https://theniche-cache.com/football/2024/5/20/notes-from-the-wellington-phoenixs-semi-final-defeat-vs-melbourne-victory
It gets better. That crowd was not only huge by Wellington standards... it’s actually the largest crowd of the entire A-League season and it’s not even close. Second-place was Sydney FC vs Western Sydney back in November which drew in 28,152 spectators... more than five thousand fewer than what the Nix had on Saturday night. Even a Melbourne Derby elimination final only got to 21,358 (sixth overall).
The grand final is being hosted by Central Coast whose stadium is smaller than this so nothing’s going to change with the decider. Across the past four seasons, there’s only been one instance of a larger crowd than what we saw at Sky Stadium on Saturday evening. A magnificent effort. An emphatic statement.
....Traore’s goal was only the third that the Nix have conceded from outside the penalty area all season. The previous one was Doka’s winner for CCM in stoppage time of that top-of-the-table clash.
....All the young lads are signed up. Granted, there is also a strong possibility of player sales given the form that some of the academy blokes showed. Maybe even a necessity of player sales given that league funding is expected to be slashed next season. But Central Coast sold half of their championship team (and switched managers) and are now one win away from a treble. The Phoenix are built to rebuild. The academy is designed to replenish. This is how it’s supposed to work.
It gets better. That crowd was not only huge by Wellington standards... it’s actually the largest crowd of the entire A-League season and it’s not even close. Second-place was Sydney FC vs Western Sydney back in November which drew in 28,152 spectators... more than five thousand fewer than what the Nix had on Saturday night. Even a Melbourne Derby elimination final only got to 21,358 (sixth overall).
The grand final is being hosted by Central Coast whose stadium is smaller than this so nothing’s going to change with the decider. Across the past four seasons, there’s only been one instance of a larger crowd than what we saw at Sky Stadium on Saturday evening. A magnificent effort. An emphatic statement.
....Traore’s goal was only the third that the Nix have conceded from outside the penalty area all season. The previous one was Doka’s winner for CCM in stoppage time of that top-of-the-table clash.
....All the young lads are signed up. Granted, there is also a strong possibility of player sales given the form that some of the academy blokes showed. Maybe even a necessity of player sales given that league funding is expected to be slashed next season. But Central Coast sold half of their championship team (and switched managers) and are now one win away from a treble. The Phoenix are built to rebuild. The academy is designed to replenish. This is how it’s supposed to work.
I've wondered about crowd sizes for the Nix for a long time, why is it for big matches we can sell out a stadium? For years I've always thoughtt we just dont have the population in wider Wellington to ghet 15k-20k regularly. Yet we get 33k+ for big matches. Is it a kiwi thing to only go to the big games?
Take away the 300 away fans last weekend and that leaves 33k kiwis, even if you said hald of that were out of towners travelling for the event that leaves 16500 locals coming to watch the Nix. The question is why do they not turn out every home game??