Hawks dwindling crowds

[Pessimistic]

Crowd numbers are very fruitful for trolling. No matter your point, you can find some numbers to back it up

 

[Pessimistic]

Since 1992 (the year the new Southern Stand opened) there has been 72 H&A games draw >80k.

Collingwood 49
Essendon 36
Carlton 25
Richmond 15

Geelong 8
Hawks 5
Saints 2
Melbourne 2

If you drop to 70k the table pretty much remains the same.

But then you add the Hawks have been by far the best on field team in this period it really just shows they are well behind the traditional top 4 and on a par with the Cats !!

Some clubs are trending up, and some are trending the other way. You know whom I’m referrring to

 

[footyfan1978]

The Hawks have never been a big drawing club !!

Got largest crowd to Waverley game of over 90K so once they won a few flags from 70's by the 1980's when they got likes of Matthews, Knights, Tuck, Dipper, Brereton and Buckenara stars they attract their fair share. Being a contender for most of last 5 decades has grown their fan base enormously and been the best run club converting fan base into membership and now Richmond learnt from and doing better from a larger fan base. Clubs like my own been relatively terrible turning fan base into members but given lost our homeground and been shit for virtually two whole decades got a lot of work to do to get their membership in line with where it should be based on raw fan base out there.

 

[Hawkk]

Some clubs are trending up, and some are trending the other way. You know whom I’m referrring to

This.

The Geelong reference is perculiar. If you take away Hawthorn games they haven’t drawn 70k plus to a home and away game since round 8, 2012. In that time Hawthorn has consistently drawn 70k plus to at least 2 and up to 5 home and away games a year. Geelong are not the team they were in 2007-11 but they have been a great deal more consistent then Hawthorn over the 2016-18 period and have not had the dips that Hawthorn have had over the 2010 and 2017 seasons

The 1992 break point is interesting. Up until 1992 (and really 2007) Hawthorn had played in just 1 game over 70k (which was below Geel, Melb, St K) but the pace in which they have propelled up that tally over the last 12 years is noteworthy (as is the fact that Geelong and St Kilda for their golden decade were unable to sustain and keep pace with Hawthorn). It’s important to note that it wasn’t until 2000 that Hawthorn didn’t play home games at the tinpot Glenferrie Oval, Princes Park (which although a fine ground was geographically the wrong place for Hawthorn) and the unfashionable Waverley Park.

Some clubs have a proven capacity to draw 50k, 60k, 70k and above against non Victorian clubs. Others haven’t.

As I’ve said Hawthorn’s MCG average peaked at just under 60,000 in 2015 but the trend in crowd support (like membership) has been going upwards in Victoria irrespective of form. As this is a crowd thread they’ll probably draw somewhere in the vacinity of 54,000 / 55,000 to their 9 MCG games and 30,000 to their 5 Ethiad games (inc 30,400 against the mighty Blues)

Posters who claim that a club that consistently is top 2 for membership, top 5 for home and away crowds (this year will be the first in 12 years that Hawthorn haven’t been 3rd, 4th or 5th), top 2 for revenue, with a broad national fan base is not amongst the 5 biggest clubs in Victoria would be in the minority