Thursday night footy was back in Round 13, but the vast majority of fans stayed away from the MCG.
Richmond won ugly against Port Adelaide on a cold night in Melbourne with just 21,757 turning up.
It was the lowest home MCG crowd for the Tigers since 2010, not counting the two COVID-impacted seasons of 2020 and 2021.
Reigning premier Melbourne has been slammed in recent weeks for subpar crowd numbers and now the Tigers, who have sat top two for average home and away crowds in six of the last seven years (barring 2020), are the subject of derision.
As a result of the paltry attendance for a club with close to 100,000 members, Kane Cornes questioned why the Tigers fans stayed away while David King defended the low numbers.
“Really poor crowd, Thursday night footy, cold but didn’t look like it was wet,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.
“Why didn’t you turn up?”
King replied: “It was freezing.
“It’s a big difference. You can’t take kids to the footy in that temperature.
“So you’re losing families.”
Cornes: “So what does it mean for the future of Thursday night footy then?
“It looks horrible. It’s a great TV spectacle, but it’s back to the pandemic. It looks horrible when no one’s there.”
King: “We all know that it is a TV spectacle, don’t we?”
Cornes: “You know how bad it was when there were no crowds.”
King: “Clearly they (the AFL) would be disappointed with those numbers.
“21,000 is the lowest for a decade, but I do think it is set up for TV.
“People have seen the other option. Over the last couple of years, people have enjoyed the comfort of being at home, you get great access these days on both Seven and Fox.”
Cornes: “7:20 on a Thursday night, the biggest club in the land and 21,000 went.
“I don’t think we can gloss over that.”
King: “It’s very difficult to take your family in those temperatures.”
Cornes: “Ok, so let’s have Thursday night footy only at Marvel.”
The Thursday night crowds so far in 2022 have been:
72,179 - Round 1: Carlton v Richmond - (MCG)
34,961 - Round 2: Western Bulldogs v Carlton - (Marvel Stadium)
32,312 - Round 5: Brisbane v Collingwood - (Gabba)
24,327 - Round 3: Western Bulldogs v Sydney - (Marvel Stadium)
23,058 - Round 4: Port Adelaide v Melbourne - (Adelaide Oval)
21,757 - Round 13: Richmond v Port Adelaide - (MCG)
There are four Thursday night games in a row still to come:
Round 14: Richmond v Carlton - (MCG)
Round 15: Melbourne v Brisbane - (MCG)
Round 16: Brisbane v Western Bulldogs - (Gabba)
Round 17: Geelong v Melbourne - (GMHBA Stadium)
Despite the low attendance, Richmond remains at the top for average home crowds this season to date.