Australia has a rich sporting history spanning multiple disciplines and events. We’ve punched above our weight on the world stage, winning world championships in all forms of cricket, rugby league, rugby union, hockey, water polo, and basketball. We’ve also won majors In golf and tennis, and we’re in the top 20 of medals won at the Olympics both in total and per capita.
It’s no question that sport is important to our culture but which sport is the most popular?
Let’s delve into various sports to see which one has the strongest claim to being our national sport.
Attendance
The AFL is the king of live sport in Australia, with an average of 32,620 per match over the home-and-away and finals periods. That dwarfs the NRL’s 17,121.
The next-best competition is the Big Bash League which last year brought just 7371 people through the gates per match on average, though in 2019-20, the last season before COVID, that number was a healthier 18,520, albeit in an obvious decline.
The same goes for the A-League, which in 2021-22 attracted an average of just 5258 people but brought in 10,876 on average pre-COVID.
The AFL’s domination comes down to being a great sport to watch live and an AFL culture ingrained into the fans that they have to be there to support their teams. It’s almost unique, and it’s the envy of all sports in the nation.
(Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
The AFL has a combined 1.19 million members, which is massive compared to the NRL’s 320,000, notwithstanding the AFL has two extra teams. There are lots of theories as to why this is the case, one of which is sure to be that Victorian clubs are not as reliant on revenue generated by pokie machines compared to those in New South Wales, where most clubs are primarily financed by them. Signing up fans and getting them through the gates is therefore a higher priority.
Participation
In terms of involvement and player numbers, football is the most popular team sport with kids under the age of 13, with 43.8 per cent of team sport-playing juniors taking up the round-ball game. Basketball is second with a 30.5 per cent share, while cricket comes third at 25.7 per cent.
In absolute terms, however, they’re all a long way behind swimming (33 per cent), with football second (13.8 per cent) followed by gymnastics (10.5 per cent), dancing (8.9 per cent) basketball (7.3 per cent), AFL (6.5 per cent) tennis (6.1 per cent), netball (5.7%), cricket (3.9%) and athletics (3.8 per cent).
Rugby league is 11th with a 3.5 per cent share, while rugby Union is 15th at 2.1 per cent.
This is remarkable considering the two most viewed sports, Aussie rules and rugby league are not in the top three. The generally accepted reason for this is that parents are worried about the safety of their kids and would rather them play non-collision sports like football and basketball, where concussion injuries are not as prevalent.
Among adults the most popular sport is walking (46.5 per cent), though that specifically relates to recreational walking. The same can probably be said for most top sports among adults, with walking followed by going to the gym, running, swimming and cycling, most of which aren’t undertaken competitively. How many Australians would know the last walker to win Olympic gold?
(Photo by Shaun Botterill – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Attention
No sport can unite a nation like football, especially when we make the World Cup. Sure. it’s pretty much non-existent when the World Cup isn’t on, but the scenes around the country and in Melbourne in particular cheering on the Socceroos in the last week prove the support is there – only football is getting thousands to watch at 4am.
Further, the Matildas are a top-five team and have one of the best players in the world in Sam Kerr. Australia is hosting the next women’s World Cup with New Zealand.
The Olympics always captures the nation’s attention, with the biggest draw being swimming. Sure, there are no crowds gathering at Federation Square to watch, but some of our greatest athletes are those who won gold in the pool or on the track. Dawn Fraser, Steve Hooker, Cathy Freeman, Ian Thorpe and Jessica Fox have become household names since winning gold.
Basketball is growing rapidly, and while the NBL isn’t huge yet, we are producing much more talent than ever before, with ten players in the NBA and no signs of slowing down. The Boomers finally won an Olympic medal, and in recent years Australia has also beaten the all-conquering USA twice, so the future is bright for Australia.
The Wallabies during the World Cup also do a great job of catching the eyes of the nation, especially when they go far, but rugby is dying in Australia, with the Super Rugby competition declining in viewership and our best rugby talent at risk of being poached by the NRL.
Rugby, like many of the above sports, doesn’t move the needle when the big event or tournament is on, and coverage is restricted to small columns in newspapers at other times.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Golf and tennis can be extremely popular and rate highly on TV and in general media coverage if a local athlete is doing well. When the likes of Ash Barty, Cameron Smith, Nick Kyrgios or Minjee Lee are going deep into majors, there is a buzz, but this is not constant, and the Davis Cup is not that highly followed.
In terms of media attention, the AFL and NRL are dominant in their respective states and present on every back page and in every radio and TV news bulletin. They’re even highly present during their off-seasons.
National recognition
Cricket is probably the most far-reaching. It’s played in all states, and the national team is watched in every major city even though NRL and AFL may get more eyeballs. If you had images of five top NRL, AFL and cricket players and asked people from around the country to identify them, most people in Sydney and Brisbane wouldn’t know who Patrick Cripps is, while most people in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth wouldn’t know who Tom Trbojevic is, but cricketers like Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc would be recognised nationwide.
In fact the greats of cricket, like Sir Don Bradman, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne are Australian folklore figures and held in much higher regard than the likes of Andrew Johns, Wally Lewis, Leigh Matthews and Wayne Carey.
The Australian cricket team is the most consistently followed national team that doesn’t rely on a World Cup every four years to be relevant.
(Photo by Matt King – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
TV viewership
This is by far most important metric to determine popularity as TV viewership indicates how many people actually watch the sport. Based on data for the 2022 season, rugby league is Australia’s most popular TV sport, and it’s not even close.
Over their respective 2022 home-and-away seasons the NRL drew in 118.96 million viewers compared to the AFL’s 106.27 million. That’s also bearing in mind there were six more AFL games than there were NRL games during that time. With the finals included those numbers improve to 137.34 million for the NRL and 126.52 million for the AFL.
If you were to add crowd sizes and TV viewership for the entire season, the NRL would total 140.78 million people, while the AFL would reach 133.28 million people.
It gets better for rugby league, as those figures don’t include State of Origin, which attracted an additional 9.39 million viewers, while 2.61 million watched the international representative matches, boosting rugby league’s combined TV viewership and live attendance to 153.05 million. That’s 23 million more TV viewers or an extra 20 million people in the crowd that rugby league had over Aussie rules with only one extra game overall.
The NRLW also outrates the AFLW, though they’re played at different times of the year and the AFLW is mostly on pay TV, whereas NRLW is all on free-to-air.
All that considered, it’s quite impressive the AFL manages to consistently land more lucrative TV deals than the NRL.
In conclusion, football is the buzz only every four years if the Socceroos are going well, but most people probably couldn’t name five A-League players.
The AFL does an impressive job of garnering crowds and members NRL can only dream of, so for a matchday experience, Aussie rules is superior.
Cricket is Australia’s national sport due to its overall reach and relevance as a national team.
Rugby league is Australia’s most popular TV sport, drawing in more people than any other. Rugby league’s State of Origin is also one of the country’s biggest spectacles.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
Rightly or wrongly - - "AFL" is the peak body; inclusive of the "AFL Commission", the "AFL" league and the "AFLW" league. Thankfully we still play be "The Laws of Australian Football". As it is - - the 'branding' via "AFL" has been used very broadly - in particular OUTSIDE of the core states in Australia. And - as a result - we have the examples of "AFL Canada" which then includes "AFL Quebec", "AFL Ontario", "AFL Newfoundland and Labrador", "AFL New Brunswick", "AFL Saskatchewan", "AFL Alberta" and "AFL British Columbia". Likewise....."AFL New Zealand", "AFL England", etc although in the US it's "USAFL" and in Denmark it's the "DAFL". And so......sadly......to many, many people - they regard it as "playing AFL". I'm not all that happy with it - especially given the AFL are only too happy to layer their branding but beyond that - in many cases stuff all real support. That said - great to see the AFL Oceania Cup back on this December.........hosted by "AFL Fiji".
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Messi is in a much larger group of players so there is no doubt his foot skills are superb. In Australian Football and Rugby League there have been players that have shown amazing footwork. 1. Reg Gasnier played Rugby League for St.George, NSW and Australia and could play Rugby Union and Cricket. His running was described as graceful and his sidestep and swerve could be performed to leave defenders groping. He could also pass to his team-mates at high speed with great accuracy. 2. Brett Kenny played for Parramatta, NSW and Australia and could sidestep off both feet leaving defenders falling over. I once saw him do a triple sidestep, right-left-right, that put the defender on the ground as Kenny stepped over him to score. He could also pass to his team-mates at high speed with great accuracy. 3. Graeme Langlands had a prodigious sidestep off both feet at high speed. He could also pass to his team-mates at high speed with great accuracy.
Billy big ears
Roar Rookie
The elephant in the room is the effects of concussion on contact sports esp RL and RU and to a lesser extent the AFL and Soccer with heading the ball . ALL these sports will have massive problems with dealing with the on field concussed players and retired players with (CTE) "Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a progressive and fatal brain disease associated with repeated traumatic brain injuries" It could get to the stage where parents and schools wont let their kids play these sports.
Billy big ears
Roar Rookie
So the soccer ball is round and much easier to control than an an oval ball!
Billy big ears
Roar Rookie
Can we get one thing straight! The AFL is a competition and only the players in that comp can be called AFL players all the other players play Australian (Rules) Football!
Bangkokpussey
Roar Rookie
What is your point? One could equally say no soccer player would come close to the foot skills with an oval ball like AFLs Peter Daicos, Gary Ablett jnr or NRLs El Nasri.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
It has become dire but RA still have the test income flowing in and fans still showing up for it. As Test level income go up like soccer and the WC that money comes in from outside Oz where as league and NRL don't have a bigger market to tap
Nat
Roar Guru
Again - nope. Try just a little research before posting.
Nat
Roar Guru
Why don't you tell me how many there were. Out of all 16 teams give me a number? Then compare that to your example. It's every code in their respective WCs. Don't come in with your generalisations pretending to make a point.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
There is a fledgling Australian Football comp in the USA, Canada & Europe.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Infrastructure is a big impediment. It needs an ellipse shaped field. Most other sports, including Gaelic Football, are played on rectangles
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
I think there would be a market in the US if it invested like Union with building the grass roots.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
And AFL is 4th on a per capita basis
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
And we got PNG because of the French!
Micko
Roar Rookie
The BBL was only going to ever work as a Six Nations style concise lightning format (which it originally was). The problem is it's turned into a meaningless long-winded cash cow. T20 is just too boring (except for Indians!) to have a prolonged tournament/league. The BBL needs more franchises and a 3-week maximum length locked into an annual window (e.g. 10th January-31st January) to get every top Australian player along with a host of top international players.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Crickets problem was they turned Internationals in a form of world club cricket destroying both club the international. Oz should of had a league to rival India if they had left the Internationals alone. That could have led to a cross over cup.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
I know and it was a bit tongue in cheek. League's problem is that it is to much like Union and NFL that have much bigger head starts in every country except Oz and maybe PNG. AFL though is a lovely sport and really only has Gealic Football like it that i know of so could be sold as a different spot a cross between soccer and basketball. Its the 13th highest earning league in the world so has money to grow the game and could pick up ex ballers who maybe couldn't get it in the hoop. Kerry in Gaelic football used an Ex baller much like AFL to catch the high balls and feed to the nippy shooter who ran by.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I've played Football. I've never found it difficult to compete heading a ball and it is no more difficult than marking a ball in competition. Your argument is specious
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Heading a ball is about making sure you are standing in the right spot, catching is about reaching for the ball. It’s alot harder to head a ball without tackling the other player in the air than it is to take the ball out of thin air as its only arms not head or body you need to move. I have played hurling garlic football and soccer and much easy to catch a ball from other hands then head a ball with other heads and feet
Micko
Roar Rookie
SR is dire. Pretty much the worst format for a pro league.