Talking Footy

Is Sydney really rugby league heartland? A little over 27,000 for the Tri-Nations final. That's laughable. Sydney clearly is split in its sporting loyalties between Aussie Rules, League, Rugby and Soccer. There is no real dominant code it would seem.

If the codes are equal, then get another 8 AFL, Union and Soccer teams from Sydney playing in their respective national competitions and we will really compare apples with apples...

Approx 2 million people pay to attend games of RL in Sydney every year... none of the other codes come close to approaching this figure...

This is almost double the other three codes combined...

Willis, can you explain why there was such a poor crowd for a rugby league international and final at that, last night in Sydney? Are you disappointed? No doubt ARL officials are.

Its not great by any means, but you will find that its is probably in the top 3 or so Sydney RL International crowds in the last 25 years....

Its not like they were getting 50,000 crowds ten or twenty years ago and that these have dried up...

Unfortunately the 30 year Aussie dominance of the International game has led to some apathy. Hopefully with the Poms winning a game, and the Kiwis becoming very competitive this will change in the future.

Its only 25 years ago that SOO and Bledisloe Cup games got crowds of less than 10,000 following decades long domination by one team...

Its amazing what the promise of a genuine contest can do for crowds....

Who gives a stuff Brucey....rather watch lawn bowls and listen to Stan Zemanek than read your fucking dribble!

Willis 21 wrote:

Its not great by any means, but you will find that its is probably in the top 3 or so Sydney RL International crowds in the last 25 years....

Its not like they were getting 50,000 crowds ten or twenty years ago and that these have dried up...

Unfortunately the 30 year Aussie dominance of the International game has led to some apathy. Hopefully with the Poms winning a game, and the Kiwis becoming very competitive this will change in the future.

Its only 25 years ago that SOO and Bledisloe Cup games got crowds of less than 10,000 following decades long domination by one team...

Its amazing what the promise of a genuine contest can do for crowds....

Funny that when you consider all you've posted above and ponder why it is that crowds of 30-40k + were possible in Brisbane and Melbourne yet not in Sydney, even when it is a final. Do Sydney people just not care enough about international rugby league to get out and support the national side?

I also think it would be very unusual indeed for a Bledisloe Cup game not to be a sellout anywhere in Australia. I guess that is the difference in support for the respective codes and their international games.

Yet go back 20 years and the Bledisloe was being played at Concord Oval in front of 12,000 people...

As I have said before, the low crowd For RL Tests is nothing new in Sydney. They were getting 15,000 crowds in the early 80's ( way before the Swans, Waratahs and Soccer were being played in Sydney...)

A second generation is now growing up without a culture for attending these games .. There is a prefernece to State Of Origin, Grand Finals and even local club games....

Rugby League is very healthy in Sydney with this year being the second highest attendance in 98 years...

Maybe give Sydney a break from Tests for a while, and concentrate on playing games in Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle and Townsville....