Aussie Rules, survival chance?

[Stevo_G]

stupid how esl clubs go after all the finished players in the nrl
when the hell are the cutting the no. of import quotas allowed

 

[iggy plop]

Globalisation is no guarantee of future success for RL, which is hardly an international game in the same way that Soccer, Rugby Union & Basketball are.

League is still an international game ya goose. Heard of the Roo tour at the end of the year? Australia plays 3 tests against GB in the game they actually play here. Not like the AFL which has to play a totally differnet game to get an international. Joke.

Wrong stick! If you want to propagate the "League is international" argument (Something which most RL fans in the UK tend to baulk at) perhaps a better option would be to point out that League has professional competitions based in two countries in two continents and two hemispheres.

Put whatever spin you like on it tool, but league is the national sport in PNG which happens to be another country. It's played professionally in France and NZ plus of course Aus and GB. Tell how that is not international? More to the point, how do you define international?

 

[BTige]

Put whatever spin you like on it tool, but league is the national sport in PNG which happens to be another country. It's played professionally in France and NZ plus of course Aus and GB. Tell how that is not international? More to the point, how do you define international?

Spin? I think WHNook almost agrees with you. Obviously your hatred of AFL has affected your reading faculties. Carefully and slowly read his posts in support of 'TGG'.

 

[Mark Rudd]

A few misconceptions.


In the states that it was live(a fair comparison), the NRL GF rated higher.

I've seen figures that showed that if you included the regional areas, the NRL GF rated higher. And it was only live in QLD,NSW and VIC.

The most watched sport on Pay is RL.

The TV ratings for the Friday night games for the NRL show that it is every bit as high if not higher than the AFL's.

The State of Origin series was attended by 180,000+ and watched on TV by nearly 10 million viewers and it was onlt live in QLD/NSW.


Record crowds and TV ratings this year as well. RL dying? Only according to paranoid AFL fans.

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

There aren't any paranoid AFL fans, just a few over-cocky.

The seriously paranoid fans are here supporting league with us (read the moronic 'Stop AFL Plague' thread for some class examples).

AFL outrates NRL nationwide - the NRL's ratings are phenomenal in NSW and Qld, but too poor to even convince the stations to put it on in the southern states. As an aggregate percentage of audiences receiving it live last year, the NRL granny outrated the AFL granny, but by virtue of being live in more areas the AFL granny actually had the bigger audience.

The biggest football-related audience in Australian TV history (and the sixth biggest Australian TV audience full stop) was the 96 AFL grand final between Sydney and North Melbourne.

Ah yes, statistics.

 

[dimitri]

you statistics which include rural areas

we must remember that rural nsw is bigger than perth and adelaide combined

 

[Mark Rudd]

One game doesnt make it more popular though.


Figures from the year from every game do.

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

You've kind of shot yourself in the foot there Mark.

Ever notice that people always bring up the grand final, not the rest of last season?

There's a reason for that. Have a look at the figures. Then tally them for the whole of Australia. Then think about it. Then come back.



Dimitri, I am using Australia-wide statistics, that includes everywhere.

The AFL grand final had a lower average percentage rating than the NRL granny - but as it was shown live nationwide instead of just into the eastern seaboard the AFL grand final got about half a million more viewers.

The origin of the 'If you add in regional NSW and Queensland figures, the NRL ratings were better' argument was that there the percentage ratings were enormous and contributed to a better average rating.

It was partly a beat-up from the spin doctors after it got out in the media that more people had watched the Lions preliminary final in Brisbane than had watched the Broncos losing final.

 

[CyberKev]

The biggest football-related audience in Australian TV history (and the sixth biggest Australian TV audience full stop) was the 96 AFL grand final between Sydney and North Melbourne

True,

And even those figures would be smashed were Sydney & Collingwood to play off in the AFL decider this year.

CyberKev

 

[timmy!!!!]

you statistics which include rural areas

we must remember that rural nsw is bigger than perth and adelaide combined

Why are we excluding the rural areas of SA and WA. The population of SA and WA combined is bigger than that of rural NSW. And rural NSW has a big aussie rules following. Off the top of my head I can think of players from Wagga Wagga, Albury and Broken Hill.

 

[dimitri]

youre also forgetting rural queensland

:roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[timmy!!!!]

youre also forgetting rural queensland

:roll: :roll: :roll:

Again there is alot of aussie rules being played across queensland. For instance Cairns is more Aussie Rules than anything else. And how about rural Victoria which is as populus as rural Queensland (the GC is included in brisbanes TV ratings) and rural Tasmania (which is all 450,000 of them).

Just to finish things off i would assume that AFL is bigger in NT and NRL is bigger in the ACT (although it competes with Union and to a lessor extent AFL).

 

[Mark Rudd]

Idiots!

How can you compare a live GF in all the country compared to live only in 3 states because TV programmers dont have the guts to try it?

As I said, to be fair, compare the states where it was live. And NRL rated higher. Of course, it was onlt one game and that can vary depending on who is watching it.

Take the ratings from QLD/NSW including the rural areas compared to VIC/SA/WA and you find that the NRL's ratings as just as high if not higher. I've seen the figures. I've seen them been crunched by the numbers crunchers of the world.


Inlcude the Union, and you soon see what the most popular sporst are in Australia.


Shoot myself in the foot? Never. Unless I have a big wart on it. Which hasnt happened yet.

 

[Dean Moriarty]

How can you compare a live GF in all the country compared to live only in 3 states because TV programmers dont have the guts to try it?

As I said, to be fair, compare the states where it was live. And NRL rated higher. Of course, it was onlt one game and that can vary depending on who is watching it.

It wouldn't be fair to just take the Eastern states, though, as a measure of popularity in Australia. The networks take a view on what the audience in a state is likely to be - they didn't show the NRL live in certain states because they didn't think it would rate especially well.

Now, the schedulers may have been wrong - had they had the "guts" to try it, as you say, they may have found the audience was actually massive. But I suspect they were right. Remember, commercial networks are interested in tapping big sports audiences at a point in time. Building audiences is the responsibility of the sport itself.

As far as the figures go, they can be argued each way. But you can't be conclusive about it.

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

And rural NSW has a big aussie rules following. Off the top of my head I can think of players from Wagga Wagga, Albury and Broken Hill.

Very true - the real NSW-Vic border is the Murrumbidgee, not the Murray. South of Wagga it's all about AFL.

Wagga itself is half and half... and even to the north there are towns that have AFL clubs but not league.

 

[incredible_holc]

yeh um Wagga is actually mainly league
and Albury is mainly Afl at the same ratio
but all small towns between are afl

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

Wagga mainly league? Hell no... 50-50 is a pretty fair assessment.

It's the town that produced both captains in the 1996 AFL grand final (Wayne Carey and Paul Kelly if you're wondering).

Albury on the other hand, has stuff all rugby league. There are one or two league clubs, but it's an AFL town.

 

[incredible_holc]

so what

wow it produced two captains.

I go there regulary and it is mainly league at about 70 -30

but all the towns around there are all AFL

 

[Marcus]

Answering the original post.

AFL will survive in the next 100 yrs. Tradition is big in AFL and they have a lot of that.

Don't see the game really growing at all international. Its already missed the boat, and its too late now. Better off to focus on strengths which is of course the Australian market.

I think the ultimate goal for the AFL is to see an additional 3 more sides playing out of NSW and QLD. These 2 states have more than half the Australian population, and Brisbane is set to be the 2nd biggest city in Australia around 2035.

I notice AFL does extremely well with the fans. The closeness with the fans has made the AFL a very good competition. Fans feel part of the club, and its no wonder they draw the biggest crowds in Australia sport.

 

[incredible_holc]

they actually draw on average the second biggest crowds a game inb the world 2nd only to the nfl. League shouldnt be too ashamed we are not beating them. Do you think the EPL is or even all the other american sports