A number of years back while sitting in a practical anthropology class the question was posed by the lecturer: “What is the single biggest factor about Australian culture that is unique?” The overwhelming response was our nation’s mad love affair with all things sport.
The reasons for Australia’s love affair with sport are hard to put the finger on.
Perhaps it is that we are a nation descended from underdogs and we love the chance to come from behind and win.
Perhaps it is that we want to be noticed by the world, and as we are a small country, sport gives us a chance to punch well above our weight in the world, and be noticed.
In Australia, there seems to be no city that has a bigger love affair with sport than Melbourne.
Perhaps the reasons for this can be found in Melbourne’s rapid rise to become the richest city in the British Empire on the back of the 1850s gold rush. The rapid rise in income turned Melbourne into Australia’s biggest city and gave people a lot of free time for recreational activities. It was in this climate that the sport of Aussie Rules Football was born and rapidly spread across the country.
Sydney had a different nature to Melbourne, its growth was more gradual.
Rugby Union came to Sydney in 1864, yet Aussie Rules did not make it there until 1877. Nevertheless, there was a large uptake of Aussie Rules in Sydney, so much so that the Waratahs club and Sydney University petitioned the NWSRU to change to Victorian Rules Football.
This was a little too much for the upper class Rugby Union administrators of the day, and the status quo remained. In 1903, Victor Trumper, the Australian test cricketer, set up an Aussie Rules football league in Sydney. In 1907 Trumper changed his mind and promoted Rugby League instead due to the potential money to be made from the game.
Sydney has always had more of a fractured football environment than Melbourne has. Until the dawn of Rugby League, there were two major football codes: Rugby Union and Australian Rules. After the decline of Aussie Rules, there was then League and Union.
Now in the early 21st century, Sydney again faces a fractured football scene. There are now four football codes competing for the Sydneysider’s attention.
Over the last 26 years, the Swans have made themselves a strong home, with many Sydney people warming to them and claiming them as their own.
Over the last 12 years Sydney have enjoyed Rugby Union at a professional level.
Then, over the last few years, Sydney have warmed to the new Sydney FC.
When the big picture is taken into account, professional sports are less attended than in the past. State of Origin Rugby League matches are no longer selling out. Rugby League attendance averages are hovering around 17,000, with some clubs failing to average 10,000. David Gallop, NRL Chief Executive, has warned that many Sydney clubs are facing financial crisis.
Rugby Union is not immune to struggles either. The sport is also struggling, and will sorely miss the $25 million that was denied to them in the recent Federal Budget.
The Sydney Football Club has had some high attendances in recent years. Most notably, the game against LA Galaxy attracted 80 000, although many argue that the majority were there to see David Beckham play.
But even the Sydney FC has not performed as well as Melbourne Victory. Sydney FC played to average crowds of 16,373 in 2007-8, while Melbourne Victory played to average crowds of 26,064.
Are Sydney people losing an interest in sport?
Perhaps Sydney people are overwhelmed and confused by four codes competing for space in the one city. Still, Sydney is increasingly becoming a cosmopolitan international city with its eyes towards the world. Perhaps it is forgetting its Australian cultural sporting roots.
Others have argued that Sydney traffic and public transport is so horrendous that people would prefer to stay at home and watch the game on TV.
Perhaps Sydney people do have less time for sport these days. The trend would suggest that the Sydney population may eventually support professional football codes to the tune of 1 or 2 AFL teams, a Rugby Union team, 1 or 2 A-League teams and 4 or 5 Rugby teams.
There are troubled times ahead for Sydney’s sporting landscape.
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bob said | May 30th 2008 @ 2:28am | Report comment
maybe it a time thing… you have to wait and let the people come to the sports, not try to force it. The population is changing, and the tastes will change, but there’s no reason why choice and variety will dampen interest, I think interest will be dampened if all the sports seem the same… but a country can’t always punch above its weight… these things are cyclical, and maybe this is a quiet time for aussie sport. But perhaps too, sport isn’t in schools like it was? The love of sport is usually formed very young, as is the desire to win… and the willingness to watch an event live comes from that early desire to play. Aussies always have had a good sporting attitude, all bagging aside, they win well, and lose well… they don’t usually bleat and whinge… except John O’Neill perhaps… and the country will be poorer if sport is falling down the agenda in schools!
sheek said | May 30th 2008 @ 7:04am | Report comment
Well written Paul,
It’s interesting to note that water sports have played an integral part in Sydney’s recreation from inception. The early colonists indulged in rowing & sailing, two sports that reached their peak in the late 1880s to early 1900s it seems, & continue to be popular today.
Then in the early 1900s came beach swimming, followed by surf carnivals, while board surfing took off in the mid 1950s, I think it was. Unlike Melbourne, our surf beaches are virtually minutes away. In a city where travelling is burdensome, this is a positive.
Horse racing & cricket were other pursuits that entertained Sydneysiders over 100-150 years ago. Melbourne’s rise coincided with the defining of football into variously association, rugby & Australian. As you suggest, Melbourne exploded in the 1850s & was primed to accept Australian football from inception.
On the other hand, Sydney had already established an order of recreation, & new sports had to fit in around existing pursuits. At least that’s my take on it. Also, the transport problems can’t be underplayed. Ease of egress to & from venues/places is critical to human development. And the ease of travel around Sydney is diabolical.
Savvas Tzionis said | May 30th 2008 @ 8:27am | Report comment
This is how articles should be written!!!
The author has noted various unskewered facts and offered opinions and thoughts.
So many other writers here are so biased it is ridiculous.
The Link said | May 30th 2008 @ 9:16am | Report comment
‘When the big picture is taken into account, professional sports are less attended than in the past’
This is a very football centric view of sporting attendences in Sydney / Melbourne. How are the crowds for Cricket faring? At the very least test match attendences in Sydney are at a record high (can anyone confirm?). What about Horse Racing?
Zach said | May 30th 2008 @ 10:47am | Report comment
Sydney Football Club is the official name of the Swans. Sydney FC is the name of the soccer club.
Michael C said | May 30th 2008 @ 10:53am | Report comment
I was interested recently when I stumbled across Sweeney report figures for surfing, and some of the biggest results for ‘interest’ were places like Tasmania.
The article treads carefully the ages old Sydney-Melbourne rivalry – - on that note – as per others above – -well written – - I think you’ve avoid offending people.
I’ve seen theories about why a game like Aust Footy evolved in Melbourne – -i.e. no off-side, and higher scoring, seemingly evident of a greater sense of desire for a fair reward for a fair days work – - i.e. the industrial unionist theory that is perhaps most easily converted to practice in a city such as Melbourne in that glittering gold rush cashed up era. Certainly – -it was a natural that people would flok to the games, pay for admittance and at least under the counter professionalism occur.
At any rate – - I was just yesterday having a little look at ABS stats – - comparing NSW to the rest of the country:
NSW represents 52% of the nations soccer participants, and 54% of the nations RL participants.
compare to Victoria which represents 49% of the Aust Footy participants.
However – - how representative is Sydney of the rest of the country?
The next best soccer states are Vic 18%, QLD 15% and falls away to 6% in WA, 4% in SA.
RL -
41% in QLD, next best, NT with about 3%, none of the other states register on the ABS radar.
RU
57% in NSW.
Aust Footy -
after Vic,
WA 19%, SA 14%, QLD 11% (perhaps a surprise), Tas 4% and NT 1% (which is actually a bigger quantity than the RL 3%).
This makes obvious the known elements – that we have a ‘fractured’ nation.
And, what NSW concentrates on – - it dominates the nation. Now NSW is 33% of the Australian population.
Therefore, to SO dominate 3 codes, soccer (52%), RL (54%) and RU (57%) – - it shows that NSW is actually a little out of step with the rest of the country.
It shows that NSW and Sydney is a bit of a stand alone bastion. And – - – somewhere down the line, Sydney perhaps needs to become a little less ‘fragmented’ – -
btw – the fact that AFL didn’t register in NSW on the ABS radar is indicative of the folly of claims of an AFL vs NRL war!!!!!
The obvious fact is that Soccer, RL and RU – - are all unhealthily concentrated in the SAME market.
btw -
a couple of interesting points:
Of these -RU is the most likely to be Organised Only – - 87%., RL and AF 74%, (outdoor) Soccer 59%!!!!!, (non-org ONLY runs at 32%). That’s interesting – - also, because, indoor and outdoor cricket are around the same 36% and 35% respectively).
Gender split -
soccer (outdoor) is 74% male, RL runs at 100%, but that’s where touch football comes into it, which is 58% male.
RU and AF are both 90% male.
actually, on the male front,
within the primary ‘home state’, outdoor soccer has 162K male participants inside of NSW vs AF with 120K inside of Vic.
RL has 49K inside of NSw, and RU has 40K inside of NSW.
outside of the main ‘home state’, outdoor soccer has 150K male participants outside of NSW vs AF with 120K outside of Vic.
RL has 42K outside of NSw, and RU has 31K outside of NSW.
I hope you see where I’m coming from here – - NSW and Sydney is perhaps too dominating of too much – - for 33% of the population, it seems odd that NSW dominates 3 main football codes with participant shares of over 50% – - that’s a fair skew.
No wonder the Sydney sporting landscape is confused. And, no wonder there’s such high levels of ‘regional’ contest for example soccer vs RL with a fair regional overlap.
Now – - this is an issue I guess for some of the Aust Footy states – - where Sweeney reports have shown AFL to be a clear leader with daylight to the next (contender). The fact for quite some time has been more ‘unified’ (myopic, closed) sports market – - less confused, a closer parallel of the AFL community to the general community. This is now being threatened like never before.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Will there result a greater ‘fracturing’ of the Melb sporting landscape for example? Or – - is it so entrenched that it can be absorbed, and may actually be a good thing to keep the ‘main game’ a little more ‘honest’.
Lazza said | May 30th 2008 @ 11:31am | Report comment
A bit of competition keeps everyone honest. I don’t agree that Soccer is in ‘competition’ with the other codes except for participation levels. It’s a summer sport in this country.
The real competition is between RU/RL and AFL for the winter market. At the moment only Cricket and Football are true national sports. AFL and RL may have impressive support, especially AFL, but it’s concentrated in about 50% of the country.
The only reason those great sports are not national games is because no-one had the vision or foresight till the 1980’s to expand and promote those games. It will be interesting to see how the winter market pans out in the next few years.
Michael C said | May 30th 2008 @ 11:44am | Report comment
Lazza -
certainly true re the winter TV ‘market’, which for now, is a nationally fragmented market – - – and, in reality – -always WILL be for a regular club competition – -
- – however the participation and therefore the community participation is all across winter – - that’s more what I mean.
Traditionally – in a MElb type market, all the schools played footy – - you didn’t have Sydney type scenarios of having primarily RL vs RU type schools that split the community demographic.
At the grass roots level – - the more that playing a single sport will expose you to people from all cross sections of your broader community – - perhaps the better.
I could recognise that for some – - soccer might be seen as that vehicle for Sydney??? To bring people together?
I just wonder how badly shaken Sydney was by the Cronulla riots.
In Melb, around the time of gangs and ethnic tensions in Sydney – - here in Melb we had our criminal violence nicely organised – - i.e. via the organised criminal community now portrayed in Underbelly.
However – - since then, we’ve seemingly had more violence on the streets, more issues with gangs and the like – - perhaps, just as the presence of the Soviet Union provided an uneasy ‘stability’ – - likewise the dominance of slight more organised crime factions.
Anyway – - whole point is the need for sports to play a unifiying role in the community rather than divisive; to break down barriers rather than creating demographic silos.
that’s all. Just introducing city specific broader social issues!!!!! (but, I’ve avoided religion, and will do my best to – - although, note the lack or orange and green in AFL team colours!).
Millster said | May 30th 2008 @ 11:44am | Report comment
Very interesting stats MC.
I’ve got to say, my reaction is that I’d be horrified to be a sports administrator in NSW. But as a fan, it is a delightful smorgasbord of options that we have up here….
True Tah said | May 30th 2008 @ 11:52am | Report comment
Millster definitely agree,
don’t agree that Sydney’s sporting landscape is dying at all- its just that within the past 10 years we have become increasingly spoilt for choice, and not only with following our various sports, we have a stack of other things to do up here as well.
All sports have the capacity to be seen as a vehicle for bringing people together, although the fragmentation Michael C refers to is becoming far less pronounced.