Something's up with the crowds

[liz]

I've just noticed in a match report that today's crowd was apparently 22 and a bit thousand. Have to confess I'm surprised because it looked much smaller than the last two home games, both of which were officially around 24,000.

Today's crowd figure could have been right- but in that case they've significantly understated crowds at earlier games. Certainly the ground looked more than half full in those.

[Reggi]

I guess maybe the poor weather may be responsible but considering two good wins - that would have to be a fair disappointment.

[nicko18]

i guessed 22,000. it was very sparse around the concourse bays 1-6. there were also a lot of empty seats in the o'reilly stand, walters and messenger stands. the brewongle stand was fairly crowded, as was the rest of the concourse and the members stand.

[EMJ]

SCG Trust or turnstiles are responsible for crowd numbers - never seem correct in my opinion. Game against Melbourne - we were packed in - in Brewongle - so could not understand that crowd not being 30,000 at least - quite packed in many areas.

The stated figures never match up at all.

[swan_song]

Quite disappointing crowds really...the chardonnay set haven't jumped back on the bandwagon yet....still tinkling their glasses in preparation for the ruggering world cup. Personally, I think about 21- 25,000 is our "core" supporter base and anything over is a bonus. A couple of points though. As with the diisappointing MD crowd...1pm starts are not popular. In our case, for instance, they wreck family Sunday mornings...that extra hour makes a lot of difference...
A small thing, but I think the Swans also do themselves a disservice with their emails etc warning of traffic and parking problems (this time cos of a rugger match next door). Some people I'm sure, would say 'oh bugger it, II don't want that hassle, I'll watch it live on telly instead.'
Also, I personally don't believe that the product (AFL) is promoted well enough in Sydney, which likes flashy, glitzy things (some would say shallow ) a la the Tina Turner/My Team promos for the ruggering league.

[Angelic Upstart]

Originally posted by swan_song
Quite disappointing crowds really...the chardonnay set haven't jumped back on the bandwagon yet....

Three wins in a row - two of them against last years grand finalists: what do the Swans have to do to get those people back on the bandwagon? Maybe the club should look at targetting its marketing efforts/membership drive towards people who are going to show a bit more loyalty and commitment, and leave the chardonnay set to their...um...chardonnay.

From the TV coverage that crowd figure looked very inflated. Large blocks of empty seating, zero atmosphere. It looked like we'd gone back to the bad old days when we were scraping to get 10-12,000.

[Damien]

It was def. 22 thousand - the capacity is now 46000, so I would be confident a further 20 thousand would have packed it.

Mothers Day and the weather did not help. The next home game is against Essendon out in westie land.....a few wins on the road could setup a record crowd (perhaps).

[Beaussie]

Perhaps the Swans should request Saturday afternoon and night games next season. It has been said many times by fans and the administration that the 1.10pm start to satisfy Channel 9's NRL committments is not popular with Swans fans.

Saturday afternoons or nights could see Channel 10 broadcasting all Swans games live. Who needs Channel 9 anyway, they're just as bad if not worse than Channel 7 ever was.

[TheHood]

Collingwood get a crap load of night games, so I don't see why we can't.

I must admit, the early Sunday games leave me a bit flat in the late afternoon and for some reason the boys never seem too revved up either.

And there is no feeling better than celebrating a win on a Saturday night. Although it just don't help my alcoholism any.

[j s]

There was no-one sitting within 20 metres of Des (except Jay).

Is he now a crowd jinx as well?

[redunderthebed]

i think the point Liz was making related to the crowd count and I agree.Looking at yesterdays crowd , I would have calculated that it was substancially down on the Lions game but the official figures did not show this.I think that the members numbers yesterday were well below last week. But there did seem to be less paying punters overall. The official numbers indicated 1000/2000 less yesterday than last week and i would agree (on previous games) that 23,000 would be right ....SO previous games were understated?If so , WHY?

[Charlie]

The 1 o'clock games annoy me. I know the club requests Sunday games... but they shouldn't be that early... grr the TV deal wins out again!!!

[motorace_182]

There were roughly the same amount. The atmosphere was down a lot, mainly due to the weather putting everyone on a downer but also there were a lot more people hiding in the rafters where cover was assured than last week

[Bron]

I guessed 21 - 22,000 and was surprised it was more. Agree with what's been said - I thought it was well fewer than the last couple of games. The crowd was quite flat, particularly in the last quarter. It was very hard to get any cheering going.

1.10pm is a lousy time to start .... this is really sinking in .... it quite messes up the day .... and we have friends that we meet up with .... too early to catch up for lunch, too early to do dinner .... and then when you get home, the replay isn't on for a few hours! I much prefer the saturday night games when I can go to the AM, then rock on home in time to watch the replay (of course that's when we win).

[robbieando]

Problem with the 1pm starts is if the club asked for and got 2pm starts the games wouldn't be on free to air in Melbourne and that would futher piss off the Melbourne based fans.

I said it before the club should look at playing some games at 2pm Saturday live around australia on 10. Maybe this brake up

ANZAC Day 7.40pm - 1 Matches
Saturday 2.00pm - 2 Matches
Saturday 7.00pm - 5 Matches (Including our 3 Stadium Oz Matches)
Sunday 1.00pm - 3 Matches

Its worth a try