Talking Footy

Win or lose, Sydney fans know how to pull a crowd
Date August 12, 2012
Andrew Wu
Sports Writer

WHICH city has played host to the biggest AFL crowd outside Victoria this year? It's not Adelaide, home of the second-placed team on the ladder, nor is it Perth, whose flagship team West Coast have not been out of the eight all year.

Despite a howling gale so strong it could bring the surf to the city for today's famous run, more than 45,827 braved an unusually cold winter's night to support the team Swans marketers like to describe as ''Sydney's passion''.

These are heady days for the ''foreign'' football code in Sydney. Not since 2008, when the Swans were still riding the coat tails of the classes of 2005-06, has such a big crowd turned out for an AFL game in Sydney.

And there are more box-office spoils ahead for the Swans. The clash with Hawthorn in a fortnight is on the verge of a sell-out. Then, barring a meltdown by John Longmire's men in the following three weeks, should come at least two finals in September.

On the basis of what we saw last night they should have no trouble getting fans back through the turnstiles, for the game lived up to expectations. If anything it should have whetted their appetites.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/AFL/AFL-news/win- ... z23Yts3Vov

Xman wrote:

Why is it that the Swans can draw great crowds in Sydneys terrible road and public transport infrastructure and RL struggles? Isnt Sydney RL territory?

eelofwest wrote:

Xman wrote:

Why is it that the Swans can draw great crowds in Sydneys terrible road and public transport infrastructure and RL struggles? Isnt Sydney RL territory?

How are your AFL expansion crowds going Xman?

NRL can pull 20k in a non heartland area (WA) with no team represented and bugger all promotion, can the AFL do that Xman.....

eelofwest wrote:

NRL can pull 20k in a non heartland area (WA) with no team represented and bugger all promotion, can the AFL do that Xman.....

eelofwest wrote:

NRL can pull 20k in a non heartland area (WA) with no team represented and bugger all promotion, can the AFL do that Xman.....

cos789 wrote:

eelofwest wrote:

NRL can pull 20k in a non heartland area (WA) with no team represented and bugger all promotion, can the AFL do that Xman.....

That was a real dodgy 20k, empty seats everywhere.
They promoted the hell out of that game with TV, newspaper and radio.

eelofwest wrote:

NRL can pull 20k in a non heartland area (WA) with no team represented and bugger all promotion, can the AFL do that Xman.....

■Canada - 32,789 (1987). Melbourne v. Sydney (B.C. Place, Vancouver)
■Japan - 25,000 (1986). Carlton v. Hawthorn (Yokohama Stadium, Tokyo)
■United Kingdom - 18,884 (2005). West Coast v. Fremantle (The Oval, London)

.

cos789 wrote:

eelofwest wrote:

NRL can pull 20k in a non heartland area (WA) with no team represented and bugger all promotion, can the AFL do that Xman.....

That was a real dodgy 20k, empty seats everywhere.
They promoted the hell out of that game with TV, newspaper and radio.

eelofwest wrote:

NRL can pull 20k in a non heartland area (WA) with no team represented and bugger all promotion, can the AFL do that Xman.....

■Canada - 32,789 (1987). Melbourne v. Sydney (B.C. Place, Vancouver)
■Japan - 25,000 (1986). Carlton v. Hawthorn (Yokohama Stadium, Tokyo)
■United Kingdom - 18,884 (2005). West Coast v. Fremantle (The Oval, London)

.

cos789 wrote:

eelofwest wrote:

NRL can pull 20k in a non heartland area (WA) with no team represented and bugger all promotion, can the AFL do that Xman.....

That was a real dodgy 20k, empty seats everywhere.

Striker wrote:

cos789 wrote:

eelofwest wrote:

NRL can pull 20k in a non heartland area (WA) with no team represented and bugger all promotion, can the AFL do that Xman.....

That was a real dodgy 20k, empty seats everywhere.

Are you calling the bean counters liars?

Souths' dodgy crowd figures
By Josh Massoud and James Phelps
The Daily Telegraph
June 26, 2008

SOUTH Sydney have conceded they include stadium workers, media, referees - and possibly players - when counting home crowds.

The stunning admission came after a special investigation into the attendance at Monday night's game against Gold Coast Titans at ANZ Stadium.

After monitoring each turnstile, The Daily Telegraph's clickers tracked 7522 people into the ground from the time gates opened at 4.45pm until midway through the first half.

The Rabbitohs later announced an official crowd of 9827.

Rabbitohs CEO Shane Richardson then confirmed "club staff, stadium staff, media and officials" partly accounted for the discrepancy of 2305 people.

"People that come from (our) club staff, the other club and referees don't come through the check system (turnstiles)," Richardson said.

"There's a whole range of people that go in through other entrances."

The revelation provides an insight into how clubs count crowds at a time when attendances are being monitored closely as Sydney's nine teams struggle for growth in a congested market.

A Souths statement emailed on Wednesday afternoon in response to the survey added: "There were un-ticketed guests who entered via a staff gate that appear to have missed your scrutiny.

"Added to this are groups such as club staff, stadium staff, media, officials etc. who haven't been counted by The Daily Telegraph clickers."

The terms used in the statement are wide enough to include players, referees, coaches, and mascots. Staff employed by the stadium, including caterers, waiters and customer service personnel, might also be inferred.

ANZ Stadium declined to respond, on the basis that clubs are responsible for crowd counts.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/nrl- ... 1116735208

Striker wrote:

That's the Rabbitohs. The bastard child of the NRL who are only in the comp through sufference, and Russell Crowe's face value!

Show me other clubs, with proof!

Striker wrote:

I read somewhere that match day counting was a clusterf and they had trouble fixing it. That's not intentional.