SANFL Crowds (as at end of Rd 7)

Now 7 rounds have been played, there is a bit of a sample size to see how crowds are tracking.

In a couple of words ... slightly up.

Round 7 not great, mainly due to election and 4 games going head to head with Crows playing interstate.  Only 8980 across 5 games, avg 1796, highest West v Sturt 2062.

Highest Individual Games
4,374  Rd 5 North v Norwood @Prospect  (ANZAC Day)
4,248  Rd 4  Glenelg v Sturt @ Glenelg (Good Friday)
4,001  Rd 3 Norwood v Sturt @ Norwood (Fri Night)

Lowest Individual Games
1,509  Rd 2  Port v South @ Alberton
1,529  Rd 6  South v West @ Noarlunga
1,538  Rd 7  Port v Adelaide @ Alberton
1,560  Rd 7  Glenelg v Central @ Elizabeth

All Games
1st   3,331pg  Sturt  (from 3175 in 2018)
2nd  3,008pg  Norwood (2660)
3rd  2,786pg  North (2275)
4th  2,678pg  Glenelg (2067)
5th  2,347pg  Eagles (2193)
6th  2,251pg  Adelaide (2167)
7th  2,066pg  South (1756)
8th  2,061pg  Central (2010)
9th  2,040pg  West (1860)
10th  2,011pg PORT (2341)


Home Games
1st   3,252pg  Sturt  (from 3575pg in 2018)
2nd  3,069pg  Norwood (2897)
3rd   3,045pg Glenelg (2059)
4th   2,924pg North (2093)
5th   2,139pg  Eagles (2176)
6th   2,126pg  West (1880)
7th   1,963pg  Central (1998)
8th   1,733pg  South (1411)
9th   1,663pg  PORT (1956)

SANFL AS A WHOLE as at end of Rd 7
2019 - 2,454pg
2018 - 2,393 pg   (33 games)

Round 6 South v West was at Norlunga

Round 6 South v West was at Norlunga

Yep ... apologies I have corrected

Thanks for posting these Phil. Positive trend in 2019, but some worrying figures in there for some clubs. Challenge now comes as to how to turn them around with winter ahead.

Clearly Sturt, Norwood and then North, Glenelg are the power clubs for supporters and members I suspect to date in 2019. That probably hasn't changed in a while.

I can't speak for other clubs, but Sturt's GM fiercely attacks membership matters. Because I was a bit tardy renewing this year, I got a personal call from her offering to assist with completing it.
This is not going to account for all of the upward attendance / membership trends of late. A couple of flags help with that too, but it certainly does have an impact.

It is surprising how Port's base has fallen away so much.
Is that largely dependent on their form and auspices of the AFL side?

Adelaide's all game attendance would be propped up by their opponents supporters of course. But for that to be higher than Port is a bit surprising.

The Bays have always had a good membership and supporter base, and I think their form this season is clearly having a significant and positive impact on attendances.

How much do mainly Saturday games v Sunday games impact on these figures? And is there a connection between AFL programming of the Crows and Power on SANFL attendances. I doubt it would have much on Port Magpies and Crows reserves, but what about the rest?

I guess the SANFL must take all of this into account when they put out the season program. But how much difference does it actually make? I wouldn't have thought that much.

Thanks Phil, always an interesting read

Might pay to check your 2018 home average for South. From memory it was around 1600, not 1411 as listed here.

Thanks Phil, good to see that the crowds are up slightly from last year.

Glenelg and North both getting significant increases, the "not quite die hards" are coming out of the woodwork. The Port numbers are worrying, they are the only club where attendances have fallen.

saintal wrote:Thanks Phil, always an interesting read

Might pay to check your 2018 home average for South. From memory it was around 1600, not 1411 as listed here.

Yeah 1,604 for us last year, which was actually an improvement on 2017 (1,545).

Interestingly, this is the first time since at least 1995 (that's as far as my figures go) that a venue other than Noarlunga/Richmond has the lowest home crowd average.

Incredibly as well, two of Port's four home games this season have had better crowds than their corresponding matches last season (+35 v South and +153 v Centrals).

Of the 35 home and away matches so far, 26 have gained bigger crowds than their corresponding matches in 2018. Of note, no round has averaged more than 3,000 so far which means this season's average hasn't been boosted by any abnormally high figures. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.