This is a Collingwood Bulletin Board - use this forum for general, Pies-related topics. For other footy topics, use Nick's Other AFL forum, and for non-footy sporting topics please use Nick's Sports Bar. For non-sporting topics please use the Victoria Park Tavern.
In addition to fixing our atrocious fixture, Collingwood really need to lobby for more VFL double headers, with the reserves games at 1PM on Saturdays at 4.40PM AFL at the G, it makes for a ripper day.
Only good if you live in Melbourne
Works okay for us folk here in Bendigo as well. Early VFL game then a night game for the AFL (mouths need to be washed out with soap for suggesting a twilight game). You pretty much write off the day anyway to attend a senior game so heading off early and enjoying the VFL entree is just sensational. The time between the 2 games allows a leisurely trip and a stop off for a cleansing ale and a bite to eat.
I do agree that crowds have been declining across the board when it comes to Victorian football but interstate crowds, especially in South Australia are high though so clearly the crowd issue is more aimed towards Victorian footy fans as opposed to the wider competition at the present time.
It is concerning to see that Collingwood has had its lowest home crowd on average since 2005 which was the last time we missed the Finals and finished in the bottom 2 alongside Carlton, however the reasoning for a decline in crowd numbers isn't necessarily attributed to our inconsistent performances this year though. Also in saying that, our average home crowds in 2014 are approximately 49,000 in contrast to 2005 where only 41,000 was the average home crowd figure but between 2006 to 2013 we've seen average home crowds of over 50,000 which goes to demonstrate how popular our club is.
In regards to your overall question I think there's a variety of reasons as to why crowds are down across the board in Victoria, and not just in Collingwood games:
Firstly, the scheduling of the games this year has been nothing but atrocious. For crying out loud, Collingwood copped two Sunday twilight matches in the past two weeks which has been detrimental to our crowd figures and kept the numbers down and along with that we also received the dreaded Sunday night fixture against Carlton about five weeks ago. Even though we all loathe Carlton, it has to be said that they've copped it bad with fixturing as well as they've played three Sunday nights matches this year as opposed to us having one which was bad enough as it was so I definitely think the scheduling of games has played a huge factor in dwindling crowd numbers in Victoria.
Secondly, the increased pricing and lack of affordability is hurting the average football supporter and deterring fans to attend games. The pricing of food and drinks is ridiculously high at games and the introduction of the disastrous variable ticket pricing system has had a huge effect on clubs who draw high crowd numbers with us being the most notable example of this so this is another element that hasn't helped crowd numbers in Victoria this year.
Lastly, it's hard to determine whether this is the case but I'm starting to sense an overall growing frustration of the way the league is being run at the moment and the way they've handled certain things amongst Victorian football fans. The ASADA/Essendon issue and the handling of it is still continuing and been detrimental to the game as a whole, the inequalities that are existent especially with the likes of Sydney, GWS and Gold Coast all getting special advantages despite the AFL constantly preaching this notion of equalisation across the whole league and of course the match-day experience that is killing the enjoyment for supporters has hurt crowd numbers. When you see kiss, hug and dance cam at all Collingwood home games and a loud-o-meter telling us to cheer you can't blame fans for deciding to steer clear of the stadium these days.
Sure Collingwood's slight decline and poor form has kept a few away but all these other factors I've mentioned have played a bigger and significant role in declining crowd numbers. The AFL better realise that fans in Victoria are becoming more disillusioned as each year passes or else the game is in trouble in general and more will turn to the VFL which has been fantastic for supporters to experience a more grass-roots feeling of football and for older supporters it's not surprising that they have happy reminders of what they see in the VFL today from what they saw back in the 70s, 80s and possibly the early 90s when grass-roots football and local grounds were the norms of football in those days.
Hopefully the AFL addresses the crowd problem the right way and doesn't ignore the growing problem that is existent amongst Victorian AFL crowds.
Apparently beer and donuts sold out at Vic Park yesterday.
Saturday afternoon fixture, nice weather, a chance to kick on the park during and post the game, cheap entry.
Get the umpires full time and recruit people with a better feel for the game.
Get fixturing in more traditional time slots. Foxtel already shows some matches which are on at the same time (e.g. last night). Conflicts can't be avoided with so many clubs but 4.40pm games on Sundays and Monday games aren't particularly family friendly. Get grass roots support in part through the fixturing.
Get rid of the mimicking of US sports on game day (Kiss cam, Loud-o-meter etc). There's plenty to see during the game, so a minute of down time between goals is not a problem and half time is a chance to kick the football outside.
Reintroduce scoring and tackling at junior matches. It's some of what's unique about our game and the kids all know if they have won or not. Who's being fooled? Making the game at grass roots more like soccer actually makes it less appealing for many.
Harshly penalise those that fake for free kicks (ala Lindsay Thomas last week). It is the worst thing about soccer and is absolutely something our game should frown upon. Penalise on game day and rub players out if undetected by umpires.
Enough of my rant.
One team, one dream - the Pies and this year's premiership
more and more i think the most enjoyable part of the game is when the game is actually on. it means no blaring music, no silly cams, no meaningless dancers.
the introverts must really hate the sensory overload. i know i do.
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