Gerard Whateley is disappointed in the poor crowd numbers to begin Round 1 and believes the AFL needs to do more to entice fans back to the game.
After an underwhelming number of fans arrived at the MCG on Wednesday night for the 2021 Grand Final rematch, it has left many unsure to whether the big crowd numbers that we saw in 2019 will ever be seen again.
“The ambition for game one was 90,000, which then got drawn down to 80,000, then they said it was going to be 73,000 and it finished at 53,000 so that’s missing by a big margin,” Whateley said on SEN's Crunch Time.
“The idea was that there was this incredible thirst to return to the game and that we were ready as a community and it still might’ve missed a bit of the hesitancy that needs to be overcome.
“Thursday night felt like the bar was 80,000 and it landed 72,000 and then last night (Friday) no one would hear of less than 45,000 and it was 40,000.”
A pre-season survey taken by the AFL Fans Association found that fans were 26% more likely to watch games at home rather than attend matches after COVID eased.
Whateley continued by referencing the hurdles footy fans are facing when thinking about returning to the footy.
“The obstacles for footy fans haven’t been smoothed over and that’s everything from bar codes to ticketing to car parking to public transport, and then there’s this additional dynamic of if you did come, you’re not having a great experience. That’s clearly the feedback. It ignores 2 years-worth of scarring,” he added.
“We needed that cultural movement because I think that covid renaissance is still there in the community, it’s playing out in front of us, and as a people we’ve got to overcome it.”
Saturday afternoon's game between the Bombers and Cats attracted a crowd of 54,495 patrons.