFC club would have to be a factor in turning people off the game. They have been, and continue to be, a shameless disgrace.

Edit: Not sure why you were quoted here P? It was in response to another post. Still, nothing lost and no one injured.
 
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Two Planks said:
I think a lot of the old style fans who used to stand up at the footy and have a couple of cans have dropped off. Now that the game is more commercialized and paying for seats is expected and $7.00 for a plastic cup of beer, I think a lot of those fans now watch it on tv and maybe spend more time at local footy. A lot of my mates that I stood with in the 90's no longer go to the footy but still follow the cats from afar.
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This is it for me 100% Plus the thing that really hurts (more so at the G and Docklands) is I know that I am getting bent over and ripped off* every time I go and I resent that. So I weigh it - up especially games against ordinary sides. - It's cold I'm gonna spend minimum of $30 bucks reserving a seat, getting some food and playing for PT or petrol. Maybe I'll just stay on the couch where it's warm drinking beer and eating Thai...

*I mean come on charging me to reserve a seat...
 
SJ said:
I note for all the stadium redevelopments and "match day experience" promotions, not a skerrick has improved for this type of supporter since I was a kid walking down at three-quarter time and heading to standing room.
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From when I started going regularly (mid-1980s) to the end of 2006, I only watched footy at Geelong in standing room. Either the tiny amount that was in front of the old Member's Stand (first the right hand side, then the left hand side), and then after 1991 season behind the goals.

I absolutely get that for many reasons seated stadia are a reality. But you'd think a small fraction of the crowd could be catered for in this way.
 
James1970 said:
Do we have a player with the 'X-factor'? The one who brings everyone else along.

The type that makes the 10 year old kid drag their dad off the golf-course, the depressed 50 year-old drunk leave the TAB, the grandma forget her knitting when packing the thermos, the teenage girls get in a tizzy?

We all love Joel, but I don't think since Gazza Jr. left have we had that pure excitement buzz-merchant. The rock star.

To a lesser degree Moons had it, Maxy had it, Scarlo had it.

Tommy has always had the potential, but he's never kicked those bags each and every week that we may have romantically had hoped for.

For the first time in years, the Dees have it with Hogan - he's gonna bring in thousands more to their games.

It's a small factor, but one nonetheless.
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Dan Menzel was a candidate but we all know his story.

Cockatoo, in time, might be that kind of player.

Motlop has the tricks but something is a bit off with him right now.
 
Partridge said:
From when I started going regularly (mid-1980s) to the end of 2006, I only watched footy at Geelong in standing room. Either the tiny amount that was in front of the old Member's Stand (first the right hand side, then the left hand side), and then after 1991 season behind the goals.

I absolutely get that for many reasons seated stadia are a reality. But you'd think a small fraction of the crowd could be catered for in this way.
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Yep. I loathe sitting at the footy... stood my entire life.
 
Also it would help if they didn't flog off most tickets for $68 and most of the uncovered 'outer' seats for $48 (even with a thoroughfare in the way of seated view). Ridiculous.
 

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