Rugger buggers pull 56K

[AlfAndrews]

I notice they got a record crowd for the Game They Play in Heaven tonight.

56,000-odd for a stadium that's supposed to hold 52,000. How the hell did they do that? Don't tell me the Medallion Club turned up. There must have been free chardonnay and horses' douvers.

From the TV it sounded like the place was really cooking. Amazing what a few thousand poms can do for atmosphere.

 

[Leia]

just wondering, it didn't look like it but did they extend the seating at colonial for the rugby tonight? that might account for some of the extra numbers, maybe?

 

[CJH]

I don't know about extending the seating, but there may well have been some standing room sold.

My guess though is that since Channel 7 own the stadium and Channel 7 have the Rugby TV rights and Channel 7 have lost the AFL rights, they have fiddled with the crowd figures just to mess with the AFL"s (and our) minds!!!!

 

[Same Old's]

Nup. They didn't extend the seating despite telling us that they would. Infact, if they did the capacity would have gone down. Anyway, the management must have been too bloody lazy to pull in the stands.

 

[Dan26]

The capacity of Colonial is 52,500 plus 4,000 standing room = 56,500. When you add the restricted viewing, you can actually get right on 57,000.

It was really cooking tonight, as Alf said. I just got home from it, and the atmosphere was amazing. Pity the "sport" itself isn't as good as the atmosphere.

 

[ILuvRugby]

I thought it was ONLY THE AFL WHO FUDGED CROWD FIGURES AT GAMES

Jealous of the rugby hey???
Fiddled with the crowd figures, no way and if the game was held at the G there would have been double tonight's crowd and it would not be just Lions people, but Victorians.

You pack of biased *******s
Get a life.
AFL is not the only game people want to see in Victoria, wake up to it.
The game is as good and better than "its atmosphere" as someone here has stated.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Knock it off, Ms Storm.

 

[Hit The Boundary Saints]

The cynics on 3AW (Rohan Connelly, Graham Bond) also suggested some fiddling of the figures. To quote Rohan "They have a habit of producing record , never to be broken, crowd figures. "
Didn't they also get a massive crowd at Stadium Australia, more than the place could handle. Sounds like an OH&S issue to me. Stadiums, like pubs and restaurants, surely have an upper limit for safety reasons and it sounds as though they hhave exceeded it.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

I remember the Essendon-Hawthorn game been a sell out, including standing room, yet the crowd was some 6,000 less Seems a bit suss to me - another case of trying to justify why the match should have been there.

Regardless of whether it was 56,000 or 50,000, it was still 35,000 less than it should have been because the match wasn't at its proper venue - the MCG.

 

[hawkfan5]

Notice

Did any of you notice that on the big screen at the Essendon Vs Hawthorn game it said:

official attendance: 50 701

Number of Tickets Sold: 55000 and something

So yes, the capacity must actualy be more with the standing room sold. but interesting the fact that 5000 people didnt turn up for the hawthorn Vs Essendon game.

 

[kretchy]

todays game between geelong and collingwood is supposed to have no tickets left so we will see what sort of crowd they will get

 

[Non Drugby Fan]

Re: I thought it was ONLY THE AFL WHO FUDGED CROWD FIGURES AT GAMES

Originally posted by ILuvRugby
Jealous of the rugby hey???
Fiddled with the crowd figures, no way and if the game was held at the G there would have been double tonight's crowd and it would not be just Lions people, but Victorians.

You pack of biased *******s
Get a life.
AFL is not the only game people want to see in Victoria, wake up to it.
The game is as good and better than "its atmosphere" as someone here has stated.

Interesting. Rugby team in Adelaide FAILED.
Melbourne Rugby team moves from 20,000 seat stadium to 50,000 seat stadium, fails to get 20,000 there each week...

AFL is bigger than rugby in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia.

 

[mantis]

Originally posted by Mr Ripper
Knock it off, Ms Storm.

Ripper
My thoughts exactly.

 

[Dan26]

Re: Notice

Originally posted by hawkfan5
Did any of you notice that on the big screen at the Essendon Vs Hawthorn game it said:

official attendance: 50 701

Number of Tickets Sold: 55000 and something

So yes, the capacity must actualy be more with the standing room sold. but interesting the fact that 5000 people didnt turn up for the hawthorn Vs Essendon game.

That's pretty normal though. There are always hundreds of annual reserved seats that don't get filled at Colonial, as well as the medallion club (which was full for the Rugby last night), whihch explains the 50,701 for Ess-Haw.

 

[Peter P]

Watched the game on TV - it was a real corker! Well done Wallabies.

There'd been a segment on rodeo riding of huge bulls on the news before the game, and the game made me think of that. Entertaining to watch but you'd be bloody mad to be out there. More shirt fronts in one half than in half a whole AFL season - literally! At times a bit like watching Saving Private Ryan.

But it'd be unjust to compare a Rugby Test between the World Champions and a 4 Nation Lions outfit with any AFL match of round 14. We've yet to see the top level of Australian Football, and only the GF is of some comparison to the 2nd Test last night.

It does stress that Australian Football needs to head global. And the time has never been better. With the internet, global communications and cheap travel now's the time for any aspiring sport to make its running on the global stage. Its happening - see the "Sport's Factor" transcript : http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/sportsf/

The Footy Show gang were pleasantly surprised at the annual BARFL British Bulldogs v expat Australian Colonials in the London park. 5,500 turned up and though the locals got a hiding on the scoreboard [19.5 to 4.5] the difference was a lack of finesse in the system of play and the proverbial lack of a couple of key position players - in general play the Brits were reportedly very competitive, much more so than last year.

I actually got a game in the BARFL last month for the Sussex Swans. We played Bristol Dockers. Though 2/3 of my team-mates were expats with a few soccer players looking for more action and a couple of Rugby players, the Dockers were predominantly Brits from a local Rugby club. The pitch was a Waverley size oval with good surface and tall permanent goal posts adjacent their Rugby pitch and club rooms, the umpiring was even of a high standard. As the seasons are complementary footy is this British Rugby club's summer sport now.

In 30 years or less we could see a British Bulldogs outfit follow the Lions on tours downunder.

All it needs is vision and willingness by the AFL to back up the enthusiastic expats and British converts. Some of the Lions crowd at Colonial may have been to the 'G' or paid Colonial a second visit this weekend. Hawks v Tigers was a pretty good game and so was Geelong v Collingwood, perhaps the next British Rugby club to take up Footy in the off-season will come of that. Globalisation works both ways.

 

[AlfAndrews]

Re: Re: I thought it was ONLY THE AFL WHO FUDGED CROWD FIGURES AT GAMES

Originally posted by Non Drugby Fan
Interesting. Rugby team in Adelaide FAILED.
Melbourne Rugby team moves from 20,000 seat stadium to 50,000 seat stadium, fails to get 20,000 there each week...

AFL is bigger than rugby in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia.

Well, I'm no Rugby fan. But I really must take this comment to task.

When people who know what they're talking about say "Rugby" they actually mean Rugby Union, which is also called The Game They Play in Heaven. Saturday night's Test was a Rugby Union match.

The so-called "Rugby" teams you refer to, the Melbourne Storm and the Adelaide Rams were NOT rugby teams. They were RUGBY LEAGUE teams. It is a completely different game.

As I say, I'm no Rugby fan. Nor am I a Rugby League fan. But I always find it bloody annoying the way Victorians (in particular) speak of the two codes as if they were the same, illustrating only their complete ignorance of anything other than their own home-grown football code.

It is on par with the annoying habit that Queenslanders and New South Welshpersons have of referring to Australian Rules Football as A.F.L. ... The GAME is called Australian Rules Football. And the ORGANISATION that runs its elite competition is called the A.F.L.

Will people PLEASE get their bloody terminology right !!!

 

[topdon]

Alf...i have been wanting to say what you just said, but i couldn't be bothered expaining it to the uneducated Victorians here. Rugby Union will always be Rugby. It is the truest form of the sport and a sport that is truely international, unlike the blue collar League counterpart.

I'm gald to see that someone, who doesn't have an interest in Rugby mind you, knows what he is talking about. The two sports are NOT one of the same.

I also took some exception to Rohan Connelly's remarks of 3AW this afternoon re: last nights match.

 

[topdon]

May i add "Non-Drugby Fan"....name one Rugby Union player that has been caught using performance enhancing drugs??

Oh that's right...you've confused yourself with Rugby League again!!!!

 

[Wilko1]

Originally posted by kretchy
todays game between geelong and collingwood is supposed to have no tickets left so we will see what sort of crowd they will get

About 50,600 turned up. There was still some standing room left and not all restricted viewing was sold so that crowd number is fairly reasonable. As for last nights rugby match. Good on em for getting 56,000. Just shows that most Victorians do accept the fact that there are other sports out there. Although it looked & sounded on TV, that there were alot of Liiiiiooooonnns fans there.

 

[Macca19]

Originally posted by Dan25
The capacity of Colonial is 52,500 plus 4,000 standing room = 56,500. When you add the restricted viewing, you can actually get right on 57,000.

It was really cooking tonight, as Alf said. I just got home from it, and the atmosphere was amazing. Pity the "sport" itself isn't as good as the atmosphere.

I love Rugby Union. Its one of the greatest sports in the world. Not as good as Aussie Rules, but second best in my opinion. I love it, and i love the fact that Foxtel has heaps of it.
The sport is fantastic!!!!!!!

 

[Rugby4Eva]

To all you ignorant Vic. morons

Rugby union is and always WILL BE better than AFL.! Get used to it.
There was another 56,000 outside watching it on the big screen and revelling in the streets.
AFL will never ever take off over seas. ITS TOO ****Y.

All Melbourne needs is a super12 team and a bit of promotion for rugby and it will be huge in a few years.

Don't mind league either. Anything is better than afl.
As for Rohan baby Connolly, he's actually admitted he likes both union and league before, so I think he's only kidding.

Go rugger-buggers.

kEFU & rOFF

 

[Peter P]

Have to correct you there Australian Football [dont generically call it AFL - see above comment about southerners calling both Rugby codes "Rugby"] is starting to catch on overseas - see my post above.

The Bristol Dockers AFC in the BARFL is based and run by a Rugby club. They have taken 3 years but now are playing with quite a bit of system. After the match we had a Barbie and traditional boat race - talking to the blokes, they certainly don't see it as ****y, but as their summer sport now.

There were soccer players from both the Dockers and the Sussex Swans who were enjoying footy because it had more action than soccer. If there's committment from the AFL to back up the amateurs who've been doing sll the groundwork then Australian Football will do very well internationally over the next few decades.

As for Rugby - it is far more entertaining now than when it was a bunch of old fat slow buggers scrumming around and light framed backs kicking the ball out on the full for the next line-out. It has achieved what John O'Neill - ARU prez- said it must: " become faster and more attacking to compete with the AFL"!!! But at what cost - there were 2 serious concussion, 2 broken noses, 2 cases of broken ribs, 2 sore necks, 2 bung shoulders and numerous corkies and at times groggy heads arising from that Second Test. Still corker of a game and far more entertaining now than in the old days or than onedimensional Rugby League.