Waning IPL crowds a downer for clubs
BY JOEL RITCHIE
21 Jul, 2010 04:00 AM
Alarming falls in Illawarra Premier League crowds have hastened calls for the popular match-of-the-round concept to be resurrected.
Wollongong United president Peter Vrtkovski - whose club will be the away side for a promotion hosted by Port Kembla on Saturday - believes staging each weekend's biggest game on Sundays would reverse the trend of smaller gates.
In its late-'90s heyday, the match of the round regularly drew close to 1000 people to Brandon Park.
The Innovation Campus now towers over the site that was the spiritual home of Illawarra football, but Vrtkovski wants the initiative revived.
"I'm a big believer in the match of the day concept, it needs to come back," Vrtkovski said.
"They don't need a Brandon Park-style venue, just let it be at the normal home ground and play it on a Sunday afternoon.
"It used to be picked on Sunday night before the following weekend - clubs would be hoping to win the week before they played the leaders so they could be in it."
NRL-style scheduling - one match on Friday nights, a maximum of three on Saturdays and two on Sundays would also boost attendances across the league, Vrtkovski said.
Although their clubs are enjoying fruitful seasons after lacklustre 2009 campaigns, Vrtkovski and Port Kembla counterpart Emilio Salucci both reported disturbing drops in gate takings.
Revenue is down by 20 per cent at Macedonia Park while Port Kembla have made 25 per cent less from gate, canteen and barbecue sales than the same time last year.
They hope to stop the slide at Wetherall Park on Saturday.
Staff from Villa D'Oro will be cooking pasta at the ground, while there will be entertainment for kids and one Port Kembla junior player will win $100 if they are present at half-time of the first-grade fixture.
Salucci declared his club was trying new ideas to put bums on seats.
"We're thinking outside the square, people are a lot busier these days," he said.
"People can watch international football from their lounges because of pay television and they are working longer hours.
"We used to get massive crowds."
Treble champions Dandaloo reported a slight drop in crowds despite boasting a collection of talent that is the envy of their rivals and playing home games on Sundays.
Cringila, the only club to regularly play at home on Friday nights, are also getting fewer supporters to games.
The evidence comes despite this year's competition being one of the most intriguing in recent memory.
Meantime, Dandaloo was paired with Tarrawanna and Dapto with Bulli after the Bampton Cup semi-final draw yesterday.
The defending champions will face the Blueys at Crehan Park next Wednesday with the Dapto-Bulli showdown at the same venue a week later.
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