Some of those sponsors you mentioned are contra...which at the end of the day are useless in terms of $$$
The fact that the local consortium came up short says it all
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Our crowds for the last 5 years show that the biggest thing we're missing is a winning team. As long as the Chinese guy is willing to shell out some money, the 'connecting with the community' part is irrelevant. Better team, office & coaching staff comes with having more money. As will a good portion of promotion. All of that will naturally attract novocastrians to attend games. It's not like we already have a highly valued culture or 'code' that a new owner needs to stick to.
You can stop playing the "league town" card. It only serves to further promote the idea.
The membership numbers given the barren run is nothing short of remarkable, no matter what area of the country it is in.
On top of all that, there the whole ownership saga, which had claimed numbers this season especially. But nothing that can't be repaired by the right owner/s being appointed post haste
whoa there snoozy, this is still very bogan league town, get out more
From the late 80's through the 90's to the mid 2000's yes with the popularity of the Knights, yes you could say Newy was a League town....not any more. Knights crowds have been declining for years and at grassroots level while Football grows year after year in all age groups, as mentioned in Tony Butterfield's column a few weeks back, League is reaching a crisis point with age groups between 11-13 down by as much as 20% and older age groups even worse!
I don't think the Knights will ever regain the popularity of their heyday when they drew crowds over 25k. The sporting landscape has changed.
We get the ownership right and have a Jets side pushing top four regularly, who knows how big football can become in this region.
I'm sorry i'm with Hawk on this one. I think, whilst the stats are probably true, you're missing what we mean by "league town". I still see Knights jerseys/stickers/flags etc everywhere in Newcastle/the Hunter. I do see jets gear around but not at the same level.
Don't get me wrong, we have taken massive strides in closing the gap but the families spending $200-400 a year on memberships and $300 on gear are still more inclined to go to the league. If we start winning championships and competing in the ACL then we can start to attract them over.
That's where the real money is, 2 adults and 3 kids all with memberships/jerseys/flags. Not us blokes drinking beer and complaining about every little detail. We will travel to the away games and create the atmosphere but we need the cash cows to start breeding the next generation of Jets fans.
The Knights have suffered from their "Knights Nannas" demographic dying off and being stuck in the last century with their "our town", "bred from tough", blue collar imagery that the younger ones, business and tourism find out-dated. People still love their league around here but for the Knights its only for the big games now. That devotion of 20 years ago is gone (cue desperate 1997 anniversary mania next year).
Unlike other cities though, Newcastle does have a strong football undercurrent - the tragedy is we just can't get it right!
Are you sure you are seeing knights gear? I mean for three years the colors and sponsors were the same so from a distance they look the same.
In saying that I do agree that there are more knights fans around...same as in syndey there are more roosters and rabbitohs and eels and tigers and dragons and so and so as there are fc or rbb fans, same goes for Melbourne and Brisbane....it's just a longevity thing. I'm not saying it would happen but the old "ethnic groups" getting involved in an a league club would bump numbers up big time.
I'm not positive on this but I'm sure the old Sydney united or Marconi crowds aren't all fc or rbb fans, as I'm sure not all the older guys from magic or Olympic or azzuri go to jets games.
The whole debate is irrelevant.
Most people who follow sockah ate visible and turn up to games
League has many many people who don't front but take an active interest watching it on TV reading newspapers and discussion at the water cooler Monday
Add in the fact the code is given preferential wall to wall coverage in the media then it is never gonna change anytime soon
It would take 50-100 years to change it
Don't worry about Magic, Olympic and Azzurri.Quote:
Originally Posted by redwah;148552I
There are Football people in Australia who play Football and watch Football every week that are yet to buy into the A-League. I play Football with people that talk non stop about Football but still don't buy into the A-League.
What FFA need to do is make sure this Eurosnob mentality doesn't gain traction with the next generation. Someone who is already a Eurosnob is basically a lost cause to the A-League as that culture see it as a inferior product (which it is no doubt) and refuse to give it a chance. The A-Leagueis becoming successful because people buy into it emotionally and that's what they need the next generation to do.
I hope this is the case.
When you say to people (outside of sokkah crowd) you play football they say yeah? you say, soccer football, they say oh........try it
I do understand that there has been a fair cultural shift in that we dont get ridiculed as much anymore.
The whole Optus EPL deal could actually help the A-League. I'm sure I'm not the only one who due to time constraints or otherwise just doesn't watch all that much EPL anymore.
Certainly not enough to warrant a separate subscription via whatever medium to continue access.
But, I will keep Foxtel for all the other sport and entertainment I enjoy.
Perhaps some of these eurosnobs will be forced to endure the A-League and realise it's not so bad after all
But won't a eurosnob can fox and get optus?
Everyone needs to change. Not just an owner or the ffa. Some Fans as well. I know it's been mentioned but why would a great keeper for example want to come here and ply for us when he sees the way Covic got treated last week. Also Some of you say you want to attract "eurosnobs" to watch the jets/a league... If I was someone who only watched European games and I saw some of you blokes calling me a eurosnob I'm not gunna go wow jets fans are great people that's a crowd I want to mix with. Fans can't just sit back and wait for ffa and an owner to change everything. Starts with us too.
forever alone