sydneyfcforme
31 Jan 2007, 12:44 AM
In Australia in just 1 and a half seasons the A-League has gone from non-existant to a powerhouse. Regular crowds of over 30,000 are now expected and all teams are looking at averaging over 10,000 people a game with 2 clubs realistically looking to average over 20,000 and one club looking to get well over 30,000 per game.
Clubs like the Mariners and Perth have the potential to do better but pore form has hurt there interest. New Zealand is pathetic and needs to shape up or ship out because there are a number of teams with better drawing power wanting into the league!
The improvment has been huge and all this with very limited media exposure. Football in australia is not shown on free to air tv but relegated to an obscure pay tv channel fox 3. Imagine the improvment that the country could see if there were weakly matches shown on tv that the public could watch!
In the USA there is a huge amount of money and interest inthe game after the transfer of David Beckham, the worlds most marketable player. This should have dramatic results on average attendances and interest in the mainstreme in the country.
With the real football making such inroads in the most hostile enviroments of australia and USA i really have to say that football is still just going from strength to strength and i swell with pride that the greatest game in the world is finally getting the recognition that it deserves even from the most stuborn people!
A-League 2006-07 CROWDS — CLUB BY CLUB
Club ---------------*HG -----Average----- Lowest -----Highest -----Total
Melbourne Victory --------11 -----27,728 -----15,563 -----50,333 -----305,011
Queensland Roar ---------10 -----16,465 -----10,040 -----32,371 -----164,653
Sydney FC-----------------10 -----14,999 --------9871 -----20,881 -----149,986
Adelaide United -----------11 -----12,183 -------8785 -----16,378 -----134,014
Newcastle Jets-------------10 -----11,442 ------4635 -----20,980 -----114,420
C Coast Mariners----------11 --------9828 ------4644 -----15,404 -----108,112
Perth Glory-----------------10 --------7671 ------6251 ------9978 --------76,709
New Zealand Knights------11 -------3092 ------1632 ------7304 --------34,016
Clubs like the Mariners and Perth have the potential to do better but pore form has hurt there interest. New Zealand is pathetic and needs to shape up or ship out because there are a number of teams with better drawing power wanting into the league!
The improvment has been huge and all this with very limited media exposure. Football in australia is not shown on free to air tv but relegated to an obscure pay tv channel fox 3. Imagine the improvment that the country could see if there were weakly matches shown on tv that the public could watch!
In the USA there is a huge amount of money and interest inthe game after the transfer of David Beckham, the worlds most marketable player. This should have dramatic results on average attendances and interest in the mainstreme in the country.
With the real football making such inroads in the most hostile enviroments of australia and USA i really have to say that football is still just going from strength to strength and i swell with pride that the greatest game in the world is finally getting the recognition that it deserves even from the most stuborn people!
A-League 2006-07 CROWDS — CLUB BY CLUB
Club ---------------*HG -----Average----- Lowest -----Highest -----Total
Melbourne Victory --------11 -----27,728 -----15,563 -----50,333 -----305,011
Queensland Roar ---------10 -----16,465 -----10,040 -----32,371 -----164,653
Sydney FC-----------------10 -----14,999 --------9871 -----20,881 -----149,986
Adelaide United -----------11 -----12,183 -------8785 -----16,378 -----134,014
Newcastle Jets-------------10 -----11,442 ------4635 -----20,980 -----114,420
C Coast Mariners----------11 --------9828 ------4644 -----15,404 -----108,112
Perth Glory-----------------10 --------7671 ------6251 ------9978 --------76,709
New Zealand Knights------11 -------3092 ------1632 ------7304 --------34,016