Analysis Dwindling Crowds

[iameviljez]

this. Last time Metallica came out "Dude, do you want seats or moshpit?" My mates response "f^{k man, we are nearly 40. My knees aren't up to mosh pits anymore". Same goes at the footy. Yes, I got soft as I got old.

Last time I was in standing at Kardinia, we sat down at half-time to enjoy lunch while sitting on the steps behind us. Of course a pair of middle-aged six-foot freakfaces decided to stand right in front of us and just stayed there for the rest of the game. I was probably a bit too young to be assertive enough to tell them to **** off, like I should have.

 

[JUBJUB]

Someone on my twitter feed posted this on the weekend....

View attachment 128691

but when was that taken ?
The scoreboard isn't on

 

[JUBJUB]

well what more did they want ?
Simpson got punished and Hartman went home because he was homesick,which he apparently was from day one.

 

[Willo_]

Especially with kids. Would definitely be more a Saturday event.

I live in qld. That's my excuse

Look I'm willing to cop that as an excuse for 2 maybe 3 home games missed max

 

[Willo_]

but when was that taken ?
The scoreboard isn't on

Was posted at 3.07pm Sunday... so like 15 mins before the bounce

 

[Art Vandelay_]

The two in bold are mine.

That can be problematic in the other direction as well. Friday night games at the G for example. End up being so rushed just to get there somewhat on time...

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Staggering.

I reckon as late as two years ago it was full every match.

Can confirm that, we couldn't get a seat during the 2012 redevelopment and stood all year. Absolutely packed it was but it didn't dissipate once the stand was built. Could the economic climate of Geelong at present be responsible for the dwindling standing room crowd?

 

[Art Vandelay_]

We have reached point where it's easier to watch it on TV at home than it is to travel out to a game.

I mean, if it's 10 degrees and raining outside, your side ain't traveling that well, you got a couple of kids in tow and a few bills to pay that week, why wouldn't you just whack a six pack in the fridge and a couple of pies in the oven and watch it on your couch on your nice 48 inch HDTV?

Completely agree. Part of the reason that after many years of H&A Vic membership, I now just have home games. with fox and FTA I have no need to go to away games (sometimes having to fork out extra for a guaranteed seat) when I can sit in my room and drink and eat what you say for far less than at the footy.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

They've still got time to fly them to Indonesia to be executed tomorrow morning if that'll make you happy

New category? I didn't notice it on the membership form?

You two have a sense of humour which seems to regularly give me a chuckle, keep it up

 

[Turbocat]

As a Green Bay fan i watch routinely during the NFL season 75,000+ people turn up to Packers games in 5 degree weather (with -20 wind chill) in the middle of a Wisconsin winter, on a Sunday night, for a game that starts at 8:10pm local. I have little sympathy with anyone that says they cant do Sunday night games/Sunday 3:10/Saturday night/Friday Night/Thursday Night etc. Comparatively speaking, we've got it bloody good. You're a supporter, a member even, turn up, especially now when the team needs the fans supporting them most.

Geelong needs to think long and hard about the number of reserved seats it makes available and consider instead making them available to members on game day. By making more seats available on game day you encourage more people to attend who might just be casual members who cant afford a reserve seat. But those casual members are the ones who will barrack and cheer because they dont take the games for granted, unlike the retiree's who make up the bulk of the reserved seat holders in the stands. I had a reserved seat to the Players Stand last year and found myself sitting next to a couple who spent the whole game doing the crossword in the paper and reading Game of Thrones. Only looking up occasionally when people around them started clapping. It's a football game, not a Sunday bloody picnic! I started barracking and actually felt out of place compared to the reading group i had sitting around me, it's just madness. After that i chucked in my Players Stand reserve seat in preference to standing above the Ablett Terrace because thats where you get some actual banter and barracking, the atmosphere up their is light years better than anywhere else ive sat in that ground over the years. And that has a great deal to do with the fact that the people up there are mostly GA members and walk up attendees who actually are there to watch a football game and support the club.

The down side is that for GA members and anyone else, access to games these days means having to not only pay for a membership but also having to pay for a reserve ticket to get through the gate. I had one mate on Sunday try to get in on he's 16 game Home and Away membership only to be told he needed a reserve ticket and had to line up to pay for one. Seriously, what the **** is the point of getting a membership if you still have to pay anyway? And if he wanted to pre-book a ticket to the game he has to pay a bullshit "ticket-handling fee" to ticketek/master on top of the membership cost he's already payed. Not to mention the cost of actually reserving a ticket to a seat he wont use as we always stand, but you cant always pre-book a standing room ticket because it's "unavailable" but then on game day there's more North fans than Geelong fans in the standing section and tonnes of room for more people anyway. But there aren't more people because they've all been told to pre-book a seat and it costs $35+ to do so so they dont bother going, when all you wanted to do is scan your membership in and watch the bloody game. Its no lie to say its easier to attend a game in Melbourne as a Geelong member than it is trying to attend a game in Geelong. And thats just plain wrong. Geelong should be making it as easy as possible for members to attend games at our home. And i mean members, not just reserve seat holders, as far as im concerned, they should allocate the entire Reg Hickey Stand as a members stand and open up the rest of the ground to GA members. If you have to require an additional ticket to avoid lock outs (or if they wanna sit in groups) then fine but it shouldn't cost a Geelong member a cent, regardless of where they sit/stand in the ground.

Additionally, ban opposition cheersquads...i have no real reason for saying this other than i just dont like em in my ground, and they take seats away from the Geelong members who should be sitting in them. Plus, it burns me up inside when they...cheer...for there team...in our ground...it's disgusting and it should be stopped. Dead silence should greet an opposition goal at Geelong and that is all.

Nice effort , but I feel you have a little bit wrong.

For a start , we can not ban opposition cheer squads it AFL mandated that they have a spot behind the goals.

The seating cost plays a huge part of the profit in play games at Geelong , so as much as you feel the baracking in stands is poor and much better in the standing area , the people sitting down doing knitting , reading GOT what ever have paid and are entitled to do what ever they want. A great atmosphere of a ground full of standing room would see us make minimal money. In fact it would put us the realms of a poor financial club that would have to play in Melb. If that happened ..we basically are no longer a Geelong team, so the build grand stands and charge for the seats.

The game in Geelong is not hard to get to for all..not me thats for sure. I walk there.. 15minutes. I walk up to the gate , they look in the bag and scan the membership... 1 minute , I walk around to my seat 2 minutes. But its different for all.

I have no idea how they get the balance right. The crowd is probably quite old compared to average , but would a crowd full of young people afford to come?

Personally... I think more than anything there is a degree of fatigue. Geelong have had a lot of high quality footy , a lot of finals( which is quite $$$) and now that we are looking at being down its hardly enticing for all. Id have to say in all honesty... I do not enjoy the games at Geelong as much as I used to ... since they did the players stand. It feels sterile. I feel isolated from the game. I think the viewing is good by the vibe is less than it was.
Id like to see the figures on food and beer , the seats hardly encourage ease of movement to get in and out .

 

[Sttew]

The 3.20 start did it for me. It means getting home (Melbourne) after 7.00 on a Sunday night and if the team has lost it is a long trip.

 

[Scottland2007]

Last time I was in standing at Kardinia, we sat down at half-time to enjoy lunch while sitting on the steps behind us. Of course a pair of middle-aged six-foot freakfaces decided to stand right in front of us and just stayed there for the rest of the game. I was probably a bit too young to be assertive enough to tell them to **** off, like I should have.

Can't even do that anymore, what if they turn around and start something?

 

[Willo_]

Fire away all.... hopefully its not just lip service saying it but we may help find solutions

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

As a Green Bay fan i watch routinely during the NFL season 75,000+ people turn up to Packers games in 5 degree weather (with -20 wind chill) in the middle of a Wisconsin winter, on a Sunday night, for a game that starts at 8:10pm local. I have little sympathy with anyone that says they cant do Sunday night games/Sunday 3:10/Saturday night/Friday Night/Thursday Night etc. Comparatively speaking, we've got it bloody good. You're a supporter, a member even, turn up, especially now when the team needs the fans supporting them most.

Geelong needs to think long and hard about the number of reserved seats it makes available and consider instead making them available to members on game day. By making more seats available on game day you encourage more people to attend who might just be casual members who cant afford a reserve seat. But those casual members are the ones who will barrack and cheer because they dont take the games for granted, unlike the retiree's who make up the bulk of the reserved seat holders in the stands. I had a reserved seat to the Players Stand last year and found myself sitting next to a couple who spent the whole game doing the crossword in the paper and reading Game of Thrones. Only looking up occasionally when people around them started clapping. It's a football game, not a Sunday bloody picnic! I started barracking and actually felt out of place compared to the reading group i had sitting around me, it's just madness. After that i chucked in my Players Stand reserve seat in preference to standing above the Ablett Terrace because thats where you get some actual banter and barracking, the atmosphere up their is light years better than anywhere else ive sat in that ground over the years. And that has a great deal to do with the fact that the people up there are mostly GA members and walk up attendees who actually are there to watch a football game and support the club.

The down side is that for GA members and anyone else, access to games these days means having to not only pay for a membership but also having to pay for a reserve ticket to get through the gate. I had one mate on Sunday try to get in on he's 16 game Home and Away membership only to be told he needed a reserve ticket and had to line up to pay for one. Seriously, what the **** is the point of getting a membership if you still have to pay anyway? And if he wanted to pre-book a ticket to the game he has to pay a bullshit "ticket-handling fee" to ticketek/master on top of the membership cost he's already payed. Not to mention the cost of actually reserving a ticket to a seat he wont use as we always stand, but you cant always pre-book a standing room ticket because it's "unavailable" but then on game day there's more North fans than Geelong fans in the standing section and tonnes of room for more people anyway. But there aren't more people because they've all been told to pre-book a seat and it costs $35+ to do so so they dont bother going, when all you wanted to do is scan your membership in and watch the bloody game. Its no lie to say its easier to attend a game in Melbourne as a Geelong member than it is trying to attend a game in Geelong. And thats just plain wrong. Geelong should be making it as easy as possible for members to attend games at our home. And i mean members, not just reserve seat holders, as far as im concerned, they should allocate the entire Reg Hickey Stand as a members stand and open up the rest of the ground to GA members. If you have to require an additional ticket to avoid lock outs (or if they wanna sit in groups) then fine but it shouldn't cost a Geelong member a cent, regardless of where they sit/stand in the ground.

Additionally, ban opposition cheersquads...i have no real reason for saying this other than i just dont like em in my ground, and they take seats away from the Geelong members who should be sitting in them. Plus, it burns me up inside when they...cheer...for there team...in our ground...it's disgusting and it should be stopped. Dead silence should greet an opposition goal at Geelong and that is all.

Brilliant post. Echoed my thoughts and did it better than I did.

I'm one of those supporters making voice in your vicinity and I wouldn't have it any other way. But to wait in line to pay $0 to enable you to do it... Well that's a disgrace.

 

[Scottland2007]

The 3.20 start did it for me. It means getting home (Melbourne) after 7.00 on a Sunday night and if the team has lost it is a long trip.

i hate to say this, but pre kids I went to a lot of matches in Geelong. It was a 50 minute drive from Melb and regardless of how we where playing, if I went by myself, I would leave at 3q time to beat the traffic. The result of this was actually more footy! I would listen to the 4th on the way home and listen to the player interviews. Then due to the f.t.a delay, I could watch the last half as I got home. But, yeah, 3:20 is crap and I don't do footy without my 6 year old now. On a side note. Is it me or is our fixture crap? 6 day breaks unless we play Melbourne or Gold Coast? Even coming back from Sydney is a 6 day break (or going to Sydney). I'm surprised there's no thread about it.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Someone on my twitter feed posted this on the weekend....

View attachment 128691

That's where I was standing and generally do. I'm not in the picture so I take it I was at the bar.

 

[Willo_]

That's where I was standing and generally do. I'm not in the picture so I take it I was at the bar.

15 mins before the game mate, you would have been polishing off your 2nd last beer at LOTI

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

15 mins before the game mate, you would have been polishing off your 2nd last beer at LOTI

Ah ok... You're right.

 

[iameviljez]

Can't even do that anymore, what if they turn around and start something?

Looked barely capable of starting their FJ Holden, let alone a fight!

 

[Willo_]

Brilliant post. Echoed my thoughts and did it better than I did.

I'm one of those supporters making voice in your vicinity and I wouldn't have it any other way. But to wait in line to pay $0 to enable you to do it... Well that's a disgrace.

So when you go... do you have to go line up and get a ticket then go to the pub? Or do you scan your card on the way in?

 

[catalystsnwbrds]

First time posting here, have really noticed the crowd dropping off this season. Ive been to pretty much every home game for the last 15 years. I think it comes down to a few things, there is not just one cause. Late sunday games don't suit a lot, especially those with young families. I personally don't mind them, gives me all morning to do whatever I want, then drive 1.5 hrs to the game. I can still have lunch at home and get there in plenty of time.
The lining up and being made to get a ticket for standing room, there must be a better way for the club to do this? I spoke to a rep at the gate for about 15 mins on sunday and suggested pre printing tickets instead of having to wait for them to print them for standing room. But surely there is a way to enter with a membership card? This issue needs resolving fast, I know of plenty of long time standers who are close to throwing it in.
I think the other issue is just general apathy, we've seen a lot of success and exciting footy over the last 25 years, especially the last 10, the excitement just isn't there now, it will come back. I remember going to games in 89 when it came back after a lull and it was something special, just like it was when we started to get going again mid 2000's. I don't think a lot of cats fans will mind a few years to rebuild, maybe that's what they actually want now? a new challenge and a new cycle of exciting geelong footy?

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

So when you go... do you have to go line up and get a ticket then go to the pub? Or do you scan your card on the way in?

I go to the pub first then line up with my 'membership' in the paying queue to upgrade to a standing room ticket that costs... Nothing, zilch, zero, diddly squat.

I cannot scan straight in with my membership as it reads invalid. KP is a fully ticketed venue.

 

[Willo_]

I go to the pub first then line up with my 'membership' in the paying queue to upgrade to a standing room ticket that costs... Nothing, zilch, zero, diddly squat.

I cannot scan straight in with my membership as it reads invalid. KP is a fully ticketed venue.

Just seems so stupid that you need to line up in the paying queue with a membership.... then to line up again to get in the gate

 

[Jensen]

I think even if you book the standing room ticket online with your membership it's still free, not even a bullshit ticket handling fee. Seems like something the club needs to communicate better.

It's probably not even necessary now with the lower crowd numbers. If I recall correctly the current system was thrown together a few weeks before that first game in 2013 due to the high demand. Otherwise a heap of general admission members who didn't line up early would've been turned away if it was just walk up.

 

[CatAttack84]

Someone on my twitter feed posted this on the weekend....

View attachment 128691

Jesus. I could see from the Players Stand it looked bare, but seeing it from that angle...damn!

I remember the Richmond game in early '09 when Ottens went down in the middle doing his knee, thinking that's our season gone, it was so packed I couldn't stand with my legs apart.