Afl no longer Australia most popular sport?

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2 eazy

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Jul 29, 2021
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Came across this article suggesting that AFL is not our most popular sport.
www.theroar.com.au

What is Australia's most popular sport?

Australia has a rich sporting history spanning multiple disciplines and events. We've punched above our weight on the world stage, winning world championships in…
www.theroar.com.au

Thoughts?
That comment section is wild
 
Aussie Rules has always been a lower participation sport than say, soccer, but the issue for soccer is there is no pathways to the top. Lots of talented players leave for other sports because the A-League is a poor level and its impossible for an Australian to get into a European academy/team without having a dual citizenship.

If you are talented at Aussie rules, basketball, swimming, tennis, cricket, there is an established pathway you can follow if you want to go as far as you can.
Also for soccer, cost is a massive barrier of entry. It cost me a lot less to pay rego and insurance for cricket and footy than it did for me at soccer per season, which is why I stopped playing soccer after a few years. Just got too expensive. And I am an adult with a full time job. Imagine being a parent with 2 or 3 kids. Would get really expensive really quick.
 

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Oh well …. It’s the most popular with me

Actually it’s probably a good thing , there is really no point calling it a national game if half the country doesn’t believe you

you never know it might wake some people up
 
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Lol the AFL gets more revenue annually than the NRL, A league and Rugby Australia combined.

Has the biggest attendance per capita of any sport in the world, over a million club members and a high participation rate compared to all other contact sports rates. Let's not get started on also having the biggest tv deal in Australia sport by a country mile.

Don't listen to the soccer and league nuffies (I actually play soccer myself), it's all just your usual case of attacking the number 1 place holder, in a vain attempt to unseat them. The statistics talk for themselves.

Soccer is the same here as in the U.S, everybody plays it at some point coz it's safe to play and easy to organise. It does s**t me they have started to call it 'Australian football' though, imagine calling soccer in America 'American football', the NFL would take them apart for use of their identity as the American game.
 
Bjo187 said:
Lol the AFL gets more revenue annually than the NRL, A league and Rugby Australia combined.

Has the biggest attendance per capita of any sport in the world, over a million club members and a high participation rate compared to all other contact sports rates. Let's not get started on also having the biggest tv deal in Australia sport by a country mile.

Don't listen to the soccer and league nuffies (I actually play soccer myself), it's all just your usual case of attacking the number 1 place holder, in a vain attempt to unseat them. The statistics talk for themselves.

Soccer is the same here as in the U.S, everybody plays it at some point coz it's safe to play and easy to organise. It does s**t me they have started to call it 'Australian football' though, imagine calling soccer in America 'American football', the NFL would take them apart for use of their identity as the American game.
Click to expand...
Like how the attendance per capita is world but when you mentioned tv deals it’s Australia,haha Football is the world game vfl is in some parts of Australia.
 
It’s not exactly as cut and dry as they would have you believe, there is nuance they have clearly missed in this.

There is a reason the AFL TV deal is always bigger then the NRL.

What I would be very interested in is seeing the cumulative total of time spent watching either sport.

Given in general AFL games are longer and have more add breaks it is probably a more lucrative broadcast sport.

TV rating and viewership is also not an exact science, most of it is guess work.
 

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It is the fourth highest attended sporting league in the world. End of debate.
 
It’s an opinion piece with no source provided for the stats but the participation figures included in the article seem to be drawn from an AUPLAY survey conducted by the Australian Sports Commission which has extrapolated their participation numbers from a survey result and not actual player registration numbers.

If you look at actual player registration numbers across juniors and seniors from all football codes then soccer is still well behind Australian Rules Football and I assume Rugby league as well.

I’d put a massive asterisk next to many of the claims made in the article as the numbers are rubbery at best.

The same survey numbers have been spouted all week on radio to support the push for more funding for soccer (and good luck to them) but the actual hard numbers don’t stack up to be the same as this survey claims.
 
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Wouldn’t be surprised if The Roar got some kinda kickback for the article.
I think we can expect a lot more of different sporting organisations climbing over each other to get some air time.
Commonwealth games in Vic in 2026
Olympics in Bris 2032.

The synic in me thinks the reason AFL pulled the trigger on more teams for AFLW so early is in line with that and is to keep as many kids with talent in Footy as they can.
It’s the 12-16 year olds now that everyone wants to get their hands on.
 
If the stat's in article are true rugby league is more popular then Aussie Rules had over 20m more eyeballs watching including viewers and attendance.
 
General Giant said:
Yeah I found that amusing. They must including NZ.
AFL attendances smash NRL.
Ratings seem around the same.
Click to expand...
I actually found the stat's the author was referring to and it's only based in Australia. I'm fact just the regular season Rugby league had 12m more viewers with 6 less games. Not including state of origin.
 
Tackle Bag said:
It’s an opinion piece with no source provided for the stats but the participation figures included in the article seem to be drawn from an AUPLAY survey conducted by the Australian Sports Commission which has extrapolated their participation numbers from a survey result and not actual player registration numbers.

If you look at actual player registration numbers across juniors and seniors from all football codes then soccer is still well behind Australian Rules Football and I assume Rugby league as well.

I’d put a massive asterisk next to many of the claims made in the article as the numbers are rubbery at best.

The same survey numbers have been spouted all week on radio to support the push for more funding for soccer (and good luck to them) but the actual hard numbers don’t stack up to be the same as this survey claims.
Click to expand...
www.footyindustry.com

2022 NRL/NRLW Season TV Ratings - Sports Industry AU

NRLW (1) In 2022, the average audience on Channel Nine has eclipsed the combined average for both broadcasters in 2020.
www.footyindustry.com www.footyindustry.com
www.footyindustry.com

2022 AFL TV Ratings - Sports Industry AU

State Leagues The growth in the AFL’s digital footprint was well received by fans, with an average of 5000 weekly
www.footyindustry.com www.footyindustry.com
Are the sources it seems the article is based off.
 
greatwhiteshark said:
Rugby Leafue gets more eyes according to that article, tv and Attendance
Click to expand...
The part I have most issue with is that Rugba Leege gets more viewers. The way they determine that is completely flawed.
They combine ratings of all the codes games (which is biased towards Rugba Leeg states in the first place plus the double up games in the AFL) and determine a number from that.
Effectively you are putting the games back to back and every 2 hours for Rugba Leege you are taking a reading to add to the total, but are doing that every 3 hours for the AFL.

Really the AFL has close to 50% more viewing hours. I cant believe some people use this method as a metric
 
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