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2017 TV ratings and crowd figures

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Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Horrific set of numbers. We had friends over Saturday night and I asked the boys ranging 9-14 yrs and all of which play rugby what footy did they want to watch. They all voted Nth Qld vs Canberra over Brumbies vs Sharks. Even the dads where happy to watch the league. The game is in trouble.


When I was that age I played rugby union and would have made the same choice to watch rugby league outside of Bledisloe Cup etc.
 
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TheKing

Colin Windon (37)
Just 8,647 at GIO Stadium in Canberra last night.

I imagine viewing figures would be similarly dire in the face of the Broncos v Cowboys epic?
 

Slim 293

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Just 8,647 at GIO Stadium in Canberra last night.


This was a doomed match from the start, and not only because Force matches don't tend to pull the crowds...........

The long weekend means a lot of Canberrans have headed for the coast.

Also, the Giants played last night, and I believe the Raiders will be playing tonight to a fairly large crowd......... both teams on the up and attracting those fair-weather supporters that in the past would've flocked to the Brumbies games.
 
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TOCC

Guest
This was a doomed match from the start, and not only because Force matches don't tend to pull the crowds.....

The long weekend means a lot of Canberrans have headed for the coast.

Also, the Giants played last night, and I believe the Raiders will be playing tonight to a fairly large crowd... both teams on the up and attracting those fair-weather supporters that in the past would've flocked to the Brumbies games.

Raiders pulled 15'000, if everyone headed out of Canberra for the long weekend wouldn't it have impacted their crowds as well...

That's the second week of crowds of less then 9'000 for the Brumbies.

There is something wrong with the health of Rugby in this country, need to stop blaming all these other factors.
 

p.Tah

John Thornett (49)
^^^ just been at my kids rugby day. Lots of mum's and dad love rugby but not engaged with Super Rugby. They don't understand the current draw. Go to the first Tahs game to try and get back into it and then the team doesn't have a home game for another 4 or so weeks.
They like the NRL because the comp is easy to follow and it always on.
Rugby support is there, it's just our showcase comp is broken (as we all know).
 
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TOCC

Guest
Yep.. it's ridiculous that the countries biggest team plays one game and then disappears from the radar for another month...

All the positive PR and marketing momentum gnenerated form the Sydney Sevens and Brisbane 10s just gets thrown out the window.. it may have worked 10 years ago in a less crowded and less competitive environment, but not anymore.
 
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TOCC

Guest
I'm sure it did, because they were hoping for a bigger crowd than that.
Sorry mate.. but a spades a spade and 9'000 is a shit crowd for the second week in a row, Raiders 15'000 was above last years season average, they aren't immune to these variables you mentioned.
 

Slim 293

Stirling Mortlock (74)
It was also their opening home game for the season against last years premiers, and there's a lot of renewed buzz for the Raiders in Canberra........ they were drawing large crowds at the tail end of last year, and they were predicting more than what they received last night.

I never stated it as an excuse as to why the Brumbies received a poor crowd, but as to a factor (among others, including the success of the Raiders) of why the crowd would've been slightly shitter (it was always goIng to be shit) than what it would've been as they would've struggled to attract those extra casual supporters.
 

WorkingClassRugger

David Codey (61)
Yep.. it's ridiculous that the countries biggest team plays one game and then disappears from the radar for another month.

All the positive PR and marketing momentum gnenerated form the Sydney Sevens and Brisbane 10s just gets thrown out the window.. it may have worked 10 years ago in a less crowded and less competitive environment, but not anymore.


Something I seriously doubt will change anytime soon. At least not in the SANZAAR structure.
 

mst

Peter Johnson (47)
Sorry mate.. but a spades a spade and 9'000 is a shit crowd for the second week in a row, Raiders 15'000 was above last years season average, they aren't immune to these variables you mentioned.
TOCC - IMHO you are correct with the low crowd number. This is not an abnormality rather the norm. I believe "seat" purchased membership is around the 6000 mark, then you can throw in another 1000 "complementary" from juniors and RucKus etc. Put's walk up tickets quiet low.

Consistent observation is very few of the much hated but high selling blue jersey that the appealed to the non-traditional / younger generation of Brumbies supporter sighted at the games.

What really stood out at the game (but didn't translate to TV) was the atmosphere at the game. The impeding SANZAAR decision would have been a small a factor (for both supporter groups), but if the Brumbies Hierarchy (Board) and key members (including the rusted on in denial) did not have a realisation on Friday night of the damage done and work needed to fix things then they are really out of touch.

So the best description I can come up with is imagine a noisy minutes silence that you have at games. Odd murmuring muffed voices but mainly still and almost silent.

That was the atmosphere first 20 minutes of the game. It was punctuated by some moments of crown involvement but it wasn't until the last 30mins of the game the crowd showed some life.

It was eerie, disconcerting, worrying and I have never experienced anything like it. Mrs Mst was taken aback how even the Ruckus crew seemed lifeless (didn't move for the first 20 mins - just sat in silence).

Bizarre, and very worrying. IMHO unless they make a big charge and get to the finals we wont see a crowd above 15K. The average will be about the 9K which is down on the pre-board antics average of 12K (season). Far cry from the 20K+ Tah crowd a few weeks before the board room war.

In general the "game day experience" is very poor (out of touch) and nothing to generate any atmosphere.
 

RedsHappy

Tony Shaw (54)
@mst and @TOCC

I am sure you both have seen all home S18 crowd figures this year. Force, Reds, Tahs, Rebels, Brums - they are all scarily low, in serious year-on-year decline and if sustained at these levels the numbers are not consistent with any other financial scenario than the requirement for very heavy ARU cash subsidisation of most State RUs in the medium-term (and as is occurring at the Force and Rebels in the immediate term).

As a secondary factor, I think observers of this space are generally under-observing the probable incrementally negative impact that a depressing Wallaby 2016 performance and prior years under Deans etc is gradually having upon the general base of rugby support and interest here. Unable to beat the ABs - with the defeats to them looking more severe - and recent 0-4 losses to the old foe England and, worse, 0-3 of those at home.

The existence of a prominent Wallaby national team that had won Bleds and RWCs was a major factor in rugby's prosperity and prominence here over decades. At that level, by and large, we now look limp and mostly failing.

That pattern of national under-performance will impact for certain, though slowly, insidiously, over time.
 
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Slim 293

Stirling Mortlock (74)
The Brumbies won't host then Tahs this year, so I predict we'll see their lowest crowd figures for a season..........

And that's obviously another problem with the current format where a team can miss out on their biggest draw card event.
 

Joe King

Dave Cowper (27)
I know that from a FTA perspective league is a more popular spectacle to union and so they show league and not union.

But how much do you think being on FTA at a regular time-slot on Friday night, and being promoted by ch 9 actually increases the cultural appeal of league over time?

And secondly, if Super Rugby was a different structure, like a trans-tasman comp with a number of players from NZ able to play for Oz teams, and teams were a bit more equally competitive, and it was on FTA, how much do you think it would add to the appeal of rugby over time in Oz?
 

p.Tah

John Thornett (49)
I like the idea of a trans Tasman comp, but we only won 3 games out of 26 versus NZ teams in 2016.
We'd need to lift our game or it would become as depressing at the Bledisloe.
 

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
I like the idea of a trans Tasman comp, but we only won 3 games out of 26 versus NZ teams in 2016.
We'd need to lift our game or it would become as depressing at the Bledisloe.
The only way a trans Tasman comp could work is if Nz including all blacks could play for oz.teams. Not so unrealistic if you look at football and the English premier league.

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
 

WorkingClassRugger

David Codey (61)
The only way a trans Tasman comp could work is if Nz including all blacks could play for oz.teams. Not so unrealistic if you look at football and the English premier league.

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk


If it were to occur I'd like to see the player market opened up and players feature in both nations teams. Something we've seen is Australian players can and often do excel in the NZ systems.

I honestly think a Trans-Tasman competition would be a worthwhile endeavour that will deliver the necessary quality and finances for all concerned.

I also think this would strengthen the alliance in many ways to be honest. Sure, it would lead to the end of Super Rugby but we can certainly keep The Rugby Championship. Obviously the Sunwolves would go but this could be offset with opening a spot for Japan in TRC. They could even look to move the Top League to fall more into line with a TT and SA based competitions.

And Argentina could look to add another and join with SA.

This would also open other opportunities such as a Champions Cup like structure. Personally, perhaps breaking Super Rugby up could reinvigorate how the alliance relates and competes with one another.
 
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