Kangaroos and Kiwis headed to Canberra for Anzac Test

Clip given your blatantly obvious agenda here i have no reason to believe you. In fact i dont believe you at all. You just make stuff up!

The corporate areas at Suncorp stadium for the Tens looked just about empty

Those figures were audited as well, no flying pigs to be found - just because you don't like it, doesn't make it a false fact. Once the Storm (or the Rebels for that matter) passes one, just one AFL team in Melbourne in attendance, then we can start talking about Melbourne starting on the road to being an all code city I do note cc or yourself haven't provided a list of VIC born players playing for the Storm - is it correct there is only one, PI, player born in VIC?

I must apologise then, cc - i read your post too quickly. I do agree Melbourne and all other cities in Australia (bar perhaps two in Tasmania) are multi code cities by your criteria. This is not to be confused with an all code city, which does not have a dominant code, like Sydney. Melbourne is clearly still dominated by AFL, Sydney is not dominated by NRL using the criteria I have given.

I wondered where those things were!! Oh and by the way I am planning a few fights in pubs around Sydney this year when the League is on. Remind to find out which one Clipper works at so I give that a miss. We bogans can't watch League on Telly without a fight you know!!!!! I love Clippers story about revenue going up because he banned League on Telly in the pub. It reminds me of the story of the flying pig!

Now now Justin,you must have those figures you provided audited by Pricewaterhouse Coopers in order to gain authenticity. The haters demand it ,and it must be under the seal of King Henry V111 or if he is not available Kim Jon Un. BTW mate,I'm forwarding the used thongs you demanded ,so you can wear to the next rugby league formal.

Maxo.I am " speaking" in terms of the Storm now..Of course News had to be paid they owned the club ATT The Storm is a fully owned private consortium team. News will get zero of the 130% of the salary cap negotiated with the ARLC. As to better behaved from what i have been reading and hearing about over the last 4-5 years ,no code can hold its head up high.

Quoting the Clip 'It’s just the league fans always having to say everything positive'. , and its the mighty Clip deriding everything Rugby League from his position as a NRL hater, That is context Clip. Hate away Clip! But don't expect to get away with it :)

AFL average crowds 2008 37000 AFL average crowds 2016 31900 Source http://afltables.com/afl/crowds/summary.html

Congrats on Melbourne becoming an all code city Clipper. 2 A League Clubs, A union Club and a League Club. I am sure you wil be delighted to know the League Club, the Melbourne STorm, have record membership this year and that the number of Clubs in the local comp again this year INCREASED. More kids than ever are playing Rugby League in Melbourne this year. Each year the numbers get bigger - over 220 teams last year. I am so excited to hear how many there will be this year that, as soon as the numbers are in I wil let YOU know Clipper old son!My old Union Club, Harlequins has 7 senior grades this year. Fantastic news for Rugby Union. Rugby Union playing numbers, just like league numbers, continue to thrive. God bless the middle class hey Clip! And football continues to go gangbusters in good old Melbourne. It must be great to live in Melbourne these days. So much footy to choose from. Join me in this celebration Clip my boy!

I must say that I asked a similar question in another thread, postulating that RL was closer to RU thru the '50's - 70's only to receive a barrage of insults from a certain Rick Diznek, whose only comeback was 'you are wrong'. I wasn't having a go, just asking a genuine question, one I find interesting, but is hard to fully research. While it is true that far more countries play RL today, is it also true that playing numbers have also increased. There is no doubt England and France had very solid numbers in those days, both in participation and spectator -, quite often there would be lock outs in challenge cups. Have the extra countries, where RL is often just a niche sport, provided enough extra players to make up for the decline of player numbers in England and especially France (lets not forget Wales as well). This is the question - one I don't have an answer for, other that suspect that the numbers lost from those 3 countries would be hard to make up.

Cross coder The payment to the consortium was in the last News Ltd accounts - John Stensholt Australian Financial review Craigo Interesting the RL heads always go for the crowd average rather than aggregate as they know GCS and GWS have pulled the average down whereas the aggregate has remained constant despite the big 4 AFL Melbourne clubs struggling as has St George and Parramatta in the NRL. My link to the Foran verbal abuse of a terminally ill Rebecca Wilson was edited though he may not have known she was ill. But interestingly the Herald is giving it to the NRL at the moment perhaps because they think the NRL is being "marketed" by News

News have sold out of the Storm.Who say News pays the new owners now.? In fact the Storm chairman was one who pushed extremely hard to secure the 130% salary cap funding from Grant. Storm in fact are hoping for a break even shortly ,after losing money.News are hardly putting in for that.They are trying to get to a 20,000 membership landmark.

Clipper. In Melbourne. AFL no1 Soccer no 2 with 2 teams NRL and S18 1 team each bout on a par.Membership of Storm probably higher than Rebels. 4 codes each with teams in the one city. According to the league hating Clipper QED A multi code city. Oh and big numbers watching the SOO and NRL grand final. Now if you wish to go into the usual D measuring episode, go ahead.It has nothing to do with the description.It is not about crowds ,so you go half cocked ,not reading what was stated. Our Clipper does not know the difference between a multi code, meaning more than 1 or 2 two codes, and which sport is the major one in a city. .Understandable when you live in an underground bubble. if you don't know what multi means, then ask for a refund of school fees.All football codes are represented in that city.Just like Sydney and Brisbane and down the line Perth.

Some very interesting figures Craigo. One thing I know being from Sydney is that rugby league is incredibly resilient. The game has had many downturns ie. Super League War, post-Super League War, expulsion and merger of clubs etc... but the crowds are steady. Interesting stats there in terms of crowds: NRL - natural level of 16,000 AFL - natural level of 33,000 (double the NRL) HAL - natural level of between 12,000 & 13,000 Super Rugby - 25,000 average in 2003, just after the RWC in Australia, but now rugby league and football have got their act together and are pushing hard for participants, crowds and sponsors. Yes, rugby only has 5 Super rugby teams and thus their current average of 15,000 is pretty good all things considered.

That's funny CC - Melbourne an all code city! Where did you get that from - can you provide the facts like I have? Swans, AFL team, No. 1 in attendances in Sydney, ahead of every NRL team, even GWS is ahead of 1 NRL team. Biggest H and A attendance in Sydney - Football Name one AFL team in Melbourne that is behind the Storm in attendance - that is one part of the requirements for an all code city. Participation - Football No. 1 by far here, league declining. TV, Swans still not great, but not as woeful as the Storm figures Name the number of Vic born players in the Storm (I know there is one PI player who may have been born there). There are quite a few NSW born Swans players - including the Captain. One day Melbourne may be all code, but it will be mainly down to Football, can't see league bringing that change.

James I have no problem with having a time consuming sport's obsession ,when I'm in a particular thread devoted to that sport.The facts i have stated upset you. What is your raison d'être ,when you have a distaste for the very same sport.An obsessive aversion ,it would appear.I met a few only a few,of your ilk when playing ru. BTW I'm not your son.My father was a round ball fanatic.You are running out of material.

The Storm have "won" 5? premierships so if you wish to see them you have to go to game or get Fox. News pay that NZ group $19m a year to run the Storm (according to last accounts). And things just get better for RL - the second most watched code but certainly not the best behaved

@ Clipper "it’s easy to cherry pick like Craigo" Clipper you look for anything negative you can find on Rugby League and start screaming like a girl at a Beatles concert. Crowds are down for every code from 4 years ago! But you only talk about League crowds. Out of the 4 codes RL crowd drop is the smallest. The only thing holding the AFL up was the new Adelaide oval opening up a few years ago or the AFLs drop in crowds would of been way more dramatic. NRL 2013: 16,725 2014: 16,796 2015: 16,152 2016: 16,142 AFL 2013: 33,465 2014: 33,693 2015: 33,432 2016: 33,199 A-League 13|14: 13,497 14|15: 13,033 15|16: 12,836 16|17: 12,977 Super Rugby 2013: 17,670 2014: 18,191 2015: 16,956 2016: 14,787 Participation is only down in NSW the rest of the country Participation its up! With 100 million a year coming into RL grass roots that will reverse fast something other sports can only dream of.

Yes the same " demographics ' that turn off the Tv ,for fear the NRL may contaminate the thoughts of the assembled latte masses.Growing up still on teh horizon. Reality is nothing more than derision with little content. Your TV ratings for AFL are still abysmal in Sydney and going nowhere. Clipper never acknowledges negatives in AFL.,and he has the hide to bag Craigo.Chertry picking talk about hypocrisy. Does nothing more than snipe at rugby league.What a sad existence. It is good to acknowledge the Storm memberships continue to swell in .Melbourne which has become a multi code city.This with little marketing and no FTA