Why didn't you go on Saturday?

[royboy42]

I actually went to the game with 3 other keen Swan's supporters. Paid $75 each for dearest seats..4 rows from front in the rain. But I was having serious doubts round 3 that afternoon when I could not see my back fence from ten metres away through the rain, and I'm only 30 mins away from ANZ.
ANZ is the most god forsaken place..Melbourne fans, think of that mongrel stadium the VFL stuck out at Waverley! This joint is worse. No atmosphere, dud catering,long walks from limited car parking, and if it's raining in NSW it will be bucketing at ANZ!
Had we lost I would have been whingeing a lot harder,, believe me. BUT a win in those conditions surrounded by dinki-di Swans supporters was awesome~!
I will be a lot more careful booking next time..only 4 tickets to each membership card ( and you had to start a new booking for a 2nd membershiop card, meaning those after the first 4 could not sit with their mates) and then public gets 8 per order??? Make sense of that!!!

[ernie koala]

1)The tickets are too expensive....would put off some
2) Crap weather leading into game....would put off some
3) The Kangaroos...are hard pressed to attract some.
4) It was at ANZ 'the great white elephant of Homebush'...would put off plenty!!
I contend that if this game had been held at the Swans home ground...
..the SCG, there would of been 30k plus attending.....wake up AFL.

[Triple B]

My bad was thinking Circa 96 in the final round..

Triple B, that reference was to the 1996 Rnd 22 game, in howling gale, sheeting rain, and anyone who was there belongs to the elite club that is the "I Was There The Night The Sydney Chant Went Up For The First Time, in Gale Force Rain, etc etc". We are proud very proud of this particular membership. We were also twelve years younger. Not SURE I could do it again. Whattha, yes I would.

Yeah, I'm a member of that club.

When Glenn said 'final', I thought he must have meant the 2004 EF.

Now THAT, was the halftime thunder and lightning show to beat them all.

[Snake]

Last flights to Sydney where on a Qantas plane and theres no way in hell, I'm going on one of there aircraft.

[Glenn]

Tickets to expensive, sure if you want prime seats but $35 for Adult or $15 Concession (hint they don't check for concession eligibilty when the tickets are scanned) for the budget seats is reasonable for a final IMHO.

Crap Weather...Chicken Soupers that Roos was mentioning, FFS it is a Winter Game what do people want mid 20's and a slight breeze.

They struggle to attract their own supporters, but surely a bigger draw card would have been seeing that team in Red and White.

ANZ hasn't had problems drawing a crowd before, and contractually obliged to play any home finals at ANZ.

[Glenn]

Yeah, I'm a member of that club.

When Glenn said 'final', I thought he must have meant the 2004 EF.

Now THAT, was the halftime thunder and lightning show to beat them all.

2004 that was vs Adelaide (if memory serves me correctly), sitting on the top deck of the Doug Walters stand during a storm, now that is a experience.

[Mike_B]

I didn't go because my parents were down visiting me in Melbourne for the first time since I moved down.

The AFL clearly has no idea when it comes to setting ticket prices. Ticket pricing for each week of the finals increases, yet premium tickets for week 2 at the MCG are still 15% cheaper than the premium tickets for week 1 in Sydney. Clearly they set the prices too high and have suffered a poor crowd as a consequence. Add to that the poor weather, the lack of promotion for the game, the poor press the Swans have been receiving, and the fact it was a traditionally low-drawing opposition, and you have your reasons for a crowd under 20k.

The AFL could not control for all those factors, but the one that becomes an overriding decision point for many people was one they could control and they clearly got it VERY wrong.

[Bloodlines]

Satdy night

I went. I paid $75 bucks for a seat and had a railing in front of me so had to stand up to see parts of the field. I got altitude sickness and wet feet getting there and back. Geez... it is a crap place out there. The tickets were far too expensive and people are right who is going to be a walk up on a wet staurday night a that God forsaken hole when you could go to the Alexandria pub watch it free have a beer at less than Ned Kelly Prices and then be home in 20 minutes? Shoulda been at the SCG most of the Swannies mob come from round there and there might have been a few more walk ups.
But at last I wuz there and I saw some great Bloods footy. That period in the third quarter when they held it in the forward line for 10 minutes was spine chilling. And watching Kirky and his blood brother Jude attack the footy was a highlight. Brett is up there at the pinnacle of the Swans and will be there forever as far as I am concerned . Never seen a man put so much passion into his game. No disrespect to Kell Mickey and Goodsy but this one is a special.
On Teev Voss was banging on about how tough the Swans are to play. watch Kirky and you know why.

[Mike_B]

2004 that was vs Adelaide (if memory serves me correctly), sitting on the top deck of the Doug Walters stand during a storm, now that is a experience.

There was a huge downpour for the 98 final v Adelaide at the SCG, and the massive storm during the 04 EF v WCE at Homebush.

[Mel]

I wasn't there and neither were my folks (they are the members I go to regular season games with). We have a lot of reasons for not going on Saturday night.

- My dad has grumpy old man issues when it comes to paying nearly 1/4 of what he pays for his season membership to sit in the same seat for one game. I can see his point but usually go anyway with other friends.

- My folks had to work at 3am the next morning and by the time they get out of Homebush and home it's midnight. Lounge room to Bed takes about 5 seconds

- My other friends weren't keen on forking out $60-$75 on a team they thought was playing like crap for a few hours of sitting in the rain. The chance of getting my husband to go was between nil and zero when we worked out that it would cost us at least $200. Money we can't afford right now.

- Personally, I haven't enjoyed the games this year. The Brisbane game was the first in a long time that I had a good time at. I'm pregnant, working full-time and have a little one at home so giving up six hours + of a weekend is a big ask right now.

- I'm usually exhausted by 8:30pm every night and can barely walk to the loo from the lounge so walking the marathon distance from carpark to stadium seemed beyond me.

And finally; I'm pregnant and feel fat so bugger off and leave me alone!

Seriously, loved the game (what I could see on tele) and am thrilled the boys are playing well again, but still don't regret not going.

[Industrial Fan]

Look, it's pretty simple.

Price.

I agree. The pricing for every category was over the top. We normally sit close to the boundary, but I wouldn't regard them as exclusive in any way.

$75 thank you...

I still think there should be some agreement for season ticket holders to guarantee the purchase of the seats they sit in through the year. I dont think this would be too difficult to put into place either and it would avoid the situation of allocating @@@@e seats for the presale.

$75 to go into a lottery, not sit with the same crowd then detracts from the value further. We sat in the members section on lvl 4, and I didn't enjoy the atmosphere up there as much as I do on the fence (even though I would have been wet...)

[AnnieH]

IF/MMG ... you wouldn't have been that wet. An elcheapo poncho would have you set!!

Mel ... you're preggers again!! Congrats. (Two kids under 3 ... you go girl)

Everyone else ... why is is so important to get a "pass out" at the game. Is it so you can go and have a smoke? Both the SCG and ANZ Stadium cater for smokers inside the boundary of the venues. I know at the MCG you get a pass out to go outside and have a smoke. Why do you need to have a "pass out" at one of the Sydney venues?

[Industrial Fan]

IF/MMG ... you wouldn't have been that wet. An elcheapo poncho would have you set!!

My point was that because of the seat allocation, we sat up the top.

I wasn't worried about the rain.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

That game was at Telstra/ANZ/Stadium Australia.

You guys are mixing up the last round match in 1996 with the final in 2004 when we had a big electrical storm at half time.

The weather sucked at both games, even if the latter was mainly a storm that soon passed.

JF

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Last flights to Sydney where on a Qantas plane and theres no way in hell, I'm going on one of there aircraft.

I did. My flight home was a record 53 minutes. They said to strap in nice & tight because we were going to make up time. The decent into Melbourne was akin to the Big Dipper at Luna Park!

All for $90 at the last minute. I LOVE the perks of working for an airline!

JF