All-time crowds broken before 2nd preliminary finalThe Australian
26 September 2017The AFL has already surpassed its highest annual attendance on record. The previous figure of almost 7.15 million was overtaken before Saturday’s twilight Richmond-Greater Western Sydney preliminary final at the MCG.
The previous best season attendance of 7,147,052 was set in 2010, on the back of a grand final replay between Collingwood and St Kilda.
In a year of firsts for the AFL, a new figure was created before Saturday’s expected grand final turnout of 100,000, when 94,258 flocked to the MCG, after 53,817 attended the preliminary final at Adelaide Oval the previous night to see the Crows beat Geelong.
A total of 7,176,478 fans have attended the 206 AFL games in this highly-competitive season, breaking the previous record by 29,426.
This year’s total already far exceeds last year’s figure of 6,864,678.
The eight AFL finals in September have drawn 443,877 through the turnstiles, which includes a poor crowd of just 14,865 for the Giants-West Coast semi-final at Sydney’s Spotless Stadium in the second week of the finals series.
The record for a nine-game finals series of 614,783 was established in 2011 when seven finals were played at the MCG. Saturday’s grand final will be the fourth final at the MCG this year.
The boom in attendances this year has largely come about because of Richmond’s resurgence after their finishing position of 13th last year.
During the home-and-away season the Tigers were ranked No 1 in the league for crowds, with Richmond drawing 1,024,751 people through the gates in their 22 games.
Richmond’s home games attracted an average crowd of 55,958 and their two finals appearances this year at the MCG have averaged an incredible 94,643.
The Tigers record qualifying final attendance at the MCG of 95,028 was the highest involving Richmond since the 1982 grand final which attracted 107,536 to watch Carlton defeat the Tigers by 18 points.
It was also the highest non-grand final attendance since the 2010 preliminary final between Collingwood and Geelong which was played in front of 95,241.
The AFL enjoyed a record home-and-away attendance record this year of 6,732,601.
The AFL has had a ground-breaking season with TV ratings, participation, attendances and memberships all up in one of the most competitive years on record where the Eagles qualified for the finals in eighth place, 0.5 per cent ahead of Melbourne.
Two thirds of the 18 clubs recorded increased home-game attendances, while three clubs — Richmond (for the fourth time), Essendon and Collingwood — each attracted more than one million fans to their 22 home-and-away games.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/afl-finals-alltime-crowds-broken-before-2nd-preliminary-final/news-story/d784c9dcf19a2d78fcc0f6e943f21c2d
