Hello there. Attendance at Cambridge has been good in terms of expectation - but modest in terms of historic highs.
I think it's fair to say Waibop have exceeded expectations at Cambridge, and outside of factors beyond their immediate control - acknowledged dressing room probs and a playing surface that is below that of other entities - have run a very good matchday. There's been an enthusiasm and vitality there that was generally lacking at Porritt and Ngaruawahia (apart from that 2008 summer) and I say that as someone who could conceivably be blamed given I was a volunteer administrator for part of that period.
But when you compare the attendances to 10 years ago when summer football was re-introduced, we are still well over a 1000 down on crowd numbers - and most other clubs are as well.
Indeed, if when league entries were being sought, Waikato had suggested they would attract 500-700, they probably never would have been laughed out of the applicagtion process. From memory the best Waikato attendance was about 3000 at Waikato Stadium on a day when Mike Groom was doin g a half time promo with his kids, 2005-06.
I guess lifestyles have changed over time, with too many other competing recreations, but it is an issue that needs some thought and research, because at the moment for every fan whon pays at the gate, he is effectively being subsidised from other spheres (pokies mainly) to the tune of at least $15 a head on the true cost of staging such matches. (The national spend is a minimum of $600,000 a season on national league)
As for Waitakere, Krishna's wedge would have paid for a whole squad and more elsewhere, from what my spies told me 18 months ago.
