Rugby League: The first code to crack?
Roar Guru By Eamonn Flanagan, 9 May 2008 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
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“Test football is at a crossroads”, says Todd Balym on this site. Maybe he should have written, “rugby league is at a crossroads”.
Cash rich AFL is on the warpath. Football is on the rise. Super 14 union will expand under John O’Neill. Pokie funds are drying up. So where is the rugby league good news story coming from?
League domestic crowds are struggling, despite what the averages might say. Empty stands, never mind empty seats, just don’t inspire the punters. There were 9,000 for Souths or 11,000 for West Tigers against the crowd-pulling Brisbane Broncos last weekend in the 88,000 all-seated ANZ Stadium. It looks bleak.
It’s hard for the players, hard for the commentators, hard for the 9,000 people.
Do you really want to go to a game like that? Do you really want to watch a game like that on TV?
Clearly we don’t. TV audiences in the crucial Sydney market are plummeting. Last week the ABC Friday night program got more viewers than league.
Wait, there’s more.
With fat cats AFL threatening to take league on in Sydney and the Gold Coast, over the coming winter seasons, league may have just reached it’s giddy peak.
Kids don’t want to play junior League. Things are so bad, league and union are even thinking of joining the junior codes to boost numbers and save resources.
Five pages were devoted to Souths’ first win of the season in this week’s Sydney Morning Herald, yet attendances showed 9,000 turned up in an 88,000 seater. That’s one page per 2,000 paying customers!
If they had the same measure in footy mad Melbourne, we’d have to sit through 38 pages for a Hawthorns win in front of 76,000 on the same weekend. Maybe we did, I haven’t looked!
The International Centenary Test has sold 7,500 tickets. Is anyone surprised. Could league have sold any less without blanket TV and newspaper coverage in New South Wales?
From where I sit, despite the massive push in the papers and on TV, few people value International league in New Zealand, Britain or Australia. In modern times, they never have.
There is only so much space for growth in the Australian football codes. And League should stick to what they do best: State against State, mate against mate; Origin and Grand Finals.
And get out of ANZ stadium fast. Did the CEO David Gallop really think that two NRL sides could fill it week after week?
Take the game back to the smaller, local grounds in Sydney. After all, 9,000 in a 15,000 stadium looks good and sounds good.
From 100 years of International League, what have we really learned?
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May 9th 2008 @ 6:38pm
Dave Gilbank said | May 9th 2008 @ 6:38pm | Report comment
Ever sinced I was a lad, and that’s quite a few years now, I have heard devotees from other codes (union and aussie rules) predicting the demise of Rugby League. Indeed, throughout it’s history, those bigoted (yes, BIGOTED) and ignorant detractors from across the great footballing divide have tried to instigate some kind of popular momentum away from supporting a sport which has not been afraid to try and change its rules so that it can attract a fan-base that is eager to see players running with the ball more often. Indeed, there is no other sport which can boast such “ball-carrying-in-play” time as League has. Threatened by this, and flexing their media-dominance infiltrated by opinion-leaders and cardres soaked in bigotry, they have been able to give League a kicking, even though it possesses greater aesthetic potential.
League fans, please remember: these Bigots are only on the other side of the footballing fence because a) their daddy’s liked Aussie rules b) they and daddy and grandaddy went to private school and barely watched a game of League (if they did it was 20 years ago) and c)they are frightened of what League represents – supreme commercial adaptability which has managed to keep the essence of dynamic ball-running at it’s core. Forget the bigots – revel in our wonderful, scintiallting sport and its top-class athletes.
As for the bigots – Forgive them, because they know not what they do….
May 9th 2008 @ 10:32pm
The Link said | May 9th 2008 @ 10:32pm | Report comment
Paul, query, how much of a percentage of revenue are TV deals vs gate for NRL and AFL? I’m interested in your assertion that gate is the sole reason for the success of a code.
RedB, last week was a reduced round for NRL (kinda like the old ‘split’ rounds), so it is worthless in comparing ratings from last week to previous weeks/years for NRL V AFL. I beleive there were only 3 games on Fox last week compared to the usual 5 or 6 from a Sun – Sat week. Also are you assuming that Fox get the pick of NRL games? Channel 9 get the top 3 games every week and Fox get the rest, so this isn’t just an AFL phenonemnon.
Please don’t claim insecurity on others behalf when your assertions are based on inaccuracies.
Cheers
The Link
May 9th 2008 @ 10:35pm
Steve Kaless said | May 9th 2008 @ 10:35pm | Report comment
People have been talking up the death of rugby league for ten years now and quite frankly I’m yet to see any of it.
More than 34,000 people ended up turning up to the ANZAC test which in the end is a pretty good result. The funny thing is, people like yourself will use that figure to show that the game is on its knees, yet apparently 35,000 at the A-League Grand Final is enough to show us that Football is going absolutely mad.
It might be easy to fill your column with emotive words like plummeting, but you can be summed up with an easier one. Wrong.
What have we learned from 100 years of rugby league? That there are plenty of people who love to sound off about it without knowing a single thing about the game.
Good luck with your A-League franchise in Canberra.
May 10th 2008 @ 12:16am
westy said | May 10th 2008 @ 12:16am | Report comment
Steve Kaless…. Ilike my sport including rugby League. At this time last year rugby league average crowds were 18400 and they have risen as of last week to 18800. Rugby league is rather quaint in its counting of juniors only including registered players in 5 or more teamm competitions. They do not count Skills programmes or Kids to Kangaroos sessions. There has been a material increase in junior numbers from U/6 to U/12 in their excellent mini and modified competitions. That is their juniors have risen this year. Their current problem is not the youngsters but young adults where their has been a serious drop off in playing numbers ie. 17 to early 20′s with calls to bring back the 5 metre rule for these competitions.The current capacity of the cricket ground under renovation is 36000. The 34000 in attendance is the largest league test crowd since 1992. This does not even compare to AFL average crowds or major rugby tests but it sure is in the right direction.. I get a little uncomfortable not with people who do not like league but people who play class games. Some people do not like league because of its supporters and their economic /social/background and when they use individual hope interest or spurious speculation instead of facts.League may have many problems but the one redeeming feature of the game is that they just keep on keeping on. It is the most resilient of all. It should of been dead after the super league war. I for one have always appreciated a fighter.
May 10th 2008 @ 12:27am
westy said | May 10th 2008 @ 12:27am | Report comment
Paul…..further to league’s quaint habits they like the AFL actually publish their crowds in the metro dailies . Rugby does not. You see some of the crowds overseas do not always make for good reading. Have a look at some NZ super 14 games. More to the point how many games do the Waratahs , Reds and Brumbies play in Australia. Not many. Average has to be multiplied by the number of games in Australia. Rugby does not have many : which makes league’s 18500 average multiplied by a much larger number of games dwarf rugby. : and the AFL dwarfs them all. Rugby loves averages never absolutes.
May 10th 2008 @ 12:58am
Paul said | May 10th 2008 @ 12:58am | Report comment
Guys,
all of you trust me, I am on your side. I am not against Rugby League or Union. I was trying to present a balanced approach to this debate. I may be from Victoria and be an Aussie Rules supporter, but I also acknowledge that Rugby has a grand tradition in Australia. Rugby in some ways is not that different from Aussie Rules, especially if you compare it to the round ball game. I had a kick of the footy with some Russian kids (I live in Russia at the moment) today, and I was impressed how easily one of the kids handled the ball, because he plays Rugby. The soccer kids found it a lot harder.
Ok, some of your points.
TV vs the Gate.
I said that “I am not sure that TV number are the best way to determine a sport’s popularity”. This does not mean that they count for nothing, it does not mean that they are even unimportant. I am not even using the pure dollar factor to compare TV vs the Gate. This is more of a hunch, but I think it takes more for a person to get up off their seat at home, get the family together, pack a lunch, jump on the train, battle the crowds and sit through the cold and sometimes rain for a couple hours, and fork out 50-60 bucks (been away for a while, sorry if I forget how much the footy costs these days), than it does to plonk one self down on the couch and make the odd trip to the fridge or toilet. It takes a greater level of enthusiasm to actually go to the game than it does to watch one on tv. Most people will watch something on tv anyway, so choosing the game over some rubbish on tv is not a hard choice.
So I never said that the gate is the sole reason, I just happen to think it is more important than tv figures, which are also important.
Perhaps people in Melbourne are just more sports crazy. The total average attendances for AFL in a weekend this year are 322 903. For NRL, they are 145 525. TV counts for something, but surely the gate counts for something too. I just think it is bit rich to argue that the TV figures are somehow more important than the gate figures. That sounds like a bit of an excuse to me.
I have no desire to see Rugby die out. In fact I don’t think it ever will. It is obvious that League is far more popular than Union, even though I personally happen to enjoy Union more. I certainly hope Rugby will always keep a lead on the A-League. But I also think there is more room for AFL in QLD and NSW. AFL is another one of Australia’s traditions.
Good luck and enjoy your footy.
May 10th 2008 @ 1:09pm
Treizistes said | May 10th 2008 @ 1:09pm | Report comment
Dave Gilbank
That was beautiful mate.
May 10th 2008 @ 2:24pm
Sledgeandhammer said | May 10th 2008 @ 2:24pm | Report comment
I think the really interesting trend in rugby league is its apparent growth in Queensland, and relative decline (not death) in NSW. I have noticed that less people in Sydney seem to discuss league around the water cooler so to speak as was the case 10 years ago. In fact in the 1980s, and I was a teenager back then, league really did seem like the greatest game of all. We all believed in it 100% and the level of excitement each weekend was extraodinary. That’s not fact, just perception. For me the move to increasingly defensive tactics started by warren ryan and culminating in the 86 eels grand final were a real turn off, and took a lot of gloss of the game.
May 10th 2008 @ 3:48pm
Midfielder said | May 10th 2008 @ 3:48pm | Report comment
Sledgeandhammer
Thats a good call by you …………. I would also add the 10 meter rule has had a big effect with the win at all costs by most coaches the extra space provided with the increase in seperation has resulted in a barg up the middle for ground position for the kicker to get a better ground position. Essentially a waiting game for the other team to make a mistake in there part of the ground. IMO five meter rule and 4 tackles is far better way to open up attacking play and bring ball players back into the game.
Your comment about RL centre of influence moving to Brisbane is both true and intersting ……… I am not sure why …. but the centre of influence is moving.
May 10th 2008 @ 6:09pm
cosmos forever said | May 10th 2008 @ 6:09pm | Report comment
My parents live on the Gold Coast, and I’d attribute the rise of League up north to the massive population transfer from NSW working class areas. Lots of tradies moving up to build houses means they will take their game with them.
That’s also why AFL is strong – same deal with the Victorians who have moved up I reckon.
Eamonn, like others, I just think you are simply wrong. I believe all of the codes will continue and some will grow as others shrink in particular markets. For example, if Adelaide built a purpose built football field they would possibly get much better crowds than at Hindmarsh – but I can’t see how that would affect the Port and Crows.
Canberra is a classic example. Both of the team in national leagues have similar core attendance. Raiders have come off a pretty bad few years to be building again and when either they or the Brumbies get on a role with consecutive finals appearances I reckon that team will jump up to the 20,000 odd. Now, if The Cosmos rose out of the fire they might get 10000 in the first few years, and again I can’t see that that would affect the other two.