Finals Attendances - what can be done?

CB10 wrote:
I'm of the school that the team that finishes higher gets the final played at their home ground.
Gives clubs a great incentive to keep winning.
West really didn't play their best squad in the last few games but if a home final had been the prize on the line I'm sure the club would have insured the coach put the best team out there( based solely on the extra revenue the club could generate from a home final.)Season means something right up till the end game, even if the final five teams have been decided early, the positions haven't.
Real incentive to become a member of a club, for if god forbid, a final did sell out then the next year, club members should be given first crack at buying tickets for a final.People might actually become members.

I did not really like the idea myself, until probably the last few rounds of the season. Like the tanking for draft picks in the AFL, things should be put into place so as to stop talk of teams not putting the best side on the park for either reason - getting priority picks or simply 'getting ready' for the finals. I would have rather the Eagles played a stronger West side last week and earnt the finals spot the hard way.

I'm not saying West or whoever is wrong for doing what they did; same goes for the AFL clubs for tanking. The regulations are set up for this sort of thing to happen, then to jump up and down about teams taking it easy because there is the incentive to do so is a trifle funny to me.

So, the home finals for 4th, 2nd, Qualifying Final Loser, 1st and 2nd Semi Final Loser in order of how the finals are played now is the way to go, to make every H&A match count, like PhilH said.

On the other hand, depending on where the match is played, this could stop neutral fans from going, if they live a long way away from the ground. Just like Football Park and residents of certain parts of the metro area currently.

That is where the other option of neutral finals at Thebarton, Richmond and maybe Norwood come into play.

Finals don't need Port, Glenelg, Norwood or Sturt.
So what if they've got a bigger supporters base, are their supporters more important ?
I read this ramble all the time. "We need Norwood and Port to be strong for the good of the competition...get back to the good old days....what we need is the traditional rivals to be strong"...well bloody well earn it then.
Sick to death of these types of statements, to some, teams like West and South should only be fodder for these big four teams and are an inconvenience or disruption to the preordained order of football life. A four team competition would get pretty boring quickly.

I know there was no disrepect intended "HowtheWestwaswon" but that is a prevailing attitude of some supporters, it's almost like we need to rig the competition for the good of the league so they always get in.... Centrals winning every year is bad for the comp....Why?... They were the best team!!

Which ever way they go the early finals must be taken away from those big arena's Footy park and Adelaide oval and put into a suburban ground environment.No double headers, finals played at different grounds where a crowd over 4000 gives a sense of occasion and atmosphere.

Being an Eagles fan, this is something I always think and can always sympathise with Bloods and Panthers fans - that we should be merely decorations because even with all of those three clubs supporters united, we still wouldn't have the support a Port or a Norwood have.

I would like to know, apart from the kick and catch thing (and I cannot remember that being really promoted), is there anything that was tried to promote or boost the finals? Surely just hoping Port, Sturt etc. being there does not cut it?

Further more on that, nothing has been tried differently, has it? Not even the change in days the matches have been played - I suggest this (even though people may not agree, at least if this was put out on the table, it was a suggestion to try something different)

1st week:
Saturday 4.30pm, 7.30 pm
2nd week:
Saturday: 4.30 pm, 7.30 pm
3rd week:
Friday: 7:30pm
4th week:
Saturday: 3.10pm

or maybe the same as this year for the first two weeks, then the 3rd and 4th weeks as above

How about half price tickets for club members?
How about say, the chance to win $5000 by turning up?
Or for the chance to win $5000 by having a shot at goal?
Maybe another half time competition of some sort?
That John Kennedy speech comes to mind "don't think, don't hope, do!" and "at least I did something"

$14 entry fee Minor Round Games
$15 entry fee for the double header first week of the finals

$15 is exceptional value to see 2 games of finals footy

Scrappy wrote:$14 entry fee Minor Round Games
$15 entry fee for the double header first week of the finals

$15 is exceptional value to see 2 games of finals footy

i agree with you scrappy, the $14.00 for the minor round is too much for the common family man, however the $15.00 for the finals is exceptional value.....i'll take this opportunity to thank 5RPH & Big Phil for tickets to yesterdays double header

if or when Adelaide lose to Hawthorn this week could i suggest build up the preliminary final in all media outlets & have it a '$5.00 day' a bit like the old 'dollar days' at Sheffield Shield matches many years ago