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.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?
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.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
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.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.
Who are these corrupt mind controllers and how does it work?Plenty of empty seats, they need to stop telling the public how to think, its off putting and corrupt.
All valid points.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.
Nearly all big sporting events, concerts etc here in SE QLD have free public transport. This should be a no brainer everywhere.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.
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.Just like the kennel
These days, 50c will get you 2 lollies.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
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.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.