: Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:25 am  

Hollywood Harrigan wrote:

Why even make that point when it has nothing to do with the topic?

The point I was making was that the RU guy seemed pretty pleased that 33k had gone to see a game of union in an 83k capacity stadium when 74k turned up to sydney games over the same weekend.

.

You can't compare aplles and oranges though, if there were 3 Union teams in Sydney they may all be drawing 20,000+, or may not, who knows.

Are you suggesting that if there was one RL team in Sydney it would draw crowds of 70K+?

I hate RU as much as the next RL fan and am smuggly watching as it struggles along in oz but Sydney crowds are pathetic generally with most clubs only having approx 10,000 paying fans. Compared to the other major code, AFL, its very poor.

: Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:53 pm  

dally messenger wrote:

compare for example the crowds the wigan warriors get to their population to that of the leeds rhinos and the population of their city.

the rhinos are winning SL and still cant get better crowds than a Division 3 club

I would agree the difference is RL is a minority sport in the UK - soccer is the dominant game - in Australia RL is the equivelent of soccer here so you would expect in a city the size of Sydney to attract sizeable crowds - maybe I am being nieve but the championship sides in London would attract crowds of that size never mind the Arsenal's of this world.

The Rhinos attendances would put them half way up the championship ladder for average attendances - they will never surpass Leeds Utd that is the pull of soccer here.

: Fri Apr 03, 2009 4:08 pm  

Eccleshill Rhino wrote:

I would agree the difference is RL is a minority sport in the UK - soccer is the dominant game - in Australia RL is the equivelent of soccer here so you would expect in a city the size of Sydney to attract sizeable crowds - maybe I am being nieve but the championship sides in London would attract crowds of that size never mind the Arsenal's of this world.

The Rhinos attendances would put them half way up the championship ladder for average attendances - they will never surpass Leeds Utd that is the pull of soccer here.

minority sport or not, some SL clubs get a very healthy percentage of their local popualation attending games.

and others get less than 3rd division soccer teams.

: Fri Apr 03, 2009 4:26 pm  

Of all clubs London and Melbourne get the worse % per population
Prob Cas and NQ get the best

Some are RL mad places like Hull and Newcastle whilst others have healthy crowds due to the size of the city such as Leeds and Brisbane

: Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:20 pm  

JB Down Under wrote:

You can't compare aplles and oranges though, if there were 3 Union teams in Sydney they may all be drawing 20,000+, or may not, who knows.

Are you suggesting that if there was one RL team in Sydney it would draw crowds of 70K+?

I hate RU as much as the next RL fan and am smuggly watching as it struggles along in oz but Sydney crowds are pathetic generally with most clubs only having approx 10,000 paying fans. Compared to the other major code, AFL, its very poor.

10,000 huh

: Sat Apr 04, 2009 2:35 am  

The only time I WATCHED A UNION GAME WAS AT nORTH sYDNEY OVAL ,before the manly and norths game,they had a exhibition game showing RL fans THE SKILLS INVOLVED IN ONION .i'LL TELL YU THE 24,000 CROWD BACK THEN COULDNT WAIT TILL IT WAS FOOKIN OVER.


iN oThEr WoRdS BoRiNg ............

: Sat Apr 04, 2009 2:58 am  

shute sheild is on tv now

: Sat Apr 04, 2009 3:20 am  

dally messenger wrote:

10,000 huh

yep, usually Sydney clubs crowds range from 10-20,000 depending on which teams are playing and how they are fairing (and if its raining!). I was at SFS for a Roosters home game a couple of weeks ago, crowd was 24,000 but there was probably 11,000 Roosters fans and 13,000 Sth's fans. At last nights game there was about 9,000 Roosters fans and 2,000 Parra fans. Only Wests, Bulldogs and probably Sth's have more than an average of 10-12,000 home paying fans in Sydney.

: Sat Apr 04, 2009 3:23 am  

I see the SL games being shown in some parts of Australia are also drawing bigger TV audiences that S14!

: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:22 am  

The booty has fallen out of Super 14 crowds.

Union is on a downward spiral.