1984 Ashes Series - 1st Test ; Video of game

[EggFace]

2 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

The Rugby League Digest delivered a spectacular podcast episode about the formation of the Brisbane Broncos. It should be easy to find. It will give you a pretty good account of QRL in the 80s leading up to the Broncos entering NSWRL.

I check it out as I like Tony Collins Rugby Reloaded and a fan of Sean Fagan.

[Sports Prophet]

47 minutes ago, EggFace said:

7k for Rugby Union is good for the early 80s

Yeah, like I say, it may be inflated because I was very young and looked massive. By no means would they get that each week, but for a big game against one of the other big clubs, I would say that’s near enough accurate

[rlno1]

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Not so sure around those early 80s fixtures, more the late 80s and beyond. I couldn’t give you a definitive figure either. Even in the early 80s Coogee Oval (Randwick) was not comparable to RL club grounds. They always felt packed, although I was very young. I can’t imagine there could have been a lot more than 7k for a big game considering the facilities. That would still be an attractive crowd size for NSWRL I hazard a guess. As for the other big RU clubs like Warringah, Manly and Eastwood, I don’t recall sorry. I never watched top flight RU anywhere other than Coogee Oval. It may be rose titnted glasses, but the RU SoO was a big event. To my understanding, QRU was fairing quite well against QRL around this time too. Ballymore was a hot ticket.

Whilst RL has always been king of the hill in Sydney, there was always a reasonable following of other sports in there. RU was well featured in the media, both televised and press. Even Australian Rules before the arrival of the Swans were getting 4 figure crowds for SFL matches that were all well covered in the press and often enough, even televised news coverage. The Swans swallowed up all that interest and left the SFL as a development league at best.

If you ever watch the 1980 Final between Easts and Wests the coverage ends with the voice over man reminding viewers to tune in on 7 for the Sydney Aussie Rules GF live from the SCG the next day, Sunday.

[rlno1]

3 hours ago, EggFace said:

Thank you the great post as I often think from research that Queensland Rugby League was strong in 1980-1984 but NSWRL was still the major code then but Sydney Rugby Union was at its peak until Alan Jones.

BTW what crowds did Randwick, North Sydney and Manly get as crowds for Rugby Union compared to Eastern Suburbs, Souths, North Sydney and Manly for that period.

Could only find crowds in paper from 1982, werent listed in 84 or 85.

For the round in early April with no rep games, 5 matches drew just under 6,000. This was generally the norm.

I did see the Randwick v Parra game drew 884 at Coogee the return game at Parra 1200.

Manly would get over 2000.

Considering the lack of interest from crowds the coverage in the SMH was generous to say the least.

[Sports Prophet]

3 hours ago, rlno1 said:

If you ever watch the 1980 Final between Easts and Wests the coverage ends with the voice over man reminding viewers to tune in on 7 for the Sydney Aussie Rules GF live from the SCG the next day, Sunday.

Which was won by Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs in their Centenary season in front of about 20k which was their first of 5 consecutive GF wins. 

A season which also saw Sydney Hakoah take out the National Soccer League title and the Roosters winning the Minor Premiership in the NSWRL. All three teams based out of the Eastern Suburbs.

[Sports Prophet]

Shute Shield was going through a slight renaissance in following prior to the Covid outbreak.

Warringah v Manly matches both at Pittwater and Manly were attracting some of the biggest crowds that they ever have. Playing up to the new trend of living local. RU has a very strong underlying following north of the river. Manly, Warringah, Gordon and Norths all have their own romantic nostalgia.

This is an important reason why Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are such an important presence in the top flight of Australian RL, or else the entire north of Sydney would be lost to RU.

[rlno1]

1 hour ago, Sports Prophet said:

Which was won by Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs in their Centenary season in front of about 20k which was their first of 5 consecutive GF wins. 

A season which also saw Sydney Hakoah take out the National Soccer League title and the Roosters winning the Minor Premiership in the NSWRL. All three teams based out of the Eastern Suburbs.

Crowd was 2,487 according to SMH.

[Sports Prophet]

1 hour ago, rlno1 said:

Crowd was 2,487 according to SMH.

Really! I’ll check that out. To be fair, I could hardly walk at the time, so I was going off stories of those who were there. An 8x inflation on my behalf if I’m incorrect!

[Sports Prophet]

1 hour ago, rlno1 said:

Crowd was 2,487 according to SMH.

Can’t find record of that crowd figure, I’m sure you did though. Not sure if that’s an error on the SMH records or what.

I’ve seen photos of Trumper Park in Paddington, stacked for finals in the late 70’s. I was present for many games where there would have been a bigger crowd than that GF figure.

Another anomaly of that SFL era and the Bulldogs in particular. Those 5 back to back premierships were won with three different head coaches in that 5 yr period. The second of the three was a certain Greg Harris. The first and only man to play first division RL, RU and Australian Rules (Cronulla Sharks, NSWRU capped I think and ES Bulldogs). Peter Ruskuklic’s 213 goals i think was in 81, is still a national record for most goals in a first division Australian Rules football season.

Anyway, enough of the Sydney AFL of the early 80s. It was certainly a glory era of NSWRL too. Without much to hang my hat on, I feel like in this era, the NSWRL administrators were very much the boss of the game in NSW and the clubs had less influence on the decisions made at the top. Certainly the players had next to no influence.

I don’t remember the GB Tour of 84. Was it mid or post NSWRL season?

[EggFace]

12 hours ago, rlno1 said:

Could only find crowds in paper from 1982, werent listed in 84 or 85.

For the round in early April with no rep games, 5 matches drew just under 6,000. This was generally the norm.

I did see the Randwick v Parra game drew 884 at Coogee the return game at Parra 1200.

Manly would get over 2000.

Considering the lack of interest from crowds the coverage in the SMH was generous to say the least.

 

9 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Shute Shield was going through a slight renaissance in following prior to the Covid outbreak.

Warringah v Manly matches both at Pittwater and Manly were attracting some of the biggest crowds that they ever have. Playing up to the new trend of living local. RU has a very strong underlying following north of the river. Manly, Warringah, Gordon and Norths all have their own romantic nostalgia.

This is an important reason why Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are such an important presence in the top flight of Australian RL, or else the entire north of Sydney would be lost to RU.

Plus AFL would try and fill a void.

[rlno1]

15 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Can’t find record of that crowd figure, I’m sure you did though. Not sure if that’s an error on the SMH records or what.

I’ve seen photos of Trumper Park in Paddington, stacked for finals in the late 70’s. I was present for many games where there would have been a bigger crowd than that GF figure.

Another anomaly of that SFL era and the Bulldogs in particular. Those 5 back to back premierships were won with three different head coaches in that 5 yr period. The second of the three was a certain Greg Harris. The first and only man to play first division RL, RU and Australian Rules (Cronulla Sharks, NSWRU capped I think and ES Bulldogs). Peter Ruskuklic’s 213 goals i think was in 81, is still a national record for most goals in a first division Australian Rules football season.

Anyway, enough of the Sydney AFL of the early 80s. It was certainly a glory era of NSWRL too. Without much to hang my hat on, I feel like in this era, the NSWRL administrators were very much the boss of the game in NSW and the clubs had less influence on the decisions made at the top. Certainly the players had next to no influence.

I don’t remember the GB Tour of 84. Was it mid or post NSWRL season?

Agreed, this was why it became successful because the administrators were in charge unlike now the clubs run the show and we've seen how their self interest stops things for the betterment of the whole game.

The 84 tour was mid season.

[Sports Prophet]

On 10/01/2022 at 08:54, rlno1 said:

Agreed, this was why it became successful because the administrators were in charge unlike now the clubs run the show and we've seen how their self interest stops things for the betterment of the whole game.

The 84 tour was mid season.

Of course it was, what was I thinking. Mid season for Aus was post season for UK.

[The Rocket]

On 09/01/2022 at 14:00, rlno1 said:

The coverage ends with the voice over man reminding viewers to tune in on 7 for the Sydney Aussie Rules GF live from the SCG the next day, Sunday.

 

On 09/01/2022 at 17:40, Sports Prophet said:

Which was won by Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs in their Centenary season in front of about 20k which was their first of 5 consecutive GF wins. 

 

On 09/01/2022 at 19:10, rlno1 said:

Crowd was 2,487 according to SMH.

 

On 09/01/2022 at 20:20, Sports Prophet said:

Really! I’ll check that out. To be fair, I could hardly walk at the time, so I was going off stories of those who were there. An 8x inflation on my behalf if I’m incorrect!

Obviously SP making crowd figure estimates combined with drinking: " I could hardly walk at the time " -  maybe that should have read `stand`, ain`t your forte.

SP we love you but you`re dreaming. I lived in Sydney all through the `80`s and read all the sports pages and you wouldn`t know fumbleball existed. 

The closest I came to afl was this **** from Melbourne at university who used to wear his extra tight shorts and sleeveless top all-year round, a prize f-wit if there ever was, always spreading the word. And as for 4-figure club games, same people who told you about the 20k fumbleball GF in Sydney I suspect.

Verdict :  False Prophet.

[Sports Prophet]

Just now, The Rocket said:

 

 

 

Obviously SP making crowd figure estimates combined with drinking: " I could hardly walk at the time " -  maybe that should have read `stand`, ain`t your forte.

SP we love you but you`re dreaming. I lived in Sydney all through the `80`s and read all the sports pages and you wouldn`t know fumbleball existed. 

The closest I came to afl was this **** from Melbourne at university who used to wear his extra tight shorts and sleeveless top all-year round, a prize f-wit if there ever was, always spreading the word. And as for 4-figure club games, same people who told you about the 20k fumbleball GF in Sydney I suspect.

Verdict :  False Prophet.

Haha, very good  

well my father was on the back page of the Monday papers following an incident at Pennant Hills in the late 70s or early 80s. SFL was always covered on the inner back pages and Sunday evening news would have the score roundups and certain highlights. I remember healthy crowds at N Sydney oval for SFL games between the Bears and Bulldogs. That coverage all came to a grinding halt when the Swans relocated in 82. 

I spoke to my father about that SCG televised 1980 GF following this supposed SMH crowd figure. His recollection as someone who was there that day was 10k with a very healthily filled hill. Grand Finals at Trumper Park and Erskineville Oval in their day had great paid crowds. In days I could walk, I recall one GF year, the stand at Erko was chocca and so was the surrounding hill.

[rlno1]

Having been looking through old copies of the SMH the coverage of aussie rules locally in Sydney was very good, even with photos. Plus I was surprised to see VFL had live coverage On TV into Sydney in the early 70s. 

The crowd for the 1980 GF was accurate, just under 2,500 as if it was a decent crowd it would have been mentioned in the article and there is no comment of it at all.