Aussie Rules participation vs the other 5 football codes globally.

[Eric R]

Thought provoking and interesting. I would doubt some of the sources for some of the numbers, based on the numbers.

I know that Aussie Rules is played in many countries. "Gridiron" is played in more than two, with NFL Europe having supported teams in about 10 European countries, all of which maintain gridiron teams.

As others have said, who is counted as playing? that would be interesting too.

Also Rugby Union and Rugby League have differences, but are they more than five a side Soccer from regular? or Arena vs. Gridiron football? or instead the same game with some notable adjustments?

Thanks again for this through provoking post.

I came accross some info that had the 6 football codes participation around the world figures from 2006. It also said the number of countries the sport had a significant numbers playing the sport. Just thought I would share it to see what everyone thinks of it.

Note these are from 2006 so they wouldn't 100% accruate today but I wouldn't think there would be a huge difference in the numbers today. But if you have more recent info please share.



I have Countries Followed by players

Soccer
207
30 800 000

Rugby Union
129
3 500 000

Gridiron
2
1 800 000

Aussie Rules
2
650 000

Rugby League
5
450 000

Gaelic Football
1
50 000


Well you can see soccer is pretty much miles ahead of everyone else which we already know.

I thought it was interesting to compare Aussie Rules to Gridiron where Gridiron has only about 3 times the amount of players as Aussie rules despite the U.S having a population about 14 times the size of Australia.

Anyway I thought I would just share that with you and see what you all make of it.

Info was taken from here.
http://www.convictcreations.com/football/battlestats.html

 

[catstorm]

Why did you bump this after 3 years?

 

[Bomberboyokay]

No way rugby union has more players than American football.

 

[MWPP]

No way rugby union has more players than American football.

It makes sense, given the number of countries that have Union as a popular sport. Yes NZ, Wales/Scotland/Ireland aren't that big but Union is still very popular in places like South Africa, France, England. Union is probably still the second most popular International Sport even in Australia (after cricket) in terms of support, but Soccer has quickly caught up.

 

[cos789]

It makes sense, given the number of countries that have Union as a popular sport. Yes NZ, Wales/Scotland/Ireland aren't that big but Union is still very popular in places like South Africa, France, England.

Again it get's down to criteria, what's the definition of "popular".
For RU that would be how many countries play WC - not many.

Union is probably still the second most popular International Sport even in Australia (after cricket) in terms of support, but Soccer has quickly caught up.

RL is easily still the first most popular international sport in Australia (but not at international level)
Soccer is probably the first most popular international sport in Australia (but not at national level) by peak attendance.
RU is probably the first most popular international sport in Australia (but not at national level) by aggregate attendance.

Actually AFL is the first most popular international sport in Australia by far because it is played internationally but that's not what concerns us.
It's like RL that has countries that play rl but hardly anyone to challenge Australia and RU that has only a small group of countries at the top.

Gaelic Football is the under rated code here. It is widespread around the world, has international matches etc.
It's just that the Irish still cling to amateurism and don't push international events.
American Football is more widespread than advertised here, having it's own WC and some reasonable leagues but isn't widespread.

 

[MWPP]

Again it get's down to criteria, what's the definition of "popular".
For RU that would be how many countries play WC - not many.

More countries play the Union WC than the Gridiron WC (the post I was replying to was about American Football- I was explaining why Union being more popular than Gridiron doesn't surprise me)

RL is easily still the first most popular international sport in Australia (but not at international level)
Soccer is probably the first most popular international sport in Australia (but not at national level) by peak attendance.
RU is probably the first most popular international sport in Australia (but not at national level) by aggregate attendance.

I was referring to international level. Cricket is more popoular than RU but it would be second

Actually AFL is the first most popular international sport in Australia by far because it is played internationally but that's not what concerns us.
It's like RL that has countries that play rl but hardly anyone to challenge Australia and RU that has only a small group of countries at the top.

Well RL does have a couple of challengers, but people care more about it at a domestic than international level
Seems like people care more about domestic than international soccer too

Gaelic Football is the under rated code here. It is widespread around the world, has international matches etc.
It's just that the Irish still cling to amateurism and don't push international events.
American Football is more widespread than advertised here, having it's own WC and some reasonable leagues but isn't widespread.

Yeah I agree with this part

 

[Aussie in exile]

It's the national sport of Nauru

It has a population of just over 10,000.

 

[Aussie in exile]

This sort of comparison is largely useless unless your know the criteria for the statistics and convictcreations is basically a blog and 2006 is old.

Player participation is meaningless unless you know the selection criteria.
Also the countries played is also meaningless unles you know the criteria.

This blog has only counted professional or semi-pro leagues overseas except for RU which is displayed as 129. Obviously 129 countries do not play RU at the same level as the 5 countries quoted for rl.
Yet the blog has counted player participants down to amateur levels in Australia.If you were to count amateurs overseas, all codes would reflect a totally different picture.

He is a more up to date list for Australian Football.

01.Andorra EC
02.Argentina
03.Austria EC
04.Bahrain
05.Belgium EC
06.Brunei
07.Borneo
08.Canada IC
09.Cambodia
10.Catalunya EC
11.Chilie
12.China IC
13.Croatia EC
14.Czech Rep. EC
15.Denmark IC EC
16.East Timor IC
17.England IC EC
18.Fiji IC
19.Finland IC EC
20.France IC EC
21.Germany. EC
22.India IC
23.Iceland EC
24.Indonesia
25.Ireland IC EC
26.Italy EC
27.Japan IC
28.Laos
29.Lebanon
30.Macau
31.Malaysia
32.Middle East.
33.Nauru IC
34.New Zealand IC
35.Netherlands EC
36.Norway
37.Oman
38.Pakistan
39.PNG IC
40.Peru
41.Philippines
42.Poland
43.Portugal
44.Qatar
45.RSA IC
46.Russia EC
47.Samoa. IC
48.Singapore
49.Sweden IC EC
50.Switzerland EC
51.Scotland IC EC
52.Spain IC EC
53.Solomon Is.
54.Thailand
55.Tonga IC
56.UAE
57.USA IC
58.Vietnam
59.Wales IC EC
60.Zimbabwe

A few of those countries are only at expat level.
Most countries have functioning leagues.
Some of those countries have a surprisingly high number of participants.
Some of those countries have a huge potential and have just been exposed.

There is a similar list for rl.
There list of countries for rl is shorter but they have semi-pro countries and some Pacific countries.

Gridiron and Gaelic Football , similarly are played throughout the world.
Not just in the home countries as suggested.

Gridiron, RU, rl and AF each has it's own WC with roughly the same number of participant countries though the world puts different status on each.

So are these comps 9 aside played on rectangular pitches, or 18 a side play on Oval Pitches?
9 a side doesn't carry any weight with me.
Just like 7s Rugby doesn't and 5 a side soccer doesn't.

 

[cos789]

I was referring to international level. Cricket is more popoular than RU but it would be second

Again, it gets down to the actual criteria used. Attendances or ratings.
Then again both RU and rl run international competitions so technically I guess it goes to rl.
Or do you mean international test level which would swing the pendulum back towards cricket or RU
but also introduces IR.

 

[cos789]

It has a population of just over 10,000.

And Australian Football is the national sport. You wont find a more fervent Australian Football country. They play to a very high standard but are obviously limited by their population.
As such they are a good benchmark for the increasing number of developing sides that surpass them

 

[MWPP]

Again, it gets down to the actual criteria used. Attendances or ratings.
Then again both RU and rl run international competitions so technically I guess it goes to rl.
Or do you mean international test level which would swing the pendulum back towards cricket or RU
but also introduces IR.

I meant international test (and odi/T20I in Cricket's case as opposed to first class) level.
It does introduce IR but there aren't anywhere near as many matches per year.

 

[cos789]

9 a side doesn't carry any weight with me.
Just like 7s Rugby doesn't and 5 a side soccer doesn't.

The blog only quotes 650,000 Australian Football players registered within Australia. (Other sources are higher)
They've completely neglected the 100k+ players that are registered overseas as playing Australian Football on an oval.
I don't believe those participants in other forms of AR are included.

 

[cos789]

I meant international test (and odi/T20I in Cricket's case as opposed to first class) level.
It does introduce IR but there aren't anywhere near as many matches per year.

As I said, it's all about what criteria you use. Who is to say what is best? Peak/aggregate attendances or peak/aggregate ratings?
Or just revert to the water cooler meter. Cricket has experienced a significant drop in apparent popularity for some time now.
it'd be interesting to find out exactly where it stands but where discussing football.

 

[MWPP]

As I said, it's all about what criteria you use. Who is to say what is best? Peak/aggregate attendances or peak/aggregate ratings?
Or just revert to the water cooler meter. Cricket has experienced a significant drop in apparent popularity for some time now.
it'd be interesting to find out exactly where it stands but where discussing football.

Upto you whatever's best, that's a completely different argument
I was originally replying to another poster who said "no way rugby union has more players than gridiron ". It makes sense that union would have more players .

No , disagree about cricket . Big Bash has helped its popularity , as has the World Cup. A few years ago- people were questioning the relevance of ODIs and even tests . Cricket is flourishing

 

[DERIBERATE]

It has a population of just over 10,000.

It's an island made of bird s**t.

No, really. It's bird s**t.

 

[Aussie in exile]

The blog only quotes 650,000 Australian Football players registered within Australia. (Other sources are higher)
They've completely neglected the 100k+ players that are registered overseas as playing Australian Football on an oval.
I don't believe those participants in other forms of AR are included.

Please post the link that there are 100,000 registered overseas Australian football players.

 

[ydraw]

Those figures are registered players only, which make soccer looks pretty poor as the supposed most popular sport. While it probably has that amount of registered players roughly, the actual figures are much higher. Take Nigeria for example, soccer mad and only 58,000 registered players. The 6.6 million unregistered is more reflective of the games standing. (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/bigcount/allplayers.html). Same in places like England (1.5m vs 4m), Brazil (2m vs 13m), Spain (600k vs 2.8m). Personally I find it hard to believe that Spain, a country double the size of Australia, has as many players as our game in Australia.

Registered players is a good way of comparing how countries perform against each other. But it shouldnt be used as a way to assess actual playing numbers. Same with us and Aus Rules, 600k registered, but easily over 1m play the game at some level or some format. Same with that gridiron stat. Only 1.8m? No way.

Yeah, this is a very good point.

Especially in regards to gridiron. As noted before, there isn't much in the way of organised play if you aren't a pro. But it's still a hugely popular pastime, it's just played between friends in public parks like backyard cricket or kick to kick in Australia.

 

[ydraw]

Again, it gets down to the actual criteria used. Attendances or ratings.
Then again both RU and rl run international competitions so technically I guess it goes to rl.
Or do you mean international test level which would swing the pendulum back towards cricket or RU
but also introduces IR.

It's not really even close. Cricket is the most popular sport in Australia by a long way, and the 2nd most popular sport in the world behind soccer. It's also our national sport.

The Australian Cricket Census found that in the 2012–13 season there were 951,933 participants in Australian cricket programs and competitions.[3] The census puts cricket participation ahead of participation in all other popular sports, including the football codes, golf and bowls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_in_Australia

 

[Spook]

I hate it as well, but I'd be very surprised if this was true.

It is true. In the U.S. After school football there is college then NFL and nothing else. Hard to believe but true. Actually I think there is a small amateur league in New England

 

[gaelictiogar]

You're obviously grossly under estimating the population of Ireland or are really bad at maths.

Ireland has roughly just under 4.5 million people, 50,000 participants means a little over 1 in 90 play.

Even if you knock off 50k from the Aussie rules total (for the other country), 600k participants from a population of 23 million is over 1 in 40 people, almost double the per capita rate of Gaelic football for Ireland.

And with that rate playing, the numbers definitely include children playing. I did a few quick sums, if you aren't counting children, elderly, women for the most part, the rate of adult males playing would be more like 1 in 15, which just isn't possible.

Chip I know Ireland and the GAA so turst me on this.

Participation is about 180,000 for football all in About 3,000 adult teams with about 60,000 players and about twice as many youth/juvenile.

Hurling has about 100,000 participants.

 

[Bachars Beard]

The blog only quotes 650,000 Australian Football players registered within Australia. (Other sources are higher)
They've completely neglected the 100k+ players that are registered overseas as playing Australian Football on an oval.
I don't believe those participants in other forms of AR are included.

100k+ registered overseas playerd? Do you have a link for that? Also playing on an oval? A field in a reserve with jumpers for goals doesn't count as an oval.

There'd be lucky to be 10% of that number and 0.001 playing on an Oval.

 

[cos789]

I was originally replying to another poster who said "no way rugby union has more players than gridiron ". It makes sense that union would have more players .

Why? Gridiron is huge nationally and thin internationally. RU is hard to say exactly. Have to add up all the countries.
But the discussion is centred on international representation so RU clearly wins

No , disagree about cricket . Big Bash has helped its popularity , as has the World Cup. A few years ago- people were questioning the relevance of ODIs and even tests . Cricket is flourishing

I was talking internationally the interest in cricket seems to be down at least from an Australian perspective.
And good luck if you think that baseball, sorry T20 is good long term.
You want to revive cricket, then introduce set number of available overs over 4 days with a 5th as spare.
A lot of sports have world cups and their supporters point to participation as to the prominence of their sport.
Cricket may be spreading as in RU, rl, AR, Gridiron and GAA but it's really the top guns that count in the popularity stakes.

 

[cos789]

100k+ registered overseas players?.

The figure of 100k has been around for nearly a decade.
You're obviously a novice but even in the UK football has gone from basically a London league in Britain to an English, Welsh and Scottish league.
The playing standard has risen dramatically but I don't think they've beaten arch enemy Denmark as of yet.
And they cannot compete with countries with large playing numbers.
PNG has mature leagues and always at the top.
RSA has maturing leagues and continues to rise through the ranks.
NZ benefits from being so close to Australia and also at the top.
Ireland deserves mention because it's successful with only a small league.
The best way to look at AR is to break it down into the southern hemisphere, North America, Europe and Asia
because its impossible to make blanket statements.

 

[cos789]

It's an island made of bird s**t.

No, really. It's bird s**t.

Wrong. was. That's the problem - no income.

 

[Slax]

I came accross some info that had the 6 football codes participation around the world figures from 2006. It also said the number of countries the sport had a significant numbers playing the sport. Just thought I would share it to see what everyone thinks of it.

Note these are from 2006 so they wouldn't 100% accruate today but I wouldn't think there would be a huge difference in the numbers today. But if you have more recent info please share.



I have Countries Followed by players

Soccer
207
30 800 000

Rugby Union
129
3 500 000

Gridiron
2
1 800 000

Aussie Rules
2
650 000

Rugby League
5
450 000

Gaelic Football
1
50 000


Well you can see soccer is pretty much miles ahead of everyone else which we already know.

I thought it was interesting to compare Aussie Rules to Gridiron where Gridiron has only about 3 times the amount of players as Aussie rules despite the U.S having a population about 14 times the size of Australia.

Anyway I thought I would just share that with you and see what you all make of it.

Info was taken from here.
http://www.convictcreations.com/football/battlestats.html

The figures in this are so rubbery it isn't funny. Just looking at them makes me laugh at how someone could even publish something like this and pretend it is credible. Figure 3 in the same document shows this how bad the figures are. Single worst sporting participation report I have ever seen and anyone who tries using it to justify an argument position is an idiot.

It is actually too easy to poke holes through it that it isn't worth the effort.