John Singleton once said: "Anyone who does not watch rugby league is not a real person." He should have spent more time in Melbourne.
When I lived in AFL-crazed Melbourne for 7 years, people giggled at me when I told them I was an Eels supporter; after I clarified that they played in the NRL.They scoffed at the NRL, calling it "elephant ball", an inferior and dumb sport. And that eventually I would see the light. I never did.
It seemed almost every second Melbournite loved the Tigers. The Richmond Tigers, that is. Now I know why.
The Eels are the Best at Bankwest (refer table below), averaging 22,000 per game pulling up our overall figures. 2nd behind the Broncos average per game.
Let's hope that it helps increase Eels' sponsorship levels and corporate figures.
The NRL Tigers best at Bankwest is only a bit over 12,500. The AFL's Tigers average over 65,000 per game.
Though AFL bores me, compared to what I was used to living in Sydney (a far more beautiful city) for almost 40 years, Melbournites seemed far crazier about their AFL. Even Brisbanites' seemed more crazed about their NRL than Sydneysiders, but I could only manage 6 months there before I had to move back to a "real city".
And the 2018-19 crowd figures back that up. The AFL is killing us as is, surprissingly, BBL in Perth.
The late Rex Mossop made it clear to Johnny Warren during a break in an England v Australia soccer match in the 1980s: "If this game (soccer) ever takes over from rugby league you can f--- me in Pitt St." At least sanity has prevailed on this one.
Replies
The AFL is an interesting one. I had a conversation about crowd figures with a Hawthorn supporter a couple of years ago, and the AFL figures are amazing really. Even a team like Carlton, who are running dead last and have been terrible for years, are averaging over 50k for home games.
I have heard more than one person say that AFL is much better live compared to on TV, whereas NRL is much better on TV than live. The rationale was that AFL has action going on all over the ground, off the ball, and this all cannot be captured by TV, whereas NRL is a more linear game, with a significant proportion of time having two teams lined up 10 or 15m apart. This explanation kind of makes sense.
Unfortunately for the Eels, our upside is capped at 30k, but I'd be stoked if we could get our average home ground figure up near 25k.
I’m one of those people that reckon exactly the same Meeik, AFL definitely is better viewed live than Tele need to watch it spatially for it to fully appreciated ...kinda like soccer with off the ball stuff but no offside ;)
Whereas footy happens in pretty much a straight line so can be filmed and viewed easily on Tele and still looks great!
went to BankWest last game I’ve broken my live watch hoodoo yay! It was an awesome experience even half full it didn’t spoil the atmosphere like the godforsaken anz. I’m sure my section of crowd convinced dopey perenara to give Junior a T ;)
I’ll 3rd that, Meelk and Macybrown. Watching AFL live you can see off the ball work 360 degrees from the ball and often over 50 m away. AFL fans will talk about the work some teams do off the ball and will point out a play unfolding elsewhere, that the TV camera is nowhere near. It really does make sense why AFL fans prefer live
Yep everyone you talk to that likes both sports equally (or there abouts) says rugby league is better on tv, AFL is better live.
Yeah I personally find AFL boring. But yeah those that like both seem to always prefer league on tv. Pretty much says it all. Put it this way, if AFL and NRL weren't televised for a week both would sell out.
Melbourne AFL breaks records the world over on a per capita basis. You’ll go mad competing with that.
Geographically Melbourne is vastly easier to navigate. It’s totally flat with no pesky harbour to cross. Everyone lives 20 minutes from the MCG. Also, let’s be frank, the weather in Melbourne in winter is truly horrendous. I’d top myself if I had to endure that dark, cold nightmare for 3-4 months of the year. The only bright light in a Melbournites existence is their footy team.
In my corporate life I’ve noticed Sydney is notoriously hard to get people to after hours events compared to other cities. Regardless of the industry. Getting to various Sydney precincts is hard work so most of us couldn’t be bothered.
The best we could hope for is if they built BankWest style stadiums north, south, east and west in Sydney and made all nrl teams play out of those. We may see bigger crowds but never like AFL. Those bastards are mad.
Muttman, the AFL crowd story is a bit more complicated than geography and weather! Living in Melbourne, I can tell you the city ain’t flat! Have you been east of Hawthorn? Or the foot of the Dandenongs? Or to Eltham in the north east? And few places are actually within 20 of the MCG. Some on the south east sure, but put the Yarra between the MCG and you and good luck with 20 mins! And the weather. This is why scarves were invented. Melbourne folk don’t cry in inclement weather like some cities I know not mentioning any names likes Sydney and Brisbane. Interestingly, if a game starts at 19:30 in the winter it’s likely to draw more fans than if it starts at 16:30 - even on the weekend - and of course it is colder when it is later. Geography and weather explain very little.
Instead: bigger grounds, better public transport in and out of the sporting precinct, a cross-demographic audience, modernised clubs, compliant and supportive media, a legitimately different spectacle live versus TV. Maybe: building standards were not winter friendly for some time so it can get colder in some houses than squishing next to a fan outside?!
I suspect other codes should try to learn from AFL
I think the main difference is that in Melbourne people expect to have to trek to the city for some culture/sport etc. There really is no other alternative. In Sydney we have set up satelite cities and in fact Parramatta is a self sustaining city in its own right. There is just no need to make the trek across the city regularly and people get into the habit of staying closer to home.
Also the weather plays a factor. In Sydney in mid winter you still see lots of people outdoors, which means there is much more on offer for people to spend their time on. If you are out and about all day, do you really want to make another journey to watch your team play when you can put the feet up at home and watch it on TV? In Melbourne they just don't have the same outdoor options. People are more likely to make going to the AFL their main weekend activity.
I also think the NRL has not promoted the live game experience enough. What is the incentive for a family to fork out $80-100 for tickets to a game they can watch on TV? Clubs have tried to compensate for this by flogging off memberships, but this really only touches the rusted on supporters. We need to get better at attracting people who will only attend a few games a year, and in Parramatta there are 60,000 people heading home after work instead of heading over to Bankwest for a game on Thursday and Friday nights. The differences between Sydney and Melbourne are huge and the NRL will need to try something unique to get more people to games here.
It dosen't matter how many they get to afl games. It's afl so who gives a shit.
Afl great to watch live, shit on tv
nrl great on tv
rugby shit to watch live and shit on tv
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next