The reason I am keen to get my vox pops done is because I know that slowly, the issue is leaking out of timeliness. There have been a number of other sporting achievements in the capital this week – most notably our woman’s basketball team’s win over the Bulleen Boomers.
Also murking the waters is the beginning of the NRL and AFL seasons – which means a lot of people no longer really have soccer on their minds. I will consider this when I start drafting my questions.
My tutor recommended thinking about how we will approach people when we conduct our vox pops, and even said that we should also consider simple things, like how we are dressed.
He also said that we should think about the appropriateness of the location. I have considered this over the past few day in relation to my subject matter. Going to a local shopping centre seemed a little bit ambiguous to me, as I didn’t think normal shoppers would actually have an opinion, or particularly care, about a soccer team for Canberra.
So I thought I could attend a local game, which is sure to bring out some passionate supporters, and possible opponents of the bid.
But I checked the website – http://www.capitalfootball.com.au - and discovered that the men, women and junior draws don’t start until next month. That is a shame, but I guess a reality of journalism. Sometimes you have to make the most of what you have when working to a deadline.
Then I thought that maybe it is a blessing in disguise. A local soccer team representing Canberra in the A-League will not just be of interest to those involved in soccer activities on a regular basis – it may also be eagerly awaited by average punters, those you see in shopping centres. So although I had wanted to be original and solicit some great quotes, I think in the interest of getting a broader community opinion, shopping centres really are the only way to go.
To be honest, I’m kind of dreading going up to random strangers and asking them questions. It’s worse then ringing up a prominent person and challenging them with the tough questions.
But I have found some sort of opinions on popular Canberra blog the RiotACT, that may help me understand what the average Canberran feels about the proposal.
Here are some of the comments:
FredJ, There would be some support for an A-League team here. Canberra has some very good football(soccer) teams here and a lot of players have come from and/or have spent time in Canberra , Carl Valeri, Lindsay Wilson even Joe Simunic (croatia) to name a few. Canberra also has a lot of registered players ,although most would be juniors…
The problem we have in Canberra is that we are really not loyal to our sporting teams. Canberra loves a winning team, no matter what sport, unfortunately when that team doesn’t win the Canberra support starts to falter. There is always the hardcore fans that would a support their team no matter what, but I dont think that they are enough to be viable.
Unfortunately, in the world of proffessional sport (especially Football) money talks. I dont see Canberra as being big enough. Being able to drum up enough support to draw crowds in through the gate week in and week out might be a bit of a problem.
Having said that, I hope that I am wrong. I would love to see an A-League team here.
- From RAGD
They (Cosmos) averaged 2 or 3 thousand a game each season…I reckon an A League team would easily double that (higher profile of the comp) without even trying. With some promotion (& yes, some good results) I’m sure they’d pull enough punters through the gates to make it viable. The Brumbies still get around 14000 (at a time when they’re not as good as they once were), Raiders probably get around 8000 or so a game (bit of a guess). We’re not all that fickle as a crowd really.
- From justbands
The A-League is a whole new ball game. Crowds have sharply increased for all the A-League ‘cities’ accept for Perth who have not been able to get their act together. Canberra could do well in the A-League and I think they would attract a decent crowd but money (sponsorship) is the main problem.
- Crikey
an a-league team in canberra is inevitable, just a matter of three or seven years, or whatever… the a-league have sponsored (for want of better term) a national youth league next season and the wellington phoenix, not being an australian side, are ineligible, so are behind a canbera-based squad, so we’ll get to see a raft of future a-league stars in action.
- from astrojax
Soccer failed previously in Canberra and would fail again. I also suspect that the Raiders will end up with a crowd average higher than the Brumbies in 2008… in a few years time, the Brumbies will move to Melbourne as the core support (without bandwagoners) isn’t large enough for union.
- from greeneyed
Read more of the comments here.
This has given me a bit of an insight into one of the concerns about having an A-League team – it will fail to draw a crowd to compete with other sports. I can frame one of my questions around this. I’m thinking something along the lines of, would the person ever attend a game if Canberra did have an A-League team. Or would they support them over other teams.
This is interesting because the blog entry was written last year, before record crowds turned out to see Kuwait vs the Socceroos in Canberra earlier this month. Although it should be noted that this is a national team, so of course it is going to draw higher crowds.
I know that when I do my vox pops, I will only have space to ask maybe two questions of the one person – and in the interest of fairness, I really should make my first question the same for everybody. But I think I can draft a few extra questions to ask different people, in order to get an interesting assortment of opinions.
No comments:
Post a Comment