Club Attendances - Home and away 2012 Vs 2013 (YTD

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1

Current ladder position after 7 rounds with comparative attendance figures for 2013 and 2012:

2013 Claremont (6 games) 10403 @ 1734 per game
2012 Claremont (6 games) 11176 @ 1863 per game (minus 127 per game)

2013 West Perth (6 games) 12384 @ 2064 per game
2012 West Perth (6 games) 13146 @ 2191 per game (minus 127 per game)

2013 East Fremantle (6 games) 14856 @ 2476 per game
2012 East Fremantle (5 games) 9436 @ 1887 per game (plus 589 per game)

2013 Perth (5 games) 11029 @ 2206 per game
2012 Perth (7 games) 15461 @ 2209 per game (minus 3 per game)

2013 Swan Districts (6 games) 11805 @ 1968 per game
2012 Swan Districts (5 games) 11721 @ 2314 per game (minus 346 per game)

2013 Subiaco (5 games) 9992 @ 1992 per game
2012 Subiaco (6 games) 11714 @ 1952 per game (plus 40 per game)

2013 East Perth (6 games) 14421 @ 2404 per game
2012 East Perth (5 games) 12249 @ 2450 per game (minus 46 per game)

2013 Peel Thunder (6 games) 10319 @ 1720 per game
2012 Peel Thunder (6 games) 9466 @ 1578 per game (plus 144 per game)

2013 South Fremantle (6 games) 12447 @ 2074 per game
2012 South Fremantle (6 games) 14263 @ 2377 per game (minus 303 per game)

So what does this tell us? Probably whatever you want to draw from this.

Some conclusions:

Surprisingly the average attendance at East Fremantle games has gone up considerably compared with 2013 by plus 589 per game. (Win/Loss ratio is much the same as in 2012) So, why is this so?

Whereas South Fremantle’s has declined dramatically - minus 303 per game. Understandable since it is their worst start to a season since 1965.

More worrying is the dramatic decline in Swan District’s average attendance - minus 346 per game.

Can Peel’s improved average attendance of plus 144 per game be due to the alignment?
If so how do you explain the decline in East Perth’s average attendance of minus 46 per game?

The most puzzling one for me is given Perth’s dramatic on field improvement how do you explain the very minor variation of their average attendance of minus 3 per game.

Despite the dismal attendance (939) at the match against South Fremantle, Subiaco has had an improved average attendance of plus 40 per game when compared with 2012.

What does this all mean? Probably not a lot other than only three clubs have an improved average attendance compared with 2012. I’m sure that there maybe some local factors which could help explain these variances. I’ll leave them for you to ponder if you wish!

2

That is interesting C. I can only assume there is less interest in the so called Wafl this season. I know that both alignments lost memberships because of the takeovers and one could presume this has resulted in a -46 number for one of them. Whilst the other gaining 144 / game could be simply interested onlookers attending? Whether the alignments memberships will increase over time is something to discuss at a later time.
But having 6 minuses is a step in the wrong direction. I know the attendances were low for Week 1 because many people simply did not know the season had started.

3

Custy, I think that may be explained quite simply. Last years dismal results when our expectation was so high.

The start to the year has taken many Perth supporters by surprise.

I would expect those figures to maybe improve if we can maintain our form.

Big game this week.

4

Custy, I think that may be explained quite simply. Last years dismal results when our expectation was so high.

The start to the year has taken many Perth supporters by surprise.

I would expect those figures to maybe improve if we can maintain our form.

Big game this week.
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Sounds feasible! I think you may be right if Perth maintain their current form. Last year in Perth matches against Claremont the attendances were:
1631 (H)
2303 (A)
1633 (H)

Given the significance of the clash this week let’s hope that at least 2300 attend! It will be a good test of Perth’s improvement and I think this is a winnable game given the injury list at Claremont and Perth’s impressive start to the season.

5

Yep interesting - overall most attendances have clearly fallen, with 6 clubs recording declines.

Perth’s figures might pick up a bit but if there hasnt been a dramatic increase by now then I would not expect any huge increase going forward, there simply arent many Perth supporters left these days I guess after so many years in the doldrums.

Souths dramatic collapse has been clearly evident down at the club, they have been the smallest crowds I have ever witnessed in over 40 years of attending the club. Whats really evident now is the amount of older people missing mainly diue to age and quite frankly death.

Swans drop off is dramatic , not sure why that is. drop in form, novelty wearing off, loss of interest in WAFL???

East Freo are coming off a very low base. but remember they made a rare GF appearance last year and despite that the GF attendanc was dismal.

Sometimes the figures can be a bit misleading, on one hand 900 turn up to a south game and then you get 3900 at a derby and all of a sudden the average looks healthier because of one feature game…if you take the feature game out the average attendances are a great deal lower.
.

6

Bazza, I think that you may be surprised how many Perth supporters are out there.
Yes, we have been down for far too long and many supporters have lost interest over the journey.
The key is to sustain our improved performances and when we look like playing finals footy and even challenging for the flag they will return.
“build it and they will come” was a movie catch cry. If we continue to build the momentum I am sure that they will be back.

7

Yep, I agree. It’s happened before. The year Professor Eastaugh had us in the four for half the year latent Perth supporters came out in droves.

Even this season I’m seeing people at coming to Lathlain who haven’t fronted in years.

Might be different next year though when the WAFL changes from a competition to an exhibition.

8

Bazza I don’t believe that Swans’ attendance drop is a reflection of our form. Our first home game against Claremont after the win against East Freo in Round 1 was not great and though we lost badly it was not the first time this had happened against Claremont. Our next home game against Perth (our record was 1-1 at that stage) was extremely poorly attended and similarly for our third home game against South Freo.

The Peel game was what you would expect against Peel and our final game against West Perth was pretty good in the context of AFL Anzac Day matches opposition.

I sincerely hope that our attendances pick up and similarly for the other legitimate WAFL teams’ attendances. Certainly there has been a abacklash with respect to the alignment situation.

9

Given Perth’s lack of success in recent times there appears to be a reasonably big latent supporter base. That was why I was so surprised that the game against Perth at Basso was so poorly attended. Any reasons you can think of about this particular match?

10

I think if you want a better guide to how crowd figures compare then i think it should be done like for like.
7 games in 2012 should be compared against 7 games in 2013 and not like in Perths case 5 games crowd average in 2013 compared to 7 games crowd average in 2012,just my opinion.
If we were to get 3k this week V Claremont and 2500 the following week V Subi then those averages change a fair bit in the plus side.

11

Also I think Leon Davis was the drawcard for the first part of last season. That may have seen the crowds at a reasonable level until it was obvious that nothing much had changed. The crowds may actually increase throughout this year if we continue playing well and the fixtures are not up against local AFL matches.

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The other consideration is, in some cases, whether the same clubs were involved for both years. For example, if one year the matches were against traditionally smaller supporter base clubs compared to the other year where the matches were against better drawing clubs.

Perhaps we need to wait a few more weeks to see if there is a consistent trend toward diminishing attendances. Certianly I hope that after our two week break that Swans’ attendances increase.

One thing I think we can categorically state that the attendance figures for Peel and the club formerly known as East Perth will not be influenced positively by n influx of Eagles’ and/or Dockers’ members.

13

Yeah I agree.

The crowd at the Swans game was disappointing but I reckon Perth supporters would be thinking, two wins to start the season, seen it all before and we never win at Bassendean so the expectation might have been more of the same, why bother.

They’ll keep coming out of the woodwork if we keep winning I reckon.

14

Given Perth’s lack of success in recent times there appears to be a reasonably big latent supporter base. That was why I was so surprised that the game against Perth at Basso was so poorly attended. Any reasons you can think of about this particular match?
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eactly i think the best measure of the publics interest in both clubs and indeed the comp in general was in that very game sd v p, and it pretty poorly attended.

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The other consideration is, in some cases, whether the same clubs were involved for both years. For example, if one year the matches were against traditionally smaller supporter base clubs compared to the other year where the matches were against better drawing clubs.

Perhaps we need to wait a few more weeks to see if there is a consistent trend toward diminishing attendances. Certianly I hope that after our two week break that Swans’ attendances increase.

One thing I think we can categorically state that the attendance figures for Peel and the club formerly known as East Perth will not be influenced positively by n influx of Eagles’ and/or Dockers’ members.
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Its now May, we have had two months of comp, its fairly obvious Claremont are dominating the comp, Swans look lacklustre and South have fallen away badly.

I can only suspect that a lame duck South for the rest of the season will have a major impact on attendances as the WA Day figures will take a hit as will the final derby.

When you onky get 900 people at a league fixture, you know something is seriously wrong and that was when we still had some vague chance of a win and a finals berth, I am dreading to see the crowds come July August when its cold wet and we have won 1 -2 games for the year.

Even if Swans and maybe Perth pick up ( and they may do, but I think only marginally - there just are not that many people around anymore) I reckon the fall in derby figures will bring the overall attendances down.

In relation to Peel and EP, I think next year when more big names take the stage in the full host club deal kicks in will get crowds along, but of course all the other clubs will fall away.

16

Thats the other things since the advent of GC and GWS there are now a lot more AFL fixtures filling the weekend, there is more footy on free to air with 7 Mate and I rekcon more people have Foxtel.

Lots more are staying home for the footy on TV, it is actually impacting even on dockers and wce crowds at subi.