Interesting articLe that shows why nrl are desperate to protect queensland. Being so far behind afl they can’t afford to lose any more ground.
Rugby league's part-administrator, part-commander-in-chief was talking on Nine Radio in May about the AFL's steps into Queensland.
Most dramatically, Brisbane hosted much of the AFL season last year as COVID-19 gripped Victoria.
"Look the AFL have done a wonderful job," he added.
"They've held our hands. Made us feel warm and fuzzy while they've invaded us."
The comments came as a new book titled Code Wars lands on shelves.
Its author, Dr Hunter Fujak, has spent the past seven years studying the dynamics of football in this country.
He's in no doubt which code is currently on top.
"The AFL is winning the code wars," he says, "followed by rugby league, soccer and rugby union bringing in the tail."
Dr Fujak cites the fact that one in five Australians are interested in AFL and no other football code. He points out AFL brings in more revenue than anyone else each year. And he highlights clubs in the AFL are largely profitable.
But don't tell those in charge of the other codes, who continue to battle like the score is nil-all.
While other codes have presence in the AFL states of Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia, Queensland — as the fastest growing state — has become the front line in the footy code wars.
"We've seen the AFL make really strong gains in Queensland," Dr Fujak says, "television audiences in Brisbane are very strong and rugby league audiences are declining."
The NRL will announce plans for a new team in Brisbane in the coming months and not only is the senior men's competition expanding.
The NRLW is set to grow to seven teams this season, with the Titans becoming the second team in South-East Queensland.
In response to V'Landys' talk about invasion, chief executive of the Brisbane Lions AFLW team, Breaanna Brock, is steadfast.
"What can I say? AFL's the Indigenous game of Australia right.
"We invented the game here. It's native to Australia. It should be everywhere in Australia."
The Lions are reigning AFLW champions, with a team made of mostly Queenslanders.
"My previous role to this was working for AFL up in Queensland and my role was to grow the game for women and girls," Brock says.
"When I started in 2013 we were starting at around 40 to 50,000 participants, well that's up to 120,000 now."
Eugenie Buckley from sports consultancy Suiko knows Queensland well. She has worked in cricket and rugby and been chair of Netball Queensland.
She was also CEO of A-League club Brisbane Roar during the club's most successful period.
"It is a code war because there's only so much talent in Australia," she says.
Dr Fujak's research shows why junior participation is so important to those in charge of the codes.
Put simply, playing sport as a junior — for example the AFL's Auskick program for primary school age children — leads to more consumption as an adult.
"If we use Auskick for the AFL as an example, a child who has not had exposure to Auskick as a child, on average watches 3.7 games of AFL in a season. A child who has played Auskick goes onto watch 8.5 games."
Brock is committed to keeping girls playing Australian rules, and has sought to remove a gap that has traditionally existed in Brisbane girls' competitions.
"It meant adding in younger and younger age groups."
"So that then became an under-15s competition, and under-13s, an under-11s, and this year we've just introduced an under-9s competition."
Programs like Auskick and clubs in developing markets of the Gold Coast and Western Sydney, receive subsidies from AFL headquarters.
Dr Fujak argues they could even be going further.
"The AFL could quite literally offer families a $200 cash incentive to have them play Auskick.
"Then that child would grow up to be an adult consumer who's a much bigger fan of AFL, and the lifetime value of that fandom would probably pay off their $200 investment."
The AFL is certainly best placed to spend. Right now no sporting body brings in as much money each year.
Dr Fujak believes the code wars matter because it's a question of survival.
"What we might see is increasingly one code dominate at the expense of the rest," he says.
"We might come to a point where in fact one code reaches a financial strength to be able to really snuff out another code."
Some believe the contest between Australia's football codes is a matter of life and death. Others argue it's even more important.
www.abc.net.au
