Waratahs 2014

[JSRF10]

No doubt the bandwagon is starting to roll but when was the last time anyone legitimately sold out ANZ? 55k+ would be a reasonable target, the Tahs should also try and tie in 2015 memberships with finals tickets if possible.

 

[cyclopath]

Yes, it could come crashing down against any of our last three opponents. I really hope the Tahs are taking this 'one game at a time'.

Absolutely. None of these games are anywhere near easy. 2 wins might not be enough to get a home semi anyway, depending on other results. Only 1 win and who knows?? As I said before, destiny in their hands, which is a good thing.

 

[Badger]

No doubt the bandwagon is starting to roll but when was the last time anyone legitimately sold out ANZ?

Probably Wallabies vs B&I Lions last year.

 

[RedsHappy]

Hawko, there's no way a Super Rugby match will fill Homebush, unfortunately. The top tiers on both sides won't be available unless there's a HUGE demand for tickets to the final. If every other seat's sold it makes for a crowd of, about, 60k and a bloody good occasion and spectacle.

Sorry to be a wet blanket here but realism has to set in eventually.

Gee, the newly saddened fatalism of the NSW rugby tragic, the last years of Tah despondency and weak crowds have surely taken their toll!

FFS guys, if we in Brisbane, less than half the size of Sydney, can get 52,113 for the 2011 S15 Final, with the type of imaginative and suitably intense promotion that IMO Hawko rightly advocates above, surely the Tahs HQ/Sydney media hype can get say 75,000+ to ANZ for (I hereby predict it) a Tahs home Final (v Cru I also predict)? Remember, Reds' crowds in 2009 - only 2 years prior to our Final - were appalling, almost worse relative to our city IIRC than the 2012 Tahs' crowds.

Honestly can't see why the expectations of the above potential events are being set so low. Crucial though is a really competent media strategy and event-focussed marketing nous (and a decent budget) from/by Tahs HQ.

 

[Tomikin]

Gee, the newly saddened fatalism of the NSW rugby tragic, the last years of Tah despondency and weak crowds have surely taken their toll!

FFS guys, if we in Brisbane, less than half the size of Sydney, can get 52,113 for the 2011 S15 Final, with the type of imaginative and suitably intense promotion that IMO Hawko rightly advocates above, surely the Tahs HQ/Sydney media hype can get say 75,000 to ANZ for (I hereby predict it) a Tahs home Final (v Cru I also predict)? Remember, Reds' crowds in 2009 - only 2 years prior to our Final - were appalling, almost worse relative to our city IIRC than the 2012 Tahs' crowds.

Honestly can't see why the expectations of the above potential events are being set so low. Crucial though is a really competent media strategy and event-focussed marketing nous (and a decent budget) from/by Tahs HQ.

Screw the Kiwi's and the Saffa's, Home final for the Tah's, verse the Brumbies, you will fill the place..

 

[Omar Comin']

Exactly right RedsHappy. Years of uninspired play and dwindling support have left a lot of Tahs fans here as cautious as a bunch of neglected kittens. But the tide is turning. And a super rugby final would be a very rare occasion and would have major event status in Sydney.

55k would be poor if the prices were good. It would be a failure of the ARU, NSWRU, Waratahs and every rugby club, player and parent in NSW! Any rugby fan in Sydney that couldn't drag along a few people to a final would basically suck.

That said, the opponent would be a factor. Crusaders or Brumbies would be the best possible scenario.

 

[boyo]

Yes, it could come crashing down against any of our last three opponents. I really hope the Tahs are taking this 'one game at a time'.

Yeah, nah

 

[RedsHappy]

Exactly right RedsHappy. Years of uninspired play and dwindling support have left a lot of Tahs fans here as cautious as a bunch of neglected kittens. But the tide is turning. And a super rugby final would be a very rare occasion and would have major event status in Sydney.

55k would be poor if the prices were good. It would be a failure of the ARU, NSWRU, Waratahs and every rugby club, player and parent in NSW! Any rugby fan in Sydney that couldn't drag along a few people to a final would basically suck.

That said, the opponent would be a factor. Crusaders or Brumbies would be the best possible scenario.

OC, that's a really good point. If the ARU worked with the QRU and ACTRU et al to get the right, well-priced packages of hotels, tickets, transport etc going that could add meaningful '000s to the crowd. A lot of solid non-NSW rugby fans will know that a Tahs S15 win would be truly a great thing for Aus rugby.

It should all come down to skilful event marketing. Come to think of it, better that the whole program would be outsourced to one of many good 'big event' specialists in this area. When I look at the virtually non-existent marketing by the ARU up here for the France Test 1, I quickly come to that conclusion.

 

[Pfitzy]

FFS guys, if we in Brisbane, less than half the size of Sydney,

You missed: With less than half the NRL and AFL teams in Sydney.

And its Brisbane - besides getting beaten up in the Valley what else is there to do? If you're a league fan there is one team. If you're an AFL fan there is one team. And that gives anyone the right to be a multi-team fan because is "BRISSY VERSUS THE WORLD!"

The apathy of supporters here is understandable when you consider that the Waratahs have historically catered for less than half the geographical area of Sydney, and a lot of those people are less than half interested in rugby as more than a corporate event.

 

[RedsHappy]

You missed: With less than half the NRL and AFL teams in Sydney.

And its Brisbane - besides getting beaten up in the Valley what else is there to do? If you're a league fan there is one team. If you're an AFL fan there is one team. And that gives anyone the right to be a multi-team fan because is "BRISSY VERSUS THE WORLD!"

The apathy of supporters here is understandable when you consider that the Waratahs have historically catered for less than half the geographical area of Sydney, and a lot of those people are less than half interested in rugby as more than a corporate event.

@ Pfitzy....you are the superior replacement of the was-once-here-and-wonderful @ naza in terms of raw rugby passion of the highest order, but, with suitable tact and mindful of @ cycloptah's ever-watchful moderation, I must politely ask:

When were you last in Brisbane to have garnered all this compelling knowledge regarding our habits and preferences? Is Suncorp still 'on your bucket list'?

 

[BPC]

I saw a survey recently (Fairfax?) that had ticket prices as the biggest reason people don't go to games. It wasn't scientific and there were some odd options, but I suspect that pricing is a bigger deal for your on-the-fence punter than many of us die hards would realize.

I think I am reasonably diehard about the Tahs and the Wallabies. I will keep my season membership for the Tahs. It is reasonable value for money. But the cost vs quality of seating balance is why I haven't bought a Wallabies ticket for about 6 years. I won't pay the equivalent of about 3 Tahs matches for a crap seat at Homebush for the Wallabies.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Pfitzy]

When were you last in Brisbane to have garnered all this compelling knowledge regarding our habits and preferences? Is Suncorp still 'on your bucket list'?

It is.

And I was last in Brisbane in October. Couldn't stay long, but must say the airport is a dream compared to Sydney.

Look, there are nice bits, and I'm sure it's come a long way since I the days when I could still go out and drink (bloody kids).

 

[Novocastrian]

@ Pfitzy..you are the superior replacement of the was-once-here-and-wonderful @ naza in terms of raw rugby passion of the highest order

Completely off topic, but it was always a laugh when those two (naza and Pfitzy/NTA) would butt heads on TSF/TYS/here. So much keyboard warrior anger you'd be forgiven for thinking the internet would stop working. Even better than NTA's ragequits from the fern. Ahh the good old days!

 

[Pfitzy]

Completely off topic, but it was always a laugh when those two (naza and Pfitzy/NTA) would butt heads on TSF/TYS/here. So much keyboard warrior anger you'd be forgiven for thinking the internet would stop working. Even better than NTA's ragequits from the fern. Ahh the good old days!

That was mostly amusing. It was the time waratahjesus got up my nose that shit really went down. That was a rage quit and a half!

 

[tranquility]

You missed: With less than half the NRL and AFL teams in Sydney.

And its Brisbane - besides getting beaten up in the Valley what else is there to do? If you're a league fan there is one team. If you're an AFL fan there is one team. And that gives anyone the right to be a multi-team fan because is "BRISSY VERSUS THE WORLD!"

The apathy of supporters here is understandable when you consider that the Waratahs have historically catered for less than half the geographical area of Sydney, and a lot of those people are less than half interested in rugby as more than a corporate event.

These simplistic arguments, are not tiresome but rather humorous. If you truly feel that a city actually performs and thinks like this, any city for that matter, than it is a reflection on your own limited understanding of the world, or perhaps on a more micro level the company that you keep to seek out experience.

I would say don't spout such drivel, if it had come from any place of insight or authority. But, like most things you post on here - it is baseless and ignorant. However like most posters on here, I appreciate the "colour" you bring to discussion. Heaven forbid you actually take yourself seriously.

 

[JSRF10]

Probably Wallabies vs B&I Lions last year.

Doh, can't believe I'd forgotten about this! That said work colleagues of mine were able to buy tickets on the Friday afternoon before that game so even then tickets were easy to come by

 

[Pfitzy]

These simplistic arguments, are not tiresome but rather humorous. If you truly feel that a city actually performs and thinks like this, any city for that matter, than it is a reflection on your own limited understanding of the world, or perhaps on a more micro level the company that you keep to seek out experience.

I would say don't spout such drivel, if it had come from any place of insight or authority. But, like most things you post on here - it is baseless and ignorant. However like most posters on here, I appreciate the "colour" you bring to discussion. Heaven forbid you actually take yourself seriously.

Wow. The other 15 year olds must really look up to you, eh? You must be like, their spiritual leader; their Taylor Swift.

If you actually bothered to get into the last paragraph, you'd see in I was making a serious point about the Tahs. Simultaneously, I was making fun of meaningless statistics like "half the population" to make a quite salient point: population is not a factor if marketing is done right. Once a location gets over a certain number of people nearby, the total number is completely irrelevant.

For years the Tahs got great crowd numbers, even when they weren't winning. The Rogers/Tuqiri factor was partly responsible, but the team was playing with panache. Then they started winning, and the crowds kept coming because maybe this was the year?

Marketing sat on its hands, and did minimal engagement beyond its Eastern Suburbs, white-collar fan base, because they didn't see the value when crowds were already good. Rugby in NSW has a real issue moving beyond safe ground like that.

The team culture wasn't that flash, and as long as we were winning it didn't need to be. All the while, the politicking continued, and there was never the question of "but could we be BIGGER?"

Despite the results we've been posting - particularly at home, crowds aren't flocking back because the engagement process takes time, and everyone has already been bitten once.

In contrast, the Reds reached a real Steve Waugh moment: enough is enough. They got a good team culture happening, threw out the politics, and started building themselves again. Their memberships and crowd numbers are due in part to their style of play, and their title in 2011. Another other big factor is the move to Suncorp (more central to greater Brisbane as well as good having public transport).

But the single biggest thing they did to get there was work bloody hard on their marketing and get those players out in public so they're not just jumpers on the field.

Waratahs marketing are still not quite awake to this, as evidenced by the fact that the crowds still aren't over 20k despite the style and weight of our victories. Some people are a little gunshy of the losses we've had too - believing that it could just all collapse tomorrow.

But I think the biggest issue that NSW Rugby has is chasing the big end of town - the corporate dollar - over the public dollar, and I lay that blame mostly with Jason Allen, the CEO.

At this point in the season, there can be very few reasons why they're not pulling in over 30k per game, given the supporter base in Sydney. Regardless of any result this year, I think its time he was moved on, and as evidence, read this:

http://www.waratahs.com.au/Portals/3/PDFs/Mr Jason Allen full biography 2013.pdf

In the fourth paragraph I see this:

Mr Allen joined Waratahs Rugby in November 2010 with the aim of delivering a high performance environment implemented via a three year business plan and designed to ensure Waratahs Rugby Ltd is sustainable and that rugby within the state of New South Wales continues to grow and prosper. The organisation has so far achieved its financial goals for two consecutive years.

I find this really hard to believe, if the organisation is struggling financially at present. Just goes to show that CEOs are often smarter than the boards that appoint them.

 

[WTF?]

It appears I was wrong about all finals having to be at ANZ. Iain Payten's article states what you have said.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/s...oost-to-finances/story-e6frf4t3-1226939032513

He has this spot on. Preliminary and Semi Finals are to be played at Allianz with ANZ contracted to host the final.

 

[#1 Tah]

Agree that population shouldn't be a factor: 70,000 people turned out to Toulon's official celebration yesterday (Toulon has a population of 110,000)

 

[I like to watch]

What were the other 40,000 miserable pricks doing at the time?