How does this make it the premier code on the East Coast?
I would once agree with you that RL was the Premier Code of The East Coast (Qld, NSW, ACT and Vic) Because Qld, NSW and ACT has NRL as the #1 code and that accounts for about 2/3rds of the EastCoast population. But the deeper I look into it the more I'm not convinced this is true.
Attendances for NRL in 2005 at East Cost Venues including playoffs equals
3,070,607 from 174 games
Attendances for AFL in 2005 at East Cost Venues including finals equals
4,842,971 from 132 games or 57% more people
Source
I know you guys like to play down attendances but 57% more in attendances is nothing to shirk.
And this from a
June 2005 Sensis Consumer Report asking
Do you follow any particular team?
If yes, which team do you follow the most?
And for the results across Australia it was 30% that followed an Aussie Rules team as their #1 team and 15% said a Rugby League Team. on a state by state break down for the east cost it looked like this
State - Aussie Rules - Rugby League
NSW - 9% - 29%
Vic - 56% - 1%
Qld - 12% - 25%
ACT - 19% - 23%
If you convert those percentages into real figures based on
ABS data and then add them together it looks something like this
AFL (East Coast) = 3,912,303
NRL (East Coast) = 3,045,230