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Crowd numbers - my perspective

Katrina Dee Fan
Katrina Dee Fan
in Melbourne Demons

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On 18/03/2024 at 11:40, Rab D Nesbitt said:

First and foremost. It is OUR HOME GROUND. That's why we play there. 

I also thought the attendance was poor. Let's say there were 10,000 Doggies supporters there. That means around 40% of our supposed 75,000 membership turned up to watch our opening home game. Both sides have also won flags in the last eight years and are mooted as top four contenders. Could you imagine only 40% of season ticket holders turning up at Anfield / Old Trafford / Ibrox / Celtic Park for any game? 

Your argument is a complete false equivalence

Firstly the EPL doesn't have members. They have fans who buy access to seats. Like in the Redlegs lets say. And they are usually full.

Many people who buy memberships to AFL clubs do so to support the club. I have two memberships and never use one as I am an MCC member. I rarely go to Marvel, don't go to Geelong and probably go interstate to watch the Dees a couple of times every two years

Should I stop contributing to the club? Does that make me a 'bad' member?

Then you have the issue of fixturing where the games are held on different days and times every week. Often it doesn't suit someone like me that has many things including family and other sporting commitments going on in my life. Does that make me a 'bad' member?

 

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    On 19/03/2024 at 09:34, Mazer Rackham said:

    On the plus side: Cornes is not afraid to "speak truth to power" (although I suspect there are limits to this, eg when it comes to Port, or AFL head office).

    What does this inane expression even mean?

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    1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

    What were Cornes, McClure and Wilson honestly expecting for a Dees/Dogs game? 60,000?

    Give me strength.

    There was 58K for the opening round game in in 2022. But that was the very first game of the season between the then two Grand Finalists from 2021.

    44K for 1pm on a Sunday on a hot day seems like a decent turnout to me.

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    1 hour ago, No. 31 said:

    There was 58K for the opening round game in in 2022. But that was the very first game of the season between the then two Grand Finalists from 2021.

     

    Can't believe we got that many for a Wednesday night game, even factoring in the GF rematch.

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    1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

     

    Can't believe we got that many for a Wednesday night game, even factoring in the GF rematch.

    Covid also a factor back then. The game was first crowd at mcg since July 2021. And the matches with crowds before then were well down on average crowd sizes. Was a lot of people’s first game for 2 seasons - plus we unveiled the flag!!

    https://afltables.com/afl/venues/mcg_gm.html

     

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    4 hours ago, jnrmac said:

    Your argument is a complete false equivalence

    Firstly the EPL doesn't have members. They have fans who buy access to seats. Like in the Redlegs lets say. And they are usually full.

    Many people who buy memberships to AFL clubs do so to support the club. I have two memberships and never use one as I am an MCC member. I rarely go to Marvel, don't go to Geelong and probably go interstate to watch the Dees a couple of times every two years

    Should I stop contributing to the club? Does that make me a 'bad' member?

    Then you have the issue of fixturing where the games are held on different days and times every week. Often it doesn't suit someone like me that has many things including family and other sporting commitments going on in my life. Does that make me a 'bad' member?

     

    Hi Jnr. With respect you're the one implying that it makes you a 'bad' member. I didn't say it. You can go to whatever game you want when you want and have any reason you like for not going, or no reason at all. I respect your right to do anything you deem to be more interesting than watch the Dees at Marvel or KP. 

    I didn't suggest that you shouldn't contribute financially to the club. Again, you're projecting your own words on to me which is a bit naughty. 

    In the UK you buy a season ticket. If you follow a team that plays in an all-seater stadium then it's highly likely that it will come with a reserved seat. If you don't then you'll be standing on a terrace. Approximately 80% of an all-seater ground will be allocated for season ticket holders and almost all will have a substantial waiting list to get one. I doubt there's been any league game in the EPL or the Old Firm that hasn't been played in a full capacity stadium this season although Bramall Lane is usually half empty again by half time. They also play games on most nights of the week due to TV deals. 

    You're right about a false equivalence and it's probably a cultural thing. I'm used to seeing the team I follow take 10,000 supporters to an away game in eastern Europe on a cold Wednesday night and out-sing the home fans and we'll take 500 to Perth to play the WC on a weekend. It's different here. I don't know why. There are just as many if not more things to do on a weekend in London and they also have 13 fully professional teams competing for your money. You can also fly to most cities on the continent in an hour or two or NYC in six hours for a long weekend. All I'm saying is that I find it odd that on any given weekend more than half of any clubs members prefer to be doing something else on the day their team plays. 

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    On 19/03/2024 at 14:43, DeeTeez said:

    as a carlton supporter, maclure has a vested interest. he is trying to get blues out of playing at docklands so they can play more games at the g. docklands deal means someone has to play there so need another team to swap with. so media pressure on demons poor attendance is his agenda with the aim of carlton playing more mcg games at the expense of melbourne.  

    ^ This

    Maclure is framing if that's what it's called - when the journo builds a (in this case completely biased) picture to create a story, agenda or shape an outcome. Keep slinging mud at Melbourne home crowds and ignore the facts such as the Bulldog fans chain doesn't stretch that far from the kennel and the number of games we play there v interstate sides. He'll then point to average attendances and also ignore the impact of playing in Alice, Tassie or under-construction Geelong. He'll then go on to say Melbourne doesn't deserve to play at the G when other teams are pulling bigger crowds. Carlton, for example, deserves to be playing more games there instead...yada yada yada vomit

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    16 minutes ago, Roger Mellie said:

    ^ This

    Maclure is framing if that's what it's called - when the journo builds a (in this case completely biased) picture to create a story, agenda or shape an outcome. Keep slinging mud at Melbourne home crowds and ignore the facts such as the Bulldog fans chain doesn't stretch that far from the kennel and the number of games we play there v interstate sides. He'll then point to average attendances and also ignore the impact of playing in Alice, Tassie or under-construction Geelong. He'll then go on to say Melbourne doesn't deserve to play at the G when other teams are pulling bigger crowds. Carlton, for example, deserves to be playing more games there instead...yada yada yada vomit

    We have to stop playing in the NT for that exact reason 

    Clubs like Carlscum will push their agenda every year 

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    • Like 1

    If Sam McClure did even a cursory bit of research he'd find that in 2023 we had the 2nd highest rate of converting members into home attendances (Fremantle was 1st).

    Our home crowds are excellent given our lower supporter/membership base overall.

    However...

    Whilst the vast majority of us cannot go to every single game even when we want to, I have always felt that there are too many Melbourne supporters/members who use their attendance as a form of protest too much; in other words, people who could go, don't go, because they're unhappy with something (on field or off) and want to send some sort of message.

    That sort of attitude is evident in the thread about Kate Roffey's "be like Collingwood" comments. How many people said "I'll go when we play exciting football" or similar?

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    On 18/03/2024 at 11:40, Rab D Nesbitt said:

    First and foremost. It is OUR HOME GROUND. That's why we play there. 

    I also thought the attendance was poor. Let's say there were 10,000 Doggies supporters there. That means around 40% of our supposed 75,000 membership turned up to watch our opening home game. Both sides have also won flags in the last eight years and are mooted as top four contenders. Could you imagine only 40% of season ticket holders turning up at Anfield / Old Trafford / Ibrox / Celtic Park for any game? 

    I agree Rab. I was also disappointed with the turn out...1pm does feel a slightly unusual time, 1.45 or 2.10 might have been better but I find it hard to see that increasing the crowd by 10-15% 

    Had a quck look at two comparable Dogs MCG games last year (vs Richmond & vs Hawthorn). Also at awkard times 4.35pm on a Saturday.

    With our membership base and quality of team I'd hope w could achieve at least half way between those two crowds (48k)

     

    2024-03-21_9-02-56.jpg

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    On 21/03/2024 at 09:10, Dee*ceiving said:

    I agree Rab. I was also disappointed with the turn out...1pm does feel a slightly unusual time, 1.45 or 2.10 might have been better but I find it hard to see that increasing the crowd by 10-15% 

    Had a quck look at two comparable Dogs MCG games last year (vs Richmond & vs Hawthorn). Also at awkard times 4.35pm on a Saturday.

    With our membership base and quality of team I'd hope w could achieve at least half way between those two crowds (48k)

     

    2024-03-21_9-02-56.jpg

    Richmond pulling 56k out of 101k members last year is equivalent to us pulling 39k (56% of members), we got more than that. 

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    In 2023 we averaged 44k for home games, and we're only behind the big 4 in total attendance with 907k. That number doesn't include the 189k in our 2 finals.
    Sam McClure only has to Google these 2023 numbers. But he won't.

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