NRL 360 guest Paul Crawley’s radical plan to build NRL crowds

NRL should switch to conferences in order to build rivalries, according to Daily Telegraph journalist Paul Crawley.Following the weekend’s semi-final matches which saw the Sharks and Panthers match bring in under 20,000 fans at Allianz Stadium and the Rabbitohs and Dragons draw under 50,000, Michael Ennis floated the idea returning to suburban grounds and locking fans out.On Fox Sports’ NRL 360, Crawley said the NRL should be looking for ways to build the crowds, as they’ve been stagnant for some time.“I just think the problem for rugby league is that our crowds have been the same for basically as long as I
remember,” Crawley said.“They’ve hovered around the 14-16,000 average season on season on season. This year, we talked about the crowds being up but it’s actually, when you look at the NRL era, it’s smack bang in the middle per game.”NRL.com reported the season average has been 15,675 fans, a rise of 3.8 per cent.It also weighed into the debate with the arguing the statistic no finals match at a suburban ground between 1998 and 2010 drew a crowd of 20,000.Crawley’s plan to build the crowds would change the game forever.“It got me thinking about the crowds and something Peter Doust said years and years ago when he spoke about playing conferences,” Crawley said.