the NRL is a dead man walking

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maroondog72

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I've been heavily involved in junior rugby league for around 20years as a coach and club president and have witnessed a steady decline in juniors numbers in the last 10 years the reasons are many but it's my opinion that the main reason is that the nrl has been way to soft on some of the shitbags that have made their way into first grade it's fast becoming a game for thugs and cheats,the working mans game no longer...very sad
 

maroondog72

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Lol yeah I remember finding a 50c piece on my way home from school one arvo and I bought a bag of lollies that fed every kid in the street for a day:laughing:
 

Nano

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Footy is a working/poor mans sports to attend yet prices say otherwise...
 

dogluva

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Crowds are going down , i mean only 7,100 fans on a friday night for souths v titans not to mention only 4,000 for the 6pm match betwen sea eagles n knights.

Junior football clubs are getting smaller and smaller every year
This year most clubs have only one division per age group as opposed to the previous years where 3 was the norm.

Another huge sign that the NRL is dying is the talk about whether or not the stadium will get the crowds for soo2 on Wednesday night .That was unheard of say 3 years ago.

Whats happened to the greatest game of all?
A big fat broadcast contract, that is what. The NRL has said they will take control back from the broadcasters to have particular games on when they want them to but those ridiculous time slots will probably still stay.
Not only that but as from next year I have been told that we will get ONE game and ONE game only i.e. first grade at the grounds. Of course season ticket holders will no doubt be able to attend the new competition taking the place of U 20's and the Intrust at a different ground on a different day ( sometimes though the Intrust is on earlier the same day meaning if you like to watch it you need then to make a trip over to ANZ or wherever the competition round is being played at.) More bang for you buck; afraid not.... maybe Des is right in thinking first grade is the only important grade to worry about....
 

Mr Shhh

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Fuck you just made me feel old lol, i remember the old coner shop near my school where we used to buy the cards before school around 84 with a 10c mixed bag of lollies haha
I can remember grade 2 in 1978. I had the complete set of Rugby League cards. Took me 3 weeks of buying new packs and a lot of swaps to get the last card. It was Nathan Ross from Souths.
 

Bad Billy

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The NRL alienated its traditional fan base with its softening of the game, But didn't capture the market they were aiming to.
 

Oatley Dog

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Good points. I still think that the nrl should make it financially feasible for families to attend games. And I think the gambling sponsors aren't a good thing either. Massive conflict of interest to take a share of the gambling agencies profit margin and to my way of thinking it entices the NRL to be open to match fixing. I really think its visible in the refereeing that something isn't quite right.

As far as centralizing the bulk of home games to a neutral venue also removed the tribal aspect and takes away from home ground advantages which used to once shape the game.

Regardless of all the issues I still can't abandon my team. It just pisses me off that the NRL seem to focus less on fans these days.
Truth is a family can get tickets to most games for about $50. cheap entertainment by any standard in this day and age. You generally get to watch 2 games and some sort of activity between games. To be honest, my least favourite home games are at Belmore. It is just a dump from a spectator point of view. It invariably rains and no matter where you are you get soaked. I have tickets supposedly under cover in the stand and still get saturated. You have to walk miles to get to your car. The food is inconvenient to get to and generally rubbish and taking a pee is like a road trip. Frankly I'll take ANZ every day of the week. Having gone to Suncorp for Origin 1 a couple of weeks ago I now get the difference between there and ANZ and hopefully when the redo ANZ it will be just as good, but the point is the maxi stadia are light years ahead of the suburban dumps.
 

Bob dog

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Plenty of empty seats, they need to stop telling the public how to think, its off putting and corrupt.
 

Bob dog

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They are trying to introduce Communism and invent special laws but they don't have the authority so they try to incriminate their victims to avoid jail.
They have no right to hijack the big game.
 

doggieaaron

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The commission was handed a supreme product,tv stations battling to offer massive money and somehow they have blown money and turned people away from the game,will be very hard to argue we have a great product next tv rights deal
 

Alan79

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Truth is a family can get tickets to most games for about $50. cheap entertainment by any standard in this day and age. You generally get to watch 2 games and some sort of activity between games. To be honest, my least favourite home games are at Belmore. It is just a dump from a spectator point of view. It invariably rains and no matter where you are you get soaked. I have tickets supposedly under cover in the stand and still get saturated. You have to walk miles to get to your car. The food is inconvenient to get to and generally rubbish and taking a pee is like a road trip. Frankly I'll take ANZ every day of the week. Having gone to Suncorp for Origin 1 a couple of weeks ago I now get the difference between there and ANZ and hopefully when the redo ANZ it will be just as good, but the point is the maxi stadia are light years ahead of the suburban dumps.
All valid points.

The large stadiums have got the advantage of better seating and conditions in foul weather, but atmosphere is why I loved going to games when I was younger. Admittedly I have a 1600 km round trip to get to games, but when I do go I feel that the atmosphere and distance from the game makes it a far less emotional experience than when I went to watch as a youngster. I moved away from Sydney at 13 and the last game I saw at Belmore was the win in a downpour where Polly aquaplaned in from a long way out. I think the final score was 6-8 or something like that. I got thoroughly soaked during that game but wouldn't swap the experience of the atmosphere for anything except maybe the 2012 grand final. For the huge games of which I have only attended an origin game at suncorp and the 2012 grand final, the atmosphere is brilliant. But surely they could find a middle ground. Belmore was scheduled to be upgraded when it was still getting frequent use, and the Bulldogs would have built a pretty awesome stadium at Liverpool s according to the plans I saw. Sadly that fell through when our salary cap cheating was exposed. But given the relatively low attendance rates it would make sense to upgrade some home grounds or build some new ones that fit the attendance levels better. I watched most of the dogs vs magpies games at leumeah too adv bf rise were afterwards a good lively spectacle. Maybe the reconfiguration of ANZ will improve that side of things, but its still hard to call it a home game when the Sydney clubs share it.

As for prices. Ticket pricing for a family isn't that bad on its own, but adding in train tickets, bus fares to the station and then food costs, $50 is a decent whack of your wage for quite a lot of families. My niece has two kids and her other half is on slightly better than minimum wage. Attending the games is a big event for her young family. Add in that late night games coupled with travel from Campbelltown makes it prohibitive for her to get there with her kids.

I'm not saying its the only factor which causes low attendance rates but it certainly contributes.
 

CroydonDog

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All valid points.

The large stadiums have got the advantage of better seating and conditions in foul weather, but atmosphere is why I loved going to games when I was younger. Admittedly I have a 1600 km round trip to get to games, but when I do go I feel that the atmosphere and distance from the game makes it a far less emotional experience than when I went to watch as a youngster. I moved away from Sydney at 13 and the last game I saw at Belmore was the win in a downpour where Polly aquaplaned in from a long way out. I think the final score was 6-8 or something like that. I got thoroughly soaked during that game but wouldn't swap the experience of the atmosphere for anything except maybe the 2012 grand final. For the huge games of which I have only attended an origin game at suncorp and the 2012 grand final, the atmosphere is brilliant. But surely they could find a middle ground. Belmore was scheduled to be upgraded when it was still getting frequent use, and the Bulldogs would have built a pretty awesome stadium at Liverpool s according to the plans I saw. Sadly that fell through when our salary cap cheating was exposed. But given the relatively low attendance rates it would make sense to upgrade some home grounds or build some new ones that fit the attendance levels better. I watched most of the dogs vs magpies games at leumeah too adv bf rise were afterwards a good lively spectacle. Maybe the reconfiguration of ANZ will improve that side of things, but its still hard to call it a home game when the Sydney clubs share it.

As for prices. Ticket pricing for a family isn't that bad on its own, but adding in train tickets, bus fares to the station and then food costs, $50 is a decent whack of your wage for quite a lot of families. My niece has two kids and her other half is on slightly better than minimum wage. Attending the games is a big event for her young family. Add in that late night games coupled with travel from Campbelltown makes it prohibitive for her to get there with her kids.

I'm not saying its the only factor which causes low attendance rates but it certainly contributes.
Nearly all big sporting events, concerts etc here in SE QLD have free public transport. This should be a no brainer everywhere.

I agree that $50 can be a decent amount for some families (I grew up in a household where we wouldn't have been able to afford to go to the footy regularly), and as someone who doesn't have kids, I don't want to be mocking anyone... but if one can get a family ticket for this amount - it represents good value compared to a lot of other entertainment. I don't know how much AFL tickets are, but I would imagine they wouldn't be cheaper than that.

As for the original post, to steal a line from Mark Twain: I think that reports of the NRLs death have been greatly exaggerated. I think there are some areas that are concerning, and there should always be striving to improve the experience overall, but as someone who watched the game since the 80s, when games were played in rubbish suburban grounds and a 5 figure crowd was a call for celebration - I don;t think the game is in too bad shape. a re somewhat exaggerated.

Trying to seek a balance between bums on seats at the grounds and bums on couches watching on TV (and through other means) is always going to be a tough. Having said that, I think you can strive for both though.
 

Dogzof95

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I'll tell you why, Hasler! Whenever the Bulldogs are going shit, the NRL product drops in quality!
 

Kaz

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I think the low crowds had to do with the teams playing.

EG:

Souths fans only go to the games on pay week. (which was last week) :tonguewink:

Titans have no fans.
 

CroydonDog

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Just like the kennel
I must admit I was quite disappointed that your earlier thread was canned, as I was curious to know more of what you meant about the Kennel's demise.

Considering some of the dead set rubbish on here, I thought it was a relatively sensible post :grinning:
 

Oatley Dog

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All valid points.

The large stadiums have got the advantage of better seating and conditions in foul weather, but atmosphere is why I loved going to games when I was younger. Admittedly I have a 1600 km round trip to get to games, but when I do go I feel that the atmosphere and distance from the game makes it a far less emotional experience than when I went to watch as a youngster. I moved away from Sydney at 13 and the last game I saw at Belmore was the win in a downpour where Polly aquaplaned in from a long way out. I think the final score was 6-8 or something like that. I got thoroughly soaked during that game but wouldn't swap the experience of the atmosphere for anything except maybe the 2012 grand final. For the huge games of which I have only attended an origin game at suncorp and the 2012 grand final, the atmosphere is brilliant. But surely they could find a middle ground. Belmore was scheduled to be upgraded when it was still getting frequent use, and the Bulldogs would have built a pretty awesome stadium at Liverpool s according to the plans I saw. Sadly that fell through when our salary cap cheating was exposed. But given the relatively low attendance rates it would make sense to upgrade some home grounds or build some new ones that fit the attendance levels better. I watched most of the dogs vs magpies games at leumeah too adv bf rise were afterwards a good lively spectacle. Maybe the reconfiguration of ANZ will improve that side of things, but its still hard to call it a home game when the Sydney clubs share it.

As for prices. Ticket pricing for a family isn't that bad on its own, but adding in train tickets, bus fares to the station and then food costs, $50 is a decent whack of your wage for quite a lot of families. My niece has two kids and her other half is on slightly better than minimum wage. Attending the games is a big event for her young family. Add in that late night games coupled with travel from Campbelltown makes it prohibitive for her to get there with her kids.

I'm not saying its the only factor which causes low attendance rates but it certainly contributes.
Not having much money though isn't the sole domain of families today though. I couldn't afford to go to a game for 20 years because it was either that or default on my 18% mortgage. The reality is that half of those that whinge about prices still manage to suck on darts, go to the pub, have 10 capuccinos a week and eat takeaway. Nothing wrong with any of that but then to turn around and say ticket prices are too high because there is no money left over really isn't fair dinkum. I'm sure there are just as many who don't do any of those things and still can't afford to go to the games but sadly that's life. It will turn around at some point and they can then afford to go. I think the new Parra stadium will be a step in the right direction and along with hopefully the refit of ANZ and SFS we would then have 3 grounds that are purpose built for footy and will be great to sit in. One of the reasons why the crowds are so high in AFL is because the games are essentially played in 2 grounds in Melbourne for 8 teams. So ground members get at least 2 games a weekend plus the club members, combined with family friendly playing times means you have lots of families there. We play on average 6 out of every 8 games at night every week. Not helpful for young families.
 
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