Australia's National Sport

[benchmark00]

haha ian no, league is definately bigger in nsw and qld...
a small majority would go the same way as u...

Maybe in Qld but its not really the case anymore in NSW, growing crowds and a more successful team, etc, are all contributing factors to it being 1/3 split in NSW, i cant speak for QLD though.

 

[Slow Love™]

Somebody needs to define "national sport". People need to stop focussing on how many people/clubs participate, because otherwise, providing social's figures are correct (and I just did a quick google, and found the same reports), it's netball.

Does ANYBODY here think netball is Australia's national sport?

No? Good, let's ditch that definition then. I would interpret it as what most dominates the national consciousness - what the people all over the country are flicking to the sports pages to read about, or watch on TV. On that basis, I'd say probably AFL - with the caveat that some states are torn parochially on the football codes (as you can see from this thread). Cricket would be comfortably second though - outside of a couple of states and a small territory (ACT) plenty of Australia doesn't give a rat's ass about rugby.

Overseas though, because cricket is more of an international sport (than AFL), it's more commonly identified as the "official national sport".

 

[Fiery]

Somebody needs to define "national sport". People need to stop focussing on how many people/clubs participate, because otherwise, providing social's figures are correct (and I just did a quick google, and found the same reports), it's netball.

Does ANYBODY here think netball is Australia's national sport?

No? Good, let's ditch that definition then. I would interpret it as what most dominates the national consciousness - what the people all over the country are flicking to the sports pages to read about, or watch on TV. On that basis, I'd say probably AFL - with the caveat that some states are torn parochially on the football codes (as you can see from this thread). Cricket would be comfortably second though - outside of a couple of states and a small territory (ACT) plenty of Australia doesn't give a rat's ass about rugby.

Overseas though, because cricket is more of an international sport (than AFL), it's more commonly identified as the "official national sport".

Good post Slow Love. So we can conclude that cricket is indeed the official national sport.

 

[Linda]

As far as crowds go, youd have to say AFL. It gets big crowds even in pre-season matches. Of course, crowd sizes arn't as good a indicator in cricket, as a lot of fans would rather watch it on tv, or just dont have the 5 days free to go to a match.
Id still say AFL though, for one city to support 10 teams fairly comfortably, the game would have to be pretty popular!

 

[Slats4ever]

Good post Slow Love. So we can conclude that cricket is indeed the official national sport.

no... just because cricket is identified on an international level doesn't mean it's Australia's national sport...

What's Ireland's national sport? Gaelic Footy...

Same as Australia's being AFL

 

[social]

What's wrong with netball?

 

[benchmark00]

Good post Slow Love. So we can conclude that cricket is indeed the official national sport.

ARGH, you moron, AFL is the national sport....


And Slow Love, Cricket may well be recognized as Australias official 'International Sport'... but not National, meaning within the boundaries of the country

 

[Fiery]

ARGH, you moron, AFL is the national sport....


And Slow Love, Cricket may well be recognized as Australias official 'International Sport'... but not National, meaning within the boundaries of the country

What were you saying about personal insults?

 

[Slats4ever]

hehe i like this benchmark character... says it how it is

 

[benchmark00]

What were you saying about personal insults?

Yeah fair enough, no offence, but its really getting on my nerves how youre trying to argue something when youre not even in the country, its like me arguing about something in Burkina Faso, when im sitting in air conditioned comfort in Australia.

 

[Burpey]

there is only ONE AFL team in sydney, compared to NINE rugby league teams

 

[Fiery]

Yeah fair enough, no offence, but its really getting on my nerves how youre trying to argue something when youre not even in the country, its like me arguing about something in Burkina Faso, when im sitting in air conditioned comfort in Australia.

No offence taken. I put the question out to everyone, not just Australians. I said the argument was concluded to get a rise from you and it worked. I think we can conclude that it depends who you ask.

 

[Burpey]

AFL has just about sold out Telstra stadium... even in preliminary rounds... the only time league can do taht is on grand final day... AFL usually seats about 22-27 grand at the SCG whilst league games are lucky to get 8...

Blockbuster AFL games attract equal or more viewers than friday night footy.

there is only ONE AFL team in sydney, compared to NINE rugby league teams

 

[Slats4ever]

what's ur point? doesn't mean there's more people that follow it..

 

[benchmark00]

there is only ONE AFL team in sydney, compared to NINE rugby league teams

So youre saying that there isnt a Sydney AFL competition? My bro plays in it and its really big, so you cant just base it on national competition club basis

 

[Burpey]

what's ur point? doesn't mean there's more people that follow it..

well, first of all the average rugby league crowd per match in sydney is about 12 000, not 8000. Secondly, ALL the people who go to watch afl watch the swans, which happens only 11 times a season. with about 4-5 rugby league games every week in sydney for about 30 weeks of the year, it can be said more people go to rugby league, not counting all the people who get to watch it live or close enough on fox and nine. ten tucks the afl away at midnight as well as channel nine

 

[Burpey]

So youre saying that there isnt a Sydney AFL competition? My bro plays in it and its really big, so you cant just base it on national competition club basis

it's big??? i don't see anything in the papers about it, nor could i name one team and i am a sports nut

 

[Slats4ever]

not when sydney are playing... it occupies either 7:30 on channel ten or takes the sunday arvo time slot depending on when the swannies are playing... it's not Sydney's fault the AFL only has one team based in Sydney. There's a huge market for it over here now. It all came about when League went up s*hit creek with the Super League Debarkle...

The fairer *** also see AFL as a far more viable option... They are sick and tired of terribly public displays by league palyesr and don't want to display their kids to this.

 

[age_master]

9 * 8000 = 72000 ?? thats conservative for mine too, Afl's 27k every 2nd week....

the AFL comp you might think is big in sydney but the RL and union are much much bigger. lets face it AFL wont be popular in sydney till we have won a couple of titles

 

[Burpey]

not when sydney are playing... it occupies either 7:30 on channel ten or takes the sunday arvo time slot depending on when the swannies are playing... it's not Sydney's fault the AFL only has one team based in Sydney. There's a huge market for it over here now. It all came about when League went up s*hit creek with the Super League Debarkle...

The fairer *** also see AFL as a far more viable option... They are sick and tired of terribly public displays by league palyesr and don't want to display their kids to this.

i like afl, don't get me wrong, but only three of my mates plus myself follow it ... where is this so-called market

not to mention all the derogatry terms used about the afl