Talking Footy

With RL having a setback year with crowds down to 15940 (16423 in 2012) and their TV ratings also taking a battering in 2013 is the A-League set to take over the mantle as the second code of choice for Australian's with a best ever attendance average of 20k+ surpasses the NRL average, with soccer's well documented grass roots participation numbers and growing TV audience is the time nigh for the NRL's ambition as number one code in Australia? Time will tell......one thing is certain this will encourage more kids to pick up the round ball rather than a Sherrin or Steeden.


As the national team stumbled abroad, soccer in Australia took another giant leap with record crowds attending the A-League opening round.
Adelaide United and Brisbane Roar banked season-opening victories on Sunday and helped the league create attendance records.
Bolstered by massive crowds in Sydney, Melbourne and Gosford, some 100,998 people attended the opening round.
The Melbourne derby drew a big crowd. Photo: Getty Images
The figure surpasses the previous best for a regular-season round of 93,500, set in last season's first round.
The record was set on Sunday as Adelaide beat Perth Glory 3-1 at Coopers Stadium in Adelaide, and Brisbane Roar notched a last-gasp 2-1 away win against Wellington Phoenix.
Adelaide and Brisbane joined Sydney FC as first-round winners.
The Sky Blues showed early signs of revival after a disappointing 2012 season, registering an impressive 2-0 triumph against Newcastle Jets before a 20,103-strong Sydney crowd on Friday night.
Melbourne's derby between the Victory and Heart was a scoreless draw watched by 45,202 spectators at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
The crowd was the second largest for a non-finals A-League match. The all-time record remains the 50,333 who watched Victory play Sydney at the same venue in 2006/07.
In other results, reigning champions Central Coast Mariners drew 1-1 with defending premiers Western Sydney Wanderers before 17,143 fans at Gosford on Saturday.
The first free-to-air coverage of an A-League match on Friday night also helped generate a record for a TV audience for a game in the competition, with an average of 358,000 viewers watching Sydney FC's clash with Newcastle on SBS and Fox Sports.
Head of the A-League Damien de Bohun said the first round lived up to the pre-season hype.
"Record crowds, record TV figures, a sell-out crowd, magnificent atmosphere and some fantastic football - the A-League is back with a bang," de Bohun said in a statement.
"It was a fantastic start to the season and full credit to the players, coaches and fans, who all played their part in creating the first round of theatre. We had some big crowds, tight matches and tense derbies."
AAP

No doubt soccer has always been the second code outside nsw and qld. I think the afls expansion was more to do with trying to counteract soccer, especially in western Sydney. Nrl is still king above the barassi line however both AFL and soccer have made inroads above the line. The nrl, I think, have lifted their game since gws came on board ... That is, is less Sydney centric, but they appear stuck and unable to do much. That is, grow the game at grass roots outside nsw and qld. Thank god for oz tag. This could save the nrl.... Giving them so marketing power re junior numbers. But yes, soccer is coming along nicely.

Maybe the A League has finally got the message from FIFA. Get people to your local games and maybe we'll get the World Cup! Or the people are voting with their feet realising the same thing. Could be an interesting summer.

Phelpsy wrote:

No doubt soccer has always been the second code outside nsw and qld.

What are you trying to say?
Outside of Sydney soccer has modest participation levels.
Sydney is completely dominated by soccer's participation.

Phelpsy wrote:

Nrl is still king above the barassi line.

Yes, in electoral terms, nrl still wins the seat.

Phelpsy wrote:

however both AFL and soccer have made inroads above the line.

AFL has invested time and money in getting AR as part of Sydney's life.
Soccer has not made inroads. Soccer is the incumbent. Every year it gets supplied with more immigrants and government grants to move it along. Soccer has removed the NSL and finally organising itself properly.

Phelpsy wrote:

The nrl, I think, have lifted their game since gws came on board ... That is, is less Sydney centric, but they appear stuck and unable to do much.

From the outside I still see the NSWRL.

Phelpsy wrote:

since gws came on board .

Soccer has constantly malfunctioned. They removed the NSL and installed the totally unbalanced AL
Now they finally have two teams in Melbourne and ..............two teams in Sydney. Now they finally have a balanced competition and tapping into major popuation catchment area - Western Sydney.

Probably the only thing holding soccer back is Gallop trotting out all those one liners that he did with nrl.

I think soccer has always been the second code outside nsw and qld ... That is AFL states. I would think several other sports would be in front of the nrl.

Phelpsy wrote:

I think soccer has always been the second code outside nsw and qld ... That is AFL states. I would think several other sports would be in front of the nrl.

Could you provide statistics to back that up? I have 800k watching the NRL GF in 2012 from Victoria. Show me more interest than that in that state for soccer.

pHyR3 wrote:

Phelpsy wrote:

I think soccer has always been the second code outside nsw and qld ... That is AFL states. I would think several other sports would be in front of the nrl.

Could you provide statistics to back that up? I have 800k watching the NRL GF in 2012 from Victoria. Show me more interest than that in that state for soccer.

What was the TV ratings this year - I think that tells the real story!

the TV ratings for soccer? yes, enlighten me.

I think you could have the darts grand final on a Sunday night on fta in victoria and it would rate pretty well lol. Melbourne cup rates its arse off each year yet hardly think that many people are into horse racing . Same with aus open in tennis, etc etc any Olympic event with an Aussie .

Don't get me wrong, if you want to believe it is popular, that there is a big grass roots following, that you can drive around and see kids playing league on a weekend and there are rugby fields all over the place , go ahead. But reality is, there isn't. Will people on Melbourne watch sport ??? Sure. If they had a choice between origin and a blockbuster AFL game they would watch the AFL easily.

pHyR3 wrote:

Phelpsy wrote:

I think soccer has always been the second code outside nsw and qld ... That is AFL states. I would think several other sports would be in front of the nrl.

Could you provide statistics to back that up? I have 800k watching the NRL GF in 2012 from Victoria. Show me more interest than that in that state for soccer.

I think the comment he made is about participation at local level, not TV viewers or crowds at A-League games. In that regard, yeah soccer would be a clear second behind AFL outside of NSW and QLD.

pHyR3 wrote:

the TV ratings for soccer? yes, enlighten me.

You're assuming TV ratings are a real indication of support.

My point was if A-League holds its strong crowd support - together with it's very strong grass roots and it's national presence it will overtake RL - May even challenge AFL. TV ratings are one of many indicators and not reliable in any event.

As for grassroot support, I know tonnes of people who play soccer and follow league. Similarly, many people play or played union and follow league, including myself. Talking to people who grew up in 'rugby union heartland' in sydney, they know little of union except the rugby world cup and the occasional bledisloe.

And again, you AFL supporters invalidate any stat i provide that supports nrl. dunno why i even bother.

I think rl has a Hugh following in nsw and qld. No one is doubting that? Outside these areas however it has a lot of work to do. Soccer is by far the second sport in Victoria ... Always has been I think. Nrl would have the same following as maybe basketball.