Crowds - The thread of Australian whining

On the other hand if we sell out Hutt Rec 3 games in a row and we're winning games then you might get a much bigger crowd when you're back at the RoF - if people feel like they've been missing out on the good times. 

Good point. First game back in Wellington will be an interesting one for sure.  Might get the novelty factor back for Wellington City residents, as well as the bandwagon effect if we are doing well. 

Heard most Hutt Rec tickets have been allocated to people from the hutt, with not many coming out from Wellington - so you're right, that effect could be quite large when we return to Westpac. 

Or we could get humped for those three games...

Nice anti-jinx, we needed that

Pretty sure that comment is directed at chubbs.

Yeah think the name in that is confused.

 

Could be though that this will be offset by some attending the Hutt games could be attending for the first time because it is in the Hutt.

 

Have got my tickets but travel wise for me this will be an interesting exercise.  I live in Upper Hutt and always use the train for ROF games.  Very convienient.  Went to watch club rugby final at Hutt Rec last August when a workmate played in the curtain raiser lower grade final and took the car.  Watched the main game and was then an absolute nightmare getting away.  Proposed Nix crowd is twice the size.  Best bet i think will be to use the train as normal and walk up from Waterloo.  Bit of a hike though

I suspect that Midfielder's post is to demonstrate that FFA might well be having the same thoughts/discussions with Welnix over their plans/strategy to move games to Auckland and other centres and dilute the Wellington supporter base.

Hopefully the nix / metlink put on free busses.

Woburn probably the easier option

It is a five minute walk from Woburn Station to Hutt Rec

It has probably been discussed much earlier in the thread but i cant find it.  The bit at present that i cant understand with respect to Wellington crowds is that a few seasons ago there were consistently bigger crowds than we are seeing this season, however to me this current side is playing football that deserves bigger crowds. 

the crowds are the same. They always have been for the first two thirds of the season, then toward the end of the season the crowds get bigger if the team is doing well 

Haven't got the updated graph for this year at work, but we are actually up from the previous two seasons.

So the overall area of concern then is that in 2008 there were over 40k attendees over the three clubs (although the lions and canes were probably the same group), while in 2013 it has halved.

I'd be very worried regardless of sporting code.

helps that we've had the Eden park game already mind you. But that is encouraging, driven by increased membership sales no doubt. 

Could be very attractive to us coming from K-Town.

This must be about the 8th time you've posted this graph to prove someone wrong. Bet you are glad you made it now!

Only including Westpac games.

you really need to send this to the dom post so that they can conveniently forget about it next time they run an article about falling crowd sizes focusing on the nix.

given the downward trends for the rugby teams, you need to add in future projections to see when the Nix will be the number one attended sports team in Wellington. I'd say 2017.

But our attendances will still only be under 10k

I wish the club hadn't made the announcement that $10k was/is the break even figure! Then perhaps the media would be able to focus on the increased membership numbers and small increase in attendances.

To be fair to the Dom Post, the last time they ran a story about small crowd numbers, was last Thursday, and the lead story on the Sports section was about mismanagement of Wellington Rugby, and included a huge photo of empty seats (two fans) at a Lions game.

The Caption says: "Where the bloody hell are ya?: Empty seats have become a depressingly familiar sight for rugby games at Westpac Stadium."

Say, and walk away?

Just to update my earlier graph with our games at Westpac so far at this season. We are up 4.6% from 2008/9 season. 

And if you go back earlier to look at crowds since the Stadium opened.

The full length feature graph is dynamite.  A masterpiece sir (and potential jaw dropper when sharing with some of our sporting cousins).

What the fudge happen to the lions in 2003, that's a big drop.

Rugby World Cup in Aussie that year. May also have been first year that elite players (eg,All Blacks +) were effectively released from provincial team duty.  Just guessing.

Jonah Lomu left? 

Tyler Boyd was born?

Point taken. We were wandering way off topic!

Meanwhile .....

According to the trendline, Phoenix crowds will be bigger than the Hurricanes in 2/3 years

and we'll fill the stadium by the next trilennium?

Unfortunately it will be 50m under the sea by then

The Westpac Aquarium.

Or Westpaqua Stadium?

seagull seagull!

Gives us an excuse to play like shark I suppose :)