FALCONS SET THE BENCHMARK

Attendance figures for the completed WAFL home and away season have just been released by the West Australian Football Commission.

The Falcons again led the way with the highest aggregate home ground attendance (25,233) at HBF Arena in 2014 with a season average of 2523 from its 10 home games.

The Falcons were 6% up on last year’s aggregate attendance and a whopping 25% up on their next rival, Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval (Bassendean Oval).

Interestingly the alignment clubs had a mixed result. Peel increased their attendance by 12% and East Perth were down 19% on last year.

In all the WAFL attendance was slightly down on last year by 2%.

West Perth President, Brett Raponi, was duly delighted saying “this is the third consecutive year we have led the way in attendance figures. We have a massive fan base in and out of our catchment area but clearly the Wanneroo and Joondalup community is showing their support, as are opposition fans, for HBF Arena. We have an outstanding playing surface and the grass banks are perfect for families. Aesthetically this is the best ground in the WAFL. The team also has a high percentage of locally produced footballers and of course this attracts families and friends in great numbers.”

The result can be considered even better when you consider the Club only had one home game against arch rival East Perth in 2014 where 5362 turned up for the WA Day derby in June.

The Club was delighted to sign Channel Nine to a three year deal in February and felt the deal played some part in boosting crowd numbers. Raponi said “the deal is critical to the off field success of the footy club. It obviously includes a cash component but just as importantly it included prime time advertising promoting our WA Day derby, Naidoc Round and International Day fixtures as well as school holiday coaching clinics. I think a lot of credit goes to David Mott (Managing Director STW9 Perth) and his team and our CEO David Crute and his team for driving attendance initiatives.”

The Club has consolidated itself over the past few years in Joondalup after some testing years. A premiership last year and strong membership growth augurs well for the continued success the Falcons in the northern corridor.

Raponi said “We are not getting ahead of ourselves however and we need to rebound from this season’s on field result. There is still room for growth and plenty to achieve. We have a new brand new facility coming on line in 2016 so the future looks bright.”