Monday News Headlines – March 13th, 2017

AFL

• JLT Series: Sydney Swans d St Kilda: Crowd: 6,893 @ Lavington Sports Ground
• AFL Sun (JLT Series) – Geelong v Essendon crowd: 8,391 at Queen Elizabeth Oval
• Sun AFLW – Pies v GWS – Official Estimated crowd: 2,700 at Olympic Park
• Sun AFL (JLT Series) – Port v Hawthorn Official crowd: 5,628 at Hickinbotham Oval
• AFL Sun STV – Cats v VBombers 116,000 Port v hawks 97,000 Saints v Swans 89,000
• AFLW on 7/7mate FTA – while decreasing for another week – is averaging 258,000 viewers.
• AFLs JLT Series is outrating the AFLW on Fox – but not by much on average – 76k to 68k.
• At the end of AFLW R6 – more than 167,969 people are estimated to have attended in 2017 at an average of 7,303. (R6 18,639 @ 4,660)
• A SECRET trial of the AFL’s concept game, AFLX, conducted in Albert Park can be revealed. Players from VFL teams Port Melbourne and Coburg faced off behind closed doors at Lakeside Stadium on Friday night. It was the league’s third official trial of the shortened version of the game, inspired by Twenty20 cricket. Matches are played on a soccer pitch, with smaller teams and reduced playing time.
• THE inaugural Northern Football League women’s competition will consist of 21 teams, with West Preston-Lakeside and Laurimar among the clubs who will field female sides for the first time.

A-league

• HAL Split round – at the end of part 1. Season ave crowd – 12,701 (up 2% on 2015). Fox Ave 68,000 (up 14%).
• Micheal Lynch writes that The failure of the FFA and its key stakeholders to meet last week for talks to set an agenda for the Emergency General Meeting needed to discuss new governance rules for the game could mean it is pushed to meet its end of March deadline to effect changes.
• Michael Cockerill writes that a second division is off and running, whether Football Federation Australia likes it or not. Semi-pro clubs from across the country are about to gather in Melbourne to kick-start a process which could well see a nationwide competition established in 2018.
• Football Federation Australia (FFA) is coming under pressure from all angles, with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) keen to see the National Premier Leagues (NPL) clubs’ association earn voting rights in an expanded congress.
• Matt Windley asks if the punishment of relegation could add levels of drama to both ends of the table that no other Australian professional competition could match?
• A FEDERAL MP has demanded the State Government publicly state the extent of its support for a Tasmanian A-League bid, including the amount of financial input it will provide.

NRL

• Sun NRL – Wests Tigers v Penrith Crowd: 12,232 at Capmbelltown
• Sun NRL – St George Illawarra v Parramatta Crowd: 16,023 at WIN Stadium
• End of Round 2 of the 2017 NRL Season, and Crowds remain down slightly – 2%.

SuperRugby

• The mental torture just goes on and on for three of the five Australian teams most in danger of being cut from Super Rugby.
• The AFR writes that it is time for the ARU’s all-star business board, which includes such respected names such as chairman Cameron Clyne, Ann Sherry, Pip Marlow, Elizabeth Broderick and John Eales, and chief executive Bill Pulver not worry about the good of rugby on a global basis but only in its own backyard.

Netball

• Super Netball is averaging 83,000 on GEM.