A finals thought

[am Bays]

The SANFL are the biggest losers here, no Norwood, no Port, no real outside interest.

Norwood, are they still in the competition???

Looking forward to next year underlights at Norwood oval when the Bay fans outnumber the locals, again...

[Voice]

Centrals were involved in the only 2 45,000+ grand final crowds since the afl.
They played Port in both of those grand finals, yet when Glenelg and Sturt (and Norwood) played Port in grand finals post-afl, they were unable to crack 45,000.

1998 Port 11.9.75 Sturt 9.12 (66) 9 points 44,838
Gee we missed out on being as good a crowd puller as you Dogs by 162 people and that was post the Powers entry.
Also myself, being from Elizabeth, went along to those Port v Central GF's to support the Dogs, mainly because I and alot of my non Central supporting mates who came, felt sorry for your inability in getting anywhere near a flag.
Geez, how thats changed now, nothing to feel sorry for you about now, except that you don't seem to understand that you're not the biggest crowd pullers and in fact, you scare alot of opposition supporters away with some of the idiocy that your mob carry on with.

[whufc]

Centrals were involved in the only 2 45,000+ grand final crowds since the afl.
They played Port in both of those grand finals, yet when Glenelg and Sturt (and Norwood) played Port in grand finals post-afl, they were unable to crack 45,000.

1998 Port 11.9.75 Sturt 9.12 (66) 9 points 44,838
Gee we missed out on being as good a crowd puller as you Dogs by 162 people and that was post the Powers entry.
Also myself, being from Elizabeth, went along to those Port v Central GF's to support the Dogs, mainly because I and alot of my non Central supporting mates who came, felt sorry for your inability in getting anywhere near a flag.
Geez, how thats changed now, nothing to feel sorry for you about now, except that you don't seem to understand that you're not the biggest crowd pullers and in fact, you scare alot of opposition supporters away with some of the idiocy that your mob carry on with.

Coming from someone who is involved in the Sturt Cheer Squad, i find that comment very ironic and reeks of double standards, especially considering the form of the Sturt cheersquad over the last 3 years.

[Psyber]

The SANFL are the biggest losers here, no Norwood, no Port, no real outside interest.

Norwood, are they still in the competition???
Looking forward to next year underlights at Norwood oval when the Bay fans outnumber the locals, again...

Betcha all the Bay fans will disappear after they lose in the finals as usual...

[Voice]

Centrals were involved in the only 2 45,000+ grand final crowds since the afl.
They played Port in both of those grand finals, yet when Glenelg and Sturt (and Norwood) played Port in grand finals post-afl, they were unable to crack 45,000.

1998 Port 11.9.75 Sturt 9.12 (66) 9 points 44,838
Gee we missed out on being as good a crowd puller as you Dogs by 162 people and that was post the Powers entry.
Also myself, being from Elizabeth, went along to those Port v Central GF's to support the Dogs, mainly because I and alot of my non Central supporting mates who came, felt sorry for your inability in getting anywhere near a flag.
Geez, how thats changed now, nothing to feel sorry for you about now, except that you don't seem to understand that you're not the biggest crowd pullers and in fact, you scare alot of opposition supporters away with some of the idiocy that your mob carry on with.

Coming from someone who is involved in the Sturt Cheer Squad, i find that comment very ironic and reeks of double standards, especially considering the form of the Sturt cheersquad over the last 3 years.

Coming from the new leader (me) of the Sturt cheersquad who has been making sure there is not 1 incident this year and has a new co-operation with the football club happening so there's no irony there. In saying that, I said "you scare alot of opposition supporters away", I didn't say "you scare me away".
I couldn't give a damn what your supporters want to do, I just know alot of families who won't go to a GF involving you guys because of the stupidity with flares and the violence in the crowd.

[whufc]

Centrals were involved in the only 2 45,000+ grand final crowds since the afl.
They played Port in both of those grand finals, yet when Glenelg and Sturt (and Norwood) played Port in grand finals post-afl, they were unable to crack 45,000.

1998 Port 11.9.75 Sturt 9.12 (66) 9 points 44,838
Gee we missed out on being as good a crowd puller as you Dogs by 162 people and that was post the Powers entry.
Also myself, being from Elizabeth, went along to those Port v Central GF's to support the Dogs, mainly because I and alot of my non Central supporting mates who came, felt sorry for your inability in getting anywhere near a flag.
Geez, how thats changed now, nothing to feel sorry for you about now, except that you don't seem to understand that you're not the biggest crowd pullers and in fact, you scare alot of opposition supporters away with some of the idiocy that your mob carry on with.

Coming from someone who is involved in the Sturt Cheer Squad, i find that comment very ironic and reeks of double standards, especially considering the form of the Sturt cheersquad over the last 3 years.

Coming from the new leader (me) of the Sturt cheersquad who has been making sure there is not 1 incident this year and has a new co-operation with the football club happening so there's no irony there. In saying that, I said "you scare alot of opposition supporters away", I didn't say "you scare me away".
I couldn't give a damn what your supporters want to do, I just know alot of families who won't go to a GF involving you guys because of the stupidity with flares and the violence in the crowd.[/quote]

Thats the same with people who won't go to Unley oval because of the actions of the SCS over the last few years. Your the new leader yet haven't managed to kick out the 'ice freak' who consistently tries to start fights including this year. I can guarentee you that the SCS is the most watched cheer squad in the league by both Weslo and the police.

[Voice]

Are you talking about the tall skinny lad, mid 20's? PM me if you can please.
EDIT: Btw, no-one has tried to start a fight in the cheer squad this year so I have no idea who you're talking about

[CENTURION]

what a load of crap. The majority of people don't even know wtf you are even talking about. people don't go to the footy anymore because it's not interesting to them anymore. do you think they are scared of a couple of weeny tool squeezers? no. they have better things to do. as simple as that. who gives a stuff about scary cheer squads! kids trying to be men! get over yourselves, ffs.

[whufc]

what a load of crap. The majority of people don't even know wtf you are even talking about. people don't go to the footy anymore because it's not interesting to them anymore. do you think they are scared of a couple of weeny tool squeezers? no. they have better things to do. as simple as that. who gives a stuff about scary cheer squads! kids trying to be men! get over yourselves, ffs.

on the angry pills tonight Centurian

[Voice]

what a load of crap. The majority of people don't even know wtf you are even talking about. people don't go to the footy anymore because it's not interesting to them anymore. do you think they are scared of a couple of weeny tool squeezers? no. they have better things to do. as simple as that. who gives a stuff about scary cheer squads! kids trying to be men! get over yourselves, ffs.

So the families who have stated this to me are lying. You must know them better then me mate. Sorry

[magpie in the 80's]

My question is how should the SANFL promote this upcoming final series to maximise numbers and create the atmosphore i think all SANFL fans want?

Was this the thread Question??

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

I'm not so sure about that Booney. The only times they Centrals GF cracked 30,000 have been when they've played Sturt, North and Glenelg (excet for 2000 I think, can't find those figures atm).
I think alot more neutrals would come to see 2 different teams in the GF.
If Centrals had such a huge bandwagon their would have been more then 26,000 at all their GF's vs the Eagles.

Point im trying to make is that people assume the low Grand Final crowds when Centrals have played the Eagles is a direct result of both teams competing drawing small crowds when this simply isn't the case.
I really fail to understand why people just assume the crowds would have been so much better had it been a club other than Centrals playing the eagles in grand finals.
The crowd split at the 2001 grand final would be around 16,378-10,000, (and thats being generous) lets assume Centrals had the same 16,378 at the 2007 and 2008 grand finals when the crowds were 30,478 and 34,128 respectively, that would give North an estimated contingent of 14,100 and Glenelg 17,750, going back to 2002 it would give Sturt a crowd of 18,809 from a crowd of 35,187, on all accounts hardly a huge difference considering the numbers are not exact.
Given the above it is also unlikely Sturt, North or Glenelg would have cracked 30,000 against the Eagles either.
To suggest Centrals are poor crowd pullers and that other teams would have drawn much bigger crowds against the Eagles is purely hypothetical.
The only times (after 2000) there has been more than 30,000 at a Centrals grand final is much more likely to be due the combination of 2 teams bringing in a decent contingent, rather than 1 of the teams being extraordinary crowd pullers.

[Voice]

I certainly wasn't saying Central can't pull a crowd(well maybe I was but tounge firmly in cheek), just that out of the current top 3, Sturt v Glenelg would pull the largest GF crowd out of all the combinations.

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

Centrals were involved in the only 2 45,000+ grand final crowds since the afl.
They played Port in both of those grand finals, yet when Glenelg and Sturt (and Norwood) played Port in grand finals post-afl, they were unable to crack 45,000.

Of course Port Power joining the AFL in 1997 would have had no impact on attendances in the SANFL.

Wouldn't have thought so, port power only get a few hundred to home games don't they?

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

I certainly wasn't saying Central can't pull a crowd, just that out of the current top 3, Sturt v Glenelg would pull the largest GF crowd out of all the combinations.

Fair enough, i probably took it the wrong way, its just always frustrated me abit when people suggest Centrals don't pull in the crowds due to low attendances against the Eagles, when IMO other clubs probably wouldn't have done to much better.

[Pseudo]

The SANFL are the biggest losers here, no Norwood, no Port, no real outside interest.

Norwood, are they still in the competition???
Looking forward to next year underlights at Norwood oval when the Bay fans outnumber the locals, again...

Betcha all the Bay fans will disappear after they lose in the finals as usual...

Isn't it wonderful to see the words "finals" and "usual" in the same sentence about Glenelg?

[PhilH]

There are three main groups that come to grand finals.

The supporters of each club
and
neutrals ie corporates, fans of curtain raiser clubs and general footy fans coming to the big day.


One main difference between the AFL and SANFL grand final is the number of neutrals.

In the AFL there are so many corporates that supporters of the competing clubs struggle to get tickets. The AFL grand final is an "event" regardless of who is playing, the SANFL Grand Final is much more a game.

In the SANFL I in recent times I suspect the number of neutrals would have been highest in 2000 when CD were going for their first and 2007 (at last something different than Central v Eagles)

As an Eagles fan I have had to put up with a decade of being told poor GF crowds are our fault.

Whilts I accept that relative to the Glenelgs and Sturts we have a much smaller GF supporter base, what strikes me as funny is that we were labelled as having no supporters at games drawing 34,000 and 28,000 yet its our fault when only 24,000 turn up. If there were only say 8,000 Eagles fans at the 34,000 game it is a mathematical impossibility that the club was responsibile in total for a 10,000 drop in 4 years, if so -2000 Eagles fans would have been (or not been) there.

What was suprising was that the lowest number 24,207 in 2004 was the Eagles first GF in 3 years and hey had a good chance of winning with 3 close games played through the year (no one saw the 20 goal thumping that ensued). More likely is the distant Central fans so passionate about getting that first flag that after three in four years started to drop off.

Remembering of course these are not the live and die club supporters, these are the 2,000 to 3,000 that turn up each week. It's the 5,000 to 10,000 others that come out for the finals I am talking about.


One way of ensuring strong GF crowds is to increase the neutral factor so numbers are not so reliant on which teams make it. And therein lies the challenge. For mine there should be a shake up of how the day is presented. It will always be about the two sides but there needs to be some general activities to make it more of an "event" that will attract more supporters of non participating clubs.

Two ideas to consider,

Pre-game the day should be a celebration of South Australian sport. We should make the day a recognition of our all champion sporting team and individuals not just those involved in the SANFL.

Secondly at half time it should be a celebration of South Australian Football. Wwe currently have a mail medallist parade with 30 or so Medal winners from each affiliated league.

As the game falls on the long weekend before the local cricket seasons start, how about inviting the premiership side from each suburban and country league to do a parade as well at the half time.

What a wonderful reward for winning a premiership, being invited to AAMI Stadium in front of 30-35,000 people to celebrate.

Not only would the players attend so would most of the club, family friends etch.
If 30 premiership sides were invited and 200 people from each club attend to mark the occasion that’s 6,000 turning up.

[Chambo100]

Centrals v Eagles or West don't pull GF crowds period.
Look at the figures. You cannot argue with them.

Nobody needs to blame any particular club for it, but that is the way it is.
Each club has a different supporter base.

As to what effect a cheer squad has is irrelevant.

Bit let us just look at this objectively.
I have seen games against every club and only ever notice Port's cheer squad and of course ours.

Do any of you other teams who complain about ours, actually have one?
And by that I mean one that makes audible noise?

None of you have made any sense in thie post in relation to the current SFC cheer squad. You throw out the verbal dribble on bygone days, but have no idea what is presently going on.

Any observed person would understand the improved mark that The Voice has stamped on our cheer squad and to think otherwise is trifling with the truth. If you think this is a fabrication or untrue, then that doubles my disregard of your opinions.

Look at the reality not the perception.

[spell_check]

And Phil, what people don't understand is the drop in crowds happened before 2000. There was a page each week devoted to stats on previous meetings each week in the Football Budget in 1999, written by Dion Hayman. He mentioned the biggest crowd of the 90s was the 1990 GF, 50,589 I think. "It won't be broken in the future until more seating is installed".

The two biggest drawcards played off that year - Port and Norwood. Yet that match failed to get 40,000. It was over 5,000 less than the Grand Final two years ago.

[blues2002]

I dont blame the eagles for the lower attendances, its more likely a drop off in interest of the neutral supporter of the SANFL.
I never see a lot of CDFC members at opposition grounds, and I laugh when North and Glenelg supporters post crap like they outnumber the home team at any game (even if they did its like a whole few hundred extra...
It's just a simple case that we the SANFL supporter are a small fish in a very small (and much loved ad appreciated) pond. We allowed the pond to shrink and live off the dividends of the bigger smelly artifical pond so really unless you took a stand against that then who gives a flying f*ck if only 24000 turn up to a GF? We sold out our league so 24 or 26K should be happily recieved.....