What if just by going to your team’s game on the weekend you made a REAL difference to their end of season fortunes?
Average A-League attendances have been on a steady decline in recent seasons. The 2017/18 season currently sits at it’s lowest point since 2011/12 when Gold Coast United were haunting the league with their 3,000 fan average attendances and shortly before David Gallop was appointed as Football Federation Australia’s CEO.
It’s alarming given the league is still in its infancy when compared to other codes in Australia. Being the most popular sport in the world the A-League should be increasing in popularity year-on-year.
In an effort to combat this, what could be more incentive for heading along to support your team than being backed up by statistics that show feet through the gates actively make a positive impact to the boys on the pitch?
We of course all know that a big crowd and great vocal support can not only create a great atmosphere but also hinder the visiting side’s ability to play with composure.
Crunching the numbers shows that on top of that the number of people in the crowd can in fact impact a team’s ability to minimise goals scored against them.
The infographic above outlines the key statistics used when establishing just how important crowd numbers are to keeping the opposition’s goal tally low.
If we look at the number of goals every side has conceded in the league alongside the average attendance of every team’s home games, it can be seen that there is a direct correlation between home attendances and number of goals conceded.
For example the side with the best record, Melbourne Victory have the highest average attendance and have conceded just 1.197 goals for every 10,000 supporters to ever come to their home games. Contrast this with Wellington Phoenix who for every 10,000 fans concedes a whopping 3.86 goals.
As average overall attendances drop, the number of goals conceded for every 10,000 fans rises.
This is not merely a statistical fluke given a number of favourable figures however as employing the same method for a number of other positive outcomes including goals scored and games won provides a very different result and doesn’t support the fact that more fans equals better results in the way that this does.
Sure the stuff at the defensive end of the pitch isn’t as glamorous as banging the goals in at the other end and it’s not what most fans come to see.
In the words of legendary ex-Arsenal manager George Graham however, “the goalkeeper is the jewel in the crown and getting at him should be almost impossible. It’s the biggest sin in football to make him do any work.”
So next time you’re deciding whether or not to head along to support your side remember that just by turning up you might be helping your boys on the field more than you could ever know!
Data sourced from our friends at Ultimate A-League.
