Looking back through some old papers, the VFA/VFL always used to print crowd numbers for each match. It kind of stopped half way through the 2000 season, the first year with the allignments. And there were some terrific crowds that year. 5,000 to see Frankston down Collingwood, Coburg and Preston that year got 3,500, both un-aligned, Coburg v Box Hill had 3,500, these were some good numbers. Werribee v Williamstown was reported to have had 7,000 in 2000, and Willy v Port 5,000. I'm not sure how accurate these were, but none the less, they were healthy crowds. All i know of this year is that there was 3,500 at Bendigos first home match and 5,000 to watch Geelong v Tassy. There may have been good crowds at other games, but there's no way to find out.
Plus, what is the VFL doing about attendences? How do they plan to grow the number of people who go to a match? It feels like they don't care. Get accurate figures, and work out a way to make them bigger. It's a great standard of footy, a great atmosphere, it's different to the AFL, it's real footy. I feel the VFL doesnt' have it too high on their agenda... it's more about developing such and such...bla bla bla.... i don't know.
It cant be that hard to keep count. They use pre printed tickets for gate entry so they only need to keep tabs on the numbers printed on those. And keep a notepad to record card entries.
Did you see the pathetic crowd at Sandy for the traditional clash with rivals Port. For two clubs that in the past drew big crowds whenever they played it was very sad to see such a poor turnup for a GF replay and unfurling of the Zebras 2004 flag.
The VFL/VFA is very much in danger of becoming a joke and only a "seconds" AFL comp. My local teams and soccer get ten times more people to their games.
You only have to look at Gannons background in AFL/VFL football to understand why this is happening the man has never had any time for the tradition or history of the VFA- and it shows.
The way the VFL is going it will be out of existence in 5 years in its current form.
In fairness to last week at Sandringham, hot days with strong northerly winds are hardly a crowd puller. Coupled with the fact it was an ABC TV game and the Kangaroos were playing at Telstra Dome against St Kilda (who have a lot of supporters around the Bayside area).
Poor fixturing by the VFL is the point there.
billythekid is correct football supporters are not interested in the AFL reserves competition and are following their local teams. VFL players are opting to play for interstate or local clubs where they are better rewarded for their efforts.
From observations of match snippets shown at half time on ABC telecasts, attendances at VFL matches are miniscule.
But what do you expect with the attitude of the VFL and the media, when you cannot even get scores of matches?
I didn't get the result of the Bendigo v Coburg night game until Monday's Ballarat Courier. So much for a senior competition.
Loyalty has gone from the VFA days. How can a Melbourne supporter also support Sandringham when he/she was origionally interested in Williamstown? He/she probably hated Collingwood. Then there's the change of alignments such as with Port Melbourne to further alienate supporters.
Nuf for now.
Try this link for updated scores during the weekend:
http://reg.sportingpulse.com/onlineresults/rpt_progressive.cgi?a=MR_&aI…
Excellent turnout for todays ANZAC Day game.
The grassed hill was well populated and there would have been several thousand at the ground.
Yeah, definately more than 3,000 there. Heard there was about 3,000 at Preston v Port as well. That's good! Should be published. I just think that the VFL should hold themselves accountable by printing the crowd figures. Without them, they get off the hook, print them, and they've gotta do something.