patjennings said:

While not disagreeing with any of that I will make a couple of points. Mariners traditionally do not traditionally start with crowds that approach their average. This year is worse - for the reasons you have identified.

For the game on 6th December, traditionally Sydney would bring a decent crowd - many of whom would travel by rail. This was the day of the Koolewong fires. The line was closed by fires for a few hours - probably deterring mist of those that would have travelled . In addition while parts of the coast experience some relief from the 40 degree heat I live within 5 minutes of the stadium and it was still in the very high 30 degrees range as the game time approached. The police were asking for people to stay away from Central Coast Highway and Brisbane Water Drive to allow emergency services better access. Eventually the game was postponed because of lightning. when the game was played the condition generally were a lot better for fans.

For the game last Friday - last year's corresponding fixture got 4101. It was a Friday night in a commuter town, which CCM never do well with as of course was last Friday, which I believe was had a tough under 1942.

The question should be why do the APL schedule Friday night fixtures in a commuter town in the week thousands of Sydney companies have their major Christmas functions.

I suspect that by the end of the season that CCM averages may well be down but not by be the margin that might be suggested at the moment. Of course - a clearer sense of direction, recruitment (not NPL level - but quality visa players) may see the average increase.

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NoMates said:

2 years tops!

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