ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING CROWD NUMBERS !!!!!

[True Believer 1]

with a record membership of nearly 30,000 WHERE WAS EVERYONE.... don't blame weather and time slot. ...JUST PATHETIC !!!! :angry:

[rpfc 27,692]

You know what I blame...

Weather and time-slot.

[Toot182 7]

Twilight games should be for the comfort of a closed roof at telstra dome. not a fkn freezing MCG.

I went to the comedy festival, and it seems like the comedy of errors at the 'G was almost as 'good' (and by good, i mean bad)

[re draft molan 1]

with a record membership of nearly 30,000 WHERE WAS EVERYONE.... don't blame weather and time slot. ...JUST PATHETIC !!!! :angry:

I was there today with a couple of mates. But we have just made a pact to pretend we weren't there at all. The only highlight for the day was the new Deer Park bypass.

[Timmuns 16]

I did my best, managed to get 3 of my mates, the brother and 3 Crows supporters so I plead NOT GUILTY.

[discworld demon 0]

What do you expect! Lousy time to stage a game on a Sunday evening, freezing weather and playing an interstate club.

[pardontheinterruption 0]

with a record membership of nearly 30,000 WHERE WAS EVERYONE.... don't blame weather and time slot. ...JUST PATHETIC !!!! :angry:

I gotta say, it just didn't feel like a footy match to me, almost eerie. The time slot/weather is obviously no excuse from a hardcore fan analysis, but there's no question it comes into play for a large chunk of our fanbase (the more casual fan and families). I was only in Level 2 Reserved Area and 2A, but the lack of kids and families was quite glaring. We can't get carried away with these admittedly impressive membership numbers. Clubs are doing wonders padding numbers with small game packs/junior packs/our MCC/MFC option. The fact is that we are struggling side playing the future card, exciting for the 'faithful', possibly not as enticing for the more casual/fairweather fan who would be just as happy to watch at home. Fact remains that we will struggle to pull crowds for the interstate matchups at the G on our regular crappy Sunday arvo timeslot. 4.40pm + weather was always going to compound the problem (though even I thought we could push 20,000 given the win last week).

[e25 5]

What was the official attendance..?

[Guest Rojik of the Arctic]

I went but only to try and boost the numbers. I would have been a lot happier watching on Foxtel with the heater on. The time slot was nothing but a joke and playing an interstate side meant that the crowd was always going to be sub-standard. If Twilight games on a Sunday are so bloody good why wont the AFL schedual the next Coll - Carl game in the same slot.

[Doggo 32]

I went by myself today. Mate who i normally go with chose to watch it in the warmth of his dad's loungeroom- poor form Benny! :angry: lol

Was bloody cold. Just glad it didnt rain to be honest.

I think the official numbers were 15k or thereabouts. Not a good result for the club at all. Sunday twilight game against an interstate club... what were they thinking?

EDIT: Offical number was 14,129

[pardontheinterruption 0]

What was the official attendance..?

14,129 according to SuperFooty. Decent amount of noise generated given the size, but just looking around at so many empty seat strangely gives me a deflated feeling. I'd be interested to hear what past players (who could actually be truthful) say about crowds like that on Sunday. Logic says it doesn't have much impact, but even if running out to an empty G doesn't register, surely the boys are denied that little extra oomph from a sizeable crowd sparking up in the middle of a late-game run for instance (or for that matter, the ability to put pressure on an umpire, which most other clubs can). I have to admit, on the occasions that I've attended neutral games with 60k plus crowds the experience is incredible, feels like a completely different game regardless of the standard.

Seriously, how great would it be in a couple of years to turn up to the G and regularly watch our improved side strut their stuff in front of 40-50 thousand!

[Rogue 585]

Twilight games should be for the comfort of a closed roof at telstra dome. not a fkn freezing MCG.

IMHO it wasn't actually that bad.

I can remember freezing at a TD match last season (v WB or Rich IIRC).

[praha 10,575]

I expected that. I think we're the only team this year that has gotten a Sunday twilight match against an interstate team. It's a stupid fixture for us.

[Suzanna 72]

I went by myself today. Mate who i normally go with chose to watch it in the warmth of his dad's loungeroom- poor form Benny! :angry: lol

Was bloody cold. Just glad it didnt rain to be honest.

I think the official numbers were 15k or thereabouts. Not a good result for the club at all. Sunday twilight game against an interstate club... what were they thinking?

EDIT: Offical number was 14,129

I can tell you what 'they' were thinking - we always get the c%^p draw - clearly designed to keep our numbers down and keep us the 'whipping' boy of the AFL. What would have been wrong with a Sunday Arvo (regular time) game at the G?

Having said that, I am usually there but had an airport pickup to make yesterday afternoon, so I am one of the guilty who didn't turn up.

[Pipefitter 2,085]

The AFL really do us no favours with these terrible draws.

[JACKATTACK 17]

I do not understand the mentality behind the timeslot, please can someone make me understand it? Is it designed for TV audiences? Radio? Is there some benefit to the 'game' that I am missing?

The AFL should at least provide an explanation, and not one that blames Melbourne fans (although yes it was a poor effort by many demon fans yesterday), they are at least partly responsible for such a farce.

[deanox 9,005]

The MFC should be calling up the AFL today and saying 'Yesterdays crowd is an eample of why we want you to stop stuffing us around in the fixturing game". We have 30,000 members, we have been getting decent crowds, but Sunday at 440? Please stop using us as your guinea pig, OR put a financial guarentee on it for us. We'll play odd timeslots if you are prepared to put up the money to cover our loss of gate receipts."

the timeslot s a disastor. Apart from the fact it probably follows on from another game comfortably for TV, it is such an odd time that you cant do anything with your Sunday, it makes the evening meal at an awkward time, or forces you to bu stuff at the game. Also, I cant imagine who, apart from MFC and crows supporters, would sit at ome and watch foxtel at 440-7 on a Sunday night? Saturday arvos, night games sure no worries, people will sit and watch them. But sunday twilight?

[drdrake 3,065]

I expected about 18,000 before the weather report to get 14,000 is bad but you can't expect 25K plus at 4.40 on a Sunday twilight game against an interstate club or Kangeroos or Bulldogs. If you are going to schedule the MFC at this time slot is has to be against a strong Victorian club.

The worse may still be to come, at the end of the season I think we play Port, Freo and West Coast at home, I will have a bet that in one of those games we see the debut of Jack Watts, if the club was smart that is what they would do.

[the_russian 17]

If we compare us to Geelong, we didn't do that bad, they only had 1,500 more than us at a much better time slot, so 14,000 including the time and weather is probably all we could expect.

Doggo, give us a call next time you're by yourself, i'm there every week (as you saw on the train last night)

[beelzebub 22,724]

all things considered crowd was good. Not everyone really enjoys artic weather. Many have other committments at that time slot.

Personally im glad i didnt go... that would be 2-3 hours of a life youd never get back !!

[UncleJoe 0]

with a record membership of nearly 30,000 WHERE WAS EVERYONE.... don't blame weather and time slot. ...JUST PATHETIC !!!! :angry:

The $AFL are very good at taking the money for the broadcast rights but exceptionally bad at running the fixturing.

Whilst classic games such as the Bombers v Magpies Anzac Day game are a big event it does show a bias towards certain teams within the competition.

The Etihad stadium deal is only one example of the $AFL being clueless in the nitty gritty of negotiations. Another example is the allocating of games on tv, pay tv and radio. It is the nitty gritty of these types of negotiations that determines a club's profitability. Dimwitriou doesn't care as he is on a million dollar salary.

Personally I have a real issue about Sunday twilight games, they screw up my Sunday nights. Whilst I do like my footy I do have a life elsewhere. Sunday twilight games are a bad idea and when you add a fixture which is poor in the first place, what do you expect? A full house? I don't think so. Supporters come in two groups: one which will take all the rubbish the $AFL doles out and then complains why supporters don't turn. The other group simply does not put up with the rubbish handed out. How would you rather be treated as, a king or a pauper? All clubs should be treated equitably. Collingwood gets a dream run in its' fixturing. How about some twilight games for them.

UJ

[sideshowbob 0]

Would have gone, but it's a Sunday night and I have other commitments then.

Any other timeslot and I would have been there.

[Jaded No More 60,132]

Supporters come in two groups: one which will take all the rubbish the $AFL doles out and then complains why supporters don't turn. The other group simply does not put up with the rubbish handed out. How would you rather be treated as, a king or a pauper? All clubs should be treated equitably. Collingwood gets a dream run in its' fixturing. How about some twilight games for them.

UJ

You actually think you are doing the club a favour by taking some sort of stand against the scheduling of games done by the AFL? Oh dear!

The only thing supporters who choose not to turn up do, is cost the club money we simply cannot afford to lose.

The AFL is only going to punish us further for [censored] crowds. They are not looking at yesterday's game and saying "oh wow, Melbourne supporters are so angry, we better not give them anymore Twilight games". No, they are rubbing their hands in delight because yesterday's turnout justifies their position on our club and the scheduling of our games.

[Kiss of Death 708]

i went, i saw, i brought home a cold for my troubles. Thanks AFL! p.s. has anybody found my voice?

[mauriesy 6,913]

You actually think you are doing the club a favour by taking some sort of stand against the scheduling of games done by the AFL? Oh dear!

The only thing supporters who choose not to turn up do, is cost the club money we simply cannot afford to lose.

The AFL is only going to punish us further for [censored] crowds. They are not looking at yesterday's game and saying "oh wow, Melbourne supporters are so angry, we better not give them anymore Twilight games". No, they are rubbing their hands in delight because yesterday's turnout justifies their position on our club and the scheduling of our games.

But if the crowd numbers for Sunday twilight games are always low, and not just for our club, then the experiment will be abandoned.

The facts are that regardless of the timing, the weather forecast wording included "storms", "storm force winds and gales to 130kmh", "snow on the alps", "graziers warnings", "thunderstorms" and "rain". Hard to imagine anything more bleak. In the end it didn't rain, but I travelled 100km to the game, sat through four quarters of tedious error-infested football, froze and shivered my way through the match with five layers of clothing, a hat and a scarf, and travelled 100km home again. I can't blame anyone, especially with kids, for not going out to watch that.