bp2's Roar Profile

I fully understand that you support your team no matter what. Maybe those of an English background can fill us in. If your team gets relegated does that mean you never watch a Premier League game again or even recognise quality play from any of the teams?

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I have to say that i have never changed teams Savvas. Although i cannot make it to every Sydney Olympic game in the State League now due to my young family and heavy workload i normally get out to at least 5 home games a season and am a member of them.

I do not have a team that i specifically follow in the A League. But i support the game in this country no matter what. I have travelled to watch Olympic play in every state of this country. When my kids grow i will take them to watch Olympic, and i will definately be taking them to the A League. Even though Olympic was my team i will take great pride in telling my kids how i saw players like Mark Viduka, Ned Zelic, Chris Kalantzis etc before they were weighed down with pressure – when they just wanted to play.

I agree with BES. You can support more than one team. I am a fan of the Roar now as the article states. I bet you used to support Olympic, South Melbourne, Heidlberg and West Adelaide back in the day?

Im sorry but an average of 17K for a competition that is the best in its code in the WORLD, with the best players, coverage etc is quite pathetic, regardless of our small population base. What about the AFL? They are 4th in averages with less of a population base than the NRL (considering NSW and Qld are NRL states)

From the list you have linked it seems that MLS almost has it beat for average. I know the USA has a massive population but it is easilly the 4th sport there!

Wookie, i stand corrected. The AFL dont need private investors. It is the “Giant” in the story without them already.

I didnt intend to come across as wanting to weaken League (as a Sydneysider i did grow up with it and have been a member of the Bulldogs in the past). Its just that i see the AFL going hard at League in Sydney, and eating into their share without touching footballs share as much. By definition that would mean that we have to be stronger in comparison.

NRL Memberships have only started to be focused on by clubs since the NSW pokie tax came in. It hasnt been hammered for long and they started off with really low numbers so you would expect them to consistently break records from year to year in the formative years of it.

TV ratings are always high for League but i personally dont give alot of credence to them. I have read somewhere that NSW and QLD have 60% of the TV market so if League is the number 1 game (strongly) in these two states then TV ratings will always be skewed towards it. I tend to follow the money trail. If so much attention is paid to the ratings then why did the AFL get so much more than the NRL on their last broadcast rights deal? Independent commission, the News limited ownership issue or whatever else is thrown up the basic thing is that the market put a much higher value on the AFL than it did the NRL. If it was just based on ratings i am positive the NRL wouldnt be looking at Perth, Central Queensland and even PNG for expansion as they already have it dominated.

As for attendances. generally the NRL attendances are quite poor. the non-football media tend to compare A League attendances with overseas leagues when having a dig at our game. But even the NRL attendances dont stack up against these leagues. NRL figures are massively skewed by the Broncos and North Queensland. The rest of them dont average much more than the A League. Last season was also helped by a successful St George, which brought many supporters onto their bandwagon.

League is the game in Sydney and Queenslands hearts and always will be, but I cannot see them any better off with the AFL attacking its heartlands of the Gold Coast and Western Sydney.

I agree that the HAL is number two in some states.

It is definately number 2 in Adelaide, since the old NSL days it has always been a soccer stronghold. Perth may be more touch and go as the Glory seem to have lost their way a bit. They need to regain their mojo before the NRL strongarm a team there. i would think that the Force and new NRL team would cannabalise one another so there is no reason that we cant be number 2 there.

Melbourne is a whole world onto its own. It is such a sporting town that even if we are equal second with Union that will more than suffice. I think AFL would eat League down there for us.

Sydney is a really weird place. It is a League town but even their crowds suggest that they are not infalliable. AFL will throw what they can at them and if we can strengthen ourselves in our heartlands (the west and south) we may hope for an equal second with the AFL with a severly weakened League in first place.

Like i said before, Queensland is Rugby League mad. I think that it will be the hardest market for us.

The community model idea is absolutely fantastic in theory, but in this day and age i dont think it can be sustained. Even Rugby League is moving away from the community based model and they have 100 plus years of history so i cannot see how it can be sustained in such a small market.