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.
Midfielder
Guest
Redb Agree but my order would be different, given the base all codes are currently on. Football - growing qiuckly AFL - growing slowly RL - stable, maybe a small decline Cricket - warning 20 20 may help but may also chase away existing base RU - warning (Australia & SA only) Baseball - trouble, heaps of present management model is not working, needs new blood / ideas or be reduced to park game soon. Two rugbies will never merge as long as one sees an advantage in taking over from the other, greed, past history and both in real trouble for the merger to happen.
Redb
Guest
Chris, Paul, Gee you blokes are going to have to wait for awhile for AFL die off in Australia. good luck with that. Sports interest in Australia: AFL - growing soccer - growing RL - stable RU - waning cricket - waning basketball - in trouble. Basketball flies completely in the face of your arguments - its a world game with huge dollars on offer, in particular in the USA. Aussie Andrew Bogut has just secured a $80M contract to play in the NBA - but where is the NBL in Australia ?- its leaking, teams in major cities in trouble. Its not that simple and the two rugbies will never merge. Redb
chris
Guest
Paul i would to see 4 sporting codes in Australia i.e.Rugby(one code world game),Cricket,Soccer and Basketball. Having 2 codes of Rugby is just pointless now,while AFL is massive now but it will never take off elsewhere plus the players in that would be far more suited to Basketbakk,Soccer and Rugby.
Paul
Guest
Chris, You think having two football codes is too much? Well that depends on how many teams each code has. So you are suggesting some downsizing. If two codes have to go, which ones are you suggesting?
chris
Guest
Australia had the potential to have a all australian code back in 1918(i think)and 1933 when the idea of merging Aussie Rules with Rugby League was mooted but it didn't happen. The only light at the end of the tunnel is Rugby League and Rugby Union join forces(as a Rugby split should never of happend)and i think we all know that a great club comp alongside a big international scene alongside a trans-tasman comp would make Rugby a winner in crowds and tv viewing. I think having more then 2 football codes is just too much nowadays. I feel sorry for GAA and aussie rules fans but i think they will remain strong.
Redb
Guest
Midfielder, I agree Melbourne's connection to Australian football is very strong. i think it has already said but the ownership of the game is significant alone. The early affluence in terms of leisure time makes Melbourne unique in the late 1800s, I think the Melbourne Cup reached its status due to similiar reasons - very much it was about the foundation of Melbourne born in 1835, but it exploded in the 1850s gold rush. By the 1880s the city was still enjoying the benefits through to the early 1900s when it was the seat of federal power from 1901 to 1927 until Canberra was built. Whilst Sydney's population surpassed Melbournes many decades ago, Melbourne retained it's identity and continued on as if nothing had happened in terms of power shift. Australian football has remained a constant through the ups and downs of Melbourne's history - our own game - although you could argue that Adelaide, Perth and Hobart have been just as passionate for the last 100 years. Whilst early in the 1900s the game expanded to NSW and QLD and even NZ participated in a Australasian carnival , decisions were made by Sydney power brokers to back rugby and Brisbane due to geographical separation more than anything was influenced by Sydney. That's a simplistic assessment only. The reality is adminsitrators of the VFL were based at club level and they navel gazed for 60-70 years last century before the VFL formed an independent commission and a decision such as the Swans move to Sydney in 1981 was made. By 1987 the game expanded again with West Coast and Brisbane, Port and Freo in 1996. So it really has only been in the last 20 years that the administrators of the game, now independent, took on the responsibility to grow the code beyond its traditional borders. I know you like to look back at early mistakes made by soccer adminsitrators and infighting, etc, in reality this has been true of all codes at some stage. Redb
Michael C
Guest
ren - I was quoting for Males around the states. Soccer overall is about 75% male, 25% female. However, NSW represents effectively 52% of both the Male AND female Aust Soccer pariticpation. Whereas Vic, is 50% of male in Aust Footy, but only 42% of female. You'll notice that Paul included 'male and female combined'. Soccer has the following traits : higher proportion of 'un-organised' participation (around 35%) higher proportion of female participation higher proportion of older aged participation so - - from the male professional window of codes - - there's actually not so great an ascendancy held by soccer compared to someone for example who compares 420K participants over 15 in outdoor soccer to 268K in Aust Footy. I know of a good number of people who after they'd finished playing footy - -took up soccer or basketball - - something a little 'easier'.
ren
Guest
a question for those quoting a percentage participation in soccer Is the percentage participation for males and females? This could influence the findings as Football, league and union are far more male dominated than soccer. Originally in Western Australia Rugby Union was the preferred sport however was displaced by Football around the time of our Goldrushes (the victorian miners coming across) not sure how this affects the debate but offers an isolated environment to try and comprehend why one code arose above the others. A very well written article as well.
Midfielder
Guest
Redb Thanks But your reference to London EPL does not convey what I see as the % of the population who in Melbourne support a AFL team. A small example a woman I worked with once from Melbourne, did not follow sport at all, hated it all even watching the Swans ................ why I asked because they are not !!! ??? whoever it was as a kid her team. TBH you could name an AFL player and she would not know who you were talking about but she loved the AFL and her team. In Sydney and NZ there is not this almost devotion to a code / team or both. Maybe you are to close or think other parts of the world are the same but Melbourne is unique with its support for AFL and I am interested in how this was and continues to be created.
Redb
Guest
Midfielder,.... In repsonse to your question below: ----------- "Redb, & MC In as few words as possible (remember sever size limits) , can you explain AFL culture.? I have watched for years the crowds and given the population of Melbourne and the number of teams is ( I am guessing) the most supported crowd wise sport in the world. So what creates the culture / mood of a city to be so involved in a sport, I can assure no sport in Sydney has ever had that level of support and emotional connection as the AFL has in Melbourne ……….. and to keep other’s happy you can expand to WA & SA if you like?? But I am more interested in Melbourne" --------- You can't explain the connection of footy and Melbourne in words - I think Sheek touched on the affluence of Melb in the 1800s which introduced leisure time, I think the 8 hour day was also born in Melbourne. Most poeple use to work 6 days a week, sabbath on Sunday, then Mon-Fri and work Sat morning, eventually saturday afternoon became leisure time. Going to sport was a very early phenomen for Melbourne perhaps before other cities in OZ and other parts of the world. Most of the sporting competitions in Australia started well after the VFA (1877), in world terms only England was earlier. (in general tersm there maybe exceptions) There is a definite affluence connection to leisure time available for sport. In the present day this is out of date. For reference: Melbourne to AFL is London to EPL. Redb Redb
Paul
Guest
Michael C, I remember the same thing as you when I was a kid. I have a saying, "You don't choose your footy team, it chooses you." When I was 5 the Tigers chose me and they chose me good. But in the lean years I tried to choose the Swans. They were playing Sunday afternoons and I saw lots of games on TV and Warwick Capper was quite spectacular in those days. I am still an ardent Richmond supporter, as much as I get annoyed with the stupid management decisions that have been made over the years. Richmond chose me, I didn't have a choice, I still don't and I still love them. But in 2005 I sang the Swans club song as loud as any supporter when they won the premiership. The next generation will no doubt treat it quite differently.
Michael C
Guest
btw -- http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl have a quick look at the video footage of a few Carlton boys down with Juventus at Princes Park.
Michael C
Guest
Midfielder - growing up in the bush, my main exposure (given I didn't really know anything about any sport until I turned 8 and we got a tele!) was via the radio and trying to listen to games on Melb stations such as 3KZ, 3DB, 3UZ (crap, they did all the nags), even 3GL from Geelong (they would ONLY do Geelong games, and would even broadcast the last qtr of the magoos). What I most notice coming to Melbourne to watch the footy - was all the dressed up people passing through Flinders St, Spencer St, and even North Melb station, depending where the games were, this was the days of all 6 games on a Saturday, or, at most - 1 Swans game on the Sunday. And, because EVERYONE was going to games in the same sport, same league etc - - I reckon that's just built and built upon itself. That's the thing about a city that comes together. It wasn't League vs Soccer vs Union - - it was only ever Carlton vs Collingwood vs Richmond etc etc. ALL the heroes and villains therefore were known to everyone. It was ALWAYS safe territory at BBQs etc, probably even safer than Bathurst and Falcon vs Torana and Brock vs Moffat. I must admit that I DO miss those days - that atmosphere, these days, there's usually only one game on in town at any given moment, and, with more interstate teams - there may only be one batch of supporters 'mobilised' across town at the one time. The city is poorer for that.
Michael C
Guest
Bob - tee hee, sure can! I think I had it easy, although, as my aim got better, aiming kicks at cow pads was NOT actually the best strategy......but, to this day I can still drill a long pass out from full back - - and, thankfully I don't have to visualize cow manure to achieve it. 1858 - as per Geoffery Blainey : "The matches played in 1858 are described in such meagure detail that it is impossible to know the main rules, but there survives an account of the first match of the following year, and it describes utter confusion. While some of the footballers insisted on picking up the ball or catching it or holding on to it, other players thought too much ball-handling was outrageous." Blainey suggests that "In Victoria the supporters of Rugby football were almost certainly outnumbered by those migrants who in England had played a different kind of football. Thus Eton and Harrow, Winchester and Marlborough and each of the well-known public schools of England played football according to its own rules. At Cambridge University the students arrived from such a diversity of footballing backgrouns that in the 1840s hockey was the more popular game largely because its rules could be agreed upon. Sheek - - when you say 'bits of soccer' - - remember, soccer didn't yet exist. And, just as Australian football was not a 'once-only invention' (as Blainey puts it), nor was soccer - - we know that the London 1862 rules had some evolution still to go - - fair catches, no x-bars, no corners etc - - the game of 1862 was hardly the game to become known as soccer. btw - the famour Melb Grammar vs Scotch College game in August 1858 - - each team selected their central umpire (as if for cricket) - - Melb Grammar selected Tom Wills (he may therefore have umpired the previous match in June vs the St.Kilda school) and Scotch chose John Macadam, a 31 yr old doctor of medicine from Glasgow - who had lived the previous 3 years in Melbourne (btw - 'tis HIS name that is leant to the NUT). So - - first point - - how will a fellow from Glasgow who has lived in Melb for 3 years - how will he umpire a game of 'football'? Also note, the 3 most active Melb schools in these matches had headmasters from quite different backgrounds in England, Scotland and the Channel Islands. While they were conscious of the increasing emphasis on sports in public schools - - they had NOT come from schools that played the same (enough) code of football. Had they all come from Rugby style schools - - then - without a doubt, and especially after the publication of "Tom Browns School Days" - - without a doubt, a Rugby game would have won out - - but, since there was no uniformity at any level - - i.e. amongst school headmaster, general 'players', those selected to umpire - - the result, as list above, was still "utter confusion" by early 1859. The need for a single set of rules was obvious. Sydney vs Melbourne sports rivalry - - - sadly - - for people of my vintage, the Swans are everyones '2nd' team, because, throught the mid 80s, we saw them 'live' every 2nd Sunday. Sad, sad, sad that I don't wish them despair and misery. Sad that I very much enjoyed being in Sydney (Gosford) across the GF weekend in 2005 and really enjoyed the level of coverage up there - - I collected the papers at the time - - proof!!!
John Ryan
Roar Pro
And it helps if as in Perth when the codes were all fighting to see who would be the best, if the State Govt bans all other codes from the schools for 10 years,a little know piece of West Australian history,the man who convinced the Govt to do it is lauded by the local AFL bunch. This was between the wars
sheek
Guest
Okay Paul, The first game of AFL may not have strictly been rugby. Nor was it AFL (naturally). As you basically suggest, it probably incorporated bits of rugby, bits of soccer, & bits of other things that the founding fathers hoped might prove beneficial to the new game. When football clubs were first incoprorated may not necessarily coincide with their influence on a particular sport. But there is of course, more to the discussion..........
bob
Guest
Michael C, there you go though, you practised catching and sprinting... I'm a pom... I had to scrummage and maul on my own! I was almost exorcized by the local priest twice... hit and go to ground, hit and go to ground... you can see my problem.
Joe O'Sullivan
Guest
Paul I was not advancing the case for soccer being described as Aust's national football code, merely discussing the question with Lazza. It is a good point that you raise though - does its summer participation preclude soccer from ever being classified as the national football code? As to the question of whether SFC v MV or Swans v Melb Aussie Rules club is the better manifestation of Melb v Syd rivalry I think has both subjective & objective elements. Another very interesting topic for Roar bloggers.
Paul
Guest
Sheek, We don't need to go into the 1858 debate. I'm happy to let you have your opinion on 1858 being a Rugby game, for the sake of avoiding an argument on the topic. Suffice it to say, that I think it is probably safer to say that it was neither a Rugby game nor an Australian Rules Football game, but rather an experimental game of football with very few rules, as were many of the games played at public schools in England at the time. I would just like to correct you on your misassumption: "By the time Australian football tried to break into NSW & Qld, rugby was firmly established." Here is a list of the first Australian Rules Football club to appear in each colony around Australia. VIC 1859, May 14th, Melbourne Football Club. 1859- Castlemaine, Geelong, Melbourne University 1860- Ballarat 1862- Williamstown 1864- South Yarra; 2nd Williamstown; Carlton 1868- Wharehouse men Football Club 1869- North Melbourne 1871- Ararat 1873- Albert Park; Essendon; St Kilda; Hawthorn; 1874 Rochester (Goulburn Valley); South Melbourne; Port Melbourne 1876- Inglewood; Heidelberg 1877- Beechworth; Footscray; Victorian Football Association formed in 1877 with 14 teams. 1879- West Melbourne 1883- Fitzroy 1892- Collingwood SA 1860- Adelaide Football Club 1862 Modbury 1866- Kapunda 1868- Woodville; Gawler 1870- Port Adelaide 1872- Kensington 1874- Willunga 1877- South Adelaide; Bankers; South Park; Victorian; The South Australian Football Assoication was formed on April 30th, 1877 with 12 teams. 1878- Norwood 1893- North Adelaide 1897- West Adelaide; West Torrens 1901- Sturt QLD 1866- Brisbane Football Club 1870- Volunteer Artillery Football Club; Brisbane Grammar School; Civil Service Football Club; Ipswich TAS 1864 New Town Hobart 1875- Launceston Football Club 1878- New Norfolk District WA 1881- Unions Football Club Fremantle 1882- Fremantle Football Club 1885- Rovers Football Club Perth 1885- Victorians Football Club Perth Western Australian Football Association formed in 1885. NSW 1877 Waratahs played Australian Rules 1877 Sydney University played Australian Rules 1880 New South Wales Football Association formed 1881 First match between Victoria and NSW. 1882 Waratahs formerly switched from Rugby to Australian Rules 1903 NSW Football League formed with 11 teams. NEW ZEALAND By 1901 there were 115 clubs in New Zealand. New Zealand competed in the Jubilee Carnival in 1908 and won some games. RUGBY NEW ZEALAND 1863 Christchurch NSW 1863 Sydney University 1865 Sydney Football Club QLD 1880 Brisbane Football Club and Wallaroo played a game of Rugby 1883 Northern Rugby Union formed 1883 NSW team visited QLD 1884 Brisbane competition founded Both New South Wales and Queensland were divided between Rugby and Australian Rules until the early 1900s. However Australian rules did make it to Qld before Rugby. Alternatively in Western Australia Rugby made it there before Australian Rules. Melbourne was the centre of Australian Rules but Adelaide became a second centre very quickly. Many wealthier Western Australians went to school in Adelaide and brought Australian Rules back with them. The Adelaide influence eventually won out in Perth. Sydney was divided until 1908, and then made a switch more to Rugby League than Union, away from Australian Rules. The Sydney influence won out in Brisbane. The two cities of Melbourne and Sydney have influenced the football landscape for all of Australia. It could easily be argued that they will do the same in the 20th century. although Sydney is in a far more fractured position than Melbourne to do so. Lazza, You said: "That’s the curious thing about the sporting landscape in Australia, we’ve never had a proper Sydney-Melbourne rilvalry in sport? Perhaps with Sheffield Shield in the 1930’s but both cities went their own way and one of the ‘potentially’ biggest rivalrys in world sport just never hapenned. I think we are poorer for it." I agree that we are poorer for not having a real NSW v VIC rivalry in Australia. But there is no way that anyway can claim that Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory is a bigger rivalry than Sydney Swans v a Melb Aussie Rules club. I look forward to the day when there is a genuiine State of Origin between Vic and Nsw. Of course I would prefer to see this in Aussie Rules, but would also be happy for a Rugby Union rivalry. Joe O'Sullivan, I am not disputing that Soccer has grown a lot recently (albeit how much of it is due to a lot of assistance from government hand outs). But I would say that if Soccer is ever to be Australia's national football code, it has to be played in the Winter against the other football codes. You made the point that cricket is Australia's national Summer sport. But would not soccer have to become Australia's national Summer sport before it could be considered Australia's national football code?
sheek
Guest
10 years ago, it peeved me off you could travel around Australia, say a Sydneysider ending up in Broome. You enter a pub, either you followed rugby league or union & the patrons followed Aussie rules. Unless you turned the conversation to other things, the association didn't last long. These days, through the media, most of us know enough about each of the footy codes to hold a conversation. That's got to be a positive.