Well not really, Sydney is a fickle market, start winning and "fans" return. (they also need to play good rugby)
Play shit and it is easy to find something else to do
Waratahs 2017
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Well not really, Sydney is a fickle market, start winning and "fans" return. (they also need to play good rugby)
Play shit and it is easy to find something else to do
Gnostic
Mark Ella (57)
Not really, the Tahs got some of their crowds back when they were winning in 2014 but they were short term and only lasted as long as the wins. There has been no organic growth of fans that will turn up no matter what, because the product is rubbish. For sustainability we need to focus on that rather than short term gains. The Tahs got what would be thought of as massive crowds at the start of Super Rugby, and in the early 90s club matches were selling out for the finals at the SFS. Rugby has died a slow death due to the state of play not because of Win:loss ratios. Under Mackenzie the Tahs won far more than they lost (on a win:loss finals made metric the Tahs at that stage were regarded as successful and I was a fairly lonely voice arguing that their were killing their long term fan base) but crowds still declined because it was a crap game plan, he just had a bit more accuracy in what he did with the side than what Foley and Hickey did.
It is a competition to expect to win all the time is a foolish and unsustainable business model and if you rely on it the business is screwed. We simply must focus on the quality of play rather than win:loss and that means basic skill execution. Only the very few fans that continue to watch and turn up would think theta the Tahs win was good on Saturday.
Gnostic
Mark Ella (57)
Strange because I was there '95 and '96 GF supposedly working and the crowds were comparable to other events I worked at the same venue, that being the SFS. So it did in fact happen.
Sauron
Larry Dwyer (12)
Gnostic
Mark Ella (57)
Semantics.
There may have been a very few seats left and members etc, but my point stands, outside of the finals the Tahs have rarely drawn crowds that big, and they should be the focal point that draw in fans from all the clubs. Full crowds should be easily achievable but the point is they are not and have rarely been so for the last decade apart from 2014.
Well no, I have been to most of the SFS SS grand finals and they don't even have the paddington side second tier open, it seats 44,000 and the SS final may have got to 15,000 at best
Strewthcobber
Steve Williams (59)
Hopefully this link works!
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/127281746
Newspaper reports from 1995 suggest the crowd was <15000 for Gordon v Canberra
Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/127281746
Newspaper reports from 1995 suggest the crowd was <15000 for Gordon v Canberra
Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk
This article suggests crowd for 2004 Grand Final at the SFS was almost 13,000.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-10-09/galloping-greens-take-out-sydney-premiership/566198
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-10-09/galloping-greens-take-out-sydney-premiership/566198
T
TOCC
Guest
45,000 vs 15,000... semantics 
gowaratahs
Sydney Middleton (9)
That one was the last at Concorde before it moved to SFS from memory, played in very wet conditions. George made a bust from within his 22, and somehow spilled it untouched before he got to halfway. The good old days when you'd get the rugby gf on the Saturday, then the league final on the Sunday. Good times for us country folk coming down to the big smoke..
rugbysmartarse
Alan Cameron (40)
1998, gordon v norths, and yes there were about 10,000 there. A friend's old man (who played for Gordon in his younger days) got banned from beating his highland drum, and when he refused to stop they tried to remove him. The after party at the Gordon Club was pretty epic - I think 3 or 4 grades won their GF that day.
I recall Campo saying earlier that week that Gordon knocking randwick out meant there would be fewer fans at the GF. Maybe he was right for once?
Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
The season thus far has been like a step back into the Hickey/Foley era. I mean they get back from South Africa having lost both games and they say how good they looked and felt on the training paddock while they were away.
John S
Chilla Wilson (44)
That kind of talk gives me the irrits. I've actually liked it when I've heard Hooper say in interviews that "we weren't good enough" as well as giving credit to opposition
and sometimes a sides good work on the training field isn't demonstrated on the playing field.
It is too often at the moment bad passes under pressure stymieing promising attack and a lack of defensive urgency in later phases as the structures break down
amirite
Chilla Wilson (44)
Absolutely, I'm sure we've all been part of programs that're a mess at training and play well, and vice versa.
Chatting to professional players they notice the same thing.
Micheal
Nicholas Shehadie (39)
I played for a Subbies team that was an absolute joke at training but we waltzed through the regular season as minor premiers. We put over 100 points on a team (Petersham) and the game was called early. Absolute carnage.
Finals came around and we pulled our finger out at training and we lost in the Semi-final, won our second semi (barely - minor premiers get two shots) and lost in the final.
The worst three games we played that season were directly after we decided we wanted to take it more seriously.
Funny how it works sometimes.
amirite
Chilla Wilson (44)
Finals is always a different beast in club land. It's not even the 'intensity', it's more some clubs can play the qualification game better than others.
Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
Nothing wrong with saying that you didn't play well or that the opposition were too good. How good you were at training is an irrelvance. It's like a boxer saying he was pretty good punching the bag, but was knocked out in the first round.
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