i'd have to agree with steve o. recession excuse is bullsh*t. i gues we should face it that the crowds have dropped and will not rise again until we have some silverware.
polarised atmnosphere today though. first half was the worst ive seen in ten home games at least, second half was one of the loudest come the end.
lets go all out next game nz!
Crowds - The thread of Australian whining
I think the goalkick chant went quite well 
Yeah I was thinking it was maybe about 7500 today but hard to tell really.
i'd have to agree with steve o. recession excuse is bullsh*t. i gues we should face it that the crowds have dropped and will not rise again until we have some silverware.polarised atmnosphere today though. first half was the worst ive seen in ten home games at least, second half was one of the loudest come the end. lets go all out next game nz!
Pretty intolerant attitude there Akatarawa re recession. Steve-O is pretty hardcore (i.e football before drink), the average punter is more concerned about mortgages, school fees, food on the table etc etc none of which have remained static.
I thought the atmosphere was OK - not fizzing like the GCU and Jests, but still plenty of noise at times throughout both halves (admittedly first was quieter).
Crowds are still up relative to last year and most other A-League clubs this season so in that context the Nix are doing OK.
Was strange today, definetly the first half was very quiet. I kind of felt it was to nice of a day to get that worked up about anything. Then the ref got going and well all relaxation disappeared quickly
Yeah i didnt even think to chant in the first half,was strange. Wasnt until 40mins that someone said "its been very quiet crowd this half" that i thought heeey yeah. Most people just sort of seemed fixed on the game,with the odd yelling of abuse in there,or groan.
2nd half got better from the outset. 1st half was quite strange,wouldnt call it terrible though,was in context of the game.
Tegal2009-11-08 21:36:51
Next week is a different reason all together.. its a chance for the AW to qualify and crowds havent witnessed this chance for a long time. So ppl are spending wisely these days. If the crowds are poor its because they dont wish to go! Fact of the matter is its a recession year. Even listening to radio sport earler tonight on football hour, the correspondant from UK said crowd attendances are down in the EPL.
So what's the excuses for today's fairly average crowd?
Steve, you don't get it. People are hurting and if you have to cut back on something, football would be the obvious-- you can watch it on TV
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Beautiful day, days after an excellent 3-0 win, and days before the biggest match in NZ history...and still short of 7000?
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Bizarre.
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35,000 obviously aren't hurting that much next week!
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I think this recession excuse is slightly overused. If you've lost your job or something, fair enough, but everyone I know has the exact same circumstances that they were in this time last year? I honestly don't know a single person who has been affected? I'm sure there are people who have, but if the problem was as widespread as being claimed then you'd think�I'd know someone who'd lost their job or something?
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Don't know why football would be the obvious either? Personally I'd cut back on drinking first!
Maybe it is because you are Scottish- and thick- next week is a World Cup game to South Africa. Of course it will be a full house.- Scotland are only dreaming of being in the finals.
Maybe it is because you are Scottish- and thick- next week is a World Cup game to South Africa. Of course it will be a full house.- Scotland are only dreaming of being in the finals.
Hey, Scotland have been in a few more World Cups than New Zealand, even beating them in one, so lets not go down that road. Not sure what being Scottish has do to with this argument in any way, shape, or form, but don't let a bit of xenophobia stand in the way of logic.
Why 'of course' it was to be a sell out? A few people on here didn't think it would be a sell out.
Looked like much more than 6k to me.
But in all honesty if an NPC semi final last week can only draw 9 thousand then 6 thousand is seemingly around where we should be sitting. People just aren't going to live sport
Have to agree I questioned the crowd figure today. I thought it was close to 8500. But it depends on how many members come which we can't see in the bowl.
Maybe it is because you are Scottish- and thick- next week is a World Cup game to South Africa. Of course it will be a full house.- Scotland are only dreaming of being in the finals.
Hey, Scotland have been in a few more World Cups than New Zealand, even beating them in one, so lets not go down that road. Not sure what being Scottish has do to with this argument in any way, shape, or form, but don't let a bit of xenophobia stand in the way of logic.
Why 'of course' it was to be a sell out? A few people on here didn't think it would be a sell out.
Steve-O your argument is invalid there too though (your original one,i dont know what Leggy was talking about being scottish either,didnt make sense). But the all whites game is of national importance. A nix game is just mainly wellington. Its unfair to say the AWs sold out so the nix shouldve had a bigger crowd,it just doesnt work like that.
Yeah I know it's a bigger game but I would've thought that with football being more in the public eye than normally that Phoenix could've had a bigger crowd today. Was just a throwaway comment as an example that the recession doesn't seem to apply in certain circumstances.
Steve-O your argument is invalid there too though (your original one,i dont know what Leggy was talking about being scottish either,didnt make sense). But the all whites game is of national importance. A nix game is just mainly wellington. Its unfair to say the AWs sold out so the nix shouldve had a bigger crowd,it just doesnt work like that.
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Yeah I know it's a bigger game but I would've thought that with football being more in the public eye than normally that Phoenix could've had a bigger crowd today. Was just a throwaway comment as an example that the recession doesn't seem to apply in certain circumstances.
Some of my best friends are Scottish.
If our awesome Phoenix can string a few wins in a row...say the next 3 then i think it will generate more public interest and afew more bums on seats.
Steve-O your argument is invalid there too though (your original one,i dont know what Leggy was talking about being scottish either,didnt make sense). But the all whites game is of national importance. A nix game is just mainly wellington. Its unfair to say the AWs sold out so the nix shouldve had a bigger crowd,it just doesnt work like that.
Yeah I know it's a bigger game but I would've thought that with football being more in the public eye than normally that Phoenix could've had a bigger crowd today. Was just a throwaway comment as an example that the recession doesn't seem to apply in certain circumstances.
Some of my best friends are Scottish.
Do they know what you think of them? 
Some of my best friends are Scottish.
But would you want your daughter to marry one?
(note I like Scotland - it's a suburb of Newcastle).
I guess football is still an oddity in NZ even in the 3rd season here in Wgtn - which is pretty cosmopolitan as far as NZ cities go.
The passion and noise that Joe/Bruce-public associate with football matches and supporters is vastly different from the approach that the NZ public display in other team sports events (netball might come close). So maybe there's a misapprehension that we're all Millwall boot boys or something like that.
Certainly though the prejudice/misconception dissolves for many who do attend for the first time - hopefully they find the experience quite refreshing from our traditional dour, stoic shows of support for NZ team games.
A lot of Football in Wellington at the moment. People who might have come maybe just skipped this weekend as will be going to big game next weekend. Obviously not the more hardcore fans, but the casual fans...
Did look like more than 7. But even so, that is rather average. Hopefully something can be done, the All Whites next week will be huge, but it feels a little stagnant with the NIx. Just Radio Sport ads, bus adds, flags. All good stuff. But don't seem to be working.
And another thing (no doubt raised elsewhere previously).
Although not a huge number I would imagine that in Oz the away crowds must help boost numbers. Whereas here if we get 10 of them that's a travelling army.
So if there was another NZ team maybe the presence of rabid Dorklanders or Inbred One-eyed Cantabs might spur the local populace to front up.
Or not.
Although not a huge number I would imagine that in Oz the away crowds must help boost numbers. Whereas here if we get 10 of them that's a travelling army.
So if there was another NZ team maybe the presence of rabid Dorklanders or Inbred One-eyed Cantabs might spur the local populace to front up.
Or not.
Hmm id think the lack of away crowd would be balanced by the fact we can have fans all over the country who can come and watch us.
I put it down to Euro Snobs, partly as well. I was on my way to a church thing at 6 and drove past Kelburn Park where there was a large group of blokes playing football. Surely they could have been at the RoF?
New Zealand is filled with Eurosnobs. It's unfortunate tbh.
The crowd looked big to me on tv - was suprised when the number came up
If our awesome Phoenix can string a few wins in a row...say the next 3 then i think it will generate more public interest and afew more bums on seats.
I would have thought that this game would have had a great crowd. Two massive wins coming into it, the All White buzz, good time and day and great weather. That crowd was pathetic really and like Steve O, I do not think the recession is a good excuse (I've still got off to see Arsenal, Plymouth Argyle, Rangers this season and I got made redundant due to the recession here, where the effects are a lot worse then NZ).
football = not peoples number one priority here,so not a fair comparison to say "back home wank wank"
I also swear by the fact there was a decent crowd there tonight,much more than 7k.
I thought it looked like more than 7 000 but why would they be wrong? I assume a computer adds it up?
The crowd looked big to me on tv - was suprised when the number came up
TV always makes things look bigger.
How much bigger? Might consider getting into porn if this effect is substantial.
Errmm. Not that I am connecting your post and this, but a few years ago the kids saw Suzy Cato in person (@ Te Papa) - and she was tiny.
She was very cool and friendly to the kids - gave them big hugs (man I wish I was kid again sometimes!) and asked lots of questions (hopefully not "who is that middle-aged guy skulking in the background looking furtively at me?").
She was very cool and friendly to the kids - gave them big hugs (man I wish I was kid again sometimes!) and asked lots of questions (hopefully not "who is that middle-aged guy skulking in the background looking furtively at me?").
How much bigger? Might consider getting into porn if this effect is substantial.
This effect, I'm sorry to report, is not nearly substantial enough for you to accomplish this goal.
It's gonna be bloody 30/32 degrees in Melb on Sat/Sun. Usually the weather is kind of similar in Welly and Melb (just a bit hotter here and colder there obviously)
Saturday night in Melbourne was a pearler (weather-wise), people were out and about everywhere. The game, the horse racing and the fact it was ashort working week meant people were out and about.
Weather is going to be warm in Melbourne all week.
If our awesome Phoenix can string a few wins in a row...say the next 3 then i think it will generate more public interest and afew more bums on seats.
You'd think a 12 (now 13) match unbeaten run at home would help build crowd numbers, even without the travelling away fans. Especially, as Steve-o points out, the last two games have been hidings on the scoreboard (not 1-0, 0-0 to deter the uncoverted)
Some on here have been saying when the results come, so will the crowds. Is our away form hurting us that much?
Hopefully, White Noise are in full voice next week, the All Whites win, and many of the "casual" supporters there enjoy the experience so much that they return to watch the Phoenix.
wolfman2009-11-09 04:22:25
7k isnt too bad. I think we have to remember that it is a pretty long season c/w what NZers and Australians are used to. 13 or 14 home games means that mid season is the grind and not easy to spark wider public interest - even when you do have a good home record. I think we should also take comfort from the fact that our crowds are pretty solid - whether we are winning or not. When we were in the middle of our run of draws and everybody was grumpy we were still getting about 7k each home game.
I did think the crowd looked bigger than 7k though - and was surprised with that figure.
The NPC final, the domestic rugby showpiece only attracted 12k, so we're not doing too bad.
If our awesome Phoenix can string a few wins in a row...say the next 3 then i think it will generate more public interest and afew more bums on seats.
I would have thought that this game would have had a great crowd. Two massive wins coming into it, the All White buzz, good time and day and great weather. That crowd was pathetic really and like Steve O, I do not think the recession is a good excuse (I've still got off to see Arsenal, Plymouth Argyle, Rangers this season and I got made redundant due to the recession here, where the effects are a lot worse then NZ).
So, because you choose to spend whatever cash you've got on going to football matches, everyone else has to do the same??
Obviously, the 'recession' will have some effect on crowds. People have only got so many $$$ to spend, so they will be more choosy about what they spend them on. The 'hard core' Nix fans will still turn out, but it's not the hard core fans who boost our crowd numbers. We've seen since Day 1 that we have a core support which remains fairly stable no matter what.
The recession certainly isn't the only reason for 'disappointing' crowds but it's a factor which should be taken into consideration, and shouldn't be written off by the "I sold a kidney just so I could go and see the Phoenix training" brigade.
Jag2009-11-09 07:44:26
The people I asked to come along to the game yesterday were all broke. A couple of them have been to earlier games, and to games last season.
I don't begrudge people the fact they need to pay bills before going along to a sporting event.
But I would have still expected a crowd closer to 10,000 with the great weather we had over the weekend.
I don't begrudge people the fact they need to pay bills before going along to a sporting event.
But I would have still expected a crowd closer to 10,000 with the great weather we had over the weekend.
The crowd looked big to me on tv - was suprised when the number came up
my wife and I were watching on tv and saying how awesome it was to see such a big crowd for once.... then the figure came up on the screen. it looked way more than 7000.
also, the figure for the Nix game was suspiciously close to the figure for the Newcastle game... conspiracy theorists unite!
maybe a couple of thousand scaled the fences
Definitely thought it was an 8,000 plus crowd. Aisle 23 was packed. Only gets like that when the crowd is over 8K. I'm not suggesting the Nix are a bit dodgy, but I know English clubs used to understate their crowds by a few thousand back in the 80's when times were tough presumably to pocket what they didn't declare. We are in a recession after all and crowds have been lower.
I thought 8.5 to 9.5 from my seats in Aisle 25. I don't really beloeve it was only 7.
Some comments about it not being the loudest first half. Conbo of two factors. Scrappy game doesn't lend itself to getitng chants going, and it was much too hot for anything apart from cold beer. When the breeze came in people got a bit of energy back. Incidentally, Perth would have felt more at home than the Nix, temp-wise!
7k isnt too bad. I think we have to remember that it is a pretty long season c/w what NZers and Australians are used to. 13 or 14 home games means that mid season is the grind and not easy to spark wider public interest - even when you do have a good home record. I think we should also take comfort from the fact that our crowds are pretty solid - whether we are winning or not. When we were in the middle of our run of draws and everybody was grumpy we were still getting about 7k each home game.
I did think the crowd looked bigger than 7k though - and was surprised with that figure.
The NPC final, the domestic rugby showpiece only attracted 12k, so we're not doing too bad.
Very good point. Crowds in all sports are going down. When I did athletics seriously I used to wonder why no one ever turned up....that was 7,8 years plus ago now and now the bigger sports of rugby crciket and football are feeling the same pinch.