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Sydney FC Manager Graham Arnold Says Crowds Down Due To Negative Tactics

A-League crowds and TV ratings are down, and Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold "is concerned it’s got something to do with some coaches being too negative tactically," according to the AAP. A "worrying" 98,380 fewer fans have walked through the stadium gates compared to this time last season, "and even accounting for one less game played, crowd averages are down" more than 2,000 spectators per game on the whole of last season. Negative tactics designed to "dull the effectiveness of the league’s attacking players is being blamed by many." Arnold: "I think the crowds are down a little bit maybe because of the Thursday night games and the Sunday afternoon games and those sorts of things. But I think some coaches are setting out not to lose because they don’t want to lose their job. In the past you get five or six coaches a year who get sacked and some coaches I think are setting out to not lose." Sydney has been the "second-worst hit club crowd-wise" behind Adelaide, with figures dropping from last season’s average of 26,435 to 21,958. TV ratings are also down, with just 153,000 people tuning into Sydney FC’s home match against Brisbane Roar across two networks, "well down" on the 495,000 people who watched the Sky Blues’ clash with the Newcastle Jets in October on SBS2. Meanwhile, Football Federation Australia CEO David Gallop has "closed the door on a future A-League franchise based in Canberra." Gallop said that while the recent crowd of 20,000 which attended the Socceroos' World Cup qualifier in Canberra this month was impressive and part of a "deliberate strategy" to test new markets, it will not change FFA's thinking about expansion -- "new clubs should be based in cities where there are millions not just a few hundred thousand in population" (AAP, 11/25). The AAP's Vince Rugari reported two of the A-League's biggest supporter groups will stage "mid-match walkouts this weekend in what they say is a protest" against FFA's treatment of active fans. Melbourne Victory's North Terrace and Western Sydney Wanderers' Red and Black Bloc announced the plans in separate statements on Facebook late on Tuesday afternoon, "continuing the furious reaction from the football community to a News Corp report naming and shaming 198 people banned from A-League matches." The protests could involve about 2,000 fans at each match. The North Terrace said in a statement, "Some things are bigger than one match of football. We cannot continue to ignore the situation where our basic rights are trodden on and our banned supporters are left in the dark." FFA is able to "issue bans as it sees fit with no avenue to appeal, which has long been a source of fan discontent" (AAP, 11/24).

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