Lockdown habits could impact footy crowds

A behavioural expert says stay-at-home habits picked up during lockdown could impact footy crowds and other events that involve “going out”.

Doctor Meg Elkins from the Behavioural Business Lab at RMIT says enough time has elapsed for us to become habituated to staying in.

“We’ve forgotten what it actually feels like to go out and experience a crowd,” she told Dee Dee on 3AW Afternoons.

“We’re habitual creatures, we tend to accommodate behaviours, and it just seems to me that we haven’t been given the nudges to get out”.

Dr Elkins said while feeling uncomfortable in a crowd is a factor in crowd size, it’s the ingrained behaviours that will have the greatest impact.

“We’re not back at work yet, we’re not back in the community, we’re still working from home.

“It’s very difficult to actually brave yourself to go out.”

The AFL season gets underway next Thursday with crowds capped at 50 per cent.

“Once we see what the games are like and the crowds are like, we’re looking for indicators of social proof that it’s okay again to go out.”

Click PLAY to hear more below