Round 16: Norwood v West - Saturday 9 August @ Coopers Stadium

The worry is that Club people, including Board Members, seem more inclined to have a look at the Crows as the only reason why their own crowds are down.

R&B, your Adelaide crowd may have been the lowest but you've had terrible crowds all year. Who is responsible for West Adelaide playing so many night games? Who is responsible for your Community Engagement activities? Or, is this something else the SANFL needs to take the blame for?

I can't see where I've blamed the AFL teams for West's crowds, sanflman?

West's crowds are down because we're playing badly. I agree with you about night games, they've lost their novelty and all suburban grounds' lights aren't good enough.

I'm one if the few who actually supported the entry of Port and Adelaide, as I felt it was inevitable, but I'd guess there's a fairly large boycott factor in crowds this year, partly hidden by a few games such as the showdowns,

Where have I blamed the SANFL?

I'm used to getting grief on forums for supporting the SANFL for years and have no great problem with them, so it's a bit surprising to be cast as blaming the SANFL.

That doesn't mean I'll agree with them about everything.

You're right.

But why would you take out the showdowns? Isn't the idea to try and get more people to follow SANFL football across the board? If we acknowledge that, for example, the AFC v WAFC match was going to be mostly West supporters or AFC supporters who also followed West, what did your Club do to try and get them to more West matches?

The principle of exposure to a new audience is vital to the future of the SANFL comp. We may not have necessarily needed the AFL teams to help this but we do need to follow that principle.

Mate, I agree totally. Lack of support is one of the major problems facing West Adelaide.  Our supporters are low in number, but passionate and loyal.

One of our biggest challenges is to make our club attractive to new and younger people, otherwise we will die.

I highlight the Showdowns just to illustrate that most of the AFC and Magpies support is AFL based.  Our task is to convert that into SANFL support.

You asked about our Community Engagement activities, which is a fair question.  I think we're working hard on that and our Football Operations Manager was recently given an award by the State Governor for his work with ethnic communities.

Our Board is relatively new and is working hard on the very issues you have identified.

At a tecent meeting, I asked the SANFL about how they see their relationship with the clubs, as the outlook for the SANFL has changed dramatically with the AfL licences gone and the SMA now managing Adelaide Oval, with AAMI out of the picture mainly.

I respect the job the SANFL does. Few people realise how much time and effort they put in, from staff to Commissioners.

My question was based on my wish for a productive partnership between the clubs and the SANFL.

The SANFL assisting their clubs. But the clubs needing to show proper corporate governance in return.

Perhaps we share much the same wishes?

redandblack wrote:I can't see where I've blamed the AFL teams for West's crowds, sanflman?

West's crowds are down because we're playing badly.  I agree with you about night games, they've lost their novelty and all suburban grounds' lights aren't good enough.

That's incorrect, the Parade lights are very good these days and Glenelgs seem to be fine. Other SANFL clubs hoped they could increase revenue after continually seeing the successful numbers at the Parade, but Norwood had an established market, have central locality, are in the middle of a social precinct and have one of the largest supporter bases. Things most of the other clubs that recently added lights don't have (the Bays excepted).

I agree with you about Norwood, scrunch. My mistake there.

I was at Glenelg last week and I really think their lights are among the worst, though.

Glenelg and Richmond are the only lights I can recall experiencing first hand on multiple occasions and to be honest I didn't have a problem with either, but that may have just been that I was in a more favourable position? Both of them and Elizabeth (havent been to a night game at Noarlunga) were all better than Norwood's pre-upgrade.

redandblack wrote:

I was at Glenelg last week and I really think their lights are among the worst, though.

the lights were fine once they were turned on   
plus they were good enough for you to see the goal umpiring debacle  

as for crow supporters at the bay yesterday, let's just say when they kicked a goal you could have heard a pin drop   

We'll agree to disagree about the Glenelg lights, mate.

Both Richmond and Glenelg lights are not up to standard IMO, to many dark spots (pockets mainly)

Norwood are the best with the others way behind what they should be.

just on the Glenelg lights, i don't know the correct word for it but because of our antiquated council our lights are not to be switched on to the highest level that they can be switched on too

Lee
Can I change my TFSA name from Scrappy to Redandblue ?

That Michael Still mark is a good old fashioned pack splitting speccy, great to watch.

testy wrote:
Both Richmond and Glenelg lights are not up to standard IMO, to many dark spots (pockets mainly)

Norwood are the best with the others way behind what they should be.

Norwood's are the best on three fronts. One, they are good quality lights, two, they are positioned right on the boundary line to help opptimise the amount of ground coverage and three, the size of the oval...

Scrappy wrote:Lee
Can I change my TFSA name from Scrappy to Redandblue ?

You can do it yourself in your profile.

Lee wrote:

bayman wrote:

sanflman wrote:Funny how that works R & B. How many West supporters there?

i'll bet there were more West supporters at Norwood than Crow supporters at the bay, which reminds me of the letter posted during the week that the crows are the second most supported team in the SANFL behind Norwood, how they can blatantly lie is beyond me  

Correct, Bayman.  Our lowest crowd this year has been the Adelaide game.

When they're doing stats on game attendances, sanflman, take out the 'showdowns', which attract the non-SANFL followers and Adelaide would be down the list.

Take out the Taylor Walker game at the Bay and they'd be mums and dads proportions of the crowds.

Port get good crowds to the Adelaide games, bugger all to the SANFL games.

It's a worry.

The West v Adelaide game on a Saturday night in the middle of winter is appalling programming and was never going to draw a crowd. This is not Adelaide's fault.

Why then, if people attend the SANFL Port v Crows match are they "non-SANFL" followers, if they're "following" the match?