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General A Leagues thread (Men and Women) 2025/26 season

Ez quoted as such and agreed.
Being a east Sydneyite say no more
 
Sutherlandbear said:
So, you don't deny that the working class are beneath you.
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We are all the same bleed red blood as far as I’m concerned and we all have our likes dislikes I am not the type your fishing about.
Your a union man if I recall I am not big deal different outlooks and opinions.
 
Of the last 10 reported attendance figures of matches (excluding CCM vs SYD last night as its not reported yet), 5 of them have been less than 3750 in total.

That is beyond dire.

Where are the supporters?? Where are the 1000s of families that play the game every weekend??

This simply cannot continue.
 
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CentreHalf said:
Of the last 10 reported attendance figures of matches (excluding CCM vs SYD last night as its not reported yet), 5 of them have been less than 3750 in total.

That is beyond dire.

Where are the supporters?? Where are the 1000s of families that play the game every weekend??

This simply cannot continue.
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Are you referring to the Mariners attendances, or more generally?
 
CentreHalf said:
Of the last 10 reported attendance figures of matches (excluding CCM vs SYD last night as its not reported yet), 5 of them have been less than 3750 in total.

That is beyond dire.

Where are the supporters?? Where are the 1000s of families that play the game every weekend??

This simply cannot continue.
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WIth the exception of adelaide and to a degree sydney, every franchise in both a league and nsl era declined after an initial boom

I suspect the hard truth is we have to find a way to make football work with small crowds
 
CentreHalf said:
Of the last 10 reported attendance figures of matches (excluding CCM vs SYD last night as its not reported yet), 5 of them have been less than 3750 in total.

That is beyond dire.

Where are the supporters?? Where are the 1000s of families that play the game every weekend??

This simply cannot continue.
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I know you excluded the CCM v Sydney game - which was a touch over 3,500. However, mid-afternoon it was 40 degrees bushfires across Brisbane Waters and the advice was to stay at home so emergency services could do their job. It was a double header - the womens game called off because of the extreme heat. As it turned out the match was delayed by an electrical storm,
 
CentreHalf said:
The whole league.

6 games in the last two rounds have seen attendances in the 3000s.

Its simply pathetic. There are local suburban Australian rules matches in Victoria, Suburb vs suburb, that get those crowds every saturday at suburban ovals.
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What concerns me is that I see absolutely zero attempt from APL to engage with the issue of falling crowds and construct a strategy to build attendances. The way things are headed at the moment, we may well end up looking at the lowest average attendance in A-League history. It is not remotely possible to argue, right now, that the Bulls and the Mariners are viable football clubs. The Mariners' case is particularly depressing in terms of the wider competition and its trajectory in the sense that the club has had 20 years without NRL or AFL competition to bed itself into the community. lest we all forget how often in the past we have all been hammered over the head with the example of the Mariners as a community club. And yet, despite local clear air for 20 years and some notable periods of success, only around 3000 people in that community now see fit to support the Club.

Personally, I would not be surprised if the Mariners fold at the end of this season, and for the life of me, I can't understand how or why the people who run Macarthur keep the club going. They must be losing money hand over fist with not even a glimmer of light in the dark tunnel. What we may be heading for is something closer to the inaugural competition with Perth, Adelaide, 2 Melbourne teams, to 2 Sydney teams, Newcastle, and Brisbane. Would that be a bad thing? Personally, I don't think so. It's not ideal but 10 healthy clubs, relatively speaking, is preferable to the competition staggering along as it is. Let's face it, supporters of other clubs have never had much interest in games against the Mariners, and my perception is that there is close to 0 interest in seeing their teams play the Bulls.

What really strikes me about this season is just how little buzz there was leading into the season start and the pervasive lack of interest in the competition that has followed. It's incredible to think that not all that long ago over 60,000 people attended the Sydney Derby, and the Sydney Derby would regularly sell out or fill the Stadium. Now we have the latest iteration of that game in Western Sydney's beautiful stadium struggling to reach 20,000 people. There is something very, very wrong with the way the competition is being positioned in the Australian sporting marketplace. I had high hopes when APL took over that the clubs would have a direct interest now in developing the competition, but quite the contrary situation has developed.
 
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Frankly Speaking said:
What concerns me is that I see absolutely zero attempt from APL to engage with the issue of falling crowds and construct a strategy to build attendances. The way things are headed at the moment, we may well end up looking at the lowest average attendance in A-League history. It is not remotely possible to argue, right now, that the Bulls and the Mariners are viable football clubs. The Mariners' case is particularly depressing in terms of the wider competition and its trajectory in the sense that the club has had 20 years without NRL or AFL competition to bed itself into the community. lest we all forget how often in the past we have all been hammered over the head with the example of the Mariners as a community club. And yet, despite local clear air for 20 years and some notable periods of success, only around 3000 people in that community now see fit to support the Club.

Personally, I would not be surprised if the Mariners fold at the end of this season, and for the life of me, I can't understand how or why the people who run Macarthur keep the club going. They must be losing money hand over fist with not even a glimmer of light in the dark tunnel. What we may be heading for is something closer to the inaugural competition with Perth, Adelaide, 2 Melbourne teams, to 2 Sydney teams, Newcastle, and Brisbane. Would that be a bad thing? Personally, I don't think so. It's not ideal but 10 healthy clubs, relatively speaking, is preferable to the competition staggering along as it is. Let's face it, supporters of other clubs have never had much interest in games against the Mariners, and my perception is that there is close to 0 interest in seeing their teams play the Bulls.

What really strikes me about this season is just how little buzz there was leading into the season start and the pervasive lack of interest in the competition that has followed. It's incredible to think that not all that long ago over 60,000 people attended the Sydney Derby, and the Sydney Derby would regularly sell out or fill the Stadium. Now we have the latest iteration of that game in Western Sydney's beautiful stadium struggling to reach 20,000 people. There is something very, very wrong with the way the competition is being positioned in the Australian sporting marketplace. I had high hopes when APL took over that the clubs would have a direct interest now in developing the competition, but quite the contrary situation has developed.
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if it gets down to only 8 Australian clubs they should do an end of season Champions League style competition to save on travel costs instead of a full league perhaps :cool:
 
Frankly Speaking said:
Personally, I would not be surprised if the Mariners fold at the end of this season, and for the life of me, I can't understand how or why the people who run Macarthur keep the club going. They must be losing money hand over fist with not even a glimmer of light in the dark tunnel. What we may be heading for is something closer to the inaugural competition with Perth, Adelaide, 2 Melbourne teams, to 2 Sydney teams, Newcastle, and Brisbane. Would that be a bad thing? Personally, I don't think so. It's not ideal but 10 healthy clubs, relatively speaking, is preferable to the competition staggering along as it is. Let's face it, supporters of other clubs have never had much interest in games against the Mariners, and my perception is that there is close to 0 interest in seeing their teams play the Bulls.
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Personally I think it would be a bad thing - they are my club and easy to attend. More importantly from a Socceroo point of view they have probably been close to the most influential A League club since the start of the A-League. 38 Socceroos have played for the Mariners. More importantly 25 Socceroos got there A League start at the Mariners before becoming Socceroos with over 500 caps between them. 83 times a Mariners player has been captain.
 
CentreHalf said:
The whole league.

6 games in the last two rounds have seen attendances in the 3000s.

Its simply pathetic. There are local suburban Australian rules matches in Victoria, Suburb vs suburb, that get those crowds every saturday at suburban ovals.
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Maybe you should stick to your Australian rules, boards then.

Also keep in mind that due to the enormous size of this country, makes it impossible to attract large away followings too boost crowds.
 
patjennings said:
Personally I think it would be a bad thing - they are my club and easy to attend. More importantly from a Socceroo point of view they have probably been close to the most influential A League club since the start of the A-League. 38 Socceroos have played for the Mariners. More importantly 25 Socceroos got there A League start at the Mariners before becoming Socceroos with over 500 caps between them. 83 times a Mariners player has been captain.
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The Mariners are THE success story of the A league. 3 times champions + twice runners up, not to mention an Asian trophy to boot.
 
Sutherlandbear said:
Maybe you should stick to your Australian rules, boards then.

Also keep in mind that due to the enormous size of this country, makes it impossible to attract large away followings too boost crowds.
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What a ridiculous comment.

Maybe we should realise this sport is being run by complete buffoons from top to bottom who are not giving it a chance to be the best version of itself.
 
CentreHalf said:
What a ridiculous comment.

Maybe we should realise this sport is being run by complete buffoons from top to bottom who are not giving it a chance to be the best version of itself.
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Well, get yourself elected to the buffoon's board and sort it out.
 
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