An article in The Australian this week praised the Sydney Kings and the NBL for getting a record-breaking crowd of 17,514 to the Sydney Superdome on Sunday.
On the same day, some 25km away from Homebush, Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory played in front of 16,116 people at Kogarah Oval.
The article went on to criticise the A-League’s crowd and TV numbers, while claiming the NBL is second to the NBA (some Euro Leagues will dispute that). The article went on to further criticise the A-League for not being able to attract the same calibre of players that the NBL does.
The article certainly created a stir within the Australian football community, which it seems the Australian journalist was looking for.
Some have criticised the A-League and FFA for falling asleep on the wheel, some NPL/NSL supporters took glee from the article and claimed it as further ‘proof’ that the A-League is dead, some have criticised the article and the journalist for unnecessarily taking a dig at football, while others were indifferent about it.
But let’s get to the point straight away; there is no NBL vs A-League. They’re two entirely different sports, they’re not in competition with one another and they are not a threat to each other.
If anything, they both complement each other considering the state both sports were in over the last 20 years and where both the national leagues and national teams currently sit.
So why is this an issue? Why is there a belief that the NBL is dominating and the A-League continues to fail? If anything, both sets of fans don’t really care and are not concerned about each other.
The reason is, whenever the A-League has been struggling, non-football journalists have said the A-League should look at current fads bringing crowds to other games.
For example, one article stated the A-League is not entertaining enough. The atmosphere is supposedly ‘dead’ because of low crowds, and so they should look at the success of the BBL and how it is bringing crowds in.
Football fans and club administrators will tell you these are not the issues. Several years ago, the A-League caught the attention of the non-football public because of the atmosphere that was generated by the active support groups – this saw sellouts of a lot of A-League games.
There were a few lean years due to outside influence, but this season the A-League has had an increase in crowds numbers – especially a near sell-out of the Sydney derby at Bankwest Stadium – and active support is slowly returning.
The NBL are doing their own thing and kudos to them for thriving considering that, just ten years ago, the NBL was on its deathbed after four clubs folded and reduced the competition to just six teams.
The reboot of the NBL in 2012 has seen an increase in crowd numbers, TV viewers, the influence of Australian players in the NBA and, more recently, exciting young talents like LaMelo Ball, Terrance Ferguson and Brian ‘Tugsy’ Bowen skipping college basketball for a chance to play professionally has created more interest in the NBL than in previous seasons.
However, the Sydney Kings, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers have equalled or surpassed the crowd at any of the GWS Giants home games this year – why isn’t anyone talking about that?
Redondo
Roar Rookie
Brains versus courage
chris
Guest
Interesting "partnership". I guess its a partnership between the 2 young people's sport v the traditional old peoples sports like cricket and AFL.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
And, as if on cue, the brain sports unite... https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/two-codes-unite-in-win-win-deal-for-fans-534422
Tigranes
Guest
The HAL also gets decent viewing overseas and good following in Asia. I think it was reported the final has a total as audience over 100m, nothing to sneeze at and bigger than NRL and AFL.
Jimmy
Roar Guru
Although it’s worth noting that the NBL is currently getting impressive Overseas streaming numbers on Facebook watch.
Ac
Guest
Sadly I feel Football people who come on the Roar love this stuff. the A league is the A league why compete with other codes or even the NBL. I read constantly about this stuff and it does my head in. So this is just last post. Wish the best for a league. But goodbye to this stuff. A league versus basketball. Next it will be howls. Anything the Australian newspaper said has to be taken with a gain of salt.
Nemesis
Guest
What's really fascinating is that, only a few months ago, Fox Sports decided it no longer wanted NBL in its programming. An allegedly booming sports competition. Allegedly capturing huge crowds & Tv viewing, for 4 months Oct-Feb. But, the PayTV operator was given the content for free, said "no thank you" and decided paying $0 for NBL broadcast rights was excessive.
Admiral Ackbar
Guest
The thing is, since Larry Kestelman took over the NBL has gone through the roof in popularity, and is close to where it was in the early 90's. The A-League has never been able to get near that. Frank Lowy was not the white knight we all thought he was, and when Ben Buckley replaced John O'Neill the FFA settled into the mediocrity that's become the norm to this very day. Who's going to be the circuit breaker?
DL2191
Guest
Agree ridiculous comparison and glad Basketball is booming, but even if one was to compare, as an Aussie NBA winner with some years left, Bogut = Del Piero++, and Ball is going to NBA next year to be something like a Harry Kane. Still a long bow, but NBL 2019 might be more fairly compared to A-League 2013. Plus, NBA is already talking about closing the hole that made NBL attractive for these non-college guys so hopefully NBL doesnt suffer the kind of hangover A league did when the international star players dried up.
clipper
Roar Rookie
I do think Basketball missed the boat in those years. If they had managed to get 9 to have the rights, they would've been in a powerful position. Many kids were all into the American experience with hip hop booming. Unfortunately ch10 were on a downward slide and the Cricket team started to win again. The had a small window to capitalise on growth but just missed it.
Punter
Roar Rookie
No luck required, read the 1st paragraph, which addresses AD-O comments.
Zoran
Guest
I don't see where I mentioned anything about the popularity of the Porcho or Turk league. I said quality wise it is second tier. Better luck next time Punter.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
Ad-O - if you don't like AFL you are excused. What is your sport?
chris
Guest
"Ah Ad-O.. you are this weeks victim of the SJW – soccer justice warriors. No point engaging with these folks." And yet Mr AFL here you are under another name (again) engaging with something you don't like. You and Adios can knock yourselves out agreeing with each other.
Jimmy
Roar Guru
Me too which is why they try very hard to manufacture entertainment away from the court at a game too.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Yet all these leagues, the Portuguese, Turkish are bigger then any AFL or Rugby League competitions outside of Australia & at least equal to the 2nd biggest Basketball competition in the world. You AFL fans Zoran arguing about popularity of football in Portugal & Turkey is akin to Football fans arguing about the popularity of AFL is in Melbourne or Melbourne, it's fruitless.
Zoran
Guest
Ah Ad-O.. you are this weeks victim of the SJW - soccer justice warriors No point engaging with these folks. I agree that the Porcho league isn't top tier. There are probably four good teams, I'm including Braga, who can play well at Europa and some at UCL level.. the rest are just fodder. Watch any Benfica v minnow from the Porcho league and all you see is a bunker being played and Benfica ending up with 22 shots to one. Same can be said for the Turkish league. Fener, Gala, Besiktas,Istanbul are good while the rest are poor. These aren't top tier leagues. They are second tier. I guess that is the point you were making and I don't see why anyone is arguing, seems valid to me.
Zoran
Guest
Basketball is big in Southern Europe and I doubt you'd hear people in Italy, Spain or the Balkans saying basketball is boring. They love the game and most if not all would be into their football leagues. Situation is different in Northern Europe where basketball isn't as big. Basketball had a rapid rise in popularity and had primetime coverage on Channel 7 first off. Then rights were bought by Channel 10 and during this time the popularity increased further. Foxtel acquired the rights around 1996 and the league switched to a summer league and declined in popularity.
Ad-O
Guest
Where did I make a negative comment about the game? And the Roar is a great place to comment on the A-League, just not very good on the Premier League. I prefer the English sites, fancy that.
Ad-O
Guest
Sure you could. But I dont think you can argue that the 20th best football league is a top league but then Euro League Basketball is not a top league. I know it gets confusing when 6 different people are taking you in different directions, but that's all I was saying. Some people just get really upset over not much, I guess. Still I dont know why that makes me an AFL fan that hates football. I dont even like AFL.