GWS is the AFL's biggest problem - not North, GC, or Tassie

[PhatBoy]

I have to laugh at how much positive media the storm get compared to the giants when they're:

• One team in a city of 7 million in that sport
• finished top again and couldn't sellout their qualification final, despite there being no afl on in the whole of Melbourne that weekend
• their ratings were very poor for that game too
• their membership is the same as the giants
• they've been around double the time of the giants
• their average crowds are only 6k higher than the giants
• They have only produced one Victorian player in their history, the giants have produced about 5 from western sydney

This off the back of the storm being the most successful club in the sport playing in a gf on average every 3 years and winning multiple premierships, the giants only playing in 1 he with no flags.

It just shows the difference when you have news corp and sen constantly pumping you up and doing the opposite for the giants, that the perception doesn't match the reality when you look at the actual numbers.

Also Sydney Olympic park will have a brand new train line from the cbd going directly to it and a tram line direct from Parramatta going directly to it in the next few years, which will make the precinct very appealing and help with crowds.

You kind of answered your own question.

The storm don’t have anything local to draw on. There is, not a big one, but an existent and in some areas (the Riverina mainly and Canberra if we are counting it as NSW) a rich history of Australian Rules football in NSW. Plus the swans have been embedded there for twice as long as the Storm.

There is no history of league in Victoria. That they build the sides they do minus one of the pathways that every other club has, is an amazing effort.

 

[Bjo187]

Who cares?

Rugby league has been around in its current form, more or less, for 116 years and the crowds have been, more or less, the same. Why the hell do you think a few extra decades will change that?

It is what it is. League fans don’t care. I follow both sports equally and couldn’t have a shit one way or the other. League gets more tv viewership, afl gets way bigger crowds. That second part is never going to change.

I like the Giants, I hope they do well and while I have huge respect for the swans if I had a choice I would always support the Giants.

This is absolutely wrong. Stop pedaling this false narrative. Head to head the afl beats the nrl by over 300k every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. AFL games overlap, nrl never do, rugby league has 3 games in prime time Thursday and Friday, compared to one or sometimes 2 for AFL. I'll give you the example from last night, which doesn't even include foxtel which would increase the lead even more.

I couldn't care less about nrl crowds, I'm pointing out the crap the giants cop in the same market with 10x the disadvantages and intentional negative media attention.

 

[PhatBoy]

This is absolutely wrong. Stop pedaling this false narrative. Head to head the afl beats the nrl by over 300k every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. AFL games overlap, nrl never do, rugby league has 3 games in prime time Thursday and Friday, compared to one or sometimes 2 for AFL. I'll give you the example from last night, which doesn't even include foxtel which would increase the lead even more.

I couldn't care less about nrl crowds, I'm pointing out the crap the giants cop in the same market with 10x the disadvantages and intentional negative media attention.

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So. Tell them to stop scheduling games at the same time.

 

[Bjo187]

So. Tell them to stop scheduling games at the same time.

I don't agree with it, but like the grand final, they won't change it until they start losing the tv ratings battle, which they aren't, despite what Peter v'landy's and all the leagiues tell you (after using their secret herbs and spices mix to come out with a win).

 

[PhatBoy]

I don't agree with it, but like the grand final, they won't change it until they start losing the tv ratings battle, which they aren't, despite what Peter v'landy's and all the leagiues tell you (after using their secret herbs and spices mix to come out with a win).

Either way, who cares. It’s not costing the nrl any money. What does it matter. Bragging rights in a kindergarten big d**k contest??

Im not going to suddenly start spending more time watching one over the other because there’s bigger crowds at the afl or there’s higher ratings in one or the other

 

[Bjo187]

Either way, who cares. It’s not costing the nrl any money. What does it matter. Bragging rights in a kindergarten big d**k contest??

Im not going to suddenly start spending more time watching one over the other because there’s bigger crowds at the afl or there’s higher ratings in one or the other

Well the reality of the matter does cost them money, it's why the afl gets 1/3rd more for their tv rights, or over 200 mill a year more from next year. In the meantime, all the NRL fans can't figure out why, coz like yourself, they've believed the lie from the nrl and Sydney media that 'they get more tv viewers' and have been pedaling it online for years.

It matters because it feeds into the negative perception of the giants and effects the respect they recieve and potential growth they get in a tough market. If it doesn't matter, why do you think they bother misleading the public on this stuff?

 

[PhatBoy]

Well the reality of the matter does cost them money, it's why the afl gets 1/3rd more for their tv rights, or over 200 mill a year more from next year. In the meantime, all the NRL fans can't figure out why, coz like yourself, they've believed the lie from the nrl and Sydney media that 'they get more tv viewers' and have been pedaling it online for years.

It matters because it feeds into the negative perception of the giants and effects the respect they recieve and potential growth they get in a tough market. If it doesn't matter, why do you think they bother misleading the public on this stuff?

One of the primary reasons, honestly, is simply what I mentioned above: yes of course there are some business interests involved but half of it is simply being able to pump up what you’re doing. Gordon Tallis doesn’t care what’s making more money. He’s a meathead who likes being able to brag about the game he played who still thinks of afl as aerial ping pong.

If the giants are relying on spin to get attendees to games they are doing it wrong. A flag for starters would make a huge difference. They do have fans where I live I know that

 

[Cmarsh]

That’s not unexpected, though. Cronulla are arguably the least supported Sydney team playing a side from 3000km away. They wanted to play in Cronulla where the capacity is just 13,000 and ended up with nearly 20,000.

Interstate side from thousands of kms away Vs side not getting to play at their home ground. Sounds similar circumstances to tonight's AFL prelim.

 

[PhatBoy]

Interstate side from thousands of kms away Vs side not getting to play at their home ground. Sounds similar circumstances to tonight's AFL prelim.

What’s your point? Did you suddenly expect a low drawing team in a sport that consistently draws crowds around 20k to pull a similar crowd to a reasonable drawing team in a sport that draws the 4th or 5th highest average crowds on the planet?

 

[Cmarsh]

What’s your point? Did you suddenly expect a low drawing team in a sport that consistently draws crowds around 20k to pull a similar crowd to a reasonable drawing team in a sport that draws the 4th or 5th highest average crowds on the planet?

Both sporting leagues are based in the same country. It's not as far out as a comparison as you are making it out to be.

 

[PhatBoy]

Both sporting leagues are based in the same country. It's not as far out as a comparison as you are making it out to be.

Yes but for a century one of them has boasted one metric and the other has boasted one far higher.

It’s almost too easy to make the comparisons.

Look at, for example, the two ‘working class’ clubs, the Bulldogs in the AFL and the Magpies when they existed, in the NRL.
Go back 50 years and the Dogs crowds at the Western Oval, a small venue, for a poorly (relatively) supported club, generally hovered between about 12,000 and 25,000.
The magpies rarely broke 10,000 at Lidcombe Oval.
Even moving into the early 1990s when they were at the bigger and better Campbelltown Stardium and fielded a competitive team it was still rare for them to break 10k.

That’s a comparison at the bottom of the barrel for supporter base and ground size and naturally it grows exponentially from there.

None of the suburban grounds in the NRL have a capacity beyond 20k and even in the days before they started to limit that, the biggest crowds they could sardine-squeeze in were about 23k.

So they have always been limited even if there was a time in the past where attendances may have grown (and there probably wasn’t), they wouldn’t have. And unsurprisingly the teams who’s crowds DID outstrip that were Souths and the Roosters who played a lot of footy at the SCG before the Sydney Football Stadium existed - but even they (the roosters: Souths had moved to Redfern later on) had dropped off later on the century before the Sydney Footy Stadium was built.


The things they have directly in common for the comparison is that they are in the same country and that they are both based with half their teams in one city.

AFL always has and always will have a significantly higher crowd pull, it’s the nature of the game and the tribal religious following it has. League has its nutcases who will follow it anywhere but not ever going to reach those levels albeit the crowds are growing steadily