In the next month or so the All Blacks will add a further, perhaps lesser known but still amazing, achievement to their illustrious list of accomplishments – achieve their two-millionth Facebook ‘Like’.
At the moment, the All Blacks have 1,934,092 Likes. In the context of Australasian sport, that is a phenomenal total. Nothing comes close to it.
In fact, the All Blacks have nearly 500,000 more Likes than all 16 NRL clubs combined (1,514,071), and about 500,000 more than all 18 AFL clubs combined (1,485,294).
It’s quite possible the All Blacks have the most Facebook Likes of any entity, team, organisation or person in Australia or New Zealand. Everything and everyone in our two countries I’ve checked doesn’t come anywhere near the amount the All Blacks have accumulated.
If someone out there can show me one with more, I’d be very interested to see it.
A lot of the comments and messages on the All Blacks Facebook page are left in foreign languages, particularly, Spanish, French, German and Asian languages, proving the international appeal of the team and the brand.
A look at the number of Likes for rest of the teams in Super Rugby, NRL and AFL throws up a number of interesting points for discussion.
First, it’s not surprising the union international teams have higher totals, given the greater international exposure, listed in order All Blacks 1,934,092, Springboks 513,689, Wallabies 179,634, Kiwis 105,341, then Kangaroos 71,607.
The relatively poor showing of both Australian national teams was unexpected.
When it comes to State of Origin though, the passion of Maroon fans is something to behold, with the Queensland Maroons achieving 400,249 Likes to the NSW Blues 232,796.
On the competition front, Super Rugby (25,648) is blown out of the water by the AFL (500,134) and NRL (495,467). However, the 2013 rugby league World Cup (11,357) is a long, long way behind the 2015 Rugby World Cup, which already has 1,786,337 two years before kick-off.
As an aside, I was quite surprised my beloved Wigan RL had only 25,530 Likes. It’s one of the premier league clubs in the world, and I assumed it would have a much larger Facebook following. But most English RL clubs scored comparatively low, as illustrated by St Helens (12,968), Bradford Bulls (7,233), Warrington (23,988), and the Leeds Rhinos (41,439).
The English union clubs tended to be well ahead of their league counterparts, for example, Leicester Tigers (64,314), Gloucester (32,460), London Irish (30,044) and London Wasps (40,113).
League and union of course were both dwarfed by the major EPL teams – Manchester United with 31 million for example – although some EPL clubs scored extremely low given their massive international exposure, such as Everton FC (305,137) and Sunderland (70,145), perhaps a reflection of the huge gulf in resources between the top and bottom EPL clubs.
Below, I have listed the 49 Super Rugby, NRL and AFL clubs in order of most Likes. Some observations:
• The top 10 are comprised of four league, four AFL, and two union clubs.
• The bottom 10 are comprised of three AFL, one league, and seven union clubs.
• Both of the Super Rugby franchises in the top 10 are South African, showing that even on Facebook, Super Rugby relies completely on South Africa for any form of credibility or respectability.
• I am not sure if the Parramatta Eels have an official page, and the only one I could find relating to the club only had 289 Likes.
• The Brumbies have a lot of work to do to catch up to their local rivals the Raiders.
• The Waratahs are a disgrace.
What all this means is that while the allure and aura of the All Blacks is indisputable, they are the beacon of light for rugby union in Australasia.
In the world of Facebook, Super Rugby teams are not performing near their NRL and AFL counterparts. Is union in Australasia a one trick pony? I’ll leave that to you to decide.
The list of Most Facebook Likes for Super Rugby, NRL and AFL clubs:
333,765 Natal Sharks RU
267,241 Broncos RL
220,178 Essendon AFL
219,225 Collingwood AFL
204,125 Storm RL
149,157 Wests Tigers RL
134,216 West Coast Eagles AFL
129,439 Carlton AFL
120,704 Stormers RU
115,701 Rabbitohs RL
115,553 NZ Warriors RL
114,570 Bulldogs RL
112,725 Titans RL
110,641 Swans AFL
105,831 Blue Bulls RU
99,934 Richmond AFL
99,453 Crusaders RU
89,060 St Kilda AFL
87,599 Hawthorn AFL
77,991 St George RL
73,580 Reds RU
70,083 Manly RL
65,653 Fremantle AFL
64,925 Cowboys RL
59,797 Knights RL
56,612 Geelong AFL
55,903 Brisbane Lions AFL
48,198 Cronulla RL
47,536 Western Bulldogs AFL
46,077 North Melbourne AFL
43,475 Hurricanes RU
41,920 Panthers RL
40,555 Port Adelaide AFL
40,183 Suns AFL
36,568 Roosters RL
35,355 Blues RU
35,228 Raiders RL
34,905 Chiefs RU
29,829 GWS Giants AFL
26,162 Highlanders RU
16,555 Rebels RU
13,800 Western Force RU
13,098 Cheetahs RU
9,420 Brumbies RU
8,562 Adelaide Crows AFL
7,917 Warratahs RU
4,092 Melbourne AFL
1,076 Southern Kings RU
289 Parramatta Eels RL
Tui
Guest
Nothing in Rugby terms come close to the AB's but have you seen the likes of Man United 30 Mil and the LA Lakers 16 Mil!
Malcolm Dreaneen
Roar Pro
Hi Tenash, thanks for your reply, yes I did consider football and basketball in Aust, but I had to draw the line somewhere as it was taking me a while to compile the list. But I did mention Man U, to put everything in context on a global scale, so we don't get carried away
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Mate I used to spend a lof of time in Bkk and Chang Mai a few years ago and bought some rugby jerseys at MBK in bkk. There were obviously counterfeit but quality was ok. Kao San have some too! Tbh they were not that cheap, maybe around thb 500-700, don't remember exactly. When I say not that cheap, it's compared to football jerseys. Was post 2007 rwc. Good laughs!
atlas
Guest
and of course nothing to stop people hitting the 'like' button for lots of teams, it's not a one vote per user scheme In our (Thai) news yesterday, Manchester Utd here in June for a promo game, claiming they have 19.5 million fans here. Well, that's about 30% of the entire population, somehow I don't think so, but wonder where they grabbed that figure from?
Hightackle
Guest
Yep. Much to every Kiwis anger, Australian league fans care far more about both club and origin rugby than internationals. This is perfectly demonstrated by the lack of hype heading into an ANZAC test. I live in QLD and its league mad but many people Ive spoken to leading up to the games dont know its on, know its on but not when or show little passion for it. One thing I would have been interested in is Man Utd vs the English football team in likes.
Carl
Guest
HAHA Reminds me of the feelings I get with my other half!!!
Cameron
Roar Guru
I don't agree with that. Most rugby league supporters I know hate Melbourne storm. It may have to so with the massive population in Melbourne, majority of players are superstars playing for QLD and have been one of the most successful sporting teams for the past 12 years albeit with some cheating along the way.
Cameron
Roar Guru
It's always nice to see stats like these but Facebook although the biggest social media website in the world, is not a true reflection of supporters or support, it's a measure of popularity and brand awareness within the public. And it's as easy as the click of a button. A side note: Parramatta Eels - 149,134 Sydney Roosters - 55,146
John
Guest
How are GWS ahead of Adelaide and Melbourne? From a GWS supporter
Tenash
Guest
sorry Malcolm ! My bad any time a name starts with M , i associate it with Michael its such a common name esp in sports again my apologies mate. But why have u left out cricket.BBL teams have decent FB fans
Malcolm Dreaneen
Roar Pro
Another curious point was the relatively high number for the Storm, which I thinks shows they are everyone's second team in the NRL - ie a lot of other club supporters have a soft spot for them.
Malcolm Dreaneen
Roar Pro
I think you may be surprised a bit - the ABs will have strong support in France, UK, Ireland and South Aftica - There would be a fair number from Cape Town for example, where the ABs have strong support, which is why SBW wants to fight Botha there, because as an ex-AB he has plenty of fans there. The ABs are massively popular in France too and a lot would come from there. But you just have to read the comments each day on the AB Facebook page to see the international flavour of their support.
Malcolm Dreaneen
Roar Pro
Tenash, it's Malcolm, not Michael. Secondly the ABs are actually 150K ahead of the baggy greens - ABs at 1.94 million, Baggy Greens at 1.79 million. But the fact they're ahead of the Baggy Greens only adds to the ABs 'aura' further, considering the Baggy Greens represent 22 million people, and the ABs 4 million. - on population alone you'd expect the Baggy Greens to have 5 times the number of likes, but apparently, that's not the case.
Wal
Roar Guru
Does NZ Cricket have a fan?? They lost me this year.
atlas
Guest
Does NZ cricket have a fan page?
atlas
Guest
ha ha a fake in Thailand - who'd ever suggest such a thing? though i have never seen a rugby jersey on sale here. He plays in US, maybe got it there? If he bought it here, I'd say about less than 1% chance it was the genuine item. Though hard to tell, and it did say All Blacks not eg All Balcks have seen many a tragic logo misprint. Before RWC I was in KL, the replica jerseys there, complete with replica labels, replica price tags in pound and US$ . . . be difficult to tell them apart BTW - wanna buy a Rolex?
Strap
Guest
Doing my bit to grow the legacy and have logged on to fb and added another like! Boooooyaaaaaaa!
Tenash
Guest
sorry that shld be 100k or so "LESS" FB fans
Tenash
Guest
another interesting fact is that The Australian cricket team (1,800,000) has nearly 4.5 times the amount of Facebook fans than the Socceroos (228,000) & Wallabies (180,000)
Tenash
Guest
Michael Dreaneen the All Blacks aren't as ahead in Aus & Nz as you claim the Australian Cricket team is only 100k or so more Facebook fans The Baggy Greens have 1.8 million FB likes