Is Canberra rugby league heartland?

[Garlic muncher]

With equal amount of resources to pump into juniors as what the AFL do rugby league would be doing far far far far better.

hypotheticals are a poor mans game.

Yet you just resorted to a hypothetical

 

[Garlic muncher]

this notion that AFL is an "Australian sport" whilst soccer, league, union are "british sports" therefore less deserving of an australians support is a weak argument which imo only works on weak pathetic minds.

Also any argument that a sport should not upset the status quo to seek to grow its own game is a tad hypocritical if coming from an AFL person. Though it is an argument I disagree with strongly, each sport should do what is in its best interests.

Australian football is an Australian sport and historically the other sports you mentioned are British, that does not mean they are less deserving, but perhaps you should talk to Harry Brown, because obviously he thought the Australian game was less deserving than his beloved British ones, it was him at every turn attempting to outflank Australian Football through his position and positions of influence.

There is quite a number of articles via trove saying as much around the 1900's and unusually for those days they did not beat around the bush.

 

[Eazyfit]

It is

 

[Garlic muncher]

It is

Not

 

[papabear]

Yet you just resorted to a hypothetical

that was my point.

 

[papabear]

Australian football is an Australian sport and historically the other sports you mentioned are British, that does not mean they are less deserving, but perhaps you should talk to Harry Brown, because obviously he thought the Australian game was less deserving than his beloved British ones, it was him at every turn attempting to outflank Australian Football through his position and positions of influence.

There is quite a number of articles via trove saying as much around the 1900's and unusually for those days they did not beat around the bush.

I am not sure Harry Brown is in a position to talk to me.

 

[Garlic muncher]

that was my point.

Sure it was.

 

[Garlic muncher]

I am not sure Harry Brown is in a position to talk to me.

Hypothetical, dont you get that.

 

[papabear]

Hypothetical, dont you get that.

Lol I am not sure if you are intentionally being ...

 

[papabear]

Sure it was.

I gave you a ridiculous hypothetical to show you how ridiculous taking that argument to hypotheticals is.

I really am trying to keep it simple for you.

 

[Garlic muncher]

I gave you a ridiculous hypothetical to show you how ridiculous taking that argument to hypotheticals is.

I really am trying to keep it simple for you.

All ridiculously off track now, plenty of facts whether you like them or not have all been laid out on this thread.

Canberra is not RL heartland, not saying it is football or rugby heartland either, however the surrounding rural areas of Canberra are, go west or south west 100k or so and it is not RL heartland either

There are more footy teams running out of Canberra than RL teams, in fact about twice as many, however out of all the senior RL teams that play in CDRL more than half are from outside Canberra, which is just plain weird considering the huge population disproportion that lives in Canberra compared to outside Canberra.

RL in Canberra at junior level basically sources all its players from Government schools, rugby from private schools and football from both, it appears little has changed since i went to school there.

One more thing, i don't think the AFL has ever taken a great interest in Canberra football and certainly as i understand it the funding is not huge if at all, a quick search has shown that joining a junior football club is more expensive than joining a local RL club.

In fact they denied Fitzroy the opportunity to move to Canberra.

 

[papabear]

All ridiculously off track now, plenty of facts whether you like them or not have all been laid out on this thread.

Canberra is not RL heartland, not saying it is football or rugby heartland either, however the surrounding rural areas of Canberra are, go west or south west 100k or so and it is not RL heartland either

There are more footy teams running out of Canberra than RL teams, in fact about twice as many, however out of all the senior RL teams that play in CDRL more than half are from outside Canberra, which is just plain weird considering the huge population disproportion that lives in Canberra compared to outside Canberra.

RL in Canberra at junior level basically sources all its players from Government schools, rugby from private schools and football from both, it appears little has changed since i went to school there.

One more thing, i don't think the AFL has ever taken a great interest in Canberra football and certainly as i understand it the funding is not huge if at all, a quick search has shown that joining a junior football club is more expensive than joining a local RL club.

In fact they denied Fitzroy the opportunity to move to Canberra.

It would be interesting to see how many DO's there are in canberra for the respective codes.

Also, I don't think it is fair not to include numbers of seniors playing touch footy and oztag.

In terms of the support for the professional sides, I think you will find a lot more canberra interest in the canberra raiders final run then the giants.

 

[Garlic muncher]

It would be interesting to see how many DO's there are in canberra for the respective codes.

Also, I don't think it is fair not to include numbers of seniors playing touch footy and oztag.

In terms of the support for the professional sides, I think you will find a lot more canberra interest in the canberra raiders final run then the giants.

I think you are right, many more Canberrans will be more interested in the Raiders than GWS, but what is not known is how much interest is just local parochialism rather than actually supporting RL, to use a hypothetical I wonder if a local team in the AFL would get more or less support than the Raiders, or about the same ?.

I have very little interest in RL but I did play a couple of seasons of touch footy, great game for fitness, and dummy techniques, just thought it was downright stupid to call the referee Sir - like you were at a English boarding school.

Not sure what DO's are ?

 

[papabear]

I think you are right, many more Canberrans will be more interested in the Raiders than GWS, but what is not known is how much interest is just local parochialism rather than actually supporting RL, to use a hypothetical I wonder if a local team in the AFL would get more or less support than the Raiders, or about the same ?.

I have very little interest in RL but I did play a couple of seasons of touch footy, great game for fitness, and dummy techniques, just thought it was downright stupid to call the referee Sir - like you were at a English boarding school.

Not sure what DO's are ?

You are bringing up a lot of different points. DO's are development officers, people going around to schools flogging brumbies/ raiders/ giants gear.

On the touch footy thing, in england touch footy is owned/ run by rugby union and included in those numbers.

In australia you have aus kick.

So I think it is only fair, also you have oztag which wouldnt be in most nrl numbers as it is a separate entity and there would be a lot there.

In respect of how much interest people have, you may have zero interest in contact rugby league, or the NRL but since you are playing touch, in australia you are effectively playing a non contact form of it. But I am sure you get that sort of cross over in all sports from ping pong to squash to basketball to australian football.

People often do have a varied interest in the sports they play and watch.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

This is the biggest issue. It's in the middle of nowhere.

If there was a 25,000 right in the middle of the city it would fill.

Much like Adelaide Oval is a five minute walk from the CBD.

The middle of the city is a wasteland too.

 

[Garlic muncher]

You are bringing up a lot of different points. DO's are development officers, people going around to schools flogging brumbies/ raiders/ giants gear.

On the touch footy thing, in england touch footy is owned/ run by rugby union and included in those numbers.

In australia you have aus kick.

So I think it is only fair, also you have oztag which wouldnt be in most nrl numbers as it is a separate entity and there would be a lot there.

In respect of how much interest people have, you may have zero interest in contact rugby league, or the NRL but since you are playing touch, in australia you are effectively playing a non contact form of it. But I am sure you get that sort of cross over in all sports from ping pong to squash to basketball to australian football.

People often do have a varied interest in the sports they play and watch.

I would definitely not say club Auskick is any different to footy, it is just like under 7, or 8's modified rugby league, club Auskickers play a season like any other club footballer.

Have no idea about DO's, you would think the Raiders and Brumbies have an edge on the Giants but as has been demonstrated through junior stats - it would not surprise that those particular teams are not that welcome at different schools, I imagine in such a crowded and evenly spaced market codes are quite protective.

 

[Garlic muncher]

This is the biggest issue. It's in the middle of nowhere.

If there was a 25,000 right in the middle of the city it would fill.

Much like Adelaide Oval is a five minute walk from the CBD.

Canberra is spaced out full stop, Bruce is not really in the middle of nowhere, not if you live There anyway.

Manuka would be closer, but still way to far to walk to the city

 

[papabear]

I would definitely not say club Auskick is any different to footy, it is just like under 7, or 8's modified rugby league, club Auskickers play a season like any other club footballer.

Have no idea about DO's, you would think the Raiders and Brumbies have an edge on the Giants but as has been demonstrated through junior stats - it would not surprise that those particular teams are not that welcome at different schools, I imagine in such a crowded and evenly spaced market codes are quite protective.

I am fine with people considering aus kick part of the AFL umbrella as well, it is just a non contact version of the game, there are other similar sorts of non contact AFL floating around as well for adults that are all part of the australian football umbrella.

but just like flag american football is a less violent version of american football, the same can be said for touch and tag footy in australia.

in terms of schools being protective, the league and union divide might happen as it does everywhere, but AFL wouldn't be have the same bad blood league / union type barriers.

 

[papabear]

Canberra is spaced out full stop, Bruce is not really in the middle of nowhere, not if you live There anyway.

Manuka would be closer, but still way to far to walk to the city

I agree with this in general.

 

[Arwib]

It would be interesting to see how many DO's there are in canberra for the respective codes.

Also, I don't think it is fair not to include numbers of seniors playing touch footy and oztag.

In terms of the support for the professional sides, I think you will find a lot more canberra interest in the canberra raiders final run then the giants.

Of course, you'd find more interest in Canberra in the Swans' finals run than the Giants too.

 

[Garlic muncher]

Of course, you'd find more interest in Canberra in the Swans' finals run than the Giants too.

Thats probably true, however you would also find plenty of support for Melbourne teams, however none of the big 4 are in the finals, also you will find plenty of support for the old Sydney NRL teams.

However after doing the exercise of counting senior teams and where they are from around the Canberra district i would have to surmise that RU is actually bigger at a senior grass roots level than both footy and RL, it has reasonably strong city and surrounding district teams.

However like the schools in Canberra i imagine the supporter bases run along the lines of ex private school =rugby, ex Government=RL and football has a bit of both.

 

[Gigantor]

Thats probably true, however you would also find plenty of support for Melbourne teams, however none of the big 4 are in the finals, also you will find plenty of support for the old Sydney NRL teams.

However after doing the exercise of counting senior teams and where they are from around the Canberra district i would have to surmise that RU is actually bigger at a senior grass roots level than both footy and RL, it has reasonably strong city and surrounding district teams.

However like the schools in Canberra i imagine the supporter bases run along the lines of ex private school =rugby, ex Government=RL and football has a bit of both.

Very strong private school rugby comp here, and the senior rugby comp is a pretty good standard.

Senior footy in Canberra is struggling a bit because of:
1. the NEAFL
2. big dollars available on the Riverina.

As has been mentioned by you, rugby league in Canberra is augmented by teams from the surrounding towns.

As an example, Goulburn plays in the top tier of local rugby league, but has always played in the 4th or even 5th tier of Canberra footy.

 

[Garlic muncher]

Very strong private school rugby comp here, and the senior rugby comp is a pretty good standard.

Senior footy in Canberra is struggling a bit because of:
1. the NEAFL
2. big dollars available on the Riverina.

As has been mentioned by you, rugby league in Canberra is augmented by teams from the surrounding towns.

As an example, Goulburn plays in the top tier of local rugby league, but has always played in the 4th or even 5th tier of Canberra footy.

Bizarrely Yass in is the top local RL comp, Yass is a truck stop and about 1/5 of the size of Goulburn, that would be like Cootamundra being a top tier football club in AFL Canberra.

Either the RL authorities dont give a stuff or the interest is just not really there in the city.

 

[Rob]

Bizarrely Yass in is the top local RL comp, Yass is a truck stop and about 1/5 of the size of Goulburn, that would be like Cootamundra being a top tier football club in AFL Canberra.

Either the RL authorities dont give a stuff or the interest is just not really there in the city.

It can't be that small, there's a McDonalds in Yass.

 

[Garlic muncher]

It must be tiny it only has one