Quote ="FireWire"The number 1 league city is definately Sydney, and 74,000 is an impressive crowd for a semi final. Wouldn't surprise me if its more than the total Super League play off attendance so far.
However Rugby League comes a definite second to AFL in the Aussie sporting stakes, especially in terms of crowds. Although league is massive on the East Coast, it isn't a national sport like Aussie Rules, which has to be one of the highest attended sporting leagues in the world.
Football is growing in popularity over there, but its got a long way to go to rival the traditional Australian sports yet.'"
Attendance is good but not comparable to say soccer in UK or Europe. They can get 15-40,000 per team per game but nothing huge. The Grand Final for AFL attracts 100k.
In Victoria, AFL is huge - it's like soccer in the North West UK, there's nothing else comparable and it's all people talk about. In WA (where I am) too it's pretty much all about AFL even though there is a national union and soccer team.
In NSW and Queensland though, where most of the people are, AFL is a distant sport to League because, as mentioned by someone else, it's a part of their lives from being kids playing it at school. It'll take a long long time before Leaguie can grow to a major force in Victoria/WA, and the same for AFL in NSW/Queensland.
Must admit though that since moving here and going to a few AFL games, it's a good sport to watch.
