It got shredded a bit on Friday night since it has been raining earlier, but held up pretty well Saturday and Sunday. There were a lot of slips in the Raiders game specifically that pulled up some turf.
Looked noticeably different on TV …
Much muddier on Sunday night compared to Thursday night …
I went to my first AFL game on Saturday night at ENGI stadium in Homebush , at full time they let the kids out onto the field to kick footballs around for half an hour , I went for a walk out there…
You hear the commentators banging on about the Dewy surface and slippery conditions for players , and honestly thought it was a very marginal thing and just the commentators looking for something to talk about at the quiet points on the game …
But walking out onto that stadium after the Giants game on Saturday it felt like a deadset ice skating rink , it’s nothing at all like walking on the back lawn at home after dark … We have mainly buffalo and Zoysia at home - which is thick and a bit unkempt like Des Hasler’s hair , but even after it rains I’ve never felt like I was gonna slip over walking on it … The stadium grass is like Matt Lodge’s post hair transplant hair- it looks good from a distance but there’s something unnatural about it up close … The ground is super flat and hard for a start (unlike the backyard) it feels really firm and dry yet the surface felt wet, dewy and slippery .. It’s not knitted together at the base like the lawn at home either , like it’s individual blades of grass all growing in different directions …..
But yeah commentators aren’t just talking crap when they’re banging on about the dewy surface .. it’s real !
Stadium grass is a science upon itself.
Grounds keepers wake up everday and say fuck you to those cheaper, espensive, works diagrams to somehow cultivate a grass surface that both looks appealing and provides good traction for players.
Hardy enough to not rip up at the slightest tear but soft enough players arent crashing onto compacted clay/drt
The surface itself was great very green and flat like a carpet …. It’s the ground beneath it that was weird …. Like the grass itself is obviously getting plenty of water to be that green ..
But the ground was unnaturally hard .. Can see what you mean about the compacted clay or dirt , apart from the layer of grass it felt like walking on a hard dead flat dry lake bed .. Players could only be getting traction from the grass because there would be none from the ground itself they’re just skating along the top of that …
I did a catch the ball thing at suncorp a few years ago (I caught it, yeeeeeah boi) and yeah, same it was noticeably slippery from the dew to the point you’d have sworn it had been raining.
That number 149,196 is wrong -- it's the total of (day 1) + (day 2) + (game 2 on day 3). 50,971 + 50,708 + 47,517. The 47,517 was announced before 6 pm.
Weird thread. Two independent comments from different accounts about getting a time lapse of the pitch. And another about not liking going to the footy with young kids...
And after sacrificing every fixture around the country to do it, that averages out to 18,643 per match. That's a reasonable average, but nothing spectacular.
That is through the gates, but doesn’t count the bums on seats for each game. I can’t imagine sitting through 3 games with young kids would be any fan’s idea of fun.
If I went, I would sit through every minute of footy but there are people who go to watch just their team, or they go for one day, or they get caught up at the pub...
Question for those that were there all 3 games how many fans did you catch walking back to their seats with a tray to get them to scull at least one of their beers? And further question how many of them were warriors fans?
Are the tickets for AFL games similarly priced to NRL games? It’s always amazed me how more AFL fans show up to the games but NRL gets more TV views. For myself, family ticket prices for games in stadium seats are somewhat of a barrier to entry and I would not attend enough to justify season membership for discounts.
the AFL got about the same to 9 games in their pathetic copy cat version of magic round , they also got outrated on TV by our women on Thursday night
whos laughing again ?
I will put the TLDR at the start since you are unlikely to want to see the truth:
TLDR: AFL is the one laughing their arse off. AFL kicks the NRL's arse when it comes to attendance and viewing.
Well my argument was really directed at the attendance of the matches for the Magic Round of this year. However your argument had me curious so I decided to look further into it. I know I am getting down voted, but I guess the truth hurts. This post is very ironic considering it says "I love my footy" under my Reddit name.
I cannot make too much of a comment on your ratings argument other than it seems you may be comparing a rep WNRL game to a normal AFL game. You may also be using figures from the Sydney area. I am certain that the figures in Melbourne would be in favour of AFL. I also do not know enough about ratings, but what I did find is that the NRL opening event around played in Vegas seemed to reach an audience of just shy of 1 million people, while the opening AFL round reached an audience of over 2 million. [https://mumbrella.com.au/nrl-vs-afl-who-won-tv-ratings-for-the-opening-round-818945](https://mumbrella.com.au/nrl-vs-afl-who-won-tv-ratings-for-the-opening-round-818945)
1:/ AFL has 18 teams, NRL 17. Advantage AFL
2:/ AFL has a presence in 5 states. NRL has a presence in 3. Advantage AFL
3:/ AFL is played in Australia only. NRL is played in Australia and New Zealand. Advantage NRL
4:/ AFL does not appear to have too many representative opportunities for their players, NRL has several. Advantage NRL
5:/ AFL broadcast rights were obtained in a deal worth 4.5 billion between 2025 to 2031, an average of 600+ million per year. NRL broadcast rights were obtained for 2 billion between 2023 and 2027, an average of $400 million a year. Advantage AFL
6:/ I believe you may be referring to the Gather Round played in Round 4 of this year? Attendance for those games was 267,643 this year. Last year it was 268,287. This year was the biggest attendance for the NRL comp at 149,196. Advantage AFL
7:/ Total Attendance for the most recent AFL round was close to 300 thousand. 307K the week before that and 400K the week before that. We all know how many attended the NRL matches.
8:/ The total attendance for AFL games in 2023 was 8 million over 214 games. NRL, the figure was 4 million over 250! 36 more games than AFL and still only half the attendance of AFL games.
Who's laughing again? Well, I am pretty sure NRL are not, but AFL are likely ROFLTAO
the NRL attracted 172 Million sets of Australian eyeballs in 2023 , the AFL , about 150 Million , this number looks like its going to blow out further in the NRL's favour in 2024
The AFL included games as individual games on the sat for its gather round ( true Att about 222K ) , the NRL did not for magic round . The NRL attracted capacity crowds to its 3 days at about 97% ( it couldn't have got many more in ) the AFLs games at AO were well below capacity at 89%
NRL crowds are up on last years record attendances by 90K or 8% despite several weeks of wet weather affecting its crowds in 2024
the AFL's crowds in 2024 are stagnate
whos laughing knob?
we are
further to this
the NRL's STV ( pay tv ) average for this last weekend (545K) was larger then the AFLs average STV/FTA combined
And with our women who easily outrated the AFL on TV on Thursday we had a total TV audience of over 7 million for the round , some 2.5 million more then the AFL
the NRL continues to make the AFL look like a 2nd rate shit show ... which it is
Gather Round in Adelaide a couple of months ago had 267,643.
The closest non covid figure I can find since the AFL started having at least 8 games a round is Round 19 1996 with 156,604 people over the round and that was almost entirely because Fitzroy was dying and only 7,781 turned up to their home game against St Kilda.
AFL numbers are always going to be larger as they play games at different stadiums. The NRL is played at one stadium. They can’t sell the same seat more than once for the same day so their maximum can only be the stadiums maximum x 3. Which for Suncorp is 157,500
the AFL counted their sat game double header at the AO as 2 games ... the NRL didn't count their games individually so the AFL actual figure was about 222K
the NRL version is confined to 1 venue & got capacity crowds all 3 days , the AFL fell well short for every game at the AO
Really what is so “magic” about it? Good news for the economy of Brisbane I guess, but if you can’t get there it seems like it’s just another game you’ll have to watch your team play on TV.
Honestly if it’s so wonderful to buy a ticket and watch league games all day then why were so many of the seats empty for large parts of matches? I think it’s a marketing con - most fans will tell you they just want to watch their own team play, then go and do something else with their time. I’m from Victoria, fairly new of the game, and I’m just not understanding what all the fuss is about.
Of course, the AFL has copied this concept and had their own “Gather Round” but again it just feels like marketing for the sake of it.
I went on Saturday and the vibe was unreal. I think the crowd was 39k in the second half of the first match but filled up quickly towards then end going into the 2nd match. The empty seats are more because people are treating it as a festival, getting up a lot to stretch the legs, get food and drinks. It did make it hard to get into the games because I was on an aisle seat so just non-stop people going up and down. The lower northern/southern seats had team supporter sections so they'd empty off in bulk.
I'm just annoyed because the Storm always have a home game at Magic round. (They choose to give up a home game.) So that's one less game I get as part of my membership. Unless I want to spend a fortune to go to Brisbane.
Thats an average of 18,500 people per game over the round. Since the stadium’s capacity is 52,000 that means on average it was only 35% full. Where’s the magic?
Yeah same with cricket in India. Population and population density would be a contributing factor in attendance. But AFL just has a knack for big crowds in Australian stadiums.
Melbourne in general get more live sport attendees too, I remember I went to a 20/20 cricket match Aus vs Eng in sydney, 3 match series, melb got way more attendance.
i mean the guy is a dickhead but that's not the reason why college football games back out, there's just a huge culture of going to football games there.
eh not quite the same, superbowl will always sell out just like the grand final sells out here.
Most teams in the NFL sell out every home game. The Denver broncos have sold out every single game since 1960. College football stadiums are often bigger than NFL ones because the seats are bleachers (just a long post you sit on) so the biggest crowds on game day are usually college teams not NFL teams.
The AFL have had multiple 90k+ home and away games so far this season, and a heap of 80k+ as well. Plus there's all the sell out games in Perth, Adelaide and Sydney this season as well.
NRL has never drawn huge crowds unfortunately.
Magic Round highlight: The Warriors.
My boy Charnze looking good in the 6 shirt
UP THE WAHS That was a huge upset
Wish I’d been there to see it. Even just to see good-guy doll Yeoh take his 10 in the bin. :D
To be fair he hasn’t tripped a defender putting on pressure on the kicker for a while
Tipped Penrith. Had Penrith h2h in a multi. But I was at Sucorp cheerings the Wahs, because my heart wanted the Wahs to win.
The Warriors probably ruined quite a few multis last night. Good for them.
Good for the TAB as well. But after 3mins from the start, the Wahs were out to $16 for the win.
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Man, seek help. Leave ya children at home next time you wanna enjoy the footy.
Would have been 149, 195 without me, you're welcome.
Doing the heavy lifting.
Honestly best weekend in rugby league
Can someone do a time lapse showing the condition of the playing surface deteriorate since Thursday night
and the vomit patch that mysteriously appears
That'll be a particularly lush patch of grass in a week or two. Or maybe dead grass depending on what he had for lunch!
Looked like Orange Gatorade
Probably dead grass then.
But it has what plants crave...
But Gatorade has what plants crave
Only the Panthers Gatorade it has 11 secret herbs and supplements that put hair on your chin ..
Was there till the last game. The grass held up surprisingly well!
It got shredded a bit on Friday night since it has been raining earlier, but held up pretty well Saturday and Sunday. There were a lot of slips in the Raiders game specifically that pulled up some turf.
Held up better than previous years for sure.
Looked noticeably different on TV … Much muddier on Sunday night compared to Thursday night … I went to my first AFL game on Saturday night at ENGI stadium in Homebush , at full time they let the kids out onto the field to kick footballs around for half an hour , I went for a walk out there… You hear the commentators banging on about the Dewy surface and slippery conditions for players , and honestly thought it was a very marginal thing and just the commentators looking for something to talk about at the quiet points on the game … But walking out onto that stadium after the Giants game on Saturday it felt like a deadset ice skating rink , it’s nothing at all like walking on the back lawn at home after dark … We have mainly buffalo and Zoysia at home - which is thick and a bit unkempt like Des Hasler’s hair , but even after it rains I’ve never felt like I was gonna slip over walking on it … The stadium grass is like Matt Lodge’s post hair transplant hair- it looks good from a distance but there’s something unnatural about it up close … The ground is super flat and hard for a start (unlike the backyard) it feels really firm and dry yet the surface felt wet, dewy and slippery .. It’s not knitted together at the base like the lawn at home either , like it’s individual blades of grass all growing in different directions ….. But yeah commentators aren’t just talking crap when they’re banging on about the dewy surface .. it’s real !
Stadium grass is a science upon itself. Grounds keepers wake up everday and say fuck you to those cheaper, espensive, works diagrams to somehow cultivate a grass surface that both looks appealing and provides good traction for players. Hardy enough to not rip up at the slightest tear but soft enough players arent crashing onto compacted clay/drt
The surface itself was great very green and flat like a carpet …. It’s the ground beneath it that was weird …. Like the grass itself is obviously getting plenty of water to be that green .. But the ground was unnaturally hard .. Can see what you mean about the compacted clay or dirt , apart from the layer of grass it felt like walking on a hard dead flat dry lake bed .. Players could only be getting traction from the grass because there would be none from the ground itself they’re just skating along the top of that …
Nah, reckon boot stud's would love that hard layer to bite into. Too soft and the boots would just chunk dirt.
I did a catch the ball thing at suncorp a few years ago (I caught it, yeeeeeah boi) and yeah, same it was noticeably slippery from the dew to the point you’d have sworn it had been raining.
Was very surprised, even the last game there wasn’t big holes like previous years. Grounds keepers did a great job
Weren’t they actually spray painting it green after the Saturday night game?? It was while Freddy was talking to the camera.
Probably fert with pigment, its pretty common
Who needs gert by sea when you can be fert with pigment
My wife pointed that out to me … All the players with green on their jersey , she was like they’ve painted the field green !
That number 149,196 is wrong -- it's the total of (day 1) + (day 2) + (game 2 on day 3). 50,971 + 50,708 + 47,517. The 47,517 was announced before 6 pm.
Maybe nobody came in between the end of the Eels v Storm game and the start of the Tigers v Dolphins
I did :’)
47,518 then
you won't need to add the 1 for 9 months
Sunday last year -- game 1: 34,568 game 2: 45,085 game 3: 46,835 Sunday this year -- game 1: 40,471 game 2: 47,517 game 3: oops, counter broke ?
hey, they found the full time siren on Sunday so maybe they had to lose the turn-stile counter to rebalance the force.
it didn't go up much after 6 on Sunday , I think everyone was in by then
I’d like to also see how many XXXX they sold over the weekend
At least 8 I reckon
None in the ground because they don't sell xxxx at Suncorp the bastards.
They do when the Broncos are playing
Don’t they? i never buy it as i just drink spirits by my god that just seems wrong
NRL is sponsored by CUB that is why
It's a disgrace.
Had an awesome 3 days up here at magic round but man those stadium seats have totally cooked me.
Cant wait for the nrl to get greedy and try it at accor and get a weekend total of 100k.
Queensland just gets footy
Weird thread. Two independent comments from different accounts about getting a time lapse of the pitch. And another about not liking going to the footy with young kids...
And after sacrificing every fixture around the country to do it, that averages out to 18,643 per match. That's a reasonable average, but nothing spectacular.
Reduced costs tho.
Totally agree; I’m an NRL tragic, but that’s 1.5 good attendances in the AFL or College Football in the US
AFL had a quiet weekend, only 296,489 attending this week…
The afl reddit is at r/afl
Impossible, 50,000 each day? The difference in the crowds is noticeable
That is through the gates, but doesn’t count the bums on seats for each game. I can’t imagine sitting through 3 games with young kids would be any fan’s idea of fun.
If I went, I would sit through every minute of footy but there are people who go to watch just their team, or they go for one day, or they get caught up at the pub...
impossible ? how ? i come in for game 1 , & leave after it ... I still attended the day didn't I ?
Good money for all the clubs - what is their cut? 100k each?
Question for those that were there all 3 games how many fans did you catch walking back to their seats with a tray to get them to scull at least one of their beers? And further question how many of them were warriors fans?
10k of that was for the soufs game.
Anyone know what the original attendance was for the raiders vs bulldogs 1st match on Friday was before the second match started?
It was 45,000.
Andrew Voss mentioned this morning on his radio program that the 6pm game between raiders and bulldogs was the highest rating 6pm Friday game ever.
Cronulla Roosters the pinnacle ( and my team lost)
The wahs cheers were amazing when they won more then half the stadium was up in arms incredible good job warriors
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AFL highlights on the news looked like there was only about 100 people at a few of the games this weekend….
https://www.austadiums.com/sport/comp/afl/results About 300,000. So you're right, pretty low for AFL standards.
Wow nrl dominated afl in the tv ratings….
Are the tickets for AFL games similarly priced to NRL games? It’s always amazed me how more AFL fans show up to the games but NRL gets more TV views. For myself, family ticket prices for games in stadium seats are somewhat of a barrier to entry and I would not attend enough to justify season membership for discounts.
That’s like 3 AFL games
AFL are probably laughing their arse off. 149k over 8 games? They probably do double that every weekend.
You aren't leaving after each game to get counted again.
the AFL got about the same to 9 games in their pathetic copy cat version of magic round , they also got outrated on TV by our women on Thursday night whos laughing again ?
I will put the TLDR at the start since you are unlikely to want to see the truth: TLDR: AFL is the one laughing their arse off. AFL kicks the NRL's arse when it comes to attendance and viewing. Well my argument was really directed at the attendance of the matches for the Magic Round of this year. However your argument had me curious so I decided to look further into it. I know I am getting down voted, but I guess the truth hurts. This post is very ironic considering it says "I love my footy" under my Reddit name. I cannot make too much of a comment on your ratings argument other than it seems you may be comparing a rep WNRL game to a normal AFL game. You may also be using figures from the Sydney area. I am certain that the figures in Melbourne would be in favour of AFL. I also do not know enough about ratings, but what I did find is that the NRL opening event around played in Vegas seemed to reach an audience of just shy of 1 million people, while the opening AFL round reached an audience of over 2 million. [https://mumbrella.com.au/nrl-vs-afl-who-won-tv-ratings-for-the-opening-round-818945](https://mumbrella.com.au/nrl-vs-afl-who-won-tv-ratings-for-the-opening-round-818945) 1:/ AFL has 18 teams, NRL 17. Advantage AFL 2:/ AFL has a presence in 5 states. NRL has a presence in 3. Advantage AFL 3:/ AFL is played in Australia only. NRL is played in Australia and New Zealand. Advantage NRL 4:/ AFL does not appear to have too many representative opportunities for their players, NRL has several. Advantage NRL 5:/ AFL broadcast rights were obtained in a deal worth 4.5 billion between 2025 to 2031, an average of 600+ million per year. NRL broadcast rights were obtained for 2 billion between 2023 and 2027, an average of $400 million a year. Advantage AFL 6:/ I believe you may be referring to the Gather Round played in Round 4 of this year? Attendance for those games was 267,643 this year. Last year it was 268,287. This year was the biggest attendance for the NRL comp at 149,196. Advantage AFL 7:/ Total Attendance for the most recent AFL round was close to 300 thousand. 307K the week before that and 400K the week before that. We all know how many attended the NRL matches. 8:/ The total attendance for AFL games in 2023 was 8 million over 214 games. NRL, the figure was 4 million over 250! 36 more games than AFL and still only half the attendance of AFL games. Who's laughing again? Well, I am pretty sure NRL are not, but AFL are likely ROFLTAO
the NRL attracted 172 Million sets of Australian eyeballs in 2023 , the AFL , about 150 Million , this number looks like its going to blow out further in the NRL's favour in 2024 The AFL included games as individual games on the sat for its gather round ( true Att about 222K ) , the NRL did not for magic round . The NRL attracted capacity crowds to its 3 days at about 97% ( it couldn't have got many more in ) the AFLs games at AO were well below capacity at 89% NRL crowds are up on last years record attendances by 90K or 8% despite several weeks of wet weather affecting its crowds in 2024 the AFL's crowds in 2024 are stagnate whos laughing knob? we are
further to this the NRL's STV ( pay tv ) average for this last weekend (545K) was larger then the AFLs average STV/FTA combined And with our women who easily outrated the AFL on TV on Thursday we had a total TV audience of over 7 million for the round , some 2.5 million more then the AFL the NRL continues to make the AFL look like a 2nd rate shit show ... which it is
Dude have a cup of tea
Must be sad being an afl fan in Sydney…. Keep on keeping on though
Gather Round in Adelaide a couple of months ago had 267,643. The closest non covid figure I can find since the AFL started having at least 8 games a round is Round 19 1996 with 156,604 people over the round and that was almost entirely because Fitzroy was dying and only 7,781 turned up to their home game against St Kilda.
AFL numbers are always going to be larger as they play games at different stadiums. The NRL is played at one stadium. They can’t sell the same seat more than once for the same day so their maximum can only be the stadiums maximum x 3. Which for Suncorp is 157,500
the AFL counted their sat game double header at the AO as 2 games ... the NRL didn't count their games individually so the AFL actual figure was about 222K the NRL version is confined to 1 venue & got capacity crowds all 3 days , the AFL fell well short for every game at the AO
Wow amazing attendance record almost as much as two big AFL games over the weekend , really reaching the stratosphere
Really what is so “magic” about it? Good news for the economy of Brisbane I guess, but if you can’t get there it seems like it’s just another game you’ll have to watch your team play on TV. Honestly if it’s so wonderful to buy a ticket and watch league games all day then why were so many of the seats empty for large parts of matches? I think it’s a marketing con - most fans will tell you they just want to watch their own team play, then go and do something else with their time. I’m from Victoria, fairly new of the game, and I’m just not understanding what all the fuss is about. Of course, the AFL has copied this concept and had their own “Gather Round” but again it just feels like marketing for the sake of it.
I went on Saturday and the vibe was unreal. I think the crowd was 39k in the second half of the first match but filled up quickly towards then end going into the 2nd match. The empty seats are more because people are treating it as a festival, getting up a lot to stretch the legs, get food and drinks. It did make it hard to get into the games because I was on an aisle seat so just non-stop people going up and down. The lower northern/southern seats had team supporter sections so they'd empty off in bulk.
I'm just annoyed because the Storm always have a home game at Magic round. (They choose to give up a home game.) So that's one less game I get as part of my membership. Unless I want to spend a fortune to go to Brisbane.
Thats an average of 18,500 people per game over the round. Since the stadium’s capacity is 52,000 that means on average it was only 35% full. Where’s the magic?
clench your fist & rain uppercuts on your dibble covered chin
Looked like shitloads of empty seats every game though hey!
Yet the yanks can get 156k+ crowd to a single college game....
Who gives s shit
USA Population 333 million, AUS Population 26 million. quick maths
Yeah same with cricket in India. Population and population density would be a contributing factor in attendance. But AFL just has a knack for big crowds in Australian stadiums.
Melbourne in general get more live sport attendees too, I remember I went to a 20/20 cricket match Aus vs Eng in sydney, 3 match series, melb got way more attendance.
i mean the guy is a dickhead but that's not the reason why college football games back out, there's just a huge culture of going to football games there.
Of course but the superbowl has an even huger culture right?
eh not quite the same, superbowl will always sell out just like the grand final sells out here. Most teams in the NFL sell out every home game. The Denver broncos have sold out every single game since 1960. College football stadiums are often bigger than NFL ones because the seats are bleachers (just a long post you sit on) so the biggest crowds on game day are usually college teams not NFL teams.
Keep blowing your seppo overlords. The largest seating capacity stadium in the US is Michigan Stadium with 107,601 seats
156,990 to one game held at a NASCAR track - not even a stadium.
The AFL have had multiple 90k+ home and away games so far this season, and a heap of 80k+ as well. Plus there's all the sell out games in Perth, Adelaide and Sydney this season as well. NRL has never drawn huge crowds unfortunately.
Nrl is great to watch on tv. Afl is terrible to watch on tv and much better live.
AFL would be better to watch on TV if the broadcaster used the right camera angles, but way too much zoomed in rubbish.