So who is going to ANZ tonight

[dimelb]

I watched on the teev,saw all the empty seats and thought the noise was amazing!

[AnnieH]

For future reference ... the seats behind the swans bench were quite "dry" (3 rows from the boundary) - only minimal sprinkling - even during the downpour. I thought it would be much worse.

Definately the best seats to sit in.

The noise in the 3rd quarter sounded like there were 50,000 in the crowd.

[Cant turn right]

Just saw an ad on Channel 10 at 1125pm to go and see tonights game. Nice marketing AFL!!!

[ugg]

Those who opted to not go - bad luck! Best Swans performance in a long time and the crowd was terrific.

[A swans fan]

Both the crowd and the swans were SENSATIONAL!!!!!!

[SCGonasunnyday]

Best atmosphere I've been to all year, loud and proud we were, and the feeling in the crowd as 8 straight goals rained in was magic.

Want to send a salvo at the journos bagging sydney calling it a 'pathetic 19,000'. Don't bag us. And don't blame those who didn't come either - as someone else has said on here, the economy is biting and a lot of people simply can't afford to spend $120+ on tickets for one game.

[Damien]

I had so much fun last night, great crowd, great people around us, no moaning, just everyone really passionate and loving it!

Give me more of that at Swans games!

[swantastic]

I watched the game at the Rising Sun hotel last night and the atmosphere was swantastic and packed to the rafters..Except for one old bitch who had a crack at my kids and i dont need to explain what happend after that.

The crowd at the game was pathetic and it just proves a point to the AFL why a second team wont work in Sydney ATM.

I was disgusted at the piss poor turn out of the so called Swans supporters,who gives a @@@@ if its raining.

Sydney based supporters you should be ashmed of your selves.

[Glenn]

Assuming that is directed at the ones that didn't got to the game.

Sure their will be those with a legitimate reason, but if the only reason was a bit of water....

[GoSouth33]

I was one of the 19000+ (we had a group of four). The game and atmosphere around us was fantastic. If you could've gone and didn't well, it was your loss: you can't get that game back. I thought the ground was in excellent condition given the rain that fell during the day. Was just so pleased with how our team played. Let's win next week and then dare to dream.

[Xie Shan]

I think a lot of people were caught out after our recent form, after the loss to Collingwood most people with more than a passing interest in the Swans (myself included) would have thought there wasn't a hope in hell of us progressing past the first week of the finals, let alone grabbing a home final. Add this to all the other factors (need I mention Sydney's crappy transport system?), it (the small crowd) was a weird anomaly considering our crowds have actually been pretty decent this year (SCG crowds steady considering the reconstruction, ANZ crowds down but still averaged 40,000-odd). Hell, we got 40,000 to a final against the Eagles in 2004 in worse conditions, before we had any sort of rivalry with them!

While it shows Sydney has a long way to go to being an AFL town and there is a lot of work to be done before the AFL even thinks about putting a team in Western Sydney, the size of last night's crowd is in no way a reflection of the level of interest in the Swans in Sydney. I think, if anything, the atmosphere last night shows that our core supporter base, while not huge, is just as, if not more, passionate than any other team in the league! It was fantastic to be a part of.

[Blood]

I think a lot of people were caught out after our recent form, after the loss to Collingwood most people with more than a passing interest in the Swans (myself included) would have thought there wasn't a hope in hell of us progressing past the first week of the finals, let alone grabbing a home final. Add this to all the other factors (need I mention Sydney's crappy transport system?), it (the small crowd) was a weird anomaly considering our crowds have actually been pretty decent this year (SCG crowds steady considering the reconstruction, ANZ crowds down but still averaged 40,000-odd). Hell, we got 40,000 to a final against the Eagles in 2004 in worse conditions, before we had any sort of rivalry with them!

While it shows Sydney has a long way to go to being an AFL town and there is a lot of work to be done before the AFL even thinks about putting a team in Western Sydney, the size of last night's crowd is in no way a reflection of the level of interest in the Swans in Sydney. I think, if anything, the atmosphere last night shows that our core supporter base, while not huge, is just as, if not more, passionate than any other team in the league! It was fantastic to be a part of.

Agree.

FWIW, that was the best game in terms of atmosphere that i've been to.

[annew]

I actually think that the crowds for other games at Homebush are hugely inflated as many, many free tickets are given away to these games. For a family of 4 the absolute minimum price for tickets would be $140 and that is a lot of money when things are tough. I would also like to point out that the crowds at Homebush usually attract more people from the west than the SCG games do and the west of Sydney have a lot of genuine battlers that most probably can't afford it. I was there and I thought it was fantastic but realistically finals tickets do cost a lot of money. If the AFL seriously want to grow the game then maybe tickets should have been cheaper for kids say $5 so that families can afford to go. I don't have kids myself so maybe that is why I can afford to pay for finals tickets.

[Matty10]

There is clearly a price issue with finals tickets and crowd numbers. If you get less numbers than you have members (which happened at both the Swans and Crows matches) then the issue cannot be just attributed to a general lack of enthusiasm.

Everyone who supports a club in the AFL wants to go to the finals, but each year not everyone does (it is rare that the grounds get filled in the first weeks of the finals) - price cannot be ignored.

It is annoying, and poorly managed by the AFL, because the image of the game suffers.

I also wonder if the crowd numbers in Sydney have been affected by the talk about a second team.

If you lived in the western suburbs of Sydney and were being told that a new team was going to come into the AFL to represent your area, doesn't that by extension mean that the Swans will no longer represent you? Why then would you go to their games (particularly if your interest was not secured in a current membership).

[liz]

I think a "Geelong factor" is a little at work here - after all it's not just in Sydney where the crowd is a talking point. Numbers were down in Adelaide too, despite it being a beautiful spring afternoon over there.

It's not Geelong's fault, but I think the perception that 7 teams are playing off for the right to be belted in the Grand Final might have dampened some people's enthusiasm.

Still disappointed in a lame response from the Sydney public though.