Farewell Crowds - AFL vs NRL

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  • Cheer Squad
    Sydney Swans
    • Apr 2007
    • 1948
    #1

    Farewell Crowds - AFL vs NRL

    Last night 27,933 people turned up to the SCG to farewell Michael O'Loughlin, Leo Barry and Jared Crouch from the Sydney Swans.

    Today, 41,835 showed up at the dreaded ANZ Stadium to farewell Hazem El Masri from the Canterbury Bulldogs. That is the largest crowd to attend an NRL home-and-away fixture since 1974!

    Both O'Loughling and El Masri commenced their careers at the their respective clubs in the mid-90s. It just goes to show you how far AFL still has to go to really make an impact on the Sydney sporting psyche. There's life in the NRL yet.
    Tags: afl, crowds, farewell, nrl, Swans, sydney
    • ROK Lobster
      RWO Life Member
      • Aug 2004
      • 8658
      #2
      Originally posted by Cheer Squad
      Last night 27,933 people turned up to the SCG to farewell Michael O'Loughlin, Leo Barry and Jared Crouch from the Sydney Swans.

      Today, 41,835 showed up at the dreaded ANZ Stadium to farewell Hazem El Masri from the Canterbury Bulldogs. That is the largest crowd to attend an NRL home-and-away fixture since 1974!

      Both O'Loughling and El Masri commenced their careers at the their respective clubs in the mid-90s. It just goes to show you how far AFL still has to go to really make an impact on the Sydney sporting psyche. There's life in the NRL yet.
      El Masri was a better player.

        Comment

        • ScottH
          It's Goodes to cheer!!
          • Sep 2003
          • 23665
          #3
          Originally posted by ROK Lobster
          El Masri was a better player.
          Probably kicked more goals too.

            Comment

            • Jewels
              On the Rookie List
              • Oct 2006
              • 3258
              #4
              And they will be playing finals so it wasn't even El Masris' final game.

                Comment

                • ROK Lobster
                  RWO Life Member
                  • Aug 2004
                  • 8658
                  #5
                  Originally posted by ScottH
                  Probably kicked more goals too.
                  Certainly from place kicks.

                    Comment

                    • desredandwhite
                      Click!
                      • Jan 2003
                      • 2498
                      #6
                      Not a fair comparison.

                      1. Canterbury playing finals footy, Swans have been disappointing all year
                      2. Every Bulldogs member received two free tickets
                      3. Every member of every NRL club received free entry.

                      I wouldn't put much stock in one-off special occasion crowds for either code.

                      177th Senior AFL Match - Round 4, 2009 - Sydney vs Carlton, SCG. This is obviously out of date. I suppose I'll update it once I could be bothered sitting down with the fixture and working it out....
                      Des' Weblog

                        Comment

                        • Cheer Squad
                          Sydney Swans
                          • Apr 2007
                          • 1948
                          #7
                          Originally posted by ROK Lobster
                          El Masri was a better player.
                          A better player than whom? O'Loughlin, Barry, or Crouch?

                            Comment

                            • GoSouth33
                              On the Rookie List
                              • Mar 2005
                              • 695
                              #8
                              Originally posted by Cheer Squad
                              It just goes to show you how far AFL still has to go to really make an impact on the Sydney sporting psyche. There's life in the NRL yet.
                              Thought exactly the same thing but I also heard that the "freebies" were flowing. Any member of any other club was entitled to free admission. Still, anything that can manage to get that many bums on seats will be seen an important win in the battle of the minds. Didn't we get many for the Geelong game?
                              I didn't see the game but I imagine it would have looked packed on TV because they push the sides in and the crowd is concentrated in the lower sections.

                              Now imagine if in Melbourne a legend was retiring from the game and they offered free admission to other clubs members. They'd have to shut the gates.
                              Run2Live,Live2Run

                                Comment

                                • Hazcam
                                  On the Rookie List
                                  • Jun 2007
                                  • 324
                                  #9
                                  I went to both farewell games as I barrack for both teams. The bulldogs were offering 2 free tix for their 10,000 odd members, a free ticket to each and every member of other clubs, free entry to under 15's and on top of all that, ticket prices are much cheaper. Dogs are also 1st on the ladder.

                                  Swans were out of the finals, playing a side that doesn't draw huge crowds and didn't have major promotions as they did for El Masri. I was expecting 32-33k nonetheless.

                                  If we had similar free ticket offers for this game we'd probably get more bums on seats. The Geelong game drew 40k, add free tix and the like to it and 50+ would be on the cards.

                                  Btw:
                                  on field Magic > Hazem
                                  off field it's a dead heat.

                                    Comment

                                    • Rhys
                                      On the Rookie List
                                      • Aug 2009
                                      • 16
                                      #10
                                      There is absolutely no comparison what-so-ever of the crowds between both farewell games and the players at stake.
                                      1. NRL is the leading sport in NSW and anything less than 40,000 would be downright disappointing.
                                      2. Take away the amount of free tickets and passes given away for this game and the crowd would be around the same as the Swans crowd on Saturday night.
                                      3. O'Loughlin and El-Masri play different games so you cannot say which one is better. (Athletically different story)
                                      4. For a team out of finals contention playing a side that draws low away crowds (Brisbane) I think 27,000 was a damm good crowd. Being at the game last night showed me what a much more educated football crowd Sydney has become, cheering and appealing for free kicks and everyone seems to have a better knowledge of the game. Sydney has come a really long way since 26 years ago and I wouldnt worry too much. Take a look at Port Adelaide for example, farewell game for their player in what is supposed to me one of the most football hungry states in Australia and could only manage 17,000 people lol.

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