National potential catastrophe

The thousands of empty seats at the opening games of this year's NPC are sparking fears that total first division crowd numbers could be falling for the fourth consecutive year.

In 2002, the 10 First Division unions attracted a combined average of 127,557 spectators. In 2003 that figure fell to 114,724, slipping again last year to 113,712.

The average figures over those three years show that crowds at Northland and Southland have been in steady decline, numbers at Bay of Plenty have been consistently on the rise and the remainder have fluctuated depending largely on their performances and the scheduling of home games.

The overall decline in spectating numbers can be partly attributed to the respective venues and match-ups for the semifinals and final.

Playoff games in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch tend to attract much larger crowds than anywhere else due to their bigger populations and stadia.

But even taking intoconsideration the effect of playing playoff games outside the biggest metropolitan centres, the NPC is clearly struggling to attract crowds.

A host of factors have been cited for the decline, ranging from the introduction of night rugby, the user-friendly TV schedule, the increase of alternative entertainment options and increased petrol prices which are deterring rural supporters to travel.

Northland chief executive Tim Hamilton said: "We actually had our biggest crowd for three years when we played Wellington in our opening game - we had 3500. But we have been in decline for the last three years. The performance of the team is a major factor but we also have a significant geographic spread and that makes it hard for some people to get to games.

"It's also well documented that there has been a saturation of rugby and the sport is coming under pressure from a number of different elements. These issues are real. People have choice in how they spend their free time and their money and we need to be sensitive with our pricing and scheduling."

Hamilton's comments are shared by provincial bosses throughout the country and perhaps raise the question whether the New Zealand Rugby Union is doing enough to market the NPC.

The individual unions all promote their home fixtures but would be delighted to see some more generic advertising raising the profile of the NPC to a wider audience.

A more aggressive push would certainly be welcome next year when the competition expands from 10 to 14 teams. The increased number of teams will put even more of a squeeze on scheduling, creating more potential graveyard slots that might suit broadcasters but not paying spectators.

The bigger unions prefer to have more home games, preferably against other big unions, at the business end of the competition when interest is peaking.

Auckland and Waikato prefer to play on Saturday afternoon as they tend to attract more spectators in that slot, although Wellington, easily the best-supported team in the NPC, have made Friday night football a big event in the capital.

Accommodating the diverse wishes of the various teams is a largely unachievable challenge for the NZRU.

But it is one they need to spend some time trying to solve each season as the scheduling has been cited as the biggest factor in affecting crowd numbers, which in turn has a big impact on an individual union's revenue.

Waikato marketing manager Pat Mellsop said: "The best-case scenario is having a run of home games at the end of the round-robin, preferably against other teams challenging for the playoffs.

"If we can play the likes of Auckland and Wellington at home when it is really starting to mean something it can make a difference to the numbers who come to watch.

"Likewise we've found that Saturday afternoons are the best slot for our fans. Performances are important but we have found we can mitigate that to some extent by getting the players into the community and marketing certain games more aggressively than others."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY