Why won't some Victorians give League a chance?

[Bellicose]

Originally posted by dj21
There are 7 gridiron teams in melbourne/geelong and American football doesn't get a page a day in the newspaper. Ripped off!! Or is it just another case of victorian insularity.

Yes. There is a conspiracy between the AFL and the Melbourne media to keep the NFL out of Victoria. This is despite the NFL doing no promotion here. Though it is quite popular in places other than Victoria, it has not taken hold here. It must be due to our insularity.


Hang on, did I say NFL? I meant NRL.

 

[Caged Panther03]

Originally posted by mantis
We have & found it boring, obviously rugby fans find it boring as well, otherwise they wouldn't have to keep giving away 10,000 tickets, just to get people to the games.

I've said it before and I'll say it again you can give away as many "freebies" as you like but people won't turn up to something they are not interested in. The fact that each one of those 10 000 tickets will be used on the weekend is an indication there is a great level of interest in league.

 

[Hicham]

Just a quick note to people about these 10,000 tickets for the past 2 Warriors games.

It isnt the NRL that is handing out these 'freebies'. The NRL has nothing to do with it. Eric Watson, who is the owner (Not the CEO) of the New Zealand Warriors, has bought these tickets through Ticketek out of his own pocket - to the tune of roughly $300,000. This is his idea along with his marketing committee at the Warriors. This in Eric's words was a gesture to the NZ fans - his way of giving something back. And believe me, $300,000 is nothing to Eric Watson, so no use arguing this was some secret hidden marketing agenda by the NRL or some crap that you are likely to come up with. It is simply a club thing, not an NRL thing.

If you had've seen the scenes at Aussie Stadium yesterday you'd shut up and applaud those fans and their party atmosphere, some who'd waited a hell of a long time.

Cheers,

Hicham

 

[otaku]

Originally posted by Hicham
Just a quick note to people about these 10,000 tickets for the past 2 Warriors games.

It isnt the NRL that is handing out these 'freebies'. The NRL has nothing to do with it. Eric Watson, who is the owner (Not the CEO) of the New Zealand Warriors, has bought these tickets through Ticketek out of his own pocket - to the tune of roughly $300,000. This is his idea along with his marketing committee at the Warriors. This in Eric's words was a gesture to the NZ fans - his way of giving something back. And believe me, $300,000 is nothing to Eric Watson, so no use arguing this was some secret hidden marketing agenda by the NRL or some crap that you are likely to come up with. It is simply a club thing, not an NRL thing.

If you had've seen the scenes at Aussie Stadium yesterday you'd shut up and applaud those fans and their party atmosphere, some who'd waited a hell of a long time.

Cheers,

Hicham

isnt the idea to make money frmo these games?

If you have a club that has to buy 10000 seats, and give them away to keep up numbers, doesnt that mean that club is making a loss (or at least a heavily reduced margin)on the game?

seems to me that it is a simple way of ensuring that your club is perceived as "popular" and "crowd drawing".

 

[Richoagain]

Originally posted by dj21
Does anybody know how many RL teams there are in Melbourne (including the Storm)?

There are -

The Storm

Then, in VRL first grade

Altona
Sunbury
Waverley-Oakleigh
St Kilda
Doveton

I think there were four in second grade this year, one of which was the Gippsland Wildcats.

Participation levels have actually decreased significantly in the last few years, even though with the advent of the Storm knowledge and visibility of rugby league is at an all-time high. A guy I was speaking to not too long ago played for Geelong and Coburg during the 90s, both these clubs now being gone.

When I was still at school in Sale (I finished in 98) we had quite a vibrant Gippsland RL, with about eight clubs. It has since completely disappeared, and is now represented by the one side in the VRL...

I honestly can't say why this has happened, either. The main sport I played at school (I stopped playing club Aussie Rules when I was about 15 and only started again this year) was hockey. Back then, there were about eight or nine senior mens clubs and about 20 or 30 womens clubs across Gippsland. The mens comp folded completely for a few years (it has since been restarted from scratch as of last year) and the number of womens teams has roughly halved...

Is it a problem that all weekend rec sports are facing?

 

[I_LUV_AFL]

Is that all you guys can come up with?
"You have to give away 10,000 tickets to get crowds" Yawn........
Very boring stuff. We Penrith Panthers used it against the Warriors fans but I consider it an excellent idea.
Why is it anything but good?
Otaku- Your head must be in the clouds. The promotion was not used to "boost" numbers as you put it. Eric Watson, the buyer of the tickets has publicly stated that he would like more fans at the game then Penrith fans which is hard whn your team is in a different country so he came up with an idea to increase the crowd support in which the Warriors had. It worked last week against Canberra in which there were much more then 10,000 Kiwis at the ground.
Wake up and don't try to get us down cause it doesn't work.

 

[Ms.Storm]

Slack

Originally posted by Slax
Victorians won't give RL a go because more of us care about Union than League. If you put a super 12 match head to head in Melbourne v Storm you'd get a couple of hundred at Storm and 20,000 at the super 12s.

RL just doesn't offer Melbournians anything interesting.

What a stupid and ill-informed comment.

For starters, this wouldn't happen (News Ltd. just wouldn't do it) and most storm supporters wouldn't desert their team to watch a super 12's team.

Super 12 teams only play approx. 6 home games in their states per season whereas league in Melb., Sydney, etc. features more than doubles that amount of games per season.

You would find that if the Wallabies played 16 home games here in Melbourne in one season, the amount of people attending each game would greatly be reduced (novelty factor, expense factor, time factor, etc.)

For instance the Wallabies play in Melbourne twice at year with good attendance (for example of 50,000 each game), Storm play over 12+ home games x 10,000 each game and see who gets the better attendances!

What a dingbat you are

 

[robbieando]

Ms Storm, it is widely tipped that if when News Limited re-new their Super 12 contract with SANZA, they will want a 4th Super 12 team in Australia. At this stage the hot tip to get the 4th team would be Perth, because News Limited know that if the 4th team goes to Melbourne it will greatly impact on their investment in the Melbourne Storm and they want to protect for the time being that investment.

So good news for the Storm, bad news for the Union lovers of Victoria who outnumber League lovers. Ms Storm you would like to think otherwise but there is a huge following for Union in Victoria and if League and Union went head to head, alot of Storm fans would jump across because their first love is Union and they only support the Storm because its their only access to top quailty Rugby of either code. The Storm would also go head to head with the Union side for sponsors and frankly at the moment, Union is the more marketable code in Melbourne and the comp they play in, is played in 3 countries.

The Storm should be able to survive, but a Super 12 team in Melbourne would be a worrying prospect for them, because it could be a short term drain on fans and sponsors.

 

[Mint Condition]

Melbourne's a more viable option for a 4th super 12 team.

There's far more sponsorship $$$, it's a larger population and players from northern states would prefer to relocate to Melbourne than Perth.

I know the ARU want it in Melbourne while the Kiwis and Saffas would prefer it in Perth. If news do in fact want to protect their Melbourne Storm investment then yes, it'll be in Perth. But I'm not too sure. I don't think it would affect the storm too much, if at all. It is a shorter season and Melbourne's a big market. Surely it can accomodate 3 codes?

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Mint Condition
and players from northern states would prefer to relocate to Melbourne than Perth.

if i was a player, i'd prefer Perth personally.

from a news ltd perspective, far more viable for them to have a union team in perth, that way they have francises in the melbourne and perth market.

from a purely union standpoint, i'd imagine it is much more beneficial for them to have a team in melbourne, for some of the reason perfect condition points out.

also the halfway point of Perth in regards to the 3 countries competing in the S12 would probably be more lucrative geographically.

 

[Rex]

Originally posted by dj21
There are 7 gridiron teams in melbourne/geelong and American football doesn't get a page a day in the newspaper. Ripped off!! Or is it just another case of victorian insularity.

Are those gridiron teams playing in a high profile competition with high profile players? Don't think so.

The Storm are part of the second biggest domestic comp in the country.

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Rex
Are those gridiron teams playing in a high profile competition with high profile players? Don't think so.

The Storm are part of the second biggest domestic comp in the country. cr

Thanks for that, crooked rain

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Rex
Are those gridiron teams playing in a high profile competition with high profile players? Don't think so.

The Storm are part of the second biggest domestic comp in the country.

hahaha, quick to remove the evidence

 

[Rex]

 

[Crooked Rain]

Trust bloody Nicko to be on during that time.

cr

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Crooked Rain
Trust bloody Nicko to be on during that time.

cr

geez crooked, its nothing to get defensive over!!

it's funny you have to admit.

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Rex

cr (and no I'm not a ****)

why did you feel you needed to express that?

 

[Crooked Rain]

The "no I'm not a ****" bit was mean't to be a joke because my "girlfriend's" name on the board is Rex.

Not defensive at all. And yep, it is funny - one of my best!

cr

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Crooked Rain
The "no I'm not a ****" bit was mean't to be a joke because my "girlfriend's" name on the board is Rex.

Not defensive at all. And yep, it is funny - one of my best!

cr

but it's strange how it doesn't have a last edited by Rex thing on the bottom. I was expecting you to come out all guns blazing and deny it.

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Rex
Are those gridiron teams playing in a high profile competition with high profile players? Don't think so.

The Storm are part of the second biggest domestic comp in the country.

*best league paranoia impersonation*

but the reason they are not high profile is because the media will not give them a chance. It is the biggest football code in the USA, which dwarfs the population of Victoria, and victorians see this as a threat, hence their quashing it in the media. Sports Today does not even have a regular gridiron segment
It's not popular because it is not given media attention, it's the chicken and the egg argument.

Even people in sydney who went to the exhibition game at stadium Australia said it was boring. Talk about feeling threatened!! they do not want to give it a chance because it might take over.

oh yeah, and soccer is the biggest comp in the world, and the damn melbourne press (and sydney press) does not give it the time of day.

 

[dj21]

Originally posted by Rex
Are those gridiron teams playing in a high profile competition with high profile players? Don't think so.

The Storm are part of the second biggest domestic comp in the country.

The point is that RL is not a popular sport down here if there aren't many teams playing it and yet the Storm get into the newspaper and attract crowds that aren't the worst in the competition (even considering they don't play teams from the same city).

Basketball and Netball are two of the most participated sports in Melbourne, both have 2 teams each in a national competition yet RL gets more mention in the newspaper than both combined. If you think about it RL is way over it's deserved quota of attention. The Storm get just as much space in the paper as an AFL team that has 20,000 members and an average crowd more than twice that of the Storm.

 

[dj21]

How many Swans games do you go to in a year crooked rex?

 

[Crooked Rain]

Originally posted by nicko18
but it's strange how it doesn't have a last edited by Rex thing on the bottom. I was expecting you to come out all guns blazing and deny it.

Oh well I hope you all be nice nice to rex when she comes on next. Although she never posts on the league board anyway I think. And probably never will after being exposed as a crooked lover.

cr

 

[Crooked Rain]

Originally posted by dj21
The point is that RL is not a popular sport down here if there aren't many teams playing it and yet the Storm get into the newspaper and attract crowds that aren't the worst in the competition (even considering they don't play teams from the same city).

Basketball and Netball are two of the most participated sports in Melbourne, both have 2 teams each in a national competition yet RL gets more mention in the newspaper than both combined. If you think about it RL is way over it's deserved quota of attention. The Storm get just as much space in the paper as an AFL team that has 20,000 members and an average crowd more than twice that of the Storm.

You could also say that of basketball and soccer teams who get fewer people to their games than the storm. It's funny how the storm can av 10,000 with hardly anyone playing it down there. cr

 

[dj21]

Originally posted by Crooked Rain
You could also say that of basketball and soccer teams who get fewer people to their games than the storm. It's funny how the storm can av 10,000 with hardly anyone playing it down there. cr

So what you are saying is that Victorians do give the Storm a go.