Why has Footy Park fallen out of favour in just 10 years?

[Dutchy]

When that happens we need to go to local grounds for finals and only the GF at Adelaide

[CENTURION]

Bays poor form aside, I cant wait until its back at Adelaide Oval next year. The new stand will be fantastic for viewing all sport and I remember fondly the 2007 & 2008 finals series on the Scoreboard hill, with everyone screaming themselves hoarse and great banter. It just doesnt happen sitting in the sparse seated stadium. SANFL to me is still standing on a mound with mates, having a few drinks and having a yell for your team, not sitting down and getting beer with a lid on it

Enjoy it while the mound survives. I can see it being greedily eyed off by the executives as soon as the first seemingly "reasonable" excuse to get rid of it comes along - like having too much fun as the masses aren't plonked into a bucket seat each! May it never ever happen, I love that patch of earth.

it is a sacred site and MUST be preserved.

[CENTURION]

When that happens we need to go to local grounds for finals and only the GF at Adelaide

why?

[Dutchy]

When that happens we need to go to local grounds for finals and only the GF at Adelaide

why?

Cause I reckon a stand alone finals game between say Centrals v North @ Richmond would draw 8-10k and would be a magnificent atmosphere.

Still play it at a neutral venue, Im not in favour of home ground final advantages.

[JK]

Bays poor form aside, I cant wait until its back at Adelaide Oval next year. The new stand will be fantastic for viewing all sport and I remember fondly the 2007 & 2008 finals series on the Scoreboard hill, with everyone screaming themselves hoarse and great banter. It just doesnt happen sitting in the sparse seated stadium. SANFL to me is still standing on a mound with mates, having a few drinks and having a yell for your team, not sitting down and getting beer with a lid on it

Enjoy it while the mound survives. I can see it being greedily eyed off by the executives as soon as the first seemingly "reasonable" excuse to get rid of it comes along - like having too much fun as the masses aren't plonked into a bucket seat each! May it never ever happen, I love that patch of earth.

Sadly I fear you might be right mate, obviously I hope not.

[CENTURION]

When that happens we need to go to local grounds for finals and only the GF at Adelaide

why?

Cause I reckon a stand alone finals game between say Centrals v North @ Richmond would draw 8-10k and would be a magnificent atmosphere.

Still play it at a neutral venue, Im not in favour of home ground final advantages.

and if it rains? at least there is some protection at Adelaide Oval.

[JK]

and if it rains? at least there is some protection at Adelaide Oval.

Oh, you don't bring that with you these days mate?

[Dutchy]

Still allowed umbrellas at SANFL grounds

[CENTURION]

and if it rains? at least there is some protection at Adelaide Oval.

Oh, you don't bring that with you these days mate?

a bit late, kids all over the place!

[CENTURION]

Still allowed umbrellas at SANFL grounds

the majority of people would rather sit in a stand than in the outer, in the weather, especially old people and Eagles supporters (one and the same )

[Sojourner]

One issue is that Football Park has been made as sterile atmosphere as possible, there is a massive amount of history at the ground, yet one does not get any sense of it when you go along to matches there.

Various suggestions have been put forward such as allowing each of the SANFL clubs to name a gate after who they feel is their best player and to name other things like the members stand around the ground and so on to allow people to experience the history of the venue as part of going to the footy, yet it all falls on deaf ears.

The other thing that I have noticed, is that there have been some improvements in club attendances in the SANFL, and one gets the feeling that people are keen on the idea of playing football in the actual suburbs as it used to be. Night footy at Richmond has been a huge success and will likely be repeated, perhaps more so when the Bays get their Friday night footy up and running. Suburban footy under lights is the short term future of the SANFL as it moves forward.

I would prefer to see the SANFL lease or own Thebarton Oval, make all the neccessary restorations and set it up properly as a neutral night venue. That way sides that cant access night footy can make the full use of it and tap into the growing market of Friday night footy. Its traditonally a popular venue that is centrally located. As much as we all loved what Football Park was, I know that I would rather see our game played at a packed out Thebarton Oval under lights than in the concrete slabs with advertising banners draped over the seats giving the impression of unprofessionalism.

[Wedgie]

Move the finals away from Sundays and Ill start to go even if it was on the moon.

[Psyber]

As someone said - "Gen Y" - people have gone soft.
[In my day we stood on the outer in the rain, in our plastic raincoats, after we'd carried the horse to the match and tucked it in safely. ]

[tipper]

and here i was always told it was carrying the horse uphill (both ways) in the snow.....

[Pottsy]

The SANFL is a suburban based game. It only makes sense to play the games in that suburban atmosphere.

I simply don't enjoy heading off to footy park...

Can't argue - it's a good place to watch footy. It's big and green and has replay screens. Most other stuff to do with it sucks the biscuit though. I had to drink my pie through a straw it was so microwaved, the transport is pretty much car or don't go, the lids on beers/yellow lines on the ground/don't stand here unless wearing a pink tutu things are ridiculous, and the atmosphere with a typical early finals crowd is about as exciting as a retirees nudist colony.

, and know many people of the same persuasion...many of them not Bays supporters!!

I would love to head off to a local ground to see a final. That 10K crowd packed in tight creates a fantastic feeling at the ground, compared to the damp squib that is a 10K crowd at footy park.

[eaglehaslanded]

Which raises the question - in the last 10 years, Footy Park seems to have fallen out of favour. Consider the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Semi Final attendances (which we were all in a part of):

1999: 20685 - Glenelg vs Norwood; Port vs Eagles
2000: 20321 - Port vs Sturt; Eagles vs Central
2001: 18463 - Port vs Norwood; Central vs Eagles

The 2000 and 2001 days had forecasts for rain of some type - and both had rain in them too. What has happened in the last ten years for the consensus against the venue? It's only ten years, but with everything going for these matches today, it's safe to say there was not more than 15,000 there.

Common denominator there is Port. Perhaps if they were there the finals attendances maybe a little higher.

[eaglehaslanded]

Move the finals away from Sundays and Ill start to go even if it was on the moon.

Agreed Wedgie - To have the finals on a Sunday is a joke especially when there is no SA based AFL teams in the finals.

[Wedgie]

Spelly what was the crowd figure for the last semi final double header played at Footy Park on a Saturday?

[doggies4eva]

If my team was playing finals then I'd go to any ground that I could get to.

While Adelaide is a bit more esthetic and easier to get to and from (parking etc) I don't think this is really influencing people's decisions.

I think that the world is changing - there are many more options for entertainment available than there was just 10 years ago.

Given that Football Park is owned by the SANFL then there would need to be a mighty financial incentive to play games away from FP as I doubt any extra revenue from crowds that Adelaide Oval may encourage would be more than lost to SACA when they get their share - thus lessening the benefit to the clubs.

[therisingblues]

:
Which raises the question - in the last 10 years, Footy Park seems to have fallen out of favour. Consider the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Semi Final attendances (which we were all in a part of):

1999: 20685 - Glenelg vs Norwood; Port vs Eagles
2000: 20321 - Port vs Sturt; Eagles vs Central
2001: 18463 - Port vs Norwood; Central vs Eagles

The 2000 and 2001 days had forecasts for rain of some type - and both had rain in them too. What has happened in the last ten years for the consensus against the venue? It's only ten years, but with everything going for these matches today, it's safe to say there was not more than 15,000 there.

Common denominator there is Port. Perhaps if they were there the finals attendances maybe a little higher.

I raised the same point within the first three posts of this thread:

I think Port are a factor. Where as the other clubs have had their loyalties combined into one club to represent them all in the AFL, Port has a club in the AFL called Port that they all follow. The retention of identity perhaps keeps them a bit closer to their SANFL namesake. Or it could be that in the earlier part of this decade, with the Power still very young, the ties between the two Ports was possibly stronger, with the majority of the Power's players coming from the Magpies, the fans could drop back to the SANFL to see how their "reserves" were coming along.
Just a theory.
P.S. In the finals maybe three years ago, didn't we have an instance where Sturt, Glenelg, Port and Norwood all played on the same day in a double header? What was the crowd like that day?
Was that at Footy Park?

It was at Adelaide Oval, and 22,568 attended. When you think about it, it's not much more than those years anyway. Which I still think is to do with the decline in attendances in the finals as a whole. Possibly the ABCs' coverage of playing the games in full with only an hours' delay for the first match doesn't help either. I can't remember what the coverage was back then; I'm thinking it was the 1st game in full but a couple of hours late and the last half of the 2nd game live.

Actually, the 2nd week of the finals had 22,588 - Sturt vs Norwood; Central vs Glenelg. The first week of the finals was Norwood vs Port; Sturt vs Central. 15,825 saw that match. Only a few hundred more than the 2000 equivalent between Sturt/Norwood and Central/Port.

According to the stats provided by Spelly, in recent years a semi final week at Adelaide Oval involving Sturt/Norwood/Central/Glenelg attracted 22,588 spectators which is about 7,000 higher than the previous week's finals which involved Norwood/Port/Sturt/Central and attracted only 15,825 Both weeks the finals were played at Adelaide Oval which would suggest that it is not so much the clubs involved (or lack of Port) but the venue which is influencing crowds.