Source: Newsmediaworks 2014
Supporters
AFL has biggest fan base. Some 6.3 million Australians aged 14+ support an AFL club, or 35 percent of the population. Women make up 41 percent of these supporters.
The Sydney Swans – still South Melbourne for Victorian diehards with long memories – has the biggest fan base with 1.1m supporters, of whom a third live outside NSW.
Hawthorn has a greater percentage of out-of-state fans, its 48 percent figure boosted by marketing activities in Tasmania.
The highest percentage of out-of-state fans (48%) belongs to silvertails, Carlton.
Victoria, the home of AFL, is the epicentre of the sport with 2.5m (37%) followers.
Working-class Collingwood – the mighty Magpies – has the most supporters (740,000) of all Victoria-based clubs, followed by Geelong (693,000). The average supporter base is 420,000 fans.
According to emma, Rugby League has 4.7m followers and boasts the best supported club in the country – the Brisbane Broncos (1.2m fans). One in three are female, the same ratio as NRL fans overall (37%).
The Grand Final this year pitches the two of the most passionately supported teams against each other – the South Sydney Rabbitohs (520,000 fans) and the Dogs of Canterbury-Bankstown (305,000 fans).
Attendance
In Melbourne, AFL teams report a 10 percent decline in gate receipts while the city’s NRL team, the Melbourne Storm, increased its attendance figures. In Sydney, The Roosters and Rabbitohs have seen gates drop while the Swans grew their crowds.*
Some 2.5 million Australians aged 14+ attended an AFL game this season, making it the highest attended code. NRL is third on the list with 1.1m fans attending a game, slightly lagging the 1.4m who went to the cricket.
ref: newsmediaworks 2014