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In all the euphoria and fairytale storylines of the Cronulla Sharks being on the verge of claiming their first premiership, you would be led to believe the popularity of the sport is on a high in Sydney.
However, a look at the attendances and TV viewership, and the popularity of this finals series could not have been lower for the city. In fact, viewership in Sydney for the NRL finals dropped by 58 per cent between 2015 and 2016.
The popularity of a sport in a city can be measured by combining the attendance and the TV ratings for a match in a given city. In 2015, Sydney and Melbourne in popularity for the respective NRL and AFL finals we equal in terms of popularity.
For example, of the top ten results Melbourne recorded five for AFL and Sydney recorded four for the NRL (Brisbane recorded the other top ten result). While Melbourne had the edge in terms of top ten results, Sydney recorded a higher average for NRL finals matches with 497,000 per match (excluding the grand final), compared to Melbourne’s 494,000 per match for AFL finals (excluding the grand final).
2015 AFL/NRL finals combined TV and attendance results by city
1. 609,000 Melbourne – AFL Hawks v Dockers
2. 594,000 Sydney – NRL Roosters v Bulldogs
3. 537,000 Sydney – NRL Broncos v Roosters
4. 536,000 Melbourne – AFL Eagles v Kangaroos
5. 532,000 Melbourne – AFL Bulldogs v Crows
6. 526,000 Melbourne – AFL Tigers v Kangaroos
7. 526,000 Brisbane – NRL Broncos v Roosters
8. 524,000 Melbourne – AFL Hawks v Crows
9. 520,000 Sydney – NRL Bulldogs v Dragons
10. 518,000 Sydney – NRL Sharks v Rabbitohs
Turn to 2016, Melbourne recorded a significantly higher average for AFL finals matches with 533,000 per match (8% increase on 2015), compared to Sydney’s 288,000 per match for AFL finals (58% decrease on 2015).
Sydney only recorded one match in the top 10, being the preliminary final between Cronulla and North Queensland. More people in Sydney watched the match between these two sides in week two of 2015 (398,000) compared to this year’s 392,000 which had a lot more at stake with the Sharks trying to reach their first grand final in 20 years.
Even Brisbane recorded two matches in the top ten when the Brisbane Broncos played, with Melbourne claiming the remaining seven.
2016 AFL/NRL finals combined TV and attendance results by city
1. 731,000 Melbourne – AFL Hawks v Bulldogs
2. 715,000 Melbourne – AFL Giants v Bulldogs
3. 681,000 Melbourne – AFL Cats v Hawks
4. 643,000 Melbourne – AFL Cats v Swans
5. 525,000 Melbourne – AFL Eagles v Bulldogs
6. 448,000 Melbourne – AFL Swans v Crows
7. 446,000 Brisbane – NRL Cowboys v Broncos
8. 414,000 Melbourne – AFL Crows v Kangaroos
9. 392,000 Sydney – NRL Sharks v Cowboys
10. 375,000 Brisbane – NRL Broncos v Titans
There are at two reasons to explain the 58 per cent drop in overall interest in Sydney for the 2016 NRL finals series. Firstly, there was only one big market Sydney club participating in Canterbury and their form was poor for two months leading into the finals, in 2015 there were three big market sides (Souths, Dragons and Canterbury).
However, the same number of smaller market Sydney sides made it through to the same weeks of the finals series in 2015 (Roosters and Sharks) compared to 2016 (Sharks and Panthers) so you would not expect this to have a significant impact on the overall interest.
The main reason has to be how the city perceives Cronulla. Through the 1970s to the 1990s, Dragons fans aside, Cronulla was is most cases everyone’s second favourite side (along with North Sydney) so when it came to the finals there was always a groundswell of support from fans whose side had been eliminated.
However, the current Sharks side clearly doesn’t garner that level of support from fans anymore. And this has to come down to the fact they have displayed extremely poor behaviour on and off the field in recent years and topped it off with embroiling themselves in a drug cheating controversy.
While the players may be innocent, many fans are not privileged to be informed of the truth in these cases so there will forever be a cloud over this Cronulla era, irrespective of the result in tomorrow’s grand final. This also proves wrong those in NRL circles that claim any publicity is good publicity, because clearly Cronulla’s bad publicity has meant half of Sydney has switched off this finals series.
You only have to look at the euphoria in Melbourne this week with the Western Bulldogs to see what a true sporting fairytale looks like and how the whole city can embrace it. Sydney would have seen something like this with the old Cronulla sides, but it is not 1995 anymore, it is 2016 and if Cronulla are lucky enough to win the grand final, the jubilant celebrations will not extend much past the Sutherland Shire boundaries.
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