Summertime low in the 20 minute city
Posted by Jasper Reed in A-League, Adelaide | 27 February 2006
Adelaide, on the last weekend in summer, is not the place for a quiet life. It’s known as the Festival city for a reason. Along with the various food, wine and numerous other community gatherings staged this time of year, the national one day cricket final was also in Adelaide on Sunday. The bi-annual Fringe festival, second only in size to Edinburgh, was launched on Friday, and the pre season Australian Football competition pitched the 2 Adelaide sides against each other. So football, the round ball game, faced a real test for an audience….and was found wanting.
Countrywide, and in Adelaide particularly, the A league has posted some healthy attendances with little or no competition. This though, was the acid test; to see how many fans had swapped their allegiance from traditional sports and pastimes.
A very poor crowd saw the 4.30pm kick off but many more were in attendance by the end, due in no small part to the cricket and AFL finishing at 3.30pm. Clearly many conflicted sports fans made a dash from one to the other, with all 3 grounds in easy reach in the ‘20 minute city’ (popular legend has it that you can get from any point A to any point B in 20 minutes in Adelaide) and gives rise to the rumour that the city is not ‘sports mad’- the same 50,000 or so people attend whatever sport is being played!
Despite this, the season average of 11,300 was bettered by only 100, meaning that more fans saw the majority of league games than showed up for a cut throat final, not to mention the Reds final home game (ultimately, final game full stop) of the season. This is worrying; either fans considered the game a fait accompli, had not budgeted for a Preliminary final, or simply were more interested in other things. Alternatively, they stayed home and channel surfed – all 3 games were shown live on pay and terrestrial TV.
Either way, Adelaide’s failure to draw a full house for such a vital fixture is telling, and may have longer-term ramifications for club and league.
