At the conclusion of my recent four part series on the most famous football clubs in Australia, I promised to follow up at the end of the year with an update of the various metrics I used to cover all four football codes for the whole of 2014.
Having updated the various metrics to the end of July, it occurred to me that Roarers might be interested in the various ratings and attendance figures I am collating as I go, seeing it’s a topic which often engenders plenty of discussion among sports fans.
So for the rest of the year I will provide a monthly summary of the top rating and best attended football games. Here are the 25 highest rating club football games on Fox Sports and the 25 games with the best attendance for July.
TV Ratings
1. Hawthorn versus Sydney, 360k
2. Collingwood versus Adelaide, 335k
3. Western Bulldogs versus Essendon, 300k
4. Gold Coast Suns versus Collingwood, 294k
5. North Melbourne versus Hawthorn, 294k
6. Adelaide versus Hawthorn, 276k
7. NSW Waratahs versus ACT Brumbies, 248k
8. Melbourne Storm versus Canberra, 244k
9. St George Illarra versus Manly, 242k
10. Canberra versus Souths, 236k
11. St Kilda versus Fremantle, 235k
12. Brisbane Broncos versus New Zealand, 232k
13. Melbourne Storm versus Canterbury, 230k
14. Gold Coast Titans versus Parramatta, 226k
15. Souths versus Gold Coast Titans, 221k
16. Essendon versus Collingwood, 219k
17. Sydney Roosters versus Cronulla, 217k
18. St George versus North Queensland, 215k
19. Fremantle versus Carlton, 214k
20. Western Bulldogs versus Gold Coast Suns, 212k
21. Penrith versus Brisbane Broncos, 210k
22. Port Adelaide versus Essendon, 207k
23. Carlton versus North Melbourne, 207k
24. West Coast versus Richmond, 205k
25. GWS versus Geelong, 204k
Attendances
1. Hawthorn versus Sydney Swans, 72,760
2. Essendon versus Collingwood, 58,992
3. Adelaide versus Hawthorn , 50,321
4. Port Adelaide versus Essendon, 46,786
5. Collingwood versus Adelaide, 41,482
6. NSW Waratahs versus ACT Brumbies, 38,80k
7. Port Adelaide versus Melbourne, 37,894
8. Brisbane Broncos versus New Zealand, 37,082
9. Carlton versus North Melbourne, 36,689
10. Melbourne versus Geelong, 36,385
11. Brisbane Broncos versus Melbourne Storm, 36,319
12. Fremantle versus Carlton, 35,401
13. North Melbourne versus Hawthorn, 35,025
14. Richmond versus Brisbane Lions, 34,577
15. Sydney Swans versus Carlton, 34,965
16. Western Bulldogs versus Essendon, 34,476
17. Fremantle versus GWS, 33,597
18. West Coast Eagles versus Richmond, 32,270
19. Carlton versus St Kilda, 29,297
20. Brisbane Lions versus Gold Coast Suns, 27,167
21. Newcastle versus Gold Coast Titans, 26,401
22. West Coast Eagles versus Sydney Swans, 25,076
23. Gold Coast Suns versus Collingwood, 24,032
24. Wests Tigers versus St George, 22,618
25. Wests Tigers versus Canterbury, 22,225
Cat
Roar Guru
No worries, I thought a couple of your numbers were wrong (they weren't) but when I want checking I noticed some were missing.
Cat
Roar Guru
Wow imagine once off events having higher ratings than regularly played games ... who woulda thunk it. /eyeroll
Mister Football
Roar Guru
They're interesting numbers, but I'm not sure why it's the least bit relevant to the current discussion of looking at the ratings of football clubs week to week over the course of a season. Relax - the A-League clubs will get their turn in October onwards. I intend to be all-inclusive and comprehensive.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
I've gone back and grabbed the Monday night ratings for the NRL clubs, which I missed first time round, plus I missed one AFL game, so I have sent a re-drafted list to the eds showing a more accurate top 25. Thanks to Gene for the pick up, and apologies again.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
But we are talking about football clubs mate, how often does it have to said?
Brian Orange
Roar Guru
How can you talk about "football", when you leave out football. Football in Australia isn't just the A-League.
Brian Orange
Roar Guru
No its not. In 2011 when Fox Sports celebrated their fifteenth anniversary in Australia, football was their highest rating sports programs - 15 years from 1996 to 2011. Here’s the results: 1. World Cup Qualifier – Australia v Uzbekistan 1/4/2009: 431,000 2. AFC Asian Cup Qualifier: Japan v Australia #3 21/7/2009: 419,000 3. Chappell-Hadlee Trophy – New Zealand v Australia 18/2/2007: 415,000 4. Parramatta Eels v North Queensland Cowboys 02/04/2011: 407,000 5. World Cup Qualifier – Australia v Japan 17/6/2009: 378,000 6. Canterbury Bulldogs v Wests Tigers 14/3/2011: 365,000 7. Parramatta Eels v Sydney Roosters 31/7/2007: 361,000 8. South Africa v Australia – Second Test, Day 2 7/3/2009: 358,000 9. Canterbury Bulldogs v Melbourne Storm 23/5/2009: 357,000 10. South Africa v Australia – Second Test, Day 1 6/3/2009: 355,000 11. South Africa v Australia – Second Test, Day 4 9/3/2009: 353,000 12. Bledisloe Cup – Australia v New Zealand 26/7/2008: 350,000 13. South Africa v Australia – Second Test, Day 3 8/3/2009: 350,000 14. AFC Asian Cup – Australia v Oman 8/7/2007: 345,000 15. World Cup Qualifier – Australia v Qatar 1/4/2009: 345,000 Firstly, the most popular sporting team on Fox Sports in those fifteen years has been the Socceroos. Not only do they make up the top two, but also have five of their matches in the Foxtel top fifteen. And who would have thought it would have been Uzbekistan at number one? Next is Cricket with the Chappell-Hadlee trophy match against New Zealand. Next most popular was Rugby League and then Rugby Union fourth. AFL didn't even get a mention in their TOP 15 list. If you leave out football and take away the NRL's best rating programs in your "football" ratings and attendances "analysis", then sure, AFL will come out looking a whole lot better than it really is. And then you accuse ME of having an agenda. I'm just pointing out the omissions in your article. of the top fifteen on the list were rugby league games – all NRL season games and Parramatta and Canterbury featuring most prominently. The only other sport to make it was Rugby Union at number 12 with the Bledisloe Cup match of July 2008 against the best rugby nation in the world – New Zealand.
clipper
Guest
Big turnaround from a few years ago when the NRL had 77 of the top 100 programs, to now where the the other codes have 77 of the top 100 programs. It's a shame that the foxtel ratings aren't divided up by state so that a clearer picture of how many Sydney and Brisbane people are watching. Having the Swans in the top spot you would have to say a few are turning on their sets.
clipper
Guest
Doesn't that dilute the AFL figures though, by having all 9 live games on Fox, it spreads the viewing audience out, as opposed to the viewing audience only being spread out by 5 games with the NRL.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Brian at the risk of stating the obvious, 1. we are talking about football clubs within Australia, and 2. we are focusing on Fox ratings, which, as has already been stated, actually disadvantages the NRL and AFL. I used to submit these articles under "other sports" to get around the football issue you raise, but the editors would pick one of the football codes anyway, so I just submitted the last two I did as AFL for convenience, nothing more and nothing less.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
That's right, overall the NRL ends up with a higher average because the 7th, 8th and 9th AFL game of each week can get very low ratings, often below 100k.
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
Give it a rest BO! It's over!!! The Krauts won. Everyones happy! Now run away quickly now, there's a good fellow.
Brian Orange
Roar Guru
Not according to the tab markings above Mister "Football". I can't see "soccer" anywhere to be found. Most people would think it was you who were the one desperate to score points, with an article like this and unfortunately I have nothing positive to say about it, but at the end of the day, its just my opinion, no harm intended.
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
As is so often the case Brian, in your desperation to score points, you wander into gibberish street. In an AFL tab you can read football as AFL because that's what the majority of readers will understand it as. It's like being in Vic, WA, SA or Tas, football means Aussie Rules. In a soccer tab it equals soccer and in a union or league tab likewise (if not a little more out of place).
Brian Orange
Roar Guru
Not to mention the FIFA World Cup attendance figures for July, which would take up 9 of your top 10 positions.
Brian Orange
Roar Guru
What a disappointing and poorly prepared article. For a start you call them "football" figures, which is confusing when all codes now call themselves football these days. You are in an AFL tab, at least call it AFL or Aussie Rules. You leave out the figures that make AFL appear worse, such as the east coast NRL FTA figures and Monday night NRL figures, which are some of teh NRL's best. You completely leave out the Fox and FTA FIFA World Cup football ratings as though the sport doesn't even exist. I hope you don't work for teh AFL putting together their "participation" figures. You'd have us believe AFL is taking over the world. :)
fiver
Guest
Aren't all AFL games live on fox? The AFL has 9 live games shown on fox, compared to the NRL's 5? The AFL should have more games in your list however NRL usually averages more viewers per game. Foxtel would not exist if it wasn't for Rugby League.
Bruce
Guest
No worries MF......I won't ask you for the Auskick figures for Sydney though.......lol......
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Sorry folks - I missed the Monday games! Apologies about that - I'll remember that for next time - although one of those games is actually dated June 30, so it looks like I've missed 3 NRL games and one AFL game - honest mistake on my part.
Mister Football
Roar Guru