‘Absolutely embarrassing’: Footy world savages Sharks-Cowboys crowd

In a battle of the footy codes on Friday night in Sydney, the AFL has claimed a huge victory in the heart of the rugby league world.

When it comes to footy codes getting bums on seats, Friday night’s finals in Sydney have revealed the stark reality.

With the Swans’ preliminary final against Port Adelaide at the 48,000-seat capacity SCG and the Sharks facing the North Queensland Cowboys at the 45,500-seat Allianz Stadium in the same Moore Park precinct, it was a clear win for the AFL.

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The SCG was a sea of red as 44,053 turned out to see the Swans book their place in the AFL Grand Final next Saturday afternoon, where they’ll face either Geelong or Brisbane in the decider.

The Sharks, meanwhile, snapped an eight-game finals losing streak with the 26-18 win in front of just 19,124 fans, or around 42 per cent capacity.

To put the NRL numbers in context, it was always going to be an issue getting a packed house at Allianz Stadium for this match.

Of the 10 teams with membership numbers reported on the NRL’s official site, the Sharks have the lowest tally at 16,511 — the Cowboys are second lowest at 19,753.

However, teams such as the Titans and Sea Eagles, who have had fewer members than both those teams, were not reported on the NRL website.

Lots of empty seats up the top. Photo: Fox Sports

The SCG was packed. Photo: Fox Sports

After the loss to the Melbourne Storm in the opening week of the finals, the Sharks also pleaded with the NRL to host the semi-final at its home ground of PointsBet Stadium, which has a capacity of 13,500.

Throughout the week, tickets were also being given away with Cowboys legend Johnathan Thurston buying $10,000 worth of tickets for Queensland fans living in NSW.

However, the attendance still fell well short of capacity.

While fans were quick to roast the scenes, the NRL’s struggles were also pointed out by AFL commentator Brian Taylor on the Channel 7 broadcast.

“Lovely scenes here at the SCG, of course prelim finals,” Taylor said.

“Next door, an NRL game looks half empty there about 10,000 people. The SCG absolutely packed out. Amazing. Give some attention to Aussie rules up here, it’s going pretty well I reckon.”

Sydney Morning Herald sports writer Christian Nicolussi wrote: “PACKED HOUSE: Not. This game should have been at PointsBet.”

Mancave Sports Australia added: “NRL vs AFL tonight and AFL has won the attendance by a country mile.”

Sport administrator Ben Howard tweeted: “Quite a few Cowboys fans but honestly the Sharks should be embarrassed by that figure. No fans and a ground not fit for the NRL, ship them off to Adelaide and be done with it.”

Another fan commented: “V’Landys gives Cronulla Sharks so many favours with very soft draws & biased referee & bunker decisions in their favour & this is how their fans repay the #NRL with zero crowd in #Sydney. So much favours for no return. They offer no value in SYD relocate them.”

Another posted: “Pretty sad looking crowd at Allianz tonight for the #NRLSharksCowboys semi-final.”

A self-proclaimed Wests Tigers tragic wrote: “Wow, absolutely embarrassing crowd at Allianz, worst finals crowd I’ve ever seen, what a shame.”

Another fan said: “Sharks should be relocated. Diabolically embarrassing crowd.”

Another fan put a positive spin on the attendance, writing: “Sharks CEO wanted to lock out more than 7000 fans if this game was at Shark Park. Crowd still not great but 19k is better than 12k.”

Originally published as ‘Absolutely embarrassing’: Footy world savages Sharks-Cowboys crowd