A League of our own?

The 2009-10 A-League season promised so much but half way through round 17 of the fifth season of the national competition has it delivered? Not so say crowd figures!


Ten teams entered the 2009/10 season of the A-League with high expectations, including two new teams, Gold Coast United and the North Queensland Fury. A year out from the 2010 the clubs could have anticipated good crowd numbers, high level football and excitement. Whilst the level of football has been an improvement on previous years the crowds are trickling through the turnstiles except for the always well followed Melbourne Victory whose crowds still average over 20,000 at home.


Mr Palmer have you met my mate Robbie?

It has been well documented that crowd numbers are down and alarmingly so by teams such as the Brisbane Roar and Gold Coast United. This culminated in the owner of Gold Coast United, Clive Palmer pictured right, capping the crowd in the round 13 game to 5000. Any crowd under 5001 people does not pay a $3 per head state government travel tax. This infuriated both the FFA and Gold Coast fans alike and only 2616 attended the game in which ironically the League's biggest drawcard, marksman Robbie Fowler, sunk United with a brace in the second half. Yet in Round 1 all looked good for the southern Queensland rivals with a crowd of 19,902 attending the game.

Pretty Average
In season 5 the league is averaging crowds around 10,000 and whilst Melbourne is averaging 20,000 even their crowds are down by almost 7000. Only Perth Glory and Adelaide have seen an increase from previous seasons. So as the Black Eyed Peas would say, where is the love?
A season out from arguably the world's biggest sporting event the fans haven't returned, even with the return of players such as Jason Culina and the scoring power of Shane Smeltz and the ex-Liverpudlian named 'god' Robbie Fowler in the A-League midst.

Why the poor crowds?
The arguments are plenty. The season was launched weeks earlier, in the middle of highly successful AFL and NRL seasons, to accommodate for the expanded 27 round season. The economic downturn has also been suggested. Another factor that requires addressing by most clubs is their engagement with the fans. Gold Coast United have been accused of arrogance that they thought that fans would flock to the game without much effort on the part of the club. One would not even know that their is a game on if they left Robina station prior to the game. No posters adorn the station, signage is minimal and there are no club colors to be seen. Clubs such as Brisbane Roar have also alienated many fans by increasing their season prices, in some cases by as much as 40% in a time of economic downturn. Hmmm, economics major anyone?

Whilst crowds of 6-7000 were barely acceptable in the days of the NSL, they are downright alarming in the highly competitive Australian sporting market.
What can be done?

• Follow the lead of teams that engage the community such as the Central Coast Mariners.
• Provide free-to-air coverage as part of the next television agreement.
• Have television advertisements for all home games.
• Shout a friend to the game, buy them a scarf and hope for a home win!
• Cheaper walk-up tickets and affordable season ticket packages.

The football on the park is improving, let us just hope that the games off the field improve as well because at the moment the A-League is definitely scoring a D on the report sheet for crowd attendances.