The National Rugby League (NRL) and the Australian Football League (AFL) Cold War has continued into September and the NRL needs to be concerned by the poor crowds it has achieved for the first week of the finals.

There are several reasons why the AFL has dominated the NRL in terms of attendances and Australian history plays a role.

There is a clear geographical difference between the two sports homeland cities, the theatre for watching the games differs due to the nature of the sports and, importantly, the role of management in growing the game has been critical to the success of one code over the other.

Ultimately, the results are clear – the AFL is winning the Cold War of Australian sport.

To begin with, the AFL dominates most states of Australia. Many people in South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and some remote communities of the Nothern Territory do not know the difference between rugby league and rugby union.

People in Victoria may know the difference due to the fact the Melbourne Storm have managed to achieve a cult following in the southern capital. In fact, the Storm’s success has been achieved much to the surprise of many north of the Victorian border.

Melbourne are ranked fourth in members in the NRL and have easily been the most dominant team in the modern era of the game.

While, in New South Wales and Queensland, rugby league has always had to contend with a cultural difference with those who follow rugby union – generally a wealthy private school game. The result of this is rugby league has never completely dominated to the extent that Aussie Rules has in its geographical strongholds.

To add a personal anecdote, many rugby union fans still do not acknowledge rugby league as a form of rugby and will rather watch AFL instead of rugby league out of pure spite.

Yes, this seems like hyperbole and a general stereotype, but it highlights the divide that can occur in New South Wales and Queensland. Although rugby league represents all levels of society, be it wealth, gender or religion, it does not have the monopoly over fans the AFL has achieved in the southern states.

Although the management of the AFL can take credit for maintaining this monopoly, it cannot be denied it never had to suffer a split that occurred for rugby in the early 20th century and consequently a split of the supporters following the code.

Therefore, rugby league crowds are naturally lower due to its inability to develop its sport into the religion status that the AFL has managed to achieve.

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Not only is there a cultural difference between the homelands of each sport, but there are also geographical differences that exist in the major cities of the heartlands of the game – Melbourne for the AFL and Sydney for the NRL.

Historically, Melbourne was a city established by free settlers. Its streets and suburbs planned out, while Sydney – being a convict settlement – was built with little thought of long term planning. What does this have to do with anything? How does the history affect the crowds and popularity of the two codes?

Although the answer is simplistic, the results can be noticed today. Everything in Melbourne is centred towards the city. The transport system – easily the best in Australia – all travels or at least makes connections towards the two major transport hubs which include tram, rail and bus.

These hubs – Flinders Street and Southern Cross Stations – are located on either side of Melbourne’s city centre. In addition to this, the two major stadiums – MCG and Etihad Stadium – are within an easy walking distance of these major transport hubs.

To make matters even easier for the fans, all the Melbourne based teams play out of the MCG or Etihad Stadium. This makes it extremely easy for fans to make arrangements to attend their games and for the AFL to get the crowds they so desire.

Sydney, on the other hand, is less fortunate. As the city grew and spread, it developed districts that have historically provided differences of wealth and culture.

To expand on this point, South Sydney, actually based in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, has always made links to its working class roots. Its nearest neighbour the Sydney Roosters, formally known as Eastern Suburbs and also located in the northern part of the eastern suburbs, houses the wealthiest inhabitants of Sydney and indeed Australia.

Many people who reside in Sydney’s east, despite their wealthy status, loathe travelling anywhere east of ANZAC parade – the main road that separates the eastern suburbs from the rest of Sydney.

This trend is seen in other areas of Sydney. The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are based on the Northern Beaches, where people despise having to cross the Spit bridge.

Yes, because there are always traffic issues and it takes forever to get anywhere, but also, why would you want to travel anywhere when you have everything where you are?

To travel from Manly, the southern point of the Northern Beaches, to the city requires multiple transport use – car, ferry, bus or train – to get to the next venue location.

Knowing this, one can understand how this hassle could turn people off from seeing Manly play away. Unfortunately, for the population of the Northern Beaches, everywhere else in Sydney is considered a hole that should be avoided.

Therefore, the notion that Manly fans don’t travel does apply to many who reside in this area of Sydney.

Regarding this divide, they are not alone. Cronulla fans in the Shire – Sydney’s far south – feel the same way, while the people of Penrith in Sydney’s far west – at the feet of the Blue Mountains – only travel if they have to and that is generally for work. Going for any other reason is considered bonkers.

They may, if you are lucky, go far enough east to reach Parramatta.

On top of this, to and from the opposite ends of Sydney using the city’s public transport system can take over two hours of travel.

This divide does not exist in Melbourne as the people in the north, south, east and west of Melbourne can get to the stadiums in close to an hour’s time.

Therefore, these geographical factors play a role in the attendances the AFL and NRL manage to get to games.

Television has become fundamental to the progression and growth of sport in Australia and abroad. However, apart from offering vast sums of wealth for the AFL and NRL, television has had possibly an opposite effect for both sports.

For Aussie Rules, television does not enhance the sport. Watching Aussie rules on television can leave the viewer wondering what the heck is going on. Many fans – usually in New South Wales or Queensland – shake their head in bewilderment when casting their eye over the television screen for an AFL match.

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This is despite the fact that, when attending the game, one can see the full layout and the scope of tactics employed by both teams. The result is simple for neutral fans, to enjoy AFL you have to be there.

This draws more people in and as such the atmosphere of the crowd energises the fan so that when they return they aim to bring more people with them to experience what is uniquely Australian.

The non-AFL fans leaves a game, still confused by what they watched but overjoyed by the experience, thinking of how great the crowd atmosphere was. On the other hand, rugby league – and rugby union for that matter – are made for television.

Everything you need to see happening is happening right on the box in front of your eyes. You don’t need to travel for hours in traffic chaos to watch it, you don’t need to go out in the pouring rain, pay for parking, for food and pay high ticket prices to be entertained.

You can stay home with all the comfort this entails and enjoy the contest.

Although the sporting quality you are watching is world class, with the NRL you lose the excitement of actually being there, of being apart the atmosphere, of being part of the game.

No fans are leaving the grounds of NRL games saying to their friends, family, and colleagues that the crowd atmosphere was epic unless it is State of Origin or a grand final.

Naturally, there can be other arguments made against the NRL. For example, games scheduled for Thursday night and Friday at 5:30 in the afternoon are not ideal.

To counter this, the AFL still have games on Thursday night, and, although they do not have a ridiculously early Friday night game, the fact remains – there is a clear difference to the effect that television has had on the attendance popularity of the two codes.

Cultural differences, geographical differences and television impacts are not the only justification for the difference of attendances in the two codes. The management of the two sports can and should be held accountable for their respective popularity.

The sport of AFL is far ahead of its nearest rival the NRL in trying to win over new audiences. It is using its war chest to make inroads into rugby league heartlands.

AFL goalposts are springing up in regions that historically have had no link to the southern game. It is not just the AFL management outperforming its rival, the vast majority of AFL clubs outperform their rugby league rivals.

South Sydney, the most successful Sydney team, has 30,454 members, while in the AFL, only the two Queensland teams and the Greater Western Sydney Giants have less than 30 thousand members.

Although it can be argued that member numbers do not translate to crowd figures, it surely does not hurt the clubs and the sport’s cause in making members into active attendees.

So what can the NRL do to achieve parity with the AFL despite the many issues it is facing? There is no one answer.

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg rightfully highlighted improved stadia in Sydney would help. This is true. A purpose built ANZ Stadium for the rectangle sports is crucial, but so is a complete fix to Sydney’s transport system.

Fixing the transport system may remove some of the geographical and cultural issues faced by the game.

Unfortunately, the NRL is relying on a New South Wales government that has and can historically be seen as a mirror to how rugby league has progressed with in-fighting, power politics and lack of future planning ruling the day.

What the NRL can do and seriously needs to consider is changing its pricing strategy to better target its demographics.

It is correct that the NRL finals and grand final tickets are cheaper than the AFL’s. Despite this, the AFL still maintain its edge in crowd numbers for the variety of reasons that have already been indicated.

Currently, for the first finals round of the NRL, ticket prices for NRL club ticketed members start from $50 for families and $20 for adults at every venue.

General public tickets start from $65 for families and $25 for adults at Sydney games. Again, cheaper than the AFL, yet obviously not cheap enough to win over the Sydney public.

It should be noted that the NRL has costs associated with venue hire and the running of the final series, however, with careful planning, it should be using its mega-television rights to cover any such costs.

One suggestion to improve this situation would be to allow all club members free access to the finals series and to have all other tickets at $10 for adults and $5 for children and pensioners.

Moreover, the NRL – working closely with the stadium bodies – need to reduce prices on parking and food, and, in conjunction with the New South Wales and Queensland governments, continue to allow free travel for any ticketed holder.

It may seem an extreme measure, but with further promotion of such match prices, this move has the potential to remove the embarrassment of empty seats that currently plague the NRL.

Consequently, the governing bodies and the sports are and should be judged by the number of people that roll through the gates of their games.

Since the formation of AFL’s independent commission, the sport has rightfully recognised that a national footprint is a must for its future success.

To capture the northern states – two of the three most populous states – would assure its long term survival not only from any other Australian sport but also from any international competitor.

The NRL has only recently attempted to create a united front, yet in-fighting for funds continues to rule the day.

No sport will die, but its popularity can decline to the point that it no longer becomes a threat on a national stage. The key driver and a genuine indicator of success of a sport are the attendances at the grounds.

Thus, in the Cold War that is occurring currently on the Australian sporting landscape between the two major football codes, it is clear that the AFL is winning.

The following table highlights the differences in the amount of NRL membership compared to the AFL for the year 2017.