The only two global sports are athletics and soccer, and we suck at both of those. As tennis has become more and more global in recent years the amount of Australians at the top level has decreased.

We have at certain times been world champs at several sports, but in most we dont have many competitors:
swimming (from around 5 nations, realistically), Rugby League (three nations), Union (around 5 nations), Cricket (eight nations).

A reason that NRL, AFL and Cricket are so popular is that Australia is dominant, and the local leagues are the best examples of the sport anywhere in the world. I think thats why we support RU and Soccer only at a national level – And more people would casually follow the Premier League than the A league. Probably a large reason for the decline in basketball’s popularity.

These are the facts.

The HAL is of a fairly poor standard atm so u can argue it needs time i dont think the HAL will ever be massive i reckon it will prob end up at around an average crowds of 15000-30000 between all clus once full up and running.

The socceroos however are already more popular in my opinion then any other international team Most of there matches are on Cable TV or really l8 at night and u can ask almost any lover of sport and they will be able to tell u who we playedlast who we play next and that we are in the world cup.

Everyone follows the socceroos as long as they continue to qualify for th world cup there popularity will grow the whole world competes in Football ‘soccer’ n takes it very seriously Aussie want to be part of that.

If the socceroos were on Free to Air like the Aus vs Urg game was the whole country would watch selling the socceroos our to foxtell was the FFA stupidest move but the HAL will prob never get bigger then AFL n NRL unless the stardard raise to a ponit were teams like Arsenal chelsea ect are getting player directly from the HAL

It is posible that football in Aus will get outside investment. Clubs across the world are changing their financial structures.

There are teams popping up all over Brazil with the sole aim of identifying and selling talent. There are clubs in some of the “lesser” European leagues that are starting to get the backing of some of the Russian Oligarch’s who see these clubs with large domestic fan-bases and proud histories as “ideal” investments.

What is to say Australia can’t become a type of “glamour league”? A plaything for the rich who come here to live comfortably?

Just look at Australia as a country – Standard of living is exceptional, climate is great, english is the main language, currency and economics are preferrable to the rich. It has the prerequisites to allow Australia to attract investors for the game.

Junior participation numbers for soccer in Australia is far higher than other codes but a lot of this is due to the ‘soccer mum’ influence. When Aussies get into their teenage or adult years they migrate to the footy codes that have the biff.

I thought the then VFL nearly went broke in the mid 80s.

Here’s his wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_O%27Brien

It opens:

“Heritier “Harry” O’Brien (born 15 November 1986) is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League

He was born to a Brazilian mother and a Congolese father in Rio de Janeiro, and moved to Western Australia when he was 3 years old.[1] However he was raised by his Australian stepfather and was 19 years old when he found out about his biological father.[2] He supported the Essendon Bombers as a child, with his family owning a pet dog named Sheedy after the long-time Essendon coach, Kevin Sheedy. ”

Only in Australia would you find a kid born in Rio, to a Congalese father, who named his dog Sheeds, and took to aussie rules.

How can anyone not love the diversity of Australia? We just keep offering these rare gems to the rest of the world.

FFA take note of that – taking ‘franchise’ literally is never a good thing.

Football presence is part marketing, part community involvement (by the clubs and by the people). There is little advertising of HAL right now compared to other codes. Perhaps FFA isn’t as flushed with money for advertising space for greater newspaper/media presence. They could certainly do better and will need to for people to ‘think’ more about the HAL and football, and think more of attending.

Maybe football doesn’t need to be No. 1, just a very close second. Too early to tell. Need another 10 to 15 years to gauge that. FFA have a lot of work to do.

Also, I’ll echo others sentiments – I’m not sure that I agree with the ‘tone’ of this article.

If the Socceroos are such a major player domestically, then, having 1 or 2 games a year in any given city is sure to be a sell out…..surely?

The 3 WC qualifiers drew 165K to a combination of ANZ twice and MCG…..that’s 247K capacity. So, running about 67% for those big 3 games.

Tri-Nations Wallabies were more squished, ANZ drew 80K, Subi 36K and Suncrop 47K, so, 164K into 181K capacity – so running around 90% for those big 3 games.

TN Wallabies tickets look a bit hotter than WC Qualifier Socceroos?

AFL finals had 7 matches at the MCG for 532K from 700K capacity, so running around 76%. Now, for the ‘big 3′ games, AFL prelims and GF with 300K capacity drew 265K. About 88%

NRL big 3 SoO drew 184K to venues with capacity of 192,500 so near enough to 95%.

These are some of the benchmarks year on year. The Socceroos are in a crowded market. btw – the other 2 Socceroos matches drew 61K to stadia with 101,800 capacity. So, about 60%. (obviously hurt by the low figure at Etihad as the Netherlands game did okay at SFS).

So – the total figures,
AFL finals, 9 matches, capacity 793,500, att 625K, 79% to capacity.
the others 15 matches as above, capacity 932,300, att 700K, 75% to capacity.

For what it matters.

its fantastical to think they will and IMO it would be terrible for the average (non fanatical) supporter if they did. dont we want a rich sporting landscape with variety and the ability to beat everyone else, especially the Poms, at any and every game we do? Cricket, Union, Football, League, Swimming, Cycling… so long as there is a chance of getting one over them. or NZ. or RSA then there will be an interest. As union provides a good forum to achieve international glory (91 in England, 99 and telling the ABs 4 more years in 2003) i cant see it massively suffering. one of Union’s strengths is the socioeconomic people it attracts – advertisers love them because, by on large they are middle class and buy expensive stuff. will this suddenly change in 20 years? the wallabies maybe struggling but the game internationally is doing well. if they get a few good runs and turn things around the bandwagoners will be back, the media will love them and they will sell some more shirts.

what may occur is abit more of a cyclcal support as floating supporters shift allegiances in line with big events – Swans in Sydney winning = Swan gets media; Wallabies win something (bloodyslow or tri or WC) then people dust off the scarfs and beanies, Scceroos do well then we all learn dutch for a few weeks…
for football it means they are part of the landscape – being 2nd choice throughout the country as some state is fantastic compared to 5 year ago but for me thats missing the point – because to have a solid, secure national league, ffa cup and competitive international team with good players coming through a professional system – just like the other codes – is no small achievement.

Even table tennis is fun to play. I would never watch it on TV though.

Obviously the word “hate” when applied to sport is used in much the same context as when you say “I hate peas”.

I defy anyone to name a single sport that isn’t fun to play.

i think they have some money (and am vaguelyaware Craig Fossie always suggests they are better at taking money thanre-investing it)

It really needs to be cleaned up so hopfully the 200 million the AFL are pumping into the area wakes them up.

The effects of large school participation on the professional game will only be seen 10-20 years down the track, when there is a lack of quality players coming through the NRL ranks (assuming football takes away from it) and when those lifelong supporters of clubs stop going (death by old age) and aren’t replaced by new ones.

It is clear the parents want her to be an NRL fan, and it is this brainwashing that made me an AFL fan back in the day, until I made the choice for myself.