Probably, but there's also several major factors that contribute to the difference and the overriding major factor is passion for the game.


Exactly. And which code has teams in every major city in Australia?

I always feel sorry for Keith. It's like he is mentally trapped in rugby league, despite the fact he hates at the game at levels and in all countries.

I just hope someone can get to him to show him that he can just let the anger go, and do something he enjoys.

Give it up Keef

There's really no need for that response simply because you don't like what I have to say. I'm a rugby league fan first and foremost but I'm not blind to the inherent problems the sport appears unable to solve... embarrassing lack of bums on seats being one of them... comparatively speaking.


That's called sticking your head in the sand.


I've been to Sydney and Melbourne on countless occasions and they both offer a multitude of cultural and social attractions which compete for people's engagement and disposable incomes. Dismissing Melbourne as a social and cultural desert which has nothing else to offer apart from AFL is an ignorant, lazy and desperate effort to explain away Sydney's relatively poor NRL attendances.


I've no idea whether those stats are true or not but if they are then it's safe to conclude that NRL attendances in Sydney won't be competing with attendances like those in Melbourne anytime soon.


Correct, but they aren't translating to bums on seats in Sydney in anything like significant numbers. A semi-decent attendance of 30K at an NRL game in Sydney at ANZ looks embarrassing with all those empty seats and is not a good look on TV. I've read other excuses for poor attendances in Sydney like... oh, the weather was terrible, it was raining... well, the weather in Melbourne is more changeable than Sydney and it doesn't affect AFL supporters ability to turn up to games.

You know there's a problem with the sport when the focus and agenda becomes obsessed with TV ratings and how allegedly wonderful and positive they are. This is an argument which has crept into the thinking of insecure acolytes of Super League in recent years too.


The number of league players switching codes is insignificant and yet another insecure knee-jerk of the highest order.


Yes they do have rows and rows of empty seats along with sply occupied grassy knolls, unless it's the NRL equivalent of a local derby fixture.


It might not be realistic in Sydney but it's realistic in Melbourne at the MCG or Etihad. Those stadiums get filled for regular season AFL games.

Where do you live Keith?
Why do you care about Rugby League if you dismiss and disparage the Sport.

I do not care about AFL or Cricket or Soccer.... why should I?
I am only interested in what appeals to me, is that wrong too in your mind?

Why should I care if you think the Stadiums are empty or full? or if it bothers your mentality, everyone I know is comfortable with the state of the game and where it sits.

I am happy with the way things are, I would like England to sort themselves out and compete at Test level and win a series but that is outside of my control.

Anything else Keith?

Of course you don't care about anything other than your favourite sport Jonesy. Of course you (and everyone you know - thanks for the reliable statistical sample btw) are happy with the way things are. Of course you don't like your views being challenged. Of course you're not interested in comparisons - that's why you went out of your way to inform me that AFL attendances are -6 % down this year and -6% down last year and that there's nothing else to do in Melbourne. Of course you were always going to hit back with yet another lazy, ignorant and desperate response.

Enjoy poring over your TV ratings fella - I can almost feel your passion for them

Quote ="Keith Swiftcorn"Of course you don't care about anything other than your favourite sport Jonesy. Of course you (and everyone you know - thanks for the reliable statistical sample btw) are happy with the way things are. Of course you don't like your views being challenged. Of course you're not interested in comparisons - that's why you went out of your way to inform me that AFL attendances are -6 % down this year and -6% down last year and that there's nothing else to do in Melbourne. Of course you were always going to hit back with yet another lazy, ignorant and desperate response. Enjoy poring over your TV ratings fella - I can almost feel your passion for them '" stats.rleague.com/afl/crowds/summary.html And Keith you are from where and live where?

Quote ="Keith Swiftcorn"Of course you don't care about anything other than your favourite sport Jonesy. Of course you (and everyone you know - thanks for the reliable statistical sample btw) are happy with the way things are. Of course you don't like your views being challenged. Of course you're not interested in comparisons - that's why you went out of your way to inform me that AFL attendances are -6 % down this year and -6% down last year and that there's nothing else to do in Melbourne. Of course you were always going to hit back with yet another lazy, ignorant and desperate response. Enjoy poring over your TV ratings fella - I can almost feel your passion for them '" stats.rleague.com/afl/crowds/summary.html And Keith you are from where and live where?

What's the deal with your obsession as to where I'm from and where I live Jonesy? And what relevance does it have?

Thanks for the link to the stats on AFL attendances which exceed those of the NRL even though you are not interested in them and have no interest whatsoever in the AFL. And why should you when everything in the NRL garden is rosy and not up for critique or discussion in Jonesy's world, just keep munching on those TV ratings instead, eh?

I've been to the Caxton before though it's generally attended by the sort of dinky die, true blue drunken meatheaded Ocker types who appear to have all undergone a full-frontal lobotomy whilst dribbling phrases like erm... "MAAAAYYTTTE? <burp, dribble, vomit>, "QUEEEENSLAAANNNNDER!!" or "GOOOOO THE BLEEEEUUUUWWWWSS!!". Are they real Australians representative of Australia? Cripes, I hope not. Prefer the Lord Alfred at the top of Caxton St anyhow... the clientele are marginally less brain-dead in there, less inclined to chuck beer around and are capable of engaging in occasional, albeit limited conversations. They wouldn't know what to do with a critique of Australian League if they were presented with one anyway.

ORIGIN (of the species) - the only time so-called league fans get off their @rses in huge numbers to attend a game - bandwagoners most of them turning up to an event which gets saturation media coverage. Any passion emitted by the braindead attendees is not for the game of rugby league itself but for the ockertunity (good word that, I just made it up) to...

1. Behave like an Ocker.
2. Get ratd (that goes without saying).
3. Indulge in the annual state against state rivalry shamfest.

The rest can sit in front of the TV and belch about the ratings being good.

PS: Too late to modify your post

In other words I have had my arguement destroyed and I don't have any coherent response so I will revert to looking at the sand around my head.

Why would I modify anything?

The link I posted just confirmed AFL is negative -6% two years in a row, you obviously do not have the nous to find a common and popular website yourself.

Why should I not ask where you are from and where you live?
I am not asking for your street address.
I am from Brisbane, no big deal.

Are you ashamed of where you are from Walter or are you worried if you say anything you may forget your bullsh*t later and not be able to maintain your constructed persona on this forum.

I know I have trod on toes and told things from an Oz point of view, I do not back away from that.
You....... semi knowledgeable Pillock that antagonises for the sake of it.

What argument was that Sal?
I posted some TV ratings saying how well the game was received in Australia.
I did not compare it to anything, it was a good news story.


Are you saying I should worry about other sports?
Do you follow Rugby League? You are here so I guess you do. Do you spend all day wringing your hands because your game is not as big as Football in the UK?
Do you care that Rugby League gets hardly any coverage in England?

Where I live Rugby League gets 4-6 pages of coverage in all the main Newspapers, at SOO time its front page.
Thats Sydney and lately Brisbane, should I worry about AFL? you tell me why I should mate.
If in 30 years time as I am watching the game on my last legs and AFL has taken over the country I will still be able to watch my local team run around at the local Park.

Maybe you Sal and Keith Corn know more about my local area and my State and my Country than I do... I somehow doubt it though.

Time to call it quits Lads its nearly midnight, if you have anything else to add Sal feel free.
Keith come on down, we always love those Southerners or Pommies (if we knew what you were Walter) with a big Gob that tells us we are Redneck f*#kwitts, we have a special spot for them.

See this post, it almost screams you have either never been to Australia or if you have it was on some tour where they told you what Australians were like once upon a time.

Stop making things up Keith.

[size=150=#FF0040WHERE WERE YOU BORN & WHERE DO YOU LIVE KEITH?[/size

You requested me to pay a visit to the Caxton Hotel as if a visit to that p[ii[/isshole would somehow expand my knowledge of Australian culture and all things Australian Rugby League in order that I'd appreciate the full extent of Jonesy's unrivalled knowledge and experience of Australia and Australian RL. But you then modified your post and deleted it. I'm guessing even you realised what a ridiculous assertion it was, hence the modification. There's nothing to be gained on the knowledge front engaging with Caxton St boofheads. Or are you claiming they represent the Australian RL intelligentsia?


And the relevance of you informing me that you are from Brisbane is what exactly?


And the relevance of me informing you where I am from is what exactly?


You've told things from an insecure Jonesy's point of view - a world where empty seats and empty stadiums are of no concern so long as those TV ratings look good, Origin is popular to boofheads and nothing else matters in Jonesy's world. Well I've got news for you - you and your opinions alone do not represent Australia in it's entirety. Thousands upon thousands more fans turn up to AFL games to fill their stadia so they obviously represent more of Australia than you - and your statistically sampled mates who don't turn up for games but pore over TV ratings instead - do.

I get it - you don't like your blinkered views challenged. That's already been established. You only want to engage in positive debate about the sport in your country and you're not interested in debate about any negative aspects which challenge your intransigent beliefs.

Don't you think it's about time the game in Australia did something about the empty stadiums and the zero atmosphere and passion at NRL games? Or is the game in Australia only concerned about TV ratings, revenue from advertising and sponsorship associated with drinking copious amounts of p[ii[/iss? Watching games in front of the TV as they coincide with imbibing bottles of XXXX whilst being rudely interrupted by a stuffed-crust delivery from Eagle Boys when you don't want to miss the Keno replay does not equate to a game in good health.


Being a semi-knowledgable is infinitely more preferable to an existence where one's head remains firmly stuck up one's @rse. Thanks for the compliment though.

Where were you from again?
Too Shy to say?
I will send you a message, something to think about Keith.

I bet you've had more TV dinners in front of the TV watching NRL games than the number of NRL games and grounds I've been to. Gotta keep up those TV ratings, eh?



How many grounds in Australia have you attended to actually watch a game "live"?

Me? Well, I think it'd be easier to name the grounds I've not been to yet to see a game "live"... that'll be Penrith (whatever it's called these days) and Kogarah in Sydney, Dairy Farmers in Townsville and Canberra. I've been to all the rest and most of them on several to umpteen occasions. Throw in Origin games, World Cup, Tri Nations, Four Nations, Anzac Tests. I even attended Souths comeback game against the Roosters when they were re-admitted to the comp in 2002 - a rare event by NRL standards in Sydney with no empty rows of seats

I was also at the first game at Suncorp (Lang Park) after the rebuild... the Broncos were beaten by Newcastle... and the second game which was an Origin game... NSW won. Throw in lots of local QLD comp games too at places like Redcliffe, Burleigh, Ipswich, Easts at Coorparoo and a Grand Final involving Easts... Darren Smith was still playing and he was about 40

... and Toowoomba when the N****r Brown Stand was still there and white folk were eating their Coon Cheese sarnies.


Relevance?

You are full of Shixt
Where were you born and where do you live?

Relevance?

I could be from the Valley, Ebbw Vale, Sherwood, Cleveland, Ipswich, Windsor, Indooroopilly, Yeerongpilly, Burpengary, Glasshouse Mountains, Wacol Prison, Tittybong, Burrumbuttock, Chinaman's Knob, Mount Buggery, Mount Coot-tha or Rum Jungle... it's irrelevant.

This is turning interesting.

WelL, that turned into a bitchfest. Reminds me. Of the times I had to step in and issue multiple bans on the NRL boards. There's a simple rule to poting on these boards: play nicely or don't play at all. Two posters will now be taking a break to think about that.