Mariners v WSW - Round 23

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

We used to have a reputation for being the most consistent of teams, but no longer. Since NYE we have mixed great performances (last night; vs Wellington; Adelaide; and a good performance against WSW) with sub-standard performances (Hobart, esp the first half; Jets; Brisbane; Perth).

Playing great football every other week won't do it. We need to be able to string good performances together, and this is a concern in the upcoming week with the ACL game and WSW.

We have two things in our favour though. Even when we play badly we are still competitive, and we have depth. Bring on the coming week.

You're absolutely right. Over the last 2 months we've gotten away with a LOT, walked away with points on a few mediocre matches.

Big game this one, to understate the match. It could well be the GF before the GF, but that doesn't necessarily mean the result of this is going to be in any way relevant for the next time.

But 1st vs 2nd, 1 point in it, business end of the season.....it's always going to be huge, either team really gets to put their stamp on the season from this.

What makes WSW scary is that they have absolutely nothing to lose, being a new team.

 

[midfielder]

Tickets are selling fast ... got some mates coming and they where told tickets are selling fast .... meaning if you know something thinking of coming get them to buy their ticket early...

On another site I read all tickets in the away bays are sold...

 

[ALFan]

I got my tickets last night in the away bay (see prev I am a WSW fan) and they were allocated in Bay 27.

 

[adz]

Wow that's right on half way... at this rate half the ground will be WSW

 

[BrisRecky]

Thanks for the advice guys and seriously I also hope the WSW dickhead element doesn't come up the freeway as well, although its been no problem the last few games bar someone ripping a flare in Melbourne. I hate it mate, I'm a WSW member and fan but also an A League fan through and through, I don't want to see the fans/media send our game backwards. I do think though that the majority of these guys are there for the right reasons, I've been to most stadiums and the atmosphere at WSW is getting close to the best in the league, most are decent blokes as well, its just the odd idiot unfortunately thats undoing all the good work. Thanks for the help, smash the Koreans on Wednesday and cant wait to head up for the Grand Final prelude. Should be a cracker.

Well said ALFie..hope the game is as good as its potential says it will be...and also hope you have a reasonably grouse time at Fortress Bluetongue

 

[BrisRecky]

 

[Roy Law]

And I would get in the Stadium early because there will be long delays with security searching all bags...

 

[FFC Mariner]

http://m.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/crime-of-the-absent-mariners-20130225-2f116.html

Interesting article ....mods feel free to move to a more appropriate thread.

 

[pjennings]

This was my reply to the article on 442

Some argue the Mariners are predictable; more mechanical than entertaining.
That would be the media Seb. You know the SMH, the Australia and the Telegraph that all prefer to talk about ADP, Ange and all his young players, WSW and the RBB.

When the Mariners are mentioned it is 'they are hard to break down', 'they all know their job'. If they win well it is Sydney was awful, Wellington was awful, Melbourne didn't turn up.

Compare that to the positive stories about WSW and the RBB. They also tick the success, attractive football and community engagement categories but also have a very friendly media including Buzz Rothfield in the RBB on Saturday.

They are averaging around 2000 more than the Central Coast with a catchment at least 6 times greater and have also had played/will play the NSW based teams twice each. The Mariners play these teams once and have our worst drawing teams Adelaide, Perth and Heart twice. Maybe the question should be where are the missing Wanderers.

That, of course, is a ridiculous statement - but so is Sebastian's. We've had 10 home games with 4 affected by extreme weather, two in conditions that the PFA wanted the games called off due to the extreme heat and humidity and, the derby against the Jets that was played in unrelenting pouring rain and Saturday's monsoonal effort. In spite of this it is still likely that we will beat the 10,000 average mark this season and increase our average for the 3rd year in a row.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

This stuff pisses me off no end.

"The stock-standard defence is that the region has the A-League's smallest catchment,"

There's a pretty major reason why this is the "stock standard defence"

Doesn't matter how amazing we are, or how great it is to have big crowds, this is our bloody REALITY. The press and other critiques about our crowds need to be given a serious paradigm shift. Unless they want to throw us several hundred thousand for an advertising budget that we don't have.

So belittling to the fans of a club that is better supported per capita than any other club in the entire league. Someone needs to stand up to this shit. I'm writing the club a letter and Arnie.

All this asking the coast to "turn out" and "where are they" "get out and support YOUR team" really is a despicable attitude. Whether it's failure to be in the press at all, our worst losing streak, talk of imminent collapse and financial struggles or selling off our best players, we do support this club through thick and thin and we do turn up.

There's about 6-8k of us. The other 4-5k are peripheral "fans" who will come when it suits, time, budget, work, social commitments and everything in between - be grateful when they come at all. And telling us what a poor spoilt ungrateful community we are, is not accurate, fair or remotely helpful.

Nor is, repetitively challenging us to "turn up". f**king insulting. An average of 3% or our population should be applauded not continually derided. By rights we should be calling ourselves the premier community support base in the league. Instead... we get this.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

PJ, thank you so very much. That makes me FEEL A LOT LOT BETTER.

 

[MrCelery]

http://m.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/crime-of-the-absent-mariners-20130225-2f116.html

Interesting article ....mods feel free to move to a more appropriate thread.

Can't argue with most of this. I often quote per capita figures, but he does make the point that we used to draw bigger crowd when we were not as good. So where are they?

My only quibble is that he picks on the Mariners. WSW's 12K crowds for a novel new club that was temporarily top of the league in a catchment so huge, is actually pretty pathetic. Yet it is being hyped as the saviour of football.

Even the old Newcastle KB United in the '70's drew 15-18K crowds in their early years in a vastly smaller catchment.

 

[FFC Mariner]

My personal opinion is that yes, some marketing would help (if we had any money) but as mentioned above, we have a nailed on core of 6-8k.

Lets say 6k.

That's roughly 2% of our catchment.

A Sydney equivalent would be a core of roughly 40,000 to split between 2 teams, and a scum equivalent of about 12k. None of them are anywhere close that. Scums core is about 8k. Sydney maybe 10k and WSW we will see when they actually have a history.

We punch well above our weight but could do better.

Awaits more accurate numbers from.....

 

[Gratis]

yeah I read this earlier and thought much of what's been said above. and it is insulting - look what the core were prepared to sit through Saturday night to be there. thankfully richly rewarded
also,the aleague is still growing and doesnt yet pull the average crowds of other codes. but it's coming, oh it's coming

 

[bikinigirl]

. well he does raise some reasonable points ... but conveniently doesn't mention many other factors like the ones raised above ... but there are more:

. '07-08 was effectively 'pre-GFC' (i'd even argue that much of the negative sentiment over the intervening period has been media driven)

. '07-08 may have actually brought more people 'to the game' ... but many of these newly interested parties have been utilising their foxtel subscription. shit, it could have even encouraged them to get a foxtel subscription ... and if you are paying to watch the game on tv, why would you pay again to go to the game?

. although our relatively small catchment has been mentioned (and of course there is the demographics and ancestry of that catchment to consider) ... we also need to remember that we are spread out. the coast is a big place with very few density concentrations. which makes it pretty difficult to get to a game, particularly if you want to have a couple of drinks ... most don't have many options

. then of course there is the continual negative sentiment in the media (some of which was mentioned above). throughout the lawrie era we were constantly bashed for the way we played football ... so regardless of how much people may have actually enjoyed watching the game ('07-08 for example), they would be reminded (by the 'experts') that it was actually crap. perhaps some people took that to heart ... and remember you are only trying to impress people that are typically excited by rugby league ffs

. nowadays ... we still aren't rarely praised for our football - in fact we are rarely mentioned at all. the fact that marque fc keeps 'buying' headlines probably does us a huge disservice as well. but we do occasionally get some back-handed compliments ... so maybe we should be grateful. it is always about how bad the opposition was (regardless of how we made them play), how we were expected to win as the table-toppers, how well drilled we are, etc, etc

. if there is an argument for 'boring consistency' keeping people away it can only be the fault of the media. it cannot be the fault of the team, the club or the supporters (regular attendees or not)

. continued reports in the media about our financial position, forced sales, etc. and to be fair, i s'pose, it is an issue but the impact is really no different than the rest of the league. people struggle with the concept of supporting a team where the best personnel continually disappear or if the club may disappear. but c'mon ... why does that have to be mentioned in every (relatively rare) article written about us? what do you expect?

. the whole 'minor championship' thing may count against us as well ... because it appears to be the only thing that matters and has so far been the only thing we haven't been able to deliver. maybe the ffa (and the media) needs to focus some more on what the actual achievements are. then we might see a few more people come along

. don't bag the club and don't bag the existing attendees/supporters

 

[MrCelery]

My personal opinion is that yes, some marketing would help (if we had any money) but as mentioned above, we have a nailed on core of 6-8k.

Lets say 6k.

That's roughly 2% of our catchment.

A Sydney equivalent would be a core of roughly 40,000 to split between 2 teams, and a scum equivalent of about 12k. None of them are anywhere close that. Scums core is about 8k. Sydney maybe 10k and WSW we will see when they actually have a history.

We punch well above our weight but could do better.

Awaits more accurate numbers from.....

We have a 'nailed on' core of 6-8K when we are consistently on top of the League. It might be a different number if, heaven forbid, we have a run of lousy seasons. Just saying.

 

[dibo]

We got a bit over 7k when we had the worst squad in our history and ran 3rd last in 2009/10. We only won 3 matches at home that year too.

I think our base is fairly stable, it's just not big. Averages have varied from 12741 in 07/8 to 7430 on 09/10.

Three seasons have averaged in the 7s, three in the 9s (including the current season), one in the 10s and one in the 12s.

 

[priorpeter]

Only 3500 tickets left for this one. Will sell out.

 

[nero]

I think we would have vanished like North Qld if we didnt perform like we have over the past 8 years.
Having lots of away fans close by has helped to.
We need a marquee next season. Get the FFA to pay 90% of the wage and we pay the rest. It can only be fair seeing what Syd FC are doing.
Marquee will get us the crowds of 07/08. Add our young and old local superstars(i.e our current squad) and we have a sellout for 4 or 5 games next season.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Absolutely, need a star name to get people engaged again.

Shame we have absolutely no money