I guessed around 9,000 during the game and that was pretty spot on. Little bit easier to estimate when I've been going to the ground every since I was about 9 years old. Here, in Napier, we kept hearing different pre-sold figures in the press and from 'people in the know' so it was a pleasing turn out really.
Covered this as one item in this week's blog:
Home and away
The crowd of 9020 in Napier was probably just enough to see the Phoenix return next year, but won't convince the sceptics that the entire exercise has little to recommend it considering that as many of a third of that number were from out of town and in the Hawkes Bay for the local under 19 tournament. Taking a match away from home is a significant commitment for the club, players and fans who all need to invest time and effort shifting the entire operation to another city. The novelty factor of the Wellington Phoenix playing live outside Wellington does seem to be wearing off.
The four figure crowd in Napier followed last season where a "home" match in Dunedin drew an embarrassing 3,060 (vs 4628 in the 2011 fixture) and the match against Perth at Eden Park an acceptable 11,600 (but fairly disappointing vs the 20,078 which watched the game against Adelaide in 2011). It's hard to see what the Phoenix get out the the exercise (aside from the match outgoings being underwritten by a council or a promoter). As a proportion of total income merchandise must sit fairly low down the list and building the Phoenix "brand" seems a particularly nebulous reason to take matches on the road.
The answer then, must be that matches at Westpac Stadium are generally still costing money to put on while crowds remain under the season average of roughly 9000.
Whether taking games on the road is seen as a genuine long term strategy, or is being used as a bargaining chip to negotiate more favourable terms from Westpac Stadium management isn't clear - it would certainly make more sense if the second were true. But it does seem to indicate short term thinking when it leads to situations like the side not playing in Wellington between 13 October and 9 December and the loyal fans that the Phoenix are happy to rely upon are the ultimate losers.
Passionate fans want to watch their team play, and only a portion of them are able to make a trip outside Wellington. Too long between matches and you begin to lose that bond which has formed the bed rock of Phoenix support (and which the club are more than happy to trade upon). That's something Phoenix management should mess with at their peril. Perhaps more time needs to be spent finding out why crowds in Wellington have dropped away and less time spent marketing one off games out of town.
http://aleftfootforstandingon.blogspot.co.uk/
I agree with almost all of what you are saying here.
However, in addition to those factors, another factor (in my mind at least) is this:
Since
we (largely) don't have regular away trips available to us (or to most
of us) due to the barrier that trans-tasman travel presents, these
"local away trips" to Napier, Palmerston North, Hamilton, Auckland,
Christchurch, Dunedin etc. I think are very positive to the fan base
fabric for those that can afford the time and expense to attend them,
whether they are from Wellington or elsewhere. You get to forge deeper
friendships on these weekends with fellow fans who you otherwise might
just see for a couple of hours every fortnight... You end up having
dinners/breakfasts with fans you might otherwise just see at the game...
you have time to talk about stuff other than just the current
game/season... you get to do no Phoenix related stuff (like sightseeing,
museum visits, bush walks, going to the beach etc.) with other fans.
I think they are often the highlight of the season for me.
(Appreciating that not everyone gets to experience them).
This is a fair point. I just think the whole exercise is relatively pointless and is starting to impact home crowds - the big crowds were:
- 20,078 v Adelaide in Auckland in 10/11
- 11,600 v Adelaide in Auckland 11/12
- 19,279 v Adelaide in Chch in 09/10
- 14,108 v Adelaide in Chch in 10/11
- 15,037 v Brisbane in Dunedin in pre-season 2011/12
But for three of those, there were I think independent factors that boosted crowds. The Dunedin game was the first event at the new stadium (all football crowds since have drawn less than 500 so that's an outlier).
The big Chch crowd was for the opening of the new stand at Jade Stadium. But there's definitely a support base down there for football and I can understand why they like taking games down there, especially as the new temporary stadium down there looks like it should be good to watch football at.
The first big crowd in Auckland was for one of the first matches at the reopened Eden Park - again an outlier I think. Football crowds up there have been pretty mixed so it will be very interesting to see the crowd for the match this year although I'd pick it will end up less than the 11,600.
Conversely
- 4,628 in Dunedin in 11/12
- 6,459 in Palmerston Nth 09/10
- 9020 in Napier 13/14
Those figures are not big enough to justify taking games away I think
