SINGAPORE
– The 2023 World Cup will inspire floorball fans in this region and offer a great legacy to our country.
President of the Singapore Volleyball Association Kenneth Hon with the lofty words spoken in 2020 in my mind, I walked towards the home team’s first World Cup match between Singapore and France.
This here must have been expected for years. This is how wild the people are and can everyone even fit in?
I arrived from behind the screens to see a sight that was immediately discouraging. A little over a quarter of the approximately 2,000-seat hall was full, and the final audience number was 579.
The World Cup medals were also played in Singapore in 2005, i.e. it was the home team’s first competitive match in 18 years. The audience number of 579 is 0.00010527272 percent of a population of about 5.5 million. That’s pretty little for a great legacy, even though those present certainly used their vocal cords to support theirs.
At the start of Monday’s match between Finland and Norway, I counted the spectators one by one. 60.
20 Finns, mostly the players’ parents. 20 Norwegian fans, probably parents of the players. 20 other spectators, some of whom are volunteers of the Games and the organizing committee.
The number of spectators was recorded at 225, and after three race days the audience average is 283.
The figures do not necessarily come as a surprise to the organizers, as they have been a bit skeptical themselves. In mid-November, less than 4,500 tickets had been sold for the entire tournament.
The semi-finals and medal matches will be played in the indoor ball arena, which attracts 10,000 spectators, i.e. in the same place as last time.
In May, the local organizing committee, citing financial reasons, proposed to the international floorball association IFF that the deciding matches could be played in the arena with a capacity of only 2,000 spectators, where the preliminary groups are now played.
However, I liked the decision for a bigger arena.
I’ve been around the city and tried to find at least some signals about the Games. Nothing. I have talked to several taxi drivers and hoped to meet at least one who knew something about the sport. It hasn’t happened yet, but Finland’s accession to NATO was decided. Taxi drivers know.
The international floorball association has long had the goal of actively spreading the sport from Europe to new directions, such as Asia. It is of course completely understandable, and Asia has potential, as has been stated many times.
Missionary work has just proven to be extremely difficult.
Singapore’s seam has probably opened partly also because there are no willing organizers for the women’s games. More than 40,000 people attended the World Championships in Tampere 2015, but the event was still a loss.
No one has been able to give an all-encompassing answer to weak audience numbers. The marketing can already be considered to be somewhat unsuccessful at this stage, and there have also been grumblings about the high ticket prices.
Since the corona pandemic, the number of Singaporeans attending events has decreased. According to the locals, they rarely buy tickets in advance, and decisions about departure are left to the last drop.
We also have to remember that this is of course not a giant species. There are currently around 15,000 active enthusiasts in the country, and around one in five of them has a license.
Viewed from Europe, i.e. floorball’s real home, the competitions are expensive and far away for both the federations and ordinary fans. Long flights increase the carbon footprint. Due to the time difference in the countries where the sport is of greatest interest, the games do not come at a completely optimal time.
There have been minor problems with the ticketing system, and in a few matches, power outages have also interrupted the international match stream. In addition, due to a journalist’s mistake, one of the blue playing mats of the games did not make it to the venue in time.
Otherwise, the arrangements have worked, and those who are making the event seem to care about the sport and have actively tried to solve the problems.
If the stands were overflowing and there was clearly a huge, concrete enthusiasm for the sport, it would be much better to understand looking towards Asia and awarding the games outside of Europe.
An unfinished work of art should not be criticized, and the whole can change in an even more positive direction. The great top players deserve it so that people can better find a place to enjoy top indoor bandy.
Right now, however, it seems that the conquest of Asia will not make significant progress even in these weeks.
The Singapore federation has wanted to organize the men’s WC tournament as well. Based on what we’ve seen so far, you can say thank you, but no thank you to Kenneth Ho and other people who paint dream pictures.