The Rock said:
It's funny that you guys look at the average home crowds and only 3 teams have poor crowds yet there are still 6 teams that are drawing very good crowds and you still can't hack it that Sydney is the heart of rugby league. I'm still trying to figure out when and how Brisbane became he heart of rugby league.
Personally if more fans don't get out to games. In less than 2 years, Queensland will become the heartland of the game, that is if it isn't already.
Look at some of the teams in NSW being run like a circus and we are happy with 10k crowds, that should not be the standard a Sydney team should be setting. We are setting the benchmark way too low and the worst thing of all, we are accepting it. Then making excuses for it not being higher - weather, traffic, blah blah blah.
The Rock said:
Hey Fltteryby Thanks for proving my point, you seemto think going to the footy on a Saturday night is way more fun and important than going out and enjoying Sydneys attractions, well maybe for you and any other boring person buy seriously, footy on a Saturday night totally sucks.
This is the thing I hate about this city the most. We have the greatest game of all. Usually being played atleast once in the city on the weekend. We all know the experience of being at the game is so much better than watching it on TV. Yet so many people would rather go to a club/pub and watch it there. I don't understand that logic.
You might have to start calling me boring from now on then. I can't think of anything better than going to the footy to cheer my team on any day of the week. If I am able to get to every Rabbitohs game so far this year, so should plenty of other Sydney siders. At least maket the effort to get to your teams home games. I even paid for a season ticket for a seat that I will never sit in this year.
I don't know if this is just me, but frankly I feel your image is slightly blurred because you support an out of state team. Supporting a team like the Broncos means you have at least 12 games a year in QLD. If you supported a NSW team you might only lose 6 games to an out of state team and that leaves 20 games in NSW/ACT.
That should leave no excuse for Sydney supporters to attend more games in bigger numbers than we are getting. The averages may be improving but no where near quick enough. Crowds no matter the day need to improve. Sundays are good for the game, have 3 games on Sunday to help bring in bigger crowds.
The major flaw the NRL has is the schedule is released 5 weeks (I think it is) in advance due to the TV ratings. If they set that in stone at the start of the season like the AFL do. It will help and let the families plan for the up coming season. Because at the moment we have a "ohh well, let's watch it on TV and stay at home" mindset because some families can't plan or are unable to change plans.
Another thing needs to be improved is ticketed memberships. The NRL has finally started pushing this year after PHAC and Russell went to Gallop and showed them how good the St Kilda system was working for us and how much money it was generating for little or no offset. I do understand the Broncos were doing it very well for some time but the NRL had done nothing about it.
Something needs to be done to Cronulla.
Their fans don't travel even too home games. They don't have any money, no assets and have major debts. They can hardly win, their ground is terrible even on a good day. Their clubs management is useless. They haven't won a premiership longer then Souths last one and people wanted to re kick Souths out for less. Either bring someone in to take over and buy out the company or fold them up and dissolve their juniors into the Dragons or the new team, if they relocate them to the Central Coast, Perth or even QLD.