Which game is bigger???

Seems that the old debate keeps on raging and now that the finals are under way everyone wants to have their say.  So why not me.

Let's compare the 4 Australian codes :  Aussie Rules , Football (Soccer), Rugby League & Rugby Union.

Right off the bat I will dismiss Aussie Rules - AFL.  Yes it gets big crowds but that is about it for AFL.  This season I have almost completely stopped watching AFL as the rule changes and the ever increasing bias towards Victorian teams is making this a game that is not fun to watch.  Once the Grand Final is over all this sport has to talk about over the off season is the draft and not much else.  Plus it must be great to be picked for the All-Australian team and only get to play Ireland in a hybrid game every now and then.  This is why I rate AFL at 4.  Outside of Melbourne this game starts to dwindle in it's popularity.  South Australia and Western Australia has a good following for this sport but three states is not enough to make this game any bigger than it is.

At number three I will slot in Rugby League.  Hard to believe for some but there are reasons. It easily outweighs AFL due to the fact that League has the biggest three games of the year in Australia.  State of Origin.  Not to mention Test matches against the Kiwis and a Four nations at the end of the season.  And also Australia can play other teams around the world clearly shows why it is greater than AFL.  Add on to this a greater TV audience over the last weekend, it did have smaller crowds but Sydney has always been disappointing when it comes to getting out unless it is a one off spectacular event.  Also it has now been shown that League players can play AFL but not the reverse.

At 2 is Union.  At a national level I think NRL has a greater product but Union has such a large international following.  The Super 15 is a broader competition to start with.  Then there is the tri-series, European tours, and the rugby world cup is always bigger than the NRLs.  The only thing Union is lacking is good free to air coverage.  Even the World Cup has been ordinary so far in this regard.

And that leaves Football as number 1.  When a sport is played by every country then you know it is going to be hard to argue with.  The national competition has teams in every state bar Tassie & the territories but it does have NZ.  The World Cup is the biggest sporting event bar the Olympics.  You just have to look at the money thrown around to realise how big a game Football is.  Then you can look at it historically.  Football came first, then some kid called William Web Ellis decided to pick up a ball and run, that is when Union was created.  Down the track a group of players were not happy with the amateur game and wanted to be professional, thus Rugby league was born.  As for AFL, it was just something thought of to keep cricketers fit in the off season.