NRL cops a kicking in the battle of the codes
Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 1:32 pm
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/c ... 5886874234
LEAGUE has taken a battering from AFL in the latest sports participation survey and the biggest star to switch codes hasn't even left the NRL.
Figures from the Australian Sports Commission show that, for the first time ever, Australian rules has beaten rugby league in the battle to sign up new members on league's home turf in NSW.
The news could hardly have come at a worse time for league administrators with one of its biggest stars, Israel Folau, due to switch to AFL at the end of this season and a Greater Western Sydney AFL team entering the competition in 2012.
University of NSW sports participation researcher, Dr Clifton Evers, said public perception of league as a more violent game meant people were seeking other sports.
The Folau coup is strategic, with AFL officials hoping his arrival will create a path for Polynesians to join the code, rather than league or union.
Dr Evers said, while it was younger people who most often participated in sport, their parents were the ones who decided what they would play.
"It is more of a concern for parents than children, but there is the belief that contact in rugby union and rugby league is more intense than in AFL, even though AFL can be radically forceful," he said.
"It's not necessarily that the kids don't like the sport, it's because they go into the sports that the parents put them into. You'll find that is also why soccer is more popular."
According to the Exercise, Recreation and Sport Survey, the AFL attracted 36,400 new NSW members from 2007-2009. Hammered by a membership downturn in 2008 during the global financial crisis, rugby league could only manage an increase of 33,700 in the same period.League chiefs will be worried by the surge in AFL memberships in NSW, which have risen from 9300 in 2007 to more than 45,000 in 2009.
AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said administrators were happy with his sport's growth across NSW.
"It's a long, slow process but we're making good progress," he said.
"I haven't seen the survey but we are certainly not the dominant code and we're a long way from it. However, we're working hard to build the profile of the game and we're taking some good steps."
It is understood the AFL has a war chest of $100 million to support the sport in the Western Suburbs.
LEAGUE has taken a battering from AFL in the latest sports participation survey and the biggest star to switch codes hasn't even left the NRL.
Figures from the Australian Sports Commission show that, for the first time ever, Australian rules has beaten rugby league in the battle to sign up new members on league's home turf in NSW.
The news could hardly have come at a worse time for league administrators with one of its biggest stars, Israel Folau, due to switch to AFL at the end of this season and a Greater Western Sydney AFL team entering the competition in 2012.
University of NSW sports participation researcher, Dr Clifton Evers, said public perception of league as a more violent game meant people were seeking other sports.
The Folau coup is strategic, with AFL officials hoping his arrival will create a path for Polynesians to join the code, rather than league or union.
Dr Evers said, while it was younger people who most often participated in sport, their parents were the ones who decided what they would play.
"It is more of a concern for parents than children, but there is the belief that contact in rugby union and rugby league is more intense than in AFL, even though AFL can be radically forceful," he said.
"It's not necessarily that the kids don't like the sport, it's because they go into the sports that the parents put them into. You'll find that is also why soccer is more popular."
According to the Exercise, Recreation and Sport Survey, the AFL attracted 36,400 new NSW members from 2007-2009. Hammered by a membership downturn in 2008 during the global financial crisis, rugby league could only manage an increase of 33,700 in the same period.League chiefs will be worried by the surge in AFL memberships in NSW, which have risen from 9300 in 2007 to more than 45,000 in 2009.
AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said administrators were happy with his sport's growth across NSW.
"It's a long, slow process but we're making good progress," he said.
"I haven't seen the survey but we are certainly not the dominant code and we're a long way from it. However, we're working hard to build the profile of the game and we're taking some good steps."
It is understood the AFL has a war chest of $100 million to support the sport in the Western Suburbs.
