Crowds - The thread of Australian whining

I think it's easy to forget too that we got the wooden spoon last season, went ages without winning a game this season, and had a horrendous fixture list that put a bunch of games at poor times  in the part of the year when a significant proportion of Wellingtonians aren't in the city. Then once we had some really good form we got a decent crowd at home and preceded to get smashed 5-0. Then the game before this one we got smashed again. I'd say that the cumulative effect of all that is catching up with us.

Lack of broad coverage is still my favourite scapegoat.

think you moan about this every week LG
Ever tried going over to where they go, even just for the pre start period to get amongst it ??
Mohammed goes to the mountain..

I'll tell the kids that do the Hyundai sign that they should sit on the far side of the ground instead at the game on the 30th ok?

Whatever works bro, it is just a suggestion

I know, and I appreciate what you were saying but moving to the other side of the ground wont stop the friggen deafening music although it may increase my chances of getting a prize but then, Nixie isn't there for adults but for the kids allegedly. 

As for Tansley, thank fuck I listen to "The Sound". For 30 years that guy has been creepy.

Ive never noticed any music. I take my seat as they kick off, spend half time queuing for a Tui and having a piss, which is much the same thing, and I leave at the final whistle. I don't want or need 'music'

so after LG raised some really good points I emailed the club re the noise and the lack of attention the kids get from Nixie and the dancers.
"

Hey guys,

I love the work you are all doing to make the game day experience fun for all, but I have a couple of small things that would make it easier for a lot of us with younger fans.

My season pass is for aisle 23, however when I bring my 3 ½ year old son we sit in aisle 14 to avoid the late afternoon sun. He has two things he really doesn’t like – the overly loud speakers – the music is fine but the volume is just silly – he spends the first 15 minutes we are there with his hands over his ears. Also can we get Nixie and his dancers as well as the kids prizes around all the fans? Nixie spends all his/her time in around aisles 22-26, when we are in 14 we never see him/her.

I know there are a number of families that sit in the shade – as well as the kids moving the Hyundai sign at half time – would be great if they could be given the chance to see their mascot.

Cheers"

and the club's response

Hi David,

Awesome feedback, thank you for taking the time to send it through.

Both points are easily actionable and I’ve put them through to be actioned.

Thanks,

Kyla

 

Loving the 'him/her' political correctness! 

They? It?

 

Good response from the club but these were also issues I raised at a meeting I had with her preseason. We also discussed ticket prices and the stadium car parking which to their credit, the club actioned and had planned to action before my meeting. 

Kyla is an enthusiastic and positive member of the Nix team and it is great she has noted your email. I believe she will definately try and help. She is a valuable asset to the Phoenix. David Dome is too, if only some knew just how much his job entails. 

So before some of you jump on my case, learn more about me from me before you take the cynical remark route. Ranting on here has actually been a last resort. As for emailing the Westpac Stadium Trust. I have sent them several emails and on one occassion I filled in their specific  complaint form online and when I sent it, I got a message saying error 404 this page does not exist. I typed it a second time and got the same message. I guess they don't want to hear the bad, but only the praise.

Article about CCM losing money because of crowd sizes (apparently) - http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/03/11/the-central-coast-mariners-need-to-relocate/

Yeah I didn't think the relocation thing made sense, but is the bit about haemorraghing money true?

They have invested heavily in their centre of excellence. It may be awhile before that breaks even i guess.

Haven't they been heamorraghing money for a while, hence the tendency to sell their best players mid-season almost every year?

 

But isn't that the business model they're working with - develop talent and sell it to make some cash? I mean, if that's what's keeping them afloat you couldn't say it is a symptom of their money problems if selling the best players for profit was always the plan anyway. At least, that's how I view it.

Fair point, I thought it was a bit of both (symptom and pre-existing strategy) but will admit I don't know the situation in any great detail.

Nor do I...I'm just guessing really

Argh..but not mid season! FFS it stuffs us up.
Don't mind off season transfers though.

Will be interesting to see ... poor form leading into the match... finals almost out of reach... playing a decent side ...

Wonders aloud what the crowd will be and what is reasonable given position and recent form ...

If only we could repeat our last win against them.

Yellow fever has made it onto a Spurs blog

http://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2014/3/26/5549204/sol-campbell-autobiography-arsenal-tottenham-hotspur

Want 10,000+ crowds?  This is what we need! lols

http://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2014/mar/26/estonian-footballers-strike-tenpin-bowling-celebration-video

I had a huge laugh, when I read it.

With his recent comments in the media how he was hard done by and should have been England captain and now this masterpiece, well what more needs to be said about "Judas".

I loved some of the additions to his prose (as he approved it), in the comments below the extract.

Suffice to say it is safe to be a fly on his wall.

Too many performances like today over the last 2 seasons is why crowds are shit.

For every 5-0 v Victory, there are about 5 performances like that. Home record over the last 2 years is shocking.

Seems consistently around 6000-8000 to me. Not alarmed by today's crowd at all. 

How many kids freebies were amongst that 6500? Point is crowds will never increase if that is the kind of 'entertainment' on offer. Dull, just like the last home game.

6000 is fair crowd. Seems to be the norm.  

Difficult to get even "come on phoenix chants" today. Even the "who are ya" from opposition corners, what happened to those!? 

I stand about 5-7 rows behind the 'core' - (where were you all today?) and come home every game without a voice.  Good to see the new 'Manny Muscat Baby' chant. 

From an outsiders point of view, you need to get rid of the hierarchal predisposition, where it feels as if being in the 'hardcore' YF is elite. 

Hard to be chanting when the team is playing like poo though, I grant you that! 

What do you mean by hierarchy? Never experienced this. Never ever got the impression that anyone is being elitist either. In fact it's what I like about yellow fever...especially compared to some of the other supporter groups around (RBB)

Doing things like pretending the team weren't shite and dismissing anyone who dares to say so is along the 'elitist hierarchy' theme.

Not about being discouraged from chanting, that's purely about what is seen on the pitch. We've played SOME good football this season, but not enough, even before injuries came along.

I would say if we were 4th, for example, we'd have a bigger crowd today. I know we've had good results and followed up with poor crowds, but that's because we can never sustain any form. When a crowd of say 8000 turn up after a win the week prior, we never seem to produce, and then it drops back to 6500.

And as I say, our home form has been shocking for 2 seasons. I think I've seen us win twice in 2 YEARS at home, and I've missed maybe 3 games in that time?

Not sure if anyone can tell us how many wins we've had at ROF in past 2 seasons?

Tegal, quick as ever to reply to me! I say elitist and hierarchal because that's what YF is. If you're not in the 'in group' of 15-20 people you aren't in anything. Very difficult to put views across on here without being slammed. Very hard to get new chants going if you don't go to the BB or know any of the hardcore. It's almost as if there is a sense of arrogance on here where if it's not said by the usual a-team then it doesn't mean anything. Similar in terms of negative comments. People have negative views in life, instead of slamming it and ignore it, why don't you take them on board as constructive feedback? 

Last home game YF was dead as can be. A fairly regular fan shouted "FIRE UP FEVER, COME ON WHERE ARE YA,' to which a number of fever fans turned around and pointed at him as if 'who does he think he is, he telling us to fire up' .. It was a challenge laid down, why instead of being dour and negative you put your voice in behind the boys and get it going. 

I know people who rather not stand in the fever zone because of the type of attitude being portrayed.

FFA have in the licence agreements, that a team needs to average a certain crowd number, I think it is 12.5 K as part of the licence, along with other requirements... they used it to help get rid of Con at Newcastle and why Tony [Clive Palmer] backed off suing FFA when the kicked out the Fold Coast ...

Given FFA are chasing a 100 million plus media deal at the next media deal [negotiations should be complete in about two years]  there is an expectation at what clubs can produce ... Obviously the NZ market [ratings]  is helped by having a NZ team ... but FFA are trying to sell ground excitement ... 6K average in a 30K stadium does not look or sound great... 

Ultimate A-League  shows an average of 8 K however as discussed earlier in the thread it is the non Wellington matches that get those numbers up ..

 http://www.ultimatealeague.com/records.php?type=att