Low Attendance

[Sir Why You Little 34,443]

2 hours ago, Engorged Onion said:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jun/06/why-has-there-been-a-downturn-in-afl-crowds-this-season-its-not-just-covid-to-blame

Yep. For me it is the “Matchday Experience” i hate all the outside advertising, loud bland music. I want to watch The Demons and talk with my mates, and hear the Crowd reactions. This has all been diluted sadly. 
i wish the AFL would listen to the people 

[Bring-Back-Powell 13,153]

52 minutes ago, JTR said:

NO Victorian team draws a big crowd vs interstate sides.

So far this season there have only been two such games with a higher crowd than we had on Saturday night.

Filth vs Adelaide in R2 (37,000)

Carlton vs Port in R5 (33,000)

Did not Carlton V Sydney get about 45K in addition to the two you referred to?

[rpfc 27,451]

44 minutes ago, Brownie said:

That's it for me. The AFL GameDay experience and ridiculous crowd activation is pretty annoying.

Hard to get a drink and food and it's eyewateringly expensive.

You can just stay home and get activated by BT Derwayne or Huddo and Brayshaw yelling at you the whole time. Why leave the couch?

Hang on...... What if the AFL had BT's commentary come over the PA LIVE AT THE GROUND!!!! Woweeee.

Am I about to get banned from the site for this suggestion?

You should be.

[praha 10,277]

My Carlton mate is messaging me about Petracca apparently having a go at Melbourne supporters for not turning up. Anyone seen it?

[PartyTimeJohnny 533]

Enjoy Petracca being upset that nobody is turning up Here

[Supermercado 2,611]

I can't take TV and print journalists sooking about people consuming a product differently as if their business models haven't been completely upended in the last decade.

[PartyTimeJohnny 533]

14 minutes ago, Supermercado said:

I can't take TV and print journalists sooking about people consuming a product differently as if their business models haven't been completely upended in the last decade.

Im confused. Is this in reaction to Christian Petracca being disappointed in no fans turning up...?

[Kick_It_To_Pickett 2,930]

The way that Petracca grab has been pieced together, it’s hard to tell the context. Was he just potting Melbourne fans, or all AFL fans? Pretty poor form to eat your own supporters. Is he blaming his own poor form on supporters not showing up? 

Edited June 6, 2022 by Kick_It_To_Pickett

[rpfc 27,451]

7 minutes ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

The way that Petracca grab has been pieced together, it’s hard to tell the context. Was he just potting Melbourne fans, or all AFL fans? Pretty poor form to eat your own supporters. Is he blaming his own poor form on supporters not showing up? 

 

Why not? We aren’t showing up for this generational Premiership team that he just won the Norm Smith in and is about 6th in the Brownlow.

[SPC 2,792]

1 hour ago, praha said:

My Carlton mate is messaging me about Petracca apparently having a go at Melbourne supporters for not turning up. Anyone seen it?

Heard him on Mix FM this morning, said it is hard to play without fans, when other teams fans turn up. Said it was a reflection on being a bit flat onfield as they feed off the crowd.

All pretty fair. He seemed genuinely annoyed with our aging demographic not turning up.  I for one have not been able to attend the last few games, but but will make a point to get to all home games now. It’s hard to knock the team performance when we as members are not doing our part

[Bates Mate 3,818]

Been turning up nearly every week for 30+ years. Through all the mostly pain and some hopeful times that we would someday win a flag. Last year despite lockdown we finally got there and I felt a satisfaction I never thought I would. Not a fan of night games have kids under 10 and have been happy to watch most matches on the couch. Been to about 4 this year including last week, will go to this week's game and a few others if the schedule suits. just not a priority for me to plan my weekend around our games anymore, waiting for finals. Don't judge me. 

 

[1964_2 2,357]

44 minutes ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

The way that Petracca grab has been pieced together, it’s hard to tell the context. Was he just potting Melbourne fans, or all AFL fans? Pretty poor form to eat your own supporters. Is he blaming his own poor form on supporters not showing up? 

No it’s not. He did his part, got 39 possessions  won a norm and a flag, and our pathetic supporter base is too worried about covid, or any number of other excuses.

more chance of catching covid or the flu at the snow as well! 

[Kick_It_To_Pickett 2,930]

22 minutes ago, 1964_2 said:

No it’s not. He did his part, got 39 possessions  won a norm and a flag, and our pathetic supporter base is too worried about covid, or any number of other excuses.

more chance of catching covid or the flu at the snow as well! 

That’s a silly take. COVID and the flu are rife atm. My father is 71. Has been going every week for 50 years. Has had reservations this season. Also, finds the late night finishes too hard and elects to stay at home and watch on TV. 

[Kick_It_To_Pickett 2,930]

https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/afl-2022-season-average-match-attendance-covid/
 

Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs are the only AFL teams averaging higher home-and-away attendances in 2022 compared with 2019. That figure factors in the 58,002 who attended the season-opener between the two clubs.

[BoBo 2,070]

7 minutes ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/afl-2022-season-average-match-attendance-covid/
 

Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs are the only AFL teams averaging higher home-and-away attendances in 2022 compared with 2019. That figure factors in the 58,002 who attended the season-opener between the two clubs.

I think the low attendance part is not so much the issue in all of this. If we had the same attendance but we were LOUD then it wouldn’t be brought up as much. I sit in Dees members and I yell and carry on as well as one guy in front of me. I’ll be honest, I feel like I’m ‘carrying on’ because me and this other guy are the most vocal just in our little area. 
 

There’s just no voice! We’re meek. It isn’t the cheer squad, it’s us other Dees fans that are so quiet. 
 

*Suggestion* 

We need ‘supporter’ reps that G up the crowd. All this means is being vocal and joining in chants and such when the cheer squad does in different parts of the ground, even when it’s quiet 🤫 I’ll put my hand up first. 
 

I’d suggest we make a ‘reps shirt’ or something and get as many people on demonland to get them so we’re visible. A kind of uniform. It can be as simple as a scarf.

If everyone on Demonland can commit to this then this seems like something that we on this site can do? It might become a thing? We need a cultural change as supporters, so we need as many of it on demonland to appear official and just make it happen.

People will get louder if others are already doing it. We need to make I semi-official so people don’t feel self-conscious as that’s what I feel like the culture is.

If people think this will work I’ll make a dedicated post and try and get some kind of ‘rep’ uniform made by polling or something.

 

That’s the best I’ve got. There doesn’t need to be heaps of us, we just need to be loud.

[Sir Why You Little 34,443]

Play an exciting brand of Football and the Fans will come and make noise…

[Dr. Gonzo 22,415]

6 hours ago, poita said:

I've said this before, people just don't go to the football any more. Covid hasn't helped, as people have become used to watching games from the comfort of their lounge rooms. The AFL are also largely responsible for this with their appalling scheduling of matches and the exorbitant costs of attending.

I know a number of very proud Richmond supporters who happily attended for years as a family when they were an average team. Now 90% of their games are at night, all are reserved seating and they can't justify paying a small fortune to attend and having the kids up until midnight, even as the competition's dominant team for several years. This is our future if we keep winning and growing, and it alienates a lot of people.

Now people are more likely to buy a three game membership, attend a couple of marquee matches for "the experience", and spend more time queuing for beer than watching the game. But you can be sure that their Instagram followers will know all about it. 

I enjoy the experience of being at games and will happily attend each week. But I can understand why people aren't going with the costs, the travel, the scheduling of matches, the safety issues, and COVID / flu issues. This is a long term trend and the AFL need to make the game more appealing to families, or they will lose the next generation of supporters coming to games. Maybe they are happy to have teams playing in front of empty stadiums as in the NRL, but I can't imagine the clubs or players will be happy.

Are Melbourne fans worse than any others? Probably not really, it's just that Collingwood and Richmond have the benefit of locking in marquee fixtures a couple of times a year. Certainly the lack of crowd noise in recent weeks has been a stark contrast to previous years, and is representative of a crowd that doesn't really care about what's happening on the field. It is very disappointing when a small, but dedicated Freo supporter group is making more noise than the home crowd.

 

 

If Collingwood or Richmond were 10-0 on top of the ladder after winning the previous years flag you can bet they would've packed out the games against Freo and Sydney. Carlton are getting good crowds and they're only challenging for a top 4 spot.

Richmond supporters are off the bandwagon after several years up the top, Essendon supporters are off, Hawks only turn up when they're winning flags - but if these teams were in our position they would not be struggling to draw 20k of their own supporters to games.

[whatwhat say what 18,919]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

If Collingwood or Richmond were 10-0 on top of the ladder after winning the previous years flag you can bet they would've packed out the games against Freo and Sydney. Carlton are getting good crowds and they're only challenging for a top 4 spot.

Richmond supporters are off the bandwagon after several years up the top, Essendon supporters are off, Hawks only turn up when they're winning flags - but if these teams were in our position they would not be struggling to draw 20k of their own supporters to games.

fwiw, richmond v freo @ mcg, rd 7, 2018 - 43k

of far more interest in 2011...

collingwood v hawthorn @ mcg, rd 15, 2011 - 83k
collingwood v hawthorn @ mcg, rd 11, 2011 - 43k

filth membership in 2022 = 82.5k
poos&wees membership in 2022 = was over 50k in february

where are all THEIR crowds?

[Dr. Gonzo 22,415]

6 hours ago, waynewussell said:

Apologies if these statistics have already been posted in this thread.

Melbourne v Sydney, MCG Saturday 4th June 2022, Attendance = 32,753

Melbourne v Sydney, Average Attendance, 2000 - 2021 = 32,337

the 2022 attendance was better than 9 off the 15 games between the clubs at the MCG since 2000

Problem? What problem?

You didn't realise weve been absolute puss for most of those 22 seasons? I would've expected we'd get at least a few hundred more people compared to seasons where we struggled to win more than a handful of games.

5 hours ago, Demon_spurs said:

You know, 32k for a crowd against an interstate game wasn't really that bad. The Hawthorn - Collingwood game got 43k, for two Melbourne based teams with a combined membership of 150k. 

Carlton/Sydney? Didn't they get 45k a couple of weeks back?

Just saw that Petracca clip, wow the MFC supporters staying away should be embarrassed. Someone on here yesterday said it was ludicrous to think the crowd impacts the players - well Petracca just put that to bed not that anyone with half a brain can't see it. Of course the players feed off the energy of the crowd - I've always thought it was part of the reason we struggled in the "should win" games in previous years, players turn up and there is no atmosphere it feels like a kick in the park on a Sunday arvo and the intensity is lacking. We could usually get up for big games though with a big crowd. Whether you think players should be professional and get up no matter what is beside the point - the fact is crowd energy impacts the players performance.

Imagine winning the Prelim and flag in front of a relatively rabid mob in Perth and thinking "can't wait to get home and play in front of similar crowds of die hards" and then halfway through the next season you realise noone is bothering to show! It's embarrassing.

Edited June 6, 2022 by Dr. Gonzo

[Dr. Gonzo 22,415]

4 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

fwiw, richmond v freo @ mcg, rd 7, 2018 - 43k

of far more interest in 2011...

collingwood v hawthorn @ mcg, rd 15, 2011 - 83k
collingwood v hawthorn @ mcg, rd 11, 2011 - 43k

filth membership in 2022 = 82.5k
poos&wees membership in 2022 = was over 50k in february

where are all THEIR crowds?

Collingwood v Hawthorn still got a higher crowd than Melbourne v Hawthorn. I'm a bit sick of the whataboutism, the focus should be on us - I don't care what the other teams are doing. The circumstances are not comparable, WE are the reigning premiers on top of the ladder and it is after 57 years in the wilderness! It is not comparing apples with apples to say "what about Hawthorn, what about Essendon, what about Geelong".

What about Melbourne, that's all I care about.

[Gawndy the Great 7,336]

21 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Play an exciting brand of Football and the Fans will come and make noise…

I was just going to write this and thought I’d get sniped. You brave ! But it’s true.  Slow and predictable might be the proven way to go but it’s also frustrating and boring. 
 

It’s still more COVID and flu given the older demographic of our supporter base it actually does make sense.

Edited June 6, 2022 by CYB

[Dr. Gonzo 22,415]

2 minutes ago, CYB said:

I was just going to write this and thought I’d get sniped. You brave ! But it’s true.  Slow and predictable might be the proven way to go but it’s also frustrating and boring.

Would you rather be exciting and lose? FMD.

[WalkingCivilWar 31,447]

3 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Just saw that Petracca clip, wow the MFC supporters staying away should be embarrassed.
 It's embarrassing.

I cringed all the way through that. It’s undeniable… it DOES hurt the players to have poor attendance numbers. 

[Sir Why You Little 34,443]

1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Would you rather be exciting and lose? FMD.

We play one Quarter of exciting football, or a 10 minute burst, at the moment. It must be extended. The talent is there. 
The application is off at the moment. 
Losing is not in my equation 

[Dr. Gonzo 22,415]

Just now, WalkingCivilWar said:

I cringed all the way through that. It’s undeniable… it DOES hurt the players to have poor attendance numbers. 

I was [censored] off on Saturday but after sleeping on it I realise I am more [censored] off with the supporters for not turning up. The club will lose games that is inevitable and out of our control but to turn up 45 minutes before the game and feel like youre at a state league match is bloody frustrating. The players and the club deserve more, they need the stands full and full of voice to push them on.