The Brumbies have had a great start to the year, winning their first 3 games (plus both trials) and were just shy of a grand final in 2022.
But despite that and the fact that referees have finally sped the game up, crowds just aren't coming back.
Why?
Could it be due to a lack of passion for Rugby Union and the Brumbies? And if so, what more could the club do to reignite pride in the game, aside from winning more?
People have less time, energy and disposable income than ever. Couple that with how easy it is these days to watch the game from the comfort of your longe room, it’s easier for people to just stay home.
I think Canberra specifically struggles because there is literally nothing near the stadium. No pubs, restaurants etc. I think if they ever build that stadium in the city they’d get much better numbers. You could go to dinner, then to the game, then out for a beer. Or you could go to an arvo game and walk out and get dinner etc. For canberra specifically, when weighing up the pros and cons, it’s just easier to get takeaway and watch on TV.
It doesn’t help that the NRL and presumably ARU don’t really care about attendance and prioritise doing whatever the TV contract owners specify because they have all the money. Like who the fuck is going to an Thursday 8:05pm kick off NRL game? That’s bed time!
Sorry for the slow reply and I agree people have less energy, but I disagree time is an issue as people still get to the Raiders, who until 6-7 years ago, regularly had smaller crowds than the Brumbies. Totally agree with your points about the stadium, but again, Raiders fans over the past 6-7 years don't have a problem with it, and still support the team regardless. Also a new stadium is outside of the brumbies control, so focusing on it isn't the best use of time or energy imo.
Which brings me back to my question, aside from winning, what do they have to do to make you PROUD?
I think the NRL definitely fudge crowd figures. I think they go off tickets sold, which includes every single members ticket, every week. So I wouldn't take those figures as gospel.
As for the main question, as a distant rugby and Brumbies fan, I agree with what people were saying in WhatsApp. They need to make themselves more known to the public. I think the TV rights deal has hurt Rugby in general. I think the Stan Sport thing has made Rugby less accessible. Just about everyone has Kayo/Fox. I imagine far fewer people have Stan. This means the fringe supporters are less likely to familiarise themselves with the players. I think when it comes to pride, it's difficult to feel proud of a group of people you are not particularly familiar with.
Whilst I may not be the best person to speak on this due to my status a s a"part time fan", I think these are the people ARU and Super Rugby need to be targeting. The welded on supporters will be there no matter what.
So I think to draw people like me back to rugby and The Brumbies, they need to make themselves more familiar with their target demographic. All the usual stuff, school clinics, local TV ads, charity stuff, hassle the local news to promote things they're doing. Stuff that makes people think "so and so seems like a bloody good bloke" because that's the kind of person you can be proud of.
Newcastle Knights won three straight wooden spoons and still averaged crowds of 18k in a city with a population of 350k. That's over 5% of the city. There's a lot of differences between ACT and Newcastle, obviously, but the town just fucking love their team. There's a real "our boys" feeling and I think it's just from years and years of being accessible, visible and available.
I'm not implying that The Brumbies aren't doing these things by any means, but simply trying to answer your question as best I can. I think if they want more, they need to do more. But I don't know what the magic recipe of time spent in the community and kind of things they should do in the community is?
I think a lot like the Australian Cricket team of the same era, the Brumbies are in a tough spot because they will always be compared to that team of the early 00's when they had 11 wallabies and the wallabies were on top of the world. I think a lot of the older fans will struggle to ever be as proud of any team as they were of that group.
I think there’s going to be a delay factor. 3 games of better rugby is great for the rugby nuffies like myself. But it’ll take a bit more for people who’ve been disenfranchised to reconnect and realise that the reasons they stopped watching appear to have been fixed.
I’d be interested in the Stan viewership numbers as a sign that things will tick up with crowds moving forward.
Agreed. Crowd improvement won't happen overnight, and while things are heading in a better direction, patience in needed.
But while we're waiting, aside from winning more, what does the Brumbies need to do to make you so proud that you'd drag all your friends along? Hoping to get them down to an R4R soon.
I've been wondering this for years Ben. I've attended Brumbies and Raiders games for the last 9 years and crowd numbers have always been significantly higher at the Raiders.
People cite cost as a reason, but the ticket prices are pretty similar at the gate.
The 4 game membership is great ($80, $20 per game), I buy it every season incase I don't work a match week and don't get tickets from brumbies. I especially love the choose your own membership pack. I was starting to collect a lot of hats that I don't need, the same with key rings, mouse pads and all the other things you get in a pack.
I think not only have the Brumbs been winning, they have been playing some really entertaining footy. It's great that one game is now on 9 Gem, but it seems not a lot of people know about this? Infact, a lot of people didn't know the season had started. BUT, if you're a rugby fan, how can you not know!?
I see no difference in the switch from Foxtel to Stansport other than people having to take out ANOTHER streaming service.
I've seen them try everything, and it's amazing when people complain its about the dumbest things! The DJ music is too loud, the announcer is annoying, they plug sponsors during the game, the drums are annoying, food is expensive, drinks are expensive. Some people comment on the lack of community engagement, but I'm always seeing the boys out in the community.
Communication might need to be improved as I saw on the weekend the boys sung the team song on the field with the fans, but a lot of the fans had left and those are the ones who complained that the team song wasn't played after the match. (If you're interested in seeing some feedback, there is a Brumbies Territory group on facebook which is for members)
The Brumbies have packed the stadiums before back in 2004, so where did all those people go? What has changed between then and now for the fans?
It appears that AFL and NRL fans are much bigger loyalty than Rugby fans.
I personally don't think the location of the stadium matters, you can see with the Raiders attendance that the location does not matter. The addition of food trucks at GIO is great. I remember back when I started going there was a noodle place, just their woke and noodles and sauce and we could smell them from our Bay and it more often than not sucked me in to go and buy noodles haha.
Brumbies have in my eyes, tried everything, BMX bike shows, musicians, a pre game muster, half price tickets, fans on the field, decreasing price of stadium food.
The kick off time is not family friendly, this weekend is Kids round, 10000 kids U 12 get in free with a paying adult. 7.35pm is bed time for a lot of kids. There are a few more 2pm games this year and I'm interested to see how attendance is at those. The scheduling I believe as stitched them up too. Do not give the Brumbies a home game on a long weekend, because a lot of people in Canberra go away on those.
At the end of the day though, the reasons people give for not heading to the rugby are excuses. If people want to do something they will. I couldn't care less what half time entertainment is on, I'm usually too busy chatting to my friends to notice. I am there to watch my team and I am so proud to call the Brumbies my team.
We have tried, but I think a lot of our effort is wasted listening to people who aren't emotionally connected with the game complain. We can't change the stadium or the broadcast times, so we need to accept those constraints, keep winning, and engage more with the community to find out what we can do that will make them proud.
And I know you are already proud of them, but if there was one thing they could do (aside from winning more) that would make you so proud that you'd drag your friends and family along, what would it be?
I already try and drag my family and friends along haha. I've managed to take someone to the football who doesn't even watch sports, because I want people to see the great people that they are. So maybe as we discussed on Wednesday, they need to engage with more than the school communities.
We're never going to please everyone, some people will hate the music while others will love it. After last weekends game people were upset about the number of Wallabies squad players being rested, so perhaps maybe the team line up announcement can have more of an explanation. It seemed people genuinely felt ripped off that a Brumbies "seconds" team was sent to Christchurch for such a big game. People felt let down Sideline coaches are everywhere right? I know we see snippets of team announcements sometimes, but would people prefer to see the whole team announcement? Do they need to see more behind the scenes to become truly invested? I say they because I already have the privilege of being behind the scenes.
I know for me, I was a brumbies fan prior to working there, but my emotional investment only grew once I got to know the human behind the footballer. Similar happened for the Raiders, and I find myself a little less invested in the game because I don't work there anymore and I only started following rugby league when I started working for them.
People have less time, energy and disposable income than ever. Couple that with how easy it is these days to watch the game from the comfort of your longe room, it’s easier for people to just stay home.
I think Canberra specifically struggles because there is literally nothing near the stadium. No pubs, restaurants etc. I think if they ever build that stadium in the city they’d get much better numbers. You could go to dinner, then to the game, then out for a beer. Or you could go to an arvo game and walk out and get dinner etc. For canberra specifically, when weighing up the pros and cons, it’s just easier to get takeaway and watch on TV.
It doesn’t help that the NRL and presumably ARU don’t really care about attendance and prioritise doing whatever the TV contract owners specify because they have all the money. Like who the fuck is going to an Thursday 8:05pm kick off NRL game? That’s bed time!
Sorry for the slow reply and I agree people have less energy, but I disagree time is an issue as people still get to the Raiders, who until 6-7 years ago, regularly had smaller crowds than the Brumbies. Totally agree with your points about the stadium, but again, Raiders fans over the past 6-7 years don't have a problem with it, and still support the team regardless. Also a new stadium is outside of the brumbies control, so focusing on it isn't the best use of time or energy imo.
Which brings me back to my question, aside from winning, what do they have to do to make you PROUD?
I think the NRL definitely fudge crowd figures. I think they go off tickets sold, which includes every single members ticket, every week. So I wouldn't take those figures as gospel.
As for the main question, as a distant rugby and Brumbies fan, I agree with what people were saying in WhatsApp. They need to make themselves more known to the public. I think the TV rights deal has hurt Rugby in general. I think the Stan Sport thing has made Rugby less accessible. Just about everyone has Kayo/Fox. I imagine far fewer people have Stan. This means the fringe supporters are less likely to familiarise themselves with the players. I think when it comes to pride, it's difficult to feel proud of a group of people you are not particularly familiar with.
Whilst I may not be the best person to speak on this due to my status a s a"part time fan", I think these are the people ARU and Super Rugby need to be targeting. The welded on supporters will be there no matter what.
So I think to draw people like me back to rugby and The Brumbies, they need to make themselves more familiar with their target demographic. All the usual stuff, school clinics, local TV ads, charity stuff, hassle the local news to promote things they're doing. Stuff that makes people think "so and so seems like a bloody good bloke" because that's the kind of person you can be proud of.
Newcastle Knights won three straight wooden spoons and still averaged crowds of 18k in a city with a population of 350k. That's over 5% of the city. There's a lot of differences between ACT and Newcastle, obviously, but the town just fucking love their team. There's a real "our boys" feeling and I think it's just from years and years of being accessible, visible and available.
I'm not implying that The Brumbies aren't doing these things by any means, but simply trying to answer your question as best I can. I think if they want more, they need to do more. But I don't know what the magic recipe of time spent in the community and kind of things they should do in the community is?
I think a lot like the Australian Cricket team of the same era, the Brumbies are in a tough spot because they will always be compared to that team of the early 00's when they had 11 wallabies and the wallabies were on top of the world. I think a lot of the older fans will struggle to ever be as proud of any team as they were of that group.
Just thinking out loud though.
I think there’s going to be a delay factor. 3 games of better rugby is great for the rugby nuffies like myself. But it’ll take a bit more for people who’ve been disenfranchised to reconnect and realise that the reasons they stopped watching appear to have been fixed.
I’d be interested in the Stan viewership numbers as a sign that things will tick up with crowds moving forward.
Agreed. Crowd improvement won't happen overnight, and while things are heading in a better direction, patience in needed.
But while we're waiting, aside from winning more, what does the Brumbies need to do to make you so proud that you'd drag all your friends along? Hoping to get them down to an R4R soon.
I've been wondering this for years Ben. I've attended Brumbies and Raiders games for the last 9 years and crowd numbers have always been significantly higher at the Raiders.
People cite cost as a reason, but the ticket prices are pretty similar at the gate.
The 4 game membership is great ($80, $20 per game), I buy it every season incase I don't work a match week and don't get tickets from brumbies. I especially love the choose your own membership pack. I was starting to collect a lot of hats that I don't need, the same with key rings, mouse pads and all the other things you get in a pack.
I think not only have the Brumbs been winning, they have been playing some really entertaining footy. It's great that one game is now on 9 Gem, but it seems not a lot of people know about this? Infact, a lot of people didn't know the season had started. BUT, if you're a rugby fan, how can you not know!?
I see no difference in the switch from Foxtel to Stansport other than people having to take out ANOTHER streaming service.
I've seen them try everything, and it's amazing when people complain its about the dumbest things! The DJ music is too loud, the announcer is annoying, they plug sponsors during the game, the drums are annoying, food is expensive, drinks are expensive. Some people comment on the lack of community engagement, but I'm always seeing the boys out in the community.
Communication might need to be improved as I saw on the weekend the boys sung the team song on the field with the fans, but a lot of the fans had left and those are the ones who complained that the team song wasn't played after the match. (If you're interested in seeing some feedback, there is a Brumbies Territory group on facebook which is for members)
The Brumbies have packed the stadiums before back in 2004, so where did all those people go? What has changed between then and now for the fans?
It appears that AFL and NRL fans are much bigger loyalty than Rugby fans.
I personally don't think the location of the stadium matters, you can see with the Raiders attendance that the location does not matter. The addition of food trucks at GIO is great. I remember back when I started going there was a noodle place, just their woke and noodles and sauce and we could smell them from our Bay and it more often than not sucked me in to go and buy noodles haha.
Brumbies have in my eyes, tried everything, BMX bike shows, musicians, a pre game muster, half price tickets, fans on the field, decreasing price of stadium food.
The kick off time is not family friendly, this weekend is Kids round, 10000 kids U 12 get in free with a paying adult. 7.35pm is bed time for a lot of kids. There are a few more 2pm games this year and I'm interested to see how attendance is at those. The scheduling I believe as stitched them up too. Do not give the Brumbies a home game on a long weekend, because a lot of people in Canberra go away on those.
At the end of the day though, the reasons people give for not heading to the rugby are excuses. If people want to do something they will. I couldn't care less what half time entertainment is on, I'm usually too busy chatting to my friends to notice. I am there to watch my team and I am so proud to call the Brumbies my team.
We have tried, but I think a lot of our effort is wasted listening to people who aren't emotionally connected with the game complain. We can't change the stadium or the broadcast times, so we need to accept those constraints, keep winning, and engage more with the community to find out what we can do that will make them proud.
And I know you are already proud of them, but if there was one thing they could do (aside from winning more) that would make you so proud that you'd drag your friends and family along, what would it be?
I already try and drag my family and friends along haha. I've managed to take someone to the football who doesn't even watch sports, because I want people to see the great people that they are. So maybe as we discussed on Wednesday, they need to engage with more than the school communities.
We're never going to please everyone, some people will hate the music while others will love it. After last weekends game people were upset about the number of Wallabies squad players being rested, so perhaps maybe the team line up announcement can have more of an explanation. It seemed people genuinely felt ripped off that a Brumbies "seconds" team was sent to Christchurch for such a big game. People felt let down Sideline coaches are everywhere right? I know we see snippets of team announcements sometimes, but would people prefer to see the whole team announcement? Do they need to see more behind the scenes to become truly invested? I say they because I already have the privilege of being behind the scenes.
I know for me, I was a brumbies fan prior to working there, but my emotional investment only grew once I got to know the human behind the footballer. Similar happened for the Raiders, and I find myself a little less invested in the game because I don't work there anymore and I only started following rugby league when I started working for them.