Forum topic

It is a worry when a powerhouse club like Port is getting such a poor crowd and it also badly effects the takings on the day for food and refreshments! Sadly I see Port have also succumbed to having a food truck there as well now I hope they pay a decent fee to be there..

I planned to go to Port M today but the late start put me off. 

I have been to a few day games at Port and noticed the  crowd numbers were significantly fewer than previous years. Not good sign when the Port congregation start to loose the faith.

Not confident I will be  leaving TBO on Sunday with a win.

Port Melbourne were not too bad overall against werribee. They wasted the first quarter but were ok after quarter time. Werribee had just a bit more polish and slightly better moving the ball and more effective in front of goal when it mattered. Werribee are sitting in third spot with a great percentage of over 150. They have set themselves for a great chance come September. If they can somehow overtake either Brisbane or gold coast to get a home final I'd say they would almost be flag favourites. They have a massive chance regardless. Don't think any opposition is a hurdle for them. 

Port v Frankston 2019 was worse, hardly a soul. Aftermath had 2 tables of supporters. It's a topic that has generated a lot of interest on Facebook as fans seem concerned. I can't put my finger on it, the club communicates often, I think I got 5 emails from them during the week, prices are good $10 entry, dimies 4 for 3, beer $5, some agree but many don't in my thinking that it's down to our performance. 

I do strongly believe that the club isn't doing itself any favours by not having a ground announcer, a post match function and entertainment during breaks, what they did during the trades day should be standard. Not many functions like the days of old but who can blame them, understandably they are reluctant to organise when crowds are down. 

Some say personnel changes, I guess many were Gary and Sam fans and I loved their work but is it time to move on and is their perhaps more to the story than what we were told ? Who knows ? 

Not sure what the solution is other than contacting the non attendees / people who haven't resigned and getting a answer as to why they haven't resigned - perhaps theirs a common reason and perhaps better days are just around the corner, for our sake,  I hope so.

The disruption caused by govt covid policies, followed by a lack of success, has created a disconnect between fans and the club. They were forced out of the habit of going regularly, then the club wasn't as successful because it lost it's continuity, now there aren't the same reasons to build back that connection.

The drop off has happened to a lot of footy clubs all around the place unfortunately. What Port needs is a good season that brings the excitement and gets the buzz back, but it is a bit of a chicken/egg sort of situation.

I also think Werribee winning the flag this year would be good for all stand alone clubs, because there's a perception out there amongst fans that they can't be competitive with AFL clubs because of the struggles the past couple of years reestablishing their programs.

Ive done that as well David, I remember once writing a borough classified on my phone, which always takes longer than p.c. well over a hour and lost it.

Very important topic as without crowds you have no club. Hard to attract sponsors and ask for $$$ when theirs a small following. Please sponsor us 20k but nobody will see your advertising. 

I think more can be done in terms of advertising the club, promotion in the local area, Werribee does it very well. Things like posters on bay St for upcoming games, free passes in letter box for residents during some winter games when crowds drop off (it's what got me to the baseball a few times) - I think I could drop off 500 in a week. In these hard economic times you could push it as a affordable day out, advertise it that way and be true to your word.

I feel the club does some great things followed by some apathetic attempts, tradies day - great day, gold membership - excellent value, then they fixture Coburg on a cold Friday night to a supporter base that is older and less likely to come, or $35 finger food functions without any drinks (a function that hardly anybody attends yet they keep persisting with). They need a series of off field successes to keep the momentum going. 

Having said all that , Ive been to several non port Melbourne games last couple of seasons and other than Frankston the crowd yesterday was bigger than the games I attended, I do realise though that were comparing ourselves to our standards and to our capabilities.

At TBO on Sunday there were more Casey/Melbourne supporters than Sandy.  Casey had 3 times as many people at the huddles than Sandy.  the AFL 2's have reasonable following.

Covid does not seemed to affected the AFL crowds which are at record levels!

Maybe the product is just not good enough= the market will tell you what is really going on!

Not at all. The AFL and local football are completely different beasts. Just look at the marketing budgets and media coverage.

Sorry Mate, I have been to local junior matches watching my grandsons play and they even get more than most VFL matches do and they have NO marketing budget!

The so called VFL will always be at a huge disadvantage up against the might and appeal of the AFL but the VFA found a way to compete by being innovative bringing in things like no clearence agreement with the VFL, new teams, throwing the ball,16 men a side and Sunday footy etc!

Unfortunately the current VFL is what is it is a reserves comp for the benefit of AFL clubs and the public are not willing to waste thier time and pay for second - raters when they can have to best of Australian Football every week.

As they say "You cannot put lipstick on a pig"!

Don't be sorry. You don't have to apologise for not recognising that the connection with AFL teams was not broken during COVID because the games remained on TV, and clubs had huge budgets to remain connected with their fans.

In contrast, competitions that played at local venues were stopped, the clubs effectively shut down and now they have to find ways to reconnect with their fans and get them to break newly-formed habits and get back into going to local footy.

That's been made even harder for standalone VFL teams whose football programs were shut down for a large part of two years, and so lost ground on their full-time opposition who were allowed to continue operating.

I stick with my comments no amount of marketing will help the crowds at the VFL now apart from Frankston and maybe Werribee are now abysmal and a joke for a supposed leading State competition.

When Port Melb are drawing two and a dog you know the comp is in trouble!

I can see in the not too distant future the AFL giving up on this distorted unwieldly comp and have their own AFL Reserves only comp and the rest can go jump.

If crowds are a measure the VFL has been in trouble since the late 90s. We all know that.

However, your point suggesting COVID didn't have a big impact on VFL and local footy crowds because AFL crowds are high does not compare apples with oranges, and ignores the factors local football teams had to face that AFL teams didn't.

As for the future of the VFL, it will mostly come down to what the AFL thinks creates the best pathway into the draft. That, along with developing young talent on AFL lists, is the purpose of the competition in their eyes.

The AFL will end up with their own Reserves down the track and the 7 ex VFA clubs ( I don't count  Box Hill or Casey) should start planning for that day.

Maybe they could get together as the VFA again and invite three strong suburban clubs and the Admin could be HQed at North Port and finals at North Port also..