Re: AFLW Round 2: Carlton vs GWS at Ikon
Reply #33 –
Just to put THAT into perspective....how much are tickets for each?
The AFL has always been ahead of the game in terms of pricing for its events. Womens events is largely free (if not completely) and is more about marketing then it is making money at this stage.
That's right, and I suspect that the W-League crowd would have been larger had the game been held in Melbourne. Even so, it's a marketing failure by the round ball game; free tickets for all WA juniors would have improved the atmosphere and encouraged many to continue to play the game.
It was interesting to hear Georgina Robinson's comments on Offsiders on Sunday. She went to great lengths to point out that other sporting codes - soccer, rugby and cricket - have career paths for women and Australian footy doesn't. When Gideon Haigh talked about how much he and his family enjoyed watching the AFLW game at Princes Park, Robinson interjected with "That's if you like AFL!"
I'm not sure that women's soccer and rugby in Australia have career paths; certainly not to the same extent that netball and women's basketball do, but it was hard to take Robinson seriously given her obvious bias. Haigh, on the other hand, is a sports polymath and his impressions of the AFLW game were informed and interesting.