All this talk about relative attendances is a bit irrelevant. Our problems would not be over if we relocated to Eketahuna and got all 400 residents to show up each week.
But we got a licence with the FFA knowing full well what our population was, and what expected crowds we could reasonably achieve as part of that. So saying we need to lift our crowds is them shifting the goal posts suddenly in an effort to get rid of us. When we are actually performing better than they would’ve expected in that regard when they let us into the league.
In 2007 our stated aim as a club was to be getting crowds of 10,000. That was what Wellington Phoenix said we could get before our first ever game. And it was seen as reasonable. Wellington really gets behind its sports teams etc.
Years later, Gareth Morgan has also talked about the 10,000 figure as one we should be able to get to.
We've been getting well below that.
Maybe it was naive to state that target, but it was actually Phoenix who set the expectation for crowds that high. If we are now saying that much lower amounts are really good because we're only small, that's us shifting the goalposts. Also, the A-League has moved on a lot over the last decade, and expectations can change.
When we started in 2007 most people were well aware that the clubs survival wasn't a case of 'being quite good on a per capita basis compared to how Australian cities are doing', it was always important to be getting good crowds. Better than we have been. Let's not pretend we are 'over performing' or try to make excuses & make ourselves feel better with stupid 'relative attendances' arguments.
Despite that, the FFA should stop their attempts to turf us out. Phoenix are awesome, and good for the league. Will rise again!