New South Wales have just 20 RL leagues in the regional areas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_ ... ue#Regions
Victoria has 41 AFL leagues in the regional areas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_ ... all_League
Now consider this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales#Population
62.9 percent of 7.24 million is about 4.5 million. That leaves 2.74 million in the regional areas. 137,000 per comp.The estimated population of New South Wales at the end of June 2010 was 7.24 million people. Population grew by 1.5% over the preceding year,[10] lower than the national rate of 1.7%.
62.9% of NSW's population is based in Sydney.[11]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_(Australia)
On the right hand side of the page the population of Victoria is quoted as 5,547,527 (say 5.5 million). 75 percent of 5.5 million is about 4.1 million. That leaves just 1.4 million in the regional areas, but just 34,000 per comp!Victoria is Australia's most densely populated state, and has a highly centralised population, with almost 75% of Victorians living in Melbourne, the state capital and largest city.
You would think in a heartland state like New South Wales there would be many more competitions wouldn't you? But nope, the game isn't as popular as one would think if you listen to Dave, Parra et al!
I'd compare Sydney to Melbourne, but finding links to metro open age rugby league to back up any numbers is proving hard. There are seven AFL leagues in Melbourne, but it looks like most of them are multiple division.
Let's see some links to numbers in metro Sydney for rugby league, so we can make a final comparison hey?