Where have all the fans gone!!!!

[floppinab]

which still left huge hikes in family and child ticket prices, along with the abolition of season tickets, (just to squeeze more money out of those who hitherto didn't see value in getting a key ring, a limited vote and access to diminishing numbers of post-game functions) would probably be of interest to the beancounters at AFL HQ.

As one of those lapsed members (kids playing football all day Satdy & Sundy) when we have bought tickets at the gate this year, have been absolutely flabbergasted at the prices. It has since turned us off of going to games where we might have. Be interested to see a comparison to NRL prices particularly @ Homebush.

EDIT : Just did a quick and dirty comparison. Equiv seat for an adult for Sat. night $55 for gold ~= $30 for the Bulldogs game on Fri. night. Nearly double!!!! Explains a lot.

[SwansFan1972]

As one of those lapsed members (kids playing football all day Satdy & Sundy) when we have bought tickets at the gate this year, have been absolutely flabbergasted at the prices. It has since turned us off of going to games where we might have. Be interested to see a comparison to NRL prices particularly @ Homebush.

EDIT : Just did a quick and dirty comparison. Equiv seat for an adult for Sat. night $55 for gold ~= $30 for the Bulldogs game on Fri. night. Nearly double!!!! Explains a lot.

yes - "gold" seats are a bust, but the best value is a family pass in the bronze zone - $40 for 2a + 2j (basically, the kids get in for free). Not the best seats in the house, but my godsons (9 years) thought it was awesome sitting behind the cheersquad at the Port game, and the thrill of perhaps getting hit by the ball had them very excited! After them only ever knowing their old seats on the O"Reilly wing, (where it hasn't always been really easy to get a chant going) they loved being in the thick of the cheering and screaming!

So far we've been in both bronze zones at either end of the ground - the kids loved the cheersquad end the most. For the kid-free Carlton game we sat in the new Trumper stand - was ok - but as you say, much more expensive. It has actually been a bit refreshing to move around the ground a bit.

And a quick calculation - we've spent $360 so far on tickets this season without missing a game (includes silver superpass at Homebush). Had we had access to our season tickets at 2008 prices (admittedly, we haven't bought as many seats this year as we did last year - we used to buy two family passes to accommodate whichever anklebiters wanted to come each week), we'd have spent the equivalent of $527. Under the 2009 pricing it would have been $700 (five out of eleven games).

So, not bad value for us week to week, albeit with compromises!

Not good for the club's bottom line however!

[shaun..]

The Superpass to ANZ games was wonderfully cheap and quite a shock after dropping membership this year. $55 for the 4 games (mind you it was a Student priced ticket )

Now drop the prices for SCG games!

[SCGonasunnyday]

I know the press would have us believe this crap, but most people, unless they lose their job, are better off now than they have been for a while. petrol prices are down, interest rates are down. The economy furphy is nothing more than that....a furphy.

And yes at 10% unemployment 90% of people still have their jobs and can buy up cheap shares and property, enjoy cheap air fares, discounts at Harvey Norman and find it bloody easy to get taxis in the city.

But the point is that a recession is built on fear. Do you seriously think that people aren't cutting spending due to economic fears? And that this is the primary reason crowds are down at Swans games???

What makes the Swans different from taxis, restaurants, air line fares, cars, furniture - all these industries suffer because they sell things people want but don't need.

[Hartijon]

I know the press would have us believe this crap, but most people, unless they lose their job, are better off now than they have been for a while. petrol prices are down, interest rates are down. The economy furphy is nothing more than that....a furphy.

So the $60,000 missing from my superannuation account is a furphy and I am actually better off? You should be a politician.Kevin could use someone like you.

[Roscoe]

This is definetley my last year after being a member for 14 years

Many factors - the renewal farce

The economy/cost

Sat afternoon games - should have been Friday night instead

Do not wan't to be committed to every game to get my money's worth

If I want I will just go on line and get a ticket whenever I want to go

There is a severe lack of promotion and marketing than in previous years

[Nico]

The cold Sydney winter might have something to do with it.

[The Big Cat]

This is definetley my last year after being a member for 14 years

Many factors - the renewal farce

The economy/cost

Sat afternoon games - should have been Friday night instead

Do not wan't to be committed to every game to get my money's worth

If I want I will just go on line and get a ticket whenever I want to go

There is a severe lack of promotion and marketing than in previous years

Real supporters stick whatever the circumstances. I've been a member for as long as I can remember and my team is located a thousand kilometers away. I travel three hours to every Victorian game. If I lived in Sydney I'd be at every game with bells on.

[pinkemu]

This is definetley my last year after being a member for 14 years

Many factors - the renewal farce

The economy/cost

Sat afternoon games - should have been Friday night instead

Do not wan't to be committed to every game to get my money's worth

If I want I will just go on line and get a ticket whenever I want to go

There is a severe lack of promotion and marketing than in previous years

I think you'll find many that disagree on the Saturday games, best of the fixture for me.

And think of the carbon footprint

[Darren Thomson]

I think all would agree winning puts bums on seats. The problem is, it's impossible to win all the time year after year (the bleeding obvious). So the club needs to capture the publics imagination in other ways...like playing an exciting brand of footy, winning against the odds, 2003 rings a bell, having some exciting high draft picks coming through. None of these things are acheived by plodding along in the middle of the field, scratching out wins, playing conservative footy.
What these figures show is that Roos way isn't working as it doesn't capture the publics interest. The view that "Sydneysiders only like a winner" is cliched crap. Like sports fans everywhere we like winning ( the bleeding obvious) but if that's not possible we want to be surprised, entertained, go to a game where the unpredictable may happen. And if that means going to the bottom 3 or 4 of the ladder for a year or 2, so be it. It beats the painfully slow predictable slide we are currently witnessing.

Ridicilous, Roosy's way brought us a flag, and in 2005 there were bums on seats make no mistake, No the amrketing guys have got it wrong but we are a fickle bunch of supporters, we are not Collingwood who turn up rain hail or shine, we go when it's in our favour. We're a big chance of beating Collingwood, they haven't exactly set the world on fire this year, but it's like Roos says, we need 22 players to turn up, not 14. Some of these guys wouldn't be getting a game if it wasn't for the shotness of our list, and we are still getting used to a few positional changes that have affected our rotations etc. Look at the injury list as well while yr at it. There's nothing wrong with the way we play or the game plan, when we stick to it. If the players can focus for the whole game, we could beat anyone, well, maybe not Geelong, I can't imagine that Mick is fully match fit yet along with a coule otherblokes, but we have had passengers, Moore comes to mind, and they have finally bitten the bullet with Ablett, time to bring in Orrreal, get Vesper on the ground as soon as he is up to it, Meredith, Nick Smith, DOK those guys might giver some more leg speed, which was the evident thing missing against the dogs, but to suggest the coach or his game plan is to blame is ludicrous. If we play on our terms we win it's that simple.

[goswannie14]

So the $60,000 missing from my superannuation account is a furphy and I am actually better off? You should be a politician.Kevin could use someone like you.

I suppose you died of swine flu too?

[pinkemu]

As one that was unhappy about the new Membership disaster I was slightly pleased to have my Concourse Gold changed to Silver.
What really p@@@@d me off was discovering that this didn't carry over to public tickets.
Even worse was witnessing a friend and his daughter (first game) turn up to the Carlton game and the cheapest tickets available were "Gold" (in the new Silver section). I found this interesting as there were plenty of seats still available in the "Silver" sections of the ground. ???

I wouldn't blame the "financial Crisis" for a marketing stuff up and the grubby money fingers of those out of touch with Joe public.

[royboy42]

Real supporters stick whatever the circumstances. I've been a member for as long as I can remember and my team is located a thousand kilometers away. I travel three hours to every Victorian game. If I lived in Sydney I'd be at every game with bells on.

I respect your loyalty, but this economic downturn is actually pretty serious.. lots of ppl are regarding renewal as a BUSINESS decision..and the management at the swans mis timed their changes badly
...people made their changes as a cold blooded financial move..and the Swans decision to go platinum gold etc was ill advised.

[ernie koala]

Ridicilous, Roosy's way brought us a flag, and in 2005 there were bums on seats make no mistake, No the amrketing guys have got it wrong but we are a fickle bunch of supporters, we are not Collingwood who turn up rain hail or shine, we go when it's in our favour. We're a big chance of beating Collingwood, they haven't exactly set the world on fire this year, but it's like Roos says, we need 22 players to turn up, not 14. Some of these guys wouldn't be getting a game if it wasn't for the shotness of our list, and we are still getting used to a few positional changes that have affected our rotations etc. Look at the injury list as well while yr at it. There's nothing wrong with the way we play or the game plan, when we stick to it. If the players can focus for the whole game, we could beat anyone, well, maybe not Geelong, I can't imagine that Mick is fully match fit yet along with a coule otherblokes, but we have had passengers, Moore comes to mind, and they have finally bitten the bullet with Ablett, time to bring in Orrreal, get Vesper on the ground as soon as he is up to it, Meredith, Nick Smith, DOK those guys might giver some more leg speed, which was the evident thing missing against the dogs, but to suggest the coach or his game plan is to blame is ludicrous. If we play on our terms we win it's that simple.

You have completely missed my point. I'm talking about the "no bottoming out" policy, and the effect it has on public interest/ bums on seats.( ie; not what diehard fans think, but what casual come and go sports fans think ).
On the issue of marketing and membership changes, I agree with others here that both have been lamentable and has added to the diminishing interest. But if what your selling is a slow slide down the ladder with a predictable conservative approach....then your pushing @@@@ up hill.

[liz]

You have completely missed my point. I'm talking about the "no bottoming out" policy, and the effect it has on public interest/ bums on seats.( ie; not what diehard fans think, but what casual come and go sports fans think ).

I am not sure what effect you think "bottoming out" would have on the casual fan. The message of going to the bottom to get better draft picks would be lost on a casual sports fan given the AFL is the only one of the major Australian codes that has a draft. All the casual fan would see is an uncompetitive team and the media coverage would be even more scant that it currently is.

There could be an argument from a purely footballing perspective that it needs to be done. But not from a short term "growing interest in the casual fan" point of view.

And even from a footballing point of view only one premiership in history can remotely be attributed to "bottoming out" - ie Hawthorns. But not only were they fortunate (or smart) enough to do it in over a period when it netted them two fantastic forwards, they also managed to dupe both North and Freo into some incredibly delicious trades along the way.

And then look at Richmond who have been "bottoming out" for the past 25 years. Or Freo who have been bottoming out since they came into existence. You get to a point where a club forgets how to win.

Give me a competitive outfit every time, one with players who respect their jumper, their team mates and the history of the club, who give it their best most times they run out, even if sometimes its not good enough.

And hey, if we can't win a premiership every year, or even seriously contend for one, then how about taking the small pleasures out of each weekend outing, like being treated to the athletic power, grace and skill of an Adam Goodes. Like watching a skinny 17yo from the Adelaide suburbs weave his magic in front of goal as he matures into the first 300 gamer the club has seen. Or watch a scrawny, slow "reject" from southern NSW will himself into one of the mightiest warriors in the league and on occasions quite literally will his team mates into unlikely victories.

Watching Our Team win the premiership in 2005, and nearly doing it again in 2006, was absolutely wonderful. Probably it was even better for those of us who had personally experienced more of the "72 years" than I had. But I'm not going to spend every season worrying about when we'll win another. I'd rather just look forward to next game from the Monday after the last one finished, take maximum enjoyment out of the small pleasures along the way, and have faith that those running the club are busting a gut to get the club to its next premiership, however many years away that might be.