The 2015 Attendance Thread

[sverik25]

Richmond have managed to convert a good % of their fanbase into attending games. This is subjective but I think Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton have quite a few more total supporters (including those who say I go for Essendon and think Sheedy is the coach) than Richmond. I think this in itself is quite interesting. Roy Morgan polls suggest something similar.

Social media indicates this as well.

 

[gaelictiogar]

Richmond have managed to convert a good % of their fanbase into attending games. This is subjective but I think Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton have quite a few more total supporters (including those who say I go for Essendon and think Sheedy is the coach) than Richmond. I think this in itself is quite interesting. Roy Morgan polls suggest something similar.

This is absolutely true and I think easily explained.

Over three decades of unending failure have progressively stripped away the "me too" percentage of the Richmond fanbase leaving what is on average a more committed, more engaged and more likely to attend fanbase.

Richmond's membership base ( c.72,000 ) and home average ( 52,000 ) is what we expect from a club with Essendon/Collingwood social media figures but the fact is it is easy to spend a second on a mobile phone clicking a follow or like button for a club with a successful and high profile but not so easy to attend in the rain. The decades of failure have stripped away the clickers, likers and followers but left the attenders and buyers.

In short all of Carlton, Essendon and Collingwood have bigger "soft" bases than the tigers. However the Tigers have a "hard" fanbase comparable with any and hopefully will pick up a few "me toos" if we enjoy a run of success relative to the other big teams and get a "success bounce"

Forza Tiger.

 

[dave_27]

Carl v North crowd - 25,251

I honestly think Ess v Wb will draw an equally poor crowd tomorrow. Last weeks crowd was embarassing for Essendon and there ain't going to be more Ess fans turning up tomorrow coming off a loss.

Dogs fans dont usually turn up when it's our home game either.

 

[Cmarsh]

9341 at Metricon.

Unpretty. But not unexpected.

 

[Our Game]

A couple of comments on the Collingwood crowd.

1. As many of us have noted overall Victorian attendance is soft....worryingly soft.

I think there are two massive elephants in the room 1: Too many Victorian clubs that are not sustainable into the future.WB,St Kilda and North Melbourne should go. Ether merged,relocated We know this will never happenThis is what businesses do when they have deadwood One of the reasons for the poor Vic crowds is these 3 low crowd pullers esp with WB and North being in the eight you can look forward to some piss poor finals crowds if these two are there.
I dont believe that more is better and there is at least 3- 4 TV games a week that are crap and the ratings show it. With 18 teams the talent pool is spread way to thin and that is impacting on the quality of football being played This is one thing Eddie is right about.
2: AFL bureaucracy: It think you will find like all bureaucracies the AFL is getting bigger and bigger as people justify their positions and build little kingdoms for themselves. I bet it will cost at least double to run the competition this season than it did ten years back and for what benefit?
There are way too many seat warmers at AFL House sucking on the TV teat and that money that should be going to grass level footy to grow the game is being pissed against the wall by bludgers only interested in filling their own pockets.Yeah its great to get big TV bucks but what is the point if a big slice is squandered at AFL House?

 

[dave10]

Carl v North crowd - 25,251

I honestly think Ess v Wb will draw an equally poor crowd tomorrow. Last weeks crowd was embarassing for Essendon and there ain't going to be more Ess fans turning up tomorrow coming off a loss.

Dogs fans dont usually turn up when it's our home game either.

There might be a few more Essendon fans tomorrow. Sat nights pretty ordinary when your team is done. As seen tonight at Ethihad. Sunday afternoon will pull in a slightly larger cohort I believe. Whilst I think it will be an average crowd, I think it will likely be over 30,000. Having said that, the way the league attendances are going it wouldn't surprise me if another poor sub 30,000 eventuates.

 

[Our Game]

A couple of comments on the Collingwood crowd.

1. As many of us have noted overall Victorian attendance is soft....worryingly soft.

 

[Tassieboy]

Carl v North crowd - 25,251

I honestly think Ess v Wb will draw an equally poor crowd tomorrow. Last weeks crowd was embarassing for Essendon and there ain't going to be more Ess fans turning up tomorrow coming off a loss.

Dogs fans dont usually turn up when it's our home game either.

It should clear 30k but who knows after the disaster of last week. I'm optimistic it'll be OK. Possibly masked by an OK Bulldog roll up. If they bring 10k it'll certainly be 30-35k.

 

[Hawkk]

Uh-huh. Well according to the Age on April the 8th of this year you already had 8654 Tasmanian members. That was with 16 weeks left to go until the official AFL cut off date for tallying memberships. So 10,000 Tasmanian members or there abouts seems pretty reasonable don't you think? But if you want to pretend they are not there when comparing yourselves to other clubs or in terms of projecting and analysing attendance numbers that's cool. Whatever makes you happy

Except Hawthorn has never had 10000 members in Tasmania

The latest figure is...

m.hawthornfc.com.au/news/2015-07-31/hawks-extend-stay-in-tasmania-by-five-years

The Hawks have also grown their Tasmanian membership figure year-on-year since 2007, reaching a record number of 8948 members in 2015.

Let's try and focus on FACT hey champ?

 

[Ocha905]

Carl v North crowd - 25,251

I honestly think Ess v Wb will draw an equally poor crowd tomorrow. Last weeks crowd was embarassing for Essendon and there ain't going to be more Ess fans turning up tomorrow coming off a loss.

Dogs fans dont usually turn up when it's our home game either.

Afl website has a dodgy TBA status regarding Blues/Roos crowd currently. They'll Probably cook the books by adding an extra 1000 or two.

Poor crowd tonight although understandable considering Carltons form, Victorian crowds and the general negativity surrounding AFL currently. I will commend Carlton fans though they were boisterous in the second and third when the game was up for grabs.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

The Collingwood and Melbourne crowd was terrible! Collingwood's third lowest home crowd at the MCG since 2000 and the top two happened to occur in 2000 so something is seriously wrong here.

Yep the famous Collingwood army seem to have already given up on the Pies this year

Never let me here a pies supporter say that Richmond is a Bandwagon club!
37894, and 10000 at least we're dees that were loud!!

I've attended practically all our games and I don't intend to jump off now! Need to stick with the club through good times and in bad.

 

[The Blue Baggers]

A couple of comments on the Collingwood crowd.

1. As many of us have noted overall Victorian attendance is soft....worryingly soft.

2. The general consensus that Collingwood had put huge distance between itself and the other Big clubs was always an illusion based only on their recent good form allied to good marketing compared to bad form and hopeless image control ( you Essendon ) and to an extent Carlton elsewhere. They are the biggest club but the gap is smaller than recent golden years for the Magpies suggested. We won't be seeing the huge averages they posted a few years ago anywhere anytime soon.

3. No one is immune to the factors that influence attendance. The drivers of attendance are a mix of form and expectation. Poor form and lowered expectation hit attendance...hit it hard. I remember reading on here countless times in the years before 2013 that Carlton/Collingwood/Essendon were now a Big 3 which had distanced poor deluded little Richmond. Now we see all three drawing poor, very poor home crowds in the past week whilst Richmond top the attendance chart. Why? Are Richmond suddenly bigger? Are those three great traditional superclubs suddenly smaller? No. Richmond are doing well and they are doing badly. Simple as that...Form and expectation. Form and expectation.

2/3 crowds over 80k involve Collingwood

The only two games that consistently draw big crowds are Collingwood v Essendon Anzac Day or Collingwood v Carlton

Outside of those two games form dictates the crowd

 

[Tygrys]

Except Hawthorn has never had 10000 members in Tasmania

The latest figure is...

m.hawthornfc.com.au/news/2015-07-31/hawks-extend-stay-in-tasmania-by-five-years

The Hawks have also grown their Tasmanian membership figure year-on-year since 2007, reaching a record number of 8948 members in 2015.

Let's try and focus on FACT hey champ?

For what it's worth I said ten thousand 'or so' but whatever. That's still almost 9000 Hawthorn bums that you'll never see gracing a MCG or Eitihad seat, a hefty amount to factor into any equation. It's certainly a relevant point to note when another poster asked how two 'Melbourne' clubs with approximately 70,000 members each could 'only' draw a crowd of 66,305. But again whatever makes you happy.

 

[Hawkk]

For what it's worth I said ten thousand 'or so' but whatever. That's still almost 9000 Hawthorn bums that you'll never see gracing a MCG or Eitihad seat, a hefty amount to factor into any equation. It's certainly a relevant point to note when another poster asked how two 'Melbourne' clubs with approximately 70,000 members each could 'only' draw a crowd of 66,305. But again whatever makes you happy.

The attendance surprised me...

Given our last three MCG games against Sydney, Essendon (dreadfully out of form) and Collingwood only' drew 63,319, 62,500 and 75,880

Given the famous Tiger army I thought a 3rd v 5th fixture on a fine Friday Night would smash that figure

....guess not

 

[Marley10]

2/3 crowds over 80k involve Collingwood

The only two games that consistently draw big crowds are Collingwood v Essendon Anzac Day or Collingwood v Carlton

Outside of those two games form dictates the crowd

Like the 41K last year? I really don't expect a good crowd next week at all. Probably mid 40K-50K.

I dare say Collingwood vs Essendon has a higher base than Carlton vs Collingwood.

2005, all three teams were crap. Essendon vs Collingwood drew 52K. Carlton vs Collingwood drew 48K.

 

[The Blue Baggers]

Like the 41K last year? I really don't expect a good crowd next week at all. Probably mid 40K-50K.

I dare say Collingwood vs Essendon has a higher base than Carlton vs Collingwood.

2005, all three teams were crap. Essendon vs Collingwood drew 52K. Carlton vs Collingwood drew 48K.

from 1980 - 2015 (pretty good sample) , games that have drawn >70k

32 - Carlton v Collingwood
30 - Essendon v Collingwood
daylight
14 - Carlton v Essendon , Richmond v Essendon

comment remains true there are only two games that consistently draw >70k

 

[Tassieboy]

Carlton - Collingwood is the biggest drawing fixture by a mile.

What will be interesting is the crowd for Carlton - Collingwood this week. It might struggle to reach 50k; Essendon - Collingwood will be similar. Round 22 game between Richmond - Essendon will also be interesting with the home team likely to be bottom 4 and Richmond about to surge into the finals.

 

[gaelictiogar]

2/3 crowds over 80k involve Collingwood

The only two games that consistently draw big crowds are Collingwood v Essendon Anzac Day or Collingwood v Carlton

Outside of those two games form dictates the crowd

Collingwood V Carlton is a classic rivalry and a huge drawcard but I suspect your contention that it is immune to impact of form will face a deeply severe examination next Saturday when 11th host 16th.

Difficult to know what to predict. 50,000 is a nice round figure but only a guesstimate. It'll be interesting to see what the G predict. Could well fall below that.

 

[The Blue Baggers]

Collingwood V Carlton is a classic rivalry and a huge drawcard but I suspect your contention that it is immune to impact of form will face a deeply severe examination next Saturday when 11th host 16th.

Difficult to know what to predict. 50,000 is a nice round figure but only a guesstimate. It'll be interesting to see what the G predict. Could well fall below that.

agree this game will only draw approx. 50k , the magpies struggling and the blues just terrible

but if these two teams played friday night battling for top 4 the game would have been a sell out

 

[The Blue Baggers]

Collingwood V Carlton is a classic rivalry and a huge drawcard but I suspect your contention that it is immune to impact of form will face a deeply severe examination next Saturday when 11th host 16th.

Difficult to know what to predict. 50,000 is a nice round figure but only a guesstimate. It'll be interesting to see what the G predict. Could well fall below that.

i think a blues - tiger match for top 4 would also be a sell out

 

[gaelictiogar]

i think a blues - tiger match for top 4 would also be a sell out

All six of the Big 4 rivalries have huge drawing potential if and when the stars collide. All things being equal onfield they trend longterm as the biggest draws in Victorian footy.

Collingwood V Carlton is the biggest traditional rivalry and Collingwood v Essendon draws from the two biggest fanbases in the state. These two are ahead but not miles ahead of the other 4.

Post 1980 Richmond attendances V all of Carl/Coll/Ess are dampened by the fact that Richmond were down for so long. With decent form Richmond's rivalries with all the other three plus Carlton V Essendon all have the potential to draw crowds rivalling Coll V Carl and Coll V Ess.

This is the way it is. Any deviation from these realities is transient and form based.

 

[The Blue Baggers]

All six of the Big 4 rivalries have huge drawing potential if and when the stars collide. All things being equal onfield they trend longterm as the biggest draws in Victorian footy.

Collingwood V Carlton is the biggest traditional rivalry and Collingwood v Essendon draws from the two biggest fanbases in the state. These two are ahead but not miles ahead of the other 4.

Post 1980 Richmond attendances V all of Carl/Coll/Ess are dampened by the fact that Richmond were down for so long. With decent form Richmond's rivalries with all the other three plus Carlton V Essendon all have the potential to draw crowds rivalling Coll V Carl and Coll V Ess.

This is the way it is. Any deviation from these realities is transient and form based.

for the record from 1980 to 2015 games with crowds >70k

32 - Collingwood v Carlton
30 - Collingwood v Essendon

daylight

14 - Essendon v Carlton , Essendon v Richmond
11 - Richmond v Carlton , Collingwood v Hawthorn
9 - Collingwood v Richmond
7 - Collingwood v Geelong , Hawthorn v Geelong
5 - Melbourne v Collingwood , Essendon v Geelong
3 - Collingwood v St Kilda

from the nos. its really collingwood v essendon or carlton

then the other "big 4" combinations

then collingwood v any other vic club in form

 

[gaelictiogar]

The attendance surprised me...

Given our last three MCG games against Sydney, Essendon (dreadfully out of form) and Collingwood only' drew 63,319, 62,500 and 75,880

Given the famous Tiger army I thought a 3rd v 5th fixture on a fine Friday Night would smash that figure

....guess not

Come on Hawkk you did not think the attendance would smash those figures. In fact prior to the game you quoted PAX figures indicating a turnout almost exactly as it turned out. In common with most sensible commentators including the G you predicted something near enough to what in fact happened.

It was a perfectly respectable attendance given that one team was as big as $6 with the bookmakers and the backdrop of falling Victorian turnouts as evidenced by the Collingwood turnout.

 

[dave10]

My goodness this thread is so Vic centric

That's because the frequent posters here want to discuss the current plight in Vic attendances. It's a current and significant issue presently..

Anyhow, the 9,000 at Metricon yesterday. I don't think it was a genuine reflection of the actual attendance from my vantage point on TV. Discuss:

 

[Frank Grimes]

Essendon vs Dogs Attendance: 33,466.