Things You Don't Give a Shit About
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iluvparis
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- Apr 1, 2005
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I agree - the lack of dog fighting convictions against star hockey players makes it hard for the average fan in the American south to maintain an interest.
Keys
Looking for a cloud to yell at
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- #778
There's a rhythm to test cricket that unless you've grown up watching it is difficult to comprehend
It probably explains why I don't like soccer because I don't appreciate the nuances of a game that I cbf'd learning
NFL I had to learn to understand at least on a basic level and that was mainly due to a mate pushing me to watch it.
Glory were fairly big in the 90s and early 00s with star players at least household names but they are dead now atm imo. I reckon in country WA if you walked down the street you would have the ask about 20 people before you ran into someone that could name a single Glory player.
A-League might be big in places like Melbourne and Western Sydney but I'd wager the vast majority of the country don't give a shit about soccer.
- Sep 15, 2011
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It only needs to be big in Melbourne and Sydney to be more successful than AFL and rugby league, which are still split.
That said, it will never happen. While it may end up more popular at a junior level, Australia will never be able to run a league that can compare to the quality of Europe, simply because of the money involved. And the Australian public isn't going to get behind a second rate league at the level that it does the AFL.
- May 5, 2006
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Getting bums on seats in Australia isn't easy. We're 3rd in the world in rugby and have won the World Cup twice, and provincial Super Rugby comp has most of the world's best players and fans are deserting that in droves. Even the NRL crowds are nothing special. Getting regular 10-15-20k crowds in the A-League is pretty good compared to everything except the AFL and the Big Bash, and the latter has a novelty value to it since teams only play 4 home games. Crowds for a 27 week Big Bash season would drop right off.
- May 5, 2006
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Big Bash v1.0 was still pretty well attended, even without the profile and FTA coverage. With the 6 states contending it was just an extension of domestic cricket with the odd ring-in.
Big Bash v2.0 was marketed well and added a new dimension to the calendar with franchises detached from the states, plus derbies in Melb/Syd. Where it really took off was with TV viewership.
Big Bash v2.0 was marketed well and added a new dimension to the calendar with franchises detached from the states, plus derbies in Melb/Syd. Where it really took off was with TV viewership.
I like to play rather than watch. AFL is great to watch. Boxing can be good to watch as well. Olympic athletics. Tennis is great to watch, beach volleyball, and the Australian mens basketball team when playing USA or someone similar...
But, I do play cricket, basketball, badminton, ping pong sporadically, so I'd rather play them then watch.
Last edited:
- Aug 28, 2015
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- #785
NBA and basketball in general
Baseball
All forms of rugby
Ice hockey
Robert Murphy's 300th game
Robert Murphy in general
Motor sports
Star Wars
Baseball
All forms of rugby
Ice hockey
Robert Murphy's 300th game
Robert Murphy in general
Motor sports
Star Wars
And I've been hearing this for the past 30-40 years.
- May 5, 2006
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Johnny Warren said this on SBS about 15 years ago. Can't remember the exact phrasing but it was something like 'Soccer will be the dominant code in Australia in 10 years... my father said this to me, his father said it to him'.
Can see it happening on a junior level and that should help professional growth. AFL will always be the leader as a pro sport though. Crowd numbers are actually really impressive.
- Oct 8, 2009
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Yep. That's the thing. We're sports crazy but not like the US is.
Any night over there you've got stadiums filling out and bars filled with people watching NFL, NCAA, NBA or MLB. Obviously they've got a huge population so that helps.
Australians though have never really embraced the mid week sports event though. Unless it's something massive, they're not likely to go. The Big Bash has been the only exception and that happens to come during a time when kids aren't at school. The AFL will always be around on weekends and continues to be extremely popular making it tough for other sports.
It really isn't that surprising that Channel 9 is struggling to justify keeping the test cricket. Majority of it is played during the day, plenty of people still work during summer and cricket isn't the clear number one summer choice for sport like it used to be. My mates are far more likely to be watching NBA than an entire day's worth of test cricket.
Oh really? Based on what exactly?
The below is spot on, it had a sustainable niche going which CA managed to successfully grow into the mainstream.
- May 5, 2006
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We're also not dedicated and loyal like UK soccer fans, for example.
People point to the high average crowd in the AFL like it is meaningful and representative.
9 games a round, 207 games for the year - a good portion of which are in stadiums that allow both sets of supporters to attend.
The Premier League for example is 380 games - most of which run simultaneously. Bournemouth vs Man Utd isn't played at Wembley because it holds 90,000, it's played at Bournemouth's ground that holds 11,000. Next rung down is the Championship which is another 24 teams and 552 games with an average attendance of 20k.
Take the 19th best footy team in Australia and the average attendance would be under 5k. Ex VFL/AFL clubs like University and Fitzroy - no one GAF. Ex NRL clubs like North Sydney Bears - no one GAF. WAFL, VFL, SANFL, NSW Cup, NRC... the support just isn't there.
- Banned
- #793
Lack of loyalty is why we couldn't have relegation. Clubs would die going down.
- May 5, 2006
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Yep, look at Hawthorn. 2010 was the last time you weren't at least in a QF. A couple of bad games and the crowd vs us was 29k. Last year 43k, was 50k a couple of years ago on a Friday night. If you go back to the early 2000s the regular crowd for the fixture was low 20s, and in the 90s at Waverley it was in the teens.
Hawthorn are into their down part of the cycle just like every other team. If crowds are down under 30k now after being 20k or less the last time they struggled, what do people think would happen if they were relegated to the VFL? And that's a team that's recently amazingly successful and pretty big off field. What about North 2017, let alone Gold Coast or Brisbane?
Also reportedly not Prince Phillip. Gotta love modern "news" organisations.
- Jul 13, 2015
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No. Support for the A League and support for Soccer in this country are entirely different things though. The A League only appeals to a fraction of the market when it comes to Australian Soccer supporters and this is unlikely to change any time soon. As long as there is a superior quality product elsewhere then people will gravitate towards these leagues for the simple reason that most people want to see the sport they love played at the highest level. Plus you've also got a lot of Soccer fans in this country coming from migrant backgrounds who are more likely to identify with foreign clubs or national teams before the local ones.
I don't think we're far off reaching the point where we have more people in this country who at least casually follow a Soccer team somewhere in the world than there are people who follow an AFL or NRL team though. It's just that this interest is always going to be scattered all over the place rather than concentrated in the one competition like support for Rugby League or Aussie Rules is.
