@ horto, and here I was thinking I was supporting your position

Sorry to disappoint some people here but in more than 750 rounds of NSL matches from 1977 to 2003/04, where up to 12 matches were played per round, the highest aggregate attendance for a round was 58,800 over eight matches in round 2, 2000/01, which included 14,000-plus home crowds for Newcastle United and Perth Glory.
It was a different story at Melbourne's Bob Jane Stadium that weekend however, where a mere 1400 watched Archie Thompson score for Carlton in its 2-2 draw with Wollongong Wolves.
But let's go back to those 12-match NSL rounds. Yes, that's right, at one stage the old national league had a whopping 24 teams up against each other each weekend.
This was from 1984 to 1986, when the league was split into two conferences, based loosely on a north-south breakdown of teams.
It was a bold move by the authorities, expanding from a single tier competition of 16 teams in 1983 – the theory for the struggling league at the time being that more local derbies (the north division consisted mostly of Sydney teams, the south division was mostly Melbourne teams) would stimulate increased interest in the terraces.
After registering an average 4,200 crowd per game in its first three seasons 1977-1979, the NSL’s average attendance had dropped to 2,700 in the 1983 season.
However the two-conference format didn't really work – in its first year (1984) the regular season average dropped to 2,300, then down to an all-time low of 2,200 per game in 1985.
It's amazing looking back at media match reports from the 1985 NSL season and seeing crowds such as 125 for a Green Gully home game, 150 watching four-time NSL Champions Sydney City at inner-Sydney Wentworth Park, and 202 at Penrith Park to see Penrith City take on Canberra City.
After reverting back to a single conference system in 1987, then to "summer soccer" in 1989/90, the trend in national league average crowds was upwards.
But nothing comes close to the increase between the last NSL season (2003/04) and first edition of the A-league (2005/06), when the season average skyrocketed from 4,050 to 10,955 per game and then 12,927 and 14,610 for the next 2 years.
Recent seasons have been 13,041 (12-13) & 12,500 (14-15) doesn’t include finals

Lol. The multis at work eh mr anti-football?Roberts and football dude jerking off in the mirror.

Sorry to disappoint some people here but in more than 750 rounds of NSL matches from 1977 to 2003/04, where up to 12 matches were played per round, the highest aggregate attendance for a round was 58,800 over eight matches in round 2, 2000/01, which included 14,000-plus home crowds for Newcastle United and Perth Glory.

I'd love to see the how the averages stack up compared to the NRL in those years. I remember crowds of 3-4000 at Penrith Park in those years.

The stat where SMFC are still current record holders for crowds interstate

You say this a lot, but I don't hear it anywhere else.

Are you referring to the biggest crowd at NIB in Perth being an SM away game?

Pretty sure Roberts in pauly's multi

Yes i am. Its on perths wiki page. 

And apparently newcastle and Adelaide. But i cant find the stats on those two.

The home crowd, or the away support?

The NSL had a 3-4 year run on pay tv back when many people didn't have it, and the few that did were already split between 2 pay providers, the other issue was aside from showing a few lives games a week the NSL had no other type of coverage on the platform, think of where the NBL sits in the pecking order now at fox but much much worse, most of the televised games featured northern spirit, Perth glory and south Melbourne, not surprisingly these 3 clubs had the biggest crowds, the rest were regularly ignored so the coverage was useless to them, even when abc was showing 1 live game a week they were basically showing the same teams and the only way you got on tv is If you played the 3 mentioned, the south Melbourne games on Sundays were usually delayed as well as only Friday and Saturday night games were shown live. They were also paying peanuts at the time.The game obviously had no internet/social media presence back then, this didn't allow the players to become celebrities, nowadays even the presenters are well known, Tara, bozza etc, back then I think it was Paul wade and mike cockerill, they would be on tv twice a week and then never seen or heard feom again until the following week. You didn't have channels like fox sports news that would have daily NSL segments the way it is now.Would the NSL have survived if a provider like fox had come to the party? Yes, would crowd averages be as big as they are now? No, because you would still have a large number of teams in Sydney and Melbourne where the support would be split. Did the NSL fold at the absolute wrong time? Yes yes yes, it died in 2004 just as the Internet/social side was on the verge of taking off, add World Cup qualification and it's dream land.I have no mentioned sbs coverage at all up until now because back then most only put it on after 10 to watch softcore porn so it had releatively little meaning outside of the few wogs who watched it during the day.

The NSL was always going to die the way it did. Hostile, mocking media, volunteer based clubs, no marketing, part time squads, little or no off field professionalism, old suburban grounds with minimal spectator facilities, WC qualification disasters every 4 years......the list is endless. But the funny thing is given the above negative factors there were many great sides produced that played superb football and countless champions produced. NSL clubs had a more 'footballing' focus and passionate people involved. They knew football rather than 'business'. Give these teams and players today's 'stage' and I have no doubt that the football produced would probably be of an equal or higher standard. Obviously we'll never know.

Yes there should have been a more hybrid approach rather than throw the baby with the bath water. 

we will get there in the end as I see a couple of the old guard entering the fold shortly. 

Thank you very much for this insight South melbourne.

Most interesting and informative as opposed to the scare-mongering.

I remember the NSL days, and there were many positives. South Melbourne was one, along with Perth Glory and Adelaide United. It was on the cusp of major change.

The metamorphosis into the HAL has not been all it is cracked up to be. We have lost a lot of history. 

@roberts"HortoMagiko -- you need to look at the stats and then jerk off on your Greek flag"Which stat? The stat where SMFC are still current record holders for crowds interstate (even after all these years/the millions and millions of dollars thrown at this comp)? You need to study your stats more I think.

Yeh I remember those were fond days.

The appeal of Perth playing South Melbourne far outweighed the appeal of playing Sydney FC or MVFC. Great times in The Shed I must say. 

Mvfc are one of those in innumerable positives i was talking about. Just like with the nsl, you can't throw the hal baby out with the bathwater...

theres a melbourne derby vid on smfc tv that ill dig up that shows smfc vs melbourne knights highlights over tge many years/derbies...it clearly shows that Melbourne had a historical derby that looked just as good - on and off the pitch - as the modern melbourne, or sydeny derbies for that matter.. Obviously the crowds are bigger now but my point is that both eras were great, and we shouldn't disregard the positives of either era.

Will search that vid now...

Mvfc are one of those in innumerable positives i was talking about. Just like with the nsl, you can't throw the hal baby out with the bathwater...

theres a melbourne derby vid on smfc tv that ill dig up that shows smfc vs melbourne knights highlights over tge many years/derbies...it clearly shows that Melbourne had a historical derby that looked just as good - on and off the pitch - as the modern melbourne, or sydeny derbies for that matter.. Obviously the crowds are bigger now but my point is that both eras were great, and we shouldn't disregard the positives of either era.

Will search that vid now...

 fact there i
Mvfc are one of those in innumerable positives i was talking about. Just like with the nsl, you can't throw the hal baby out with the bathwater...

theres a melbourne derby vid on smfc tv that ill dig up that shows smfc vs melbourne knights highlights over tge many years/derbies...it clearly shows that Melbourne had a historical derby that looked just as good - on and off the pitch - as the modern melbourne, or sydeny derbies for that matter.. Obviously the crowds are bigger now but my point is that both eras were great, and we shouldn't disregard the positives of either era.

Will search that vid now...

Yes of course. MVFC is a strong positive. No way in the world should they go along with so many other teams like WSW and Sydney. 

My point is SMFC were such a strong team in the NSL and added so much in its own right. It was actually bad to see them go. 

Thank you very much for this insight South melbourne.

Most interesting and informative as opposed to the scare-mongering.

I remember the NSL days, and there were many positives. South Melbourne was one, along with Perth Glory and Adelaide United. It was on the cusp of major change.

The metamorphosis into the HAL has not been all it is cracked up to be. We have lost a lot of history. 

The problem is as you point out we have lost a lot of history. A case in point is the emphasis on Berisha beating Archie's goal scoring record with scant mention or regard given to Mori's real record.  While not advocating for or against any team I think the metamorphosis into the HAL is exactly what it is cracked up to be, it is just not what it could be.

Too right. I can't believe they disregarded Mori's goal scoring feat. The stats should be combined. 

HAL is a private venture specifically designed to shit on the past, it has no right to claim real footballs history

It's not claiming history.

It's about recognition of Mori's (and everyone else's) NSL records. 

Who cares if the HAL creates it's own stats. It's just the HAL pulling it's own Pud.

I learnt a new word today

Who cares if the HAL creates it's own stats. It's just the HAL pulling it's own Pud.

You are just the other side of the coin to those who are against expansion.