Firing up the Tah crowd

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Play good footy that the punters want to watch and the atmosphere will be there, I'd have thought.

Is it perhaps that the Tahs have a reputation (rightly or wrongly) of being a little boring?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

What are ticket prices like, BTW? If the NSWRU want to encourage a broad cross-section of the community to come to Tahs games, then the pricing level has to be set appropriately. I went to Subi last year to watch the Dockers and Carlton and we paid $75 for the four of us. That's not too bad. The AFL has done a good job of encouraging people of all walks of life to get along and have a look. I'd have thought that a city the size of Sydney ought to be able to fill the SFS at a home game pretty consistently. It only seats about 40-45k, right?

I like the idea of 1st grade MOTD being the curtain raiser too.

 

[ChargerWA]

Get a smaller stadium and fill it to capacity.

 

[DPK]

The problem is most of the smaller stadiums are not fit to host the games.

 

[Stands]

If the Waratahs are playing well the SFS gets close to capacity and its a great atmosphere.

The issue is when the Waratahs don't play well and you have spent the time and money to watch crap.
If you go to a Waratahs game you have set aside the night to watch Rugby, why not have a few good games to watch like colts or grade games. Make it an evening of Rugby not stupid running races or competitions, just good rugby. If the crowd stays and is properly entertained for the whole evening they wont mind paying high prices for beer and pies.

 

[I like to watch]

The SFS holds between 40-45k, of these seats I understand no more than 15k are public seats, the balance being members & corporates.
I think everyone agrees we would like to see either a good Schoolboys/colts/Shute shield game as a warm up game prior to the main game.
However it is a requirement of the super series that all ovals are vacant 1 hour before kick off so that the teams can warm up on the playing surface they will be playing on.
There was a Schoolboy game played as a curtain raiser last year that had to kick off at 5pm to ensure the field was vacant as per above.

 

[Hawko]

Discussions about whether we should play colts matches or not misses the point I think. The question raised is "How to fire up the Tah crowd?". The problem is the largely vanilla atmosphere inside the stadium during matches, which hurts the Tahs performances. The Brumbies fans are ferocious (I've been there when the Tahs lost, wondered if I'd make it home alive). From the TV game in 2006 there's no lack of passion in QLD. Reports are that Stormers' and Bulls' crowds are so loud that you can't hear lineout calls. I've watched the Hurricanes in Wellington and they support their team passionately, win or lose.

What can be done to make every visiting team dread coming to Sydney? Right now its like playing in a neutral venue and that is not helping the Tahs championship ambitions.

 

[I like to watch]

There's not much you can do to fire up the crowd when 2/3 are members or corporates.both are conservative in nature.
I remember watching the Lions play the Tahs, The noise the Lions supporters made you would think they outnumbered the Tahs supporters by 4 to 1. however it was actually the reverse.
Hate to sound defeatist, but it is what it is. you can't evict the members or the corporates.

 

[Groucho]

Playing the devil's advocate, perhaps not calling the people who do actually pay to go 'w*nkers' might be a good start. Waratahs rugby has an attitude problem, and this is part of it. A little bit less of the angry, and a little bit more of the rugby, sounds like a good recipe to me.

 

[kambah mick]

I sometimes go to the SFS to watch the Tahs when the Brumbies are away/bye. I agre about the lack of atmosphere, and note that it isa bit worse on friday nights, leading me to suspect that the large number of corporates are being carefull to not embarass themselves in front of employers/ business contacts, etc. As someone who made an absolute arse of himself in front of everybody who would be important to my employment prospects for the next decade back when I was about 19, I understand the need for some decorum which mitigates against atmosphere at games.

 

[#1 Tah]

I dont think opposing team like coming to sydney considering we have lost only 2 games at the SFS in the last 3 years

 

[Done that]

Done that, we've done that. The Tahs are the most successful Australian franchise of the last seven years, twice finalists, missed the semi's twice.

But the Waratahs haven't done that IMO.
Being 'the most successful Australian franchise " of itself , has not resulted in
satisfying the criteria referred to by me previously.
Many potential supporters look forward to the beginning of each season with high expectations , only to see the same drab , unreliable performances , from this much hyped team.Inconsistency is the by word for this franchise.
Can you honestly say that you approach each match with any real degree of confidence , particularly against the better performed sides from S.A. & N.Z.
I know I don't.

 

[rugbysmartarse]

I keep banging in about this, but the atmosphere died when the management changed, resulting in halved staff levels and doubled bar queues. The passionate fans are there, they're just stuck in a line for a beer and pie

 

[DPK]

I keep banging in about this, but the atmosphere died when the management changed, resulting in halved staff levels and doubled bar queues. The passionate fans are there, they're just stuck in a line for a beer and pie

"Alcohol; the cause of and solution to all of life's problems."

 

[#1 Tah]

Can you honestly say that you approach each match with any real degree of confidence , particularly against the better performed sides from S.A. & N.Z.
I know I don't.

I was pretty confident before the canes match

 

[Done that]

I was pretty confident before the canes match

Had you been drinking ?

 

[#1 Tah]

Had you been drinking ?

no, i was with the team in hamilton the week before, staying at their hotel