Thursday, April 28, 2011
The Stats Don't Lie (Much)
The crowd averages for the Super Rugby season thus far...
New Zealand: 12,732 (down 12%)
Australia: 19,312 (down 3%)
South Africa: 32,175 (up 24%)
So South Africa, who isn't hosting the RWC and has a bunch of teams who are mainly either shit, or underperforming are attracting crowds that NZ couldn't even wild sex wet dream about.
A few notes on the figures. The NZ figure doesn't include the Crusaders crowd from London for obvious reasons. Factors that have also influenced NZ crowds are clearly the Crusaders being unable to play at AMI Stadium (did AMI insure the stadium?). This would have been offset to some extent by Eden Park now being fully open whereas last year half of it was a construction site.
I have the crowd numbers for 61 out of 65 games so they pretty accurate. I am missing the crowds for two of the three Cheetahs games. Namely the last two which were their smallest, the Lions are missing two of their five as well, and they too will be too embarrassed to tell anybody how pathetically small their support now is. It was a ghost town in their ground last time out. And the Chiefs are missing the crowd for the Blues game which I saw on TV had sweet fuck all at it which is odd since it's supposed to be a derby game.
Stats (brackets is the total number up or down to date)
Stormers: 36447 (-5935)
Bulls: 35211 (+920)
Sharks: 30840 (+5173)
Lions: 28521 (+17382) *more like 20,000.
Reds: 26734 (+3907)
Waratahs: 23472 (-733)
Cheetahs: 23012 (+8671) * missing smaller crowds, probably 18,000.
Blues: 18321 (+504)
Rebels: 18086
Crusaders: 15419 (-6217) *includes London crowd
Force: 15405 (-1615)
Brumbies: 14524 (-733)
Hurricanes: 11494 (-3461)
Highlanders: 10847 (+5004)
Chiefs: 10,142 (-1486)
The obvious questions are why do the South African crowds grow significantly when they already have the biggest crowds? and why do our crowds continue to suck dogs balls?
Yes there is a financial 'crisis' but that is a global one and it has had little effect on Aussie and SA. Also the NRL crowds are as high as ever so far this year and in the past two years. The AFL average attendance last year was the highest ever.
That is a bullshit excuse, and I have heard people use it. The fact is people have lost interest plain and simple. The roots lie in the rest and rotation of the ABs in 2008. In 2007 the average crowd in NZ was 20172. In 2008 it was 15805. In the world of professional sport that is a COLLOSAL drop. It means 1 out of every 4 people thought "fuck this" and stopped going. And they've never gone since.
Other factors I think in the continued stagnation/drop are the number of people who now have Sky, especially MY Sky, who will now question why they would pay $85 a month to watch sport on TV and then go and blow anything from $40 to $100 plus if you have a family on getting ripped by parking, tickets, and food for ONE game that you could be watching from the comfort of home. Also if people are struggling to make ends meet then how come Sky subscriptions are going up, not being cancelled?
The ticket prices in South Africa are tiny compared to here. Yes it is a poorer country, and yes it is more heavily populated, but not by the white folk who go to the games. Tickets there are in the range of $5 for a crappy seat (in modern stadiums) to about $20 for the best seats in the house. People don't go the Cheetahs or Lions games (aside from season openers) because they are shithouse, but by god do they go to Stormers, Bulls and Sharks games. Despite the fact that they lie 3rd, 6th and 8th on the ladder.
In case the NZRU hasn't noticed, NZers a) aren't really fucking wealthy and b) spend their money on a shit load of other things these days.
You are in competition for their $$$'s which means that you either put on a better show (which you don't) or else you lower the prices (which you don't). Fortunately for them the Highlanders are going well this year which has meant that their is noticeably more support down south, but it's hard to see that squad carrying that on for much beyond this year.
The other concerning fact is that NZ has the strongest performing teams in the competition and yet it still doesn't translate into improved attendances overall.
NZ teams: 25 wins, 3 draws, 17 losses (147 comp points)
Aussie teams: 21 wins, 1 draw, 22 losses (127 comp points)
SA teams: 19 wins, 26 losses --- (118 comp points)
If the ABs crap out in this years WC and we get that stream of our Super Rugby players continuing overseas, and the NZ teams drop down in performance to the Aussie and SA sides then god help us in 2012 and beyond.
So no pressure aye?
New Zealand: 12,732 (down 12%)
Australia: 19,312 (down 3%)
South Africa: 32,175 (up 24%)
So South Africa, who isn't hosting the RWC and has a bunch of teams who are mainly either shit, or underperforming are attracting crowds that NZ couldn't even wild sex wet dream about.
A few notes on the figures. The NZ figure doesn't include the Crusaders crowd from London for obvious reasons. Factors that have also influenced NZ crowds are clearly the Crusaders being unable to play at AMI Stadium (did AMI insure the stadium?). This would have been offset to some extent by Eden Park now being fully open whereas last year half of it was a construction site.
I have the crowd numbers for 61 out of 65 games so they pretty accurate. I am missing the crowds for two of the three Cheetahs games. Namely the last two which were their smallest, the Lions are missing two of their five as well, and they too will be too embarrassed to tell anybody how pathetically small their support now is. It was a ghost town in their ground last time out. And the Chiefs are missing the crowd for the Blues game which I saw on TV had sweet fuck all at it which is odd since it's supposed to be a derby game.
Stats (brackets is the total number up or down to date)
Stormers: 36447 (-5935)
Bulls: 35211 (+920)
Sharks: 30840 (+5173)
Lions: 28521 (+17382) *more like 20,000.
Reds: 26734 (+3907)
Waratahs: 23472 (-733)
Cheetahs: 23012 (+8671) * missing smaller crowds, probably 18,000.
Blues: 18321 (+504)
Rebels: 18086
Crusaders: 15419 (-6217) *includes London crowd
Force: 15405 (-1615)
Brumbies: 14524 (-733)
Hurricanes: 11494 (-3461)
Highlanders: 10847 (+5004)
Chiefs: 10,142 (-1486)
The obvious questions are why do the South African crowds grow significantly when they already have the biggest crowds? and why do our crowds continue to suck dogs balls?
Yes there is a financial 'crisis' but that is a global one and it has had little effect on Aussie and SA. Also the NRL crowds are as high as ever so far this year and in the past two years. The AFL average attendance last year was the highest ever.
That is a bullshit excuse, and I have heard people use it. The fact is people have lost interest plain and simple. The roots lie in the rest and rotation of the ABs in 2008. In 2007 the average crowd in NZ was 20172. In 2008 it was 15805. In the world of professional sport that is a COLLOSAL drop. It means 1 out of every 4 people thought "fuck this" and stopped going. And they've never gone since.
Other factors I think in the continued stagnation/drop are the number of people who now have Sky, especially MY Sky, who will now question why they would pay $85 a month to watch sport on TV and then go and blow anything from $40 to $100 plus if you have a family on getting ripped by parking, tickets, and food for ONE game that you could be watching from the comfort of home. Also if people are struggling to make ends meet then how come Sky subscriptions are going up, not being cancelled?
The ticket prices in South Africa are tiny compared to here. Yes it is a poorer country, and yes it is more heavily populated, but not by the white folk who go to the games. Tickets there are in the range of $5 for a crappy seat (in modern stadiums) to about $20 for the best seats in the house. People don't go the Cheetahs or Lions games (aside from season openers) because they are shithouse, but by god do they go to Stormers, Bulls and Sharks games. Despite the fact that they lie 3rd, 6th and 8th on the ladder.
In case the NZRU hasn't noticed, NZers a) aren't really fucking wealthy and b) spend their money on a shit load of other things these days.
You are in competition for their $$$'s which means that you either put on a better show (which you don't) or else you lower the prices (which you don't). Fortunately for them the Highlanders are going well this year which has meant that their is noticeably more support down south, but it's hard to see that squad carrying that on for much beyond this year.
The other concerning fact is that NZ has the strongest performing teams in the competition and yet it still doesn't translate into improved attendances overall.
NZ teams: 25 wins, 3 draws, 17 losses (147 comp points)
Aussie teams: 21 wins, 1 draw, 22 losses (127 comp points)
SA teams: 19 wins, 26 losses --- (118 comp points)
If the ABs crap out in this years WC and we get that stream of our Super Rugby players continuing overseas, and the NZ teams drop down in performance to the Aussie and SA sides then god help us in 2012 and beyond.
So no pressure aye?
Labels: all blacks, crowds, rugby, rugby world cup, super rugby
Rugby Crowds in the Most Important Year in NZ Rugby History
I'm not actually going to comment on them right now, just a promise that I might get drunk later this evening and put up the crowd stats from the Super Rugby comp thus far in 2012. The might part doesn't apply to me getting drunk. That's definately happening as my school hols wind down. It's just a matter of remembering to post the stats. Remind me if I don't. I guess it will add further weight to the idea that NZ is NOT 4 million AB supporters and that adding to the research suggesting only one million people outside the 8 major rugby nations watched the last WC final, is the fact that only one million NZers even watched NZ bow out of the last WC on a Sunday morning on free to air TV.
Labels: bullshit PR, crowds, pacific island rugby, rugby world cup
Monday, April 20, 2009
Bums on Seats
Quite literally that's what everybody was expecting to see at sports stadiums around Australasia and the rest of the world this year. Bums as in hobos. What with all the economic doom and gloom. Predictions were that crowd numbers would be rubbish at professional sports events but it certainly doesn't look that way. I guess for starters fuck all people have lost their job and secondly everybody else is either being paid the same as last year or more. Secondly people will sacrifice other things ahead of their weekly pleasures, ie their favourite sporting team, booze and a couple of dvds will remain while trips to the movies, pricey cars, and swanky restaurants are all out the door.
But a preliminary analysis suggests that there are still plenty of people wanting to go along and watch the footie provided the quality is up there.
In the NRl so far this year there have been 47 matches played. 828,830 spectators have attended and the average is 17,634. Last years average was 15,591 while the highest ever season average was set in 2005 with an average of 16,468. This years average will inevitably slide as winter sets in as well as a bit of fatigue with the novelty wearing off and also some sides will begin that slide down the ladder and a few will give up on them. But from my experience of following the crowd stats I would say that they are a good shot of breaking the alltime season record.
The Warriors have also seen a major turnaround in support. Last year they averaged 11,444 which was the second worst in the comp behind Penrith. This year they are averaging 20,083 after 4 home games which puts them second best behind the Broncos. Not bad for a side who are 3-3 for the season.
Turn your attention to the Super 14 and things are a bit more confusing.
Crowd figures are notoriously difficult to get ahold of in NZ and South Africa. The Aussies will happily publish them and are fascinated by them it seems as rugby, rugby league, afl and soccer all have a look see at who is getting folks to show up. It's a real competition in itself amongst fans of the various sports to see the attendances and tv ratings.
The NZRU is one of the only sporting organisations in the world that does not routinely release its crowd figures. There is a sports websites that publishes such figures for all professional sports comps around the world but the NZ rugby ones were missing so I emailed to ask why. The guy running it replied that he had tried to get the figures from them but they were arseholes about it and refused to supply them.
Me thinks they have something to hide.
Anyway, if you trawl hard enough you can often find them buried in writeups for games where journalists have managed to find out the figure or the commentators during the match have given a ball park figure which they have officially heard.
So from what I can gather thus far this year the NZ average crowd in the Super 14 is about 13,042. In Australia it is 19,791 (100% accurate) and in South Africa the figures are somewhat unreliable but for the 15 matches that are known its around 30,633. A rather massive difference from one country to the next. In general the South Africans get huge crowds for matches between their own teams and pretty pisspoor ones for watching their sides play the NZers or Aussies. yet another reason why they should separate from the Super 14. Nobody gets up to watch those matches from either country when they are on the other side of the earth. The TV ratings for a recent match played in the Republic in Australia were something like 1,900. I shit you not. That is One thousand and nine hundred people who watched a recent match between an Aussie side and a South African side on cable TV in Aussie.
Anyhow, that's how I passed the hour I had to kill before the Man U v Everton semi I'm about to watch... until I fall asleep.
But a preliminary analysis suggests that there are still plenty of people wanting to go along and watch the footie provided the quality is up there.
In the NRl so far this year there have been 47 matches played. 828,830 spectators have attended and the average is 17,634. Last years average was 15,591 while the highest ever season average was set in 2005 with an average of 16,468. This years average will inevitably slide as winter sets in as well as a bit of fatigue with the novelty wearing off and also some sides will begin that slide down the ladder and a few will give up on them. But from my experience of following the crowd stats I would say that they are a good shot of breaking the alltime season record.
The Warriors have also seen a major turnaround in support. Last year they averaged 11,444 which was the second worst in the comp behind Penrith. This year they are averaging 20,083 after 4 home games which puts them second best behind the Broncos. Not bad for a side who are 3-3 for the season.
Turn your attention to the Super 14 and things are a bit more confusing.
Crowd figures are notoriously difficult to get ahold of in NZ and South Africa. The Aussies will happily publish them and are fascinated by them it seems as rugby, rugby league, afl and soccer all have a look see at who is getting folks to show up. It's a real competition in itself amongst fans of the various sports to see the attendances and tv ratings.
The NZRU is one of the only sporting organisations in the world that does not routinely release its crowd figures. There is a sports websites that publishes such figures for all professional sports comps around the world but the NZ rugby ones were missing so I emailed to ask why. The guy running it replied that he had tried to get the figures from them but they were arseholes about it and refused to supply them.
Me thinks they have something to hide.
Anyway, if you trawl hard enough you can often find them buried in writeups for games where journalists have managed to find out the figure or the commentators during the match have given a ball park figure which they have officially heard.
So from what I can gather thus far this year the NZ average crowd in the Super 14 is about 13,042. In Australia it is 19,791 (100% accurate) and in South Africa the figures are somewhat unreliable but for the 15 matches that are known its around 30,633. A rather massive difference from one country to the next. In general the South Africans get huge crowds for matches between their own teams and pretty pisspoor ones for watching their sides play the NZers or Aussies. yet another reason why they should separate from the Super 14. Nobody gets up to watch those matches from either country when they are on the other side of the earth. The TV ratings for a recent match played in the Republic in Australia were something like 1,900. I shit you not. That is One thousand and nine hundred people who watched a recent match between an Aussie side and a South African side on cable TV in Aussie.
Anyhow, that's how I passed the hour I had to kill before the Man U v Everton semi I'm about to watch... until I fall asleep.
