good reply stath.
1 question - why has sydney lacked stadiums of high capacity ? did they never see a need to provide a stadium that would consistently draw huge crowds, apart from 1 game a year ?
new generation of supporters - so those that have been provided with new options on a sat arvo have found other pursuits move interesting ? the argument regarding melb doesnt offer anything BUT AFL i have heard before from sydney folk - i wouldve agreed to a point till the 80's (melb has changed a fair bit since then), but the crowds even now ARE JUST GETTING BIGGER EACH YEAR - go figure !!!!
as far as the press in melb, they realised long ago that unless you provide enormous AFL coverage, you wont sell papers, or get viewers.
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footnote.
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during the 80's & early 90's, the tv ratings on channel 10 news always spiked at 5.40pm, then dropped away again 10 minutes later. this stalled suddenly in 1993. the boffins who played with those ratings numbers (and not much else) couldnt figure it out - what made so many melb households watch channel 10 news at 5.40, only to see them switch over soon after.
then it dawned on them, onto something melb folk had known for years.
there was a sports reporter hosting the sports news who was the master of the breaking story, who knew the right folk to ask and got all the scoops, just as the other channels were preparing for their news, without the scoop.
his name.
eddie mcguire.
Son of B,
It beats me as to why we have to draw crowd comparisons between the codes, and furthermore, why the AFL people keep bragging about how big their crowds are over the NRL. A crowd of 25K-30K for a RL comp game at a suburban ground is considered a big crowd, and you know what, I’ve got no problem with that. Why on earth would I want to compare it with an AFL crowd?
The sports cultures of both cities are different, which are reflected in their respective media outlets as you’ve mentioned. Sydneysiders have long been, and still are quite blasé and fickle-minded when it comes to attending RL games on a regular basis. The attitude of the majority of fans is why go to a game when you can watch every game on pay-tv. An attitude that is also reflected in the recent healthy TV ratings for the code. Refer:
http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/new...-in-rights-deal/2008/07/16/1216162958657.html
In answer to your question regarding high capacity stadiums in Sydney, the SCG has long filled that role as the premier and traditional venue. It was not uncommon through the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s to draw around 30K, and sometimes more (depending on the choice of game) to the SCG Match-Of-The-Day on a Sat arvo. And whilst the ground’s 60K-65K capacity (which was trimmed down to 45K in the 80’s with the replacement of “The Hill” by another grandstand) may seem minimal by AFL standards, it’s the memories that we cherish far beyond any need for a bigger ground. We are certainly not complaining. When the 40K SFS came along in 1988, it was better suited to RL because of its rectangular shape, unlike the oval shape of the SCG which became more suited to AFL. I went to a semi-final there in 89 between two traditional Sydney clubs that was sold out, and the atmosphere was fantastic. But to this day, it remains the only semi-final (non-GF) held at the SFS/Aussie Stadium that has reached a full house of 40K. So, a lot depends on which clubs are playing because some draw crowds better than others. And considering that most suburban grounds hold 20K-25K, but rarely reach it, why would there be a need for higher capacities? It is good when that club is going well and is reflected through the turnstiles, but if they’re at the bottom of the table, the fans stay away, and a big near-empty stadium home ground would look like a big white elephant. It would be embarrassing.
A question to you: Was it perhaps the 1956 Olympics in Melb that provided the impetus for the development of further high-capacity venues? Obviously, the 2000 Sydney Olympics sprouted the 80K Olympic Stadium, which later became Telstra/ANZ Stadium. Major world sports tournaments like this create the demand for large stadiums, which is evident in every host city of the Olympics.
I cannot vouch for AFL club administrations, but let me tell you, that RL club administrations have for a long time remained stale and stuck in the dark ages. Their rather amateurish “chook raffle”-like operations saw them neglect important ground facility upgrades, and membership provisions and incentives, especially over the long term. And don’t forget, that RL in Sydney is also competing with RU (through the Super 14’s) as well as the Swans, and more recently, soccer.
The administration of the old main governing body – the NSWRL, was not much better. Made up of officials with allegiances to certain clubs showed with their biased decisions, and weak attempts at progress. This put the code in a rather precarious position, and opened the door for the Super League invasion of the 90’s. The game was ripped apart in this period, as the ARL (with the traditional Sydney clubs) and SL (with the money and “vision” of Rupert Murdoch and News Ltd) fought for supremacy of the code. When a truce was finally called, the NRL was formed (with News funding and part-ownership). However, many supporters remained sceptical and disenchanted by the new chief organisation (which continues to pay $6 million a year to News for legal costs incurred during the SL war), and have turned away from the game. Many of these people have since become part of the growing Swans membership. Who can blame them?
Now, you may say well, the AFL is a strong enough and well run organisation to prevent such a situation from occurring. Well, I would hope so, because no-one would want to see their favourite game been torn apart by greed and let down by weak administrations, off-field scandals, and player exodus chasing the greed of a rival code. We’ve had our game screwed and torn apart, and it is not by any virtues of an untrustworthy NRL/NSWRL that the game has survived for 100 yrs, but by the support shown by the fans who’ve forked out their hard-earned to become members, and become part of the crowds, whether they’d be 15K, 30K, or 80K. And we certainly don’t care how many the AFL get to your games.