THE CROWD stats from round one of the A-League raise some interesting questions.
From an overall perspective, one would have to say that attendances at the five matches were pretty disappointing. The hype surrounding the start of the season, especially with the two new clubs involved, was seemingly tracking at an all-time high. I was expecting that crowds would flock.
There wasn't much flocking at all. At best there was a little mulling.
The crowd for Melbourne's first home game of the season was a tad under 19,000, down about 5,000 from their season average last year. This is difficult to explain, apart from the fact that the game was played on a Thursday night. There was no conflict with AFL games but I'd question the merits of kicking off the season at a time when little Johnny is being tucked into bed for school the next day.
Brisbane's game against Gold Coast drew a reasonable crowd of just fewer than 20,000 but in a stadium that seats about 30,000 more, and with a game that was the first derby meeting of the two clubs, the crowd was definitely light on. In Queensland speak; a few bananas short of a good bunch.
Likewise in the tropics, the first game for Fury, against high profile Sydney, could only gather about 9,000 people. One shudders to think how many will turn up when Fury play Phoenix on a rainy night. They'd be able to share the umbrella.
The crowd for Newcastle's home game against Wellington was less than 7,000, the lowest figure of the round. With the goings on at Newcastle recently we should be grateful that anyone turned up at all.
Given the figures above it was refreshing to see that the Reds match against Perth managed to attract almost 14,000 fans, which for Adelaide is a good number. This is 3,000 more than the corresponding opening round fixture last year between the same two clubs and is about 2,000 up on the 2008/09 home match average.
Which begs the question (you knew I'd get back to the above title eventually), why did the Adelaide vs Perth match buck the trend?
There were 100 or so Perth supporters in attendance (we're still hosing out the terraces) but mostly it was a sea of red, so that doesn't explain it. The match even clashed with an AFL game on television, a factor to consider in such an AFL-dominated state. Yet still the fans came.
The weather aspect doesn't appear to be relevant because all games were played in fine weather. It was cold at Hindmarsh on Friday night but again that didn't deter people from coming.
One factor that might have had an influence is promotion. As a remnant of the Reds' ACL adventures the city still has a fondness for the club and a level of interest that perhaps exceeds that of A-League clubs in other states.
For instance, on the day of the match the entire Reds' squad was on show in a colour photo on the front page of the newspaper. It would be great to see that happening for all clubs.
In truth there are probably a multitude of reasons to explain crowd numbers. And there could well be a decline in figures at Adelaide's next home match. Such is the fickle nature of attendances.
Let's hope though that things improve, right throughout the league. Flock people, flock.
