Australian rules football or AFL is the most attended Sport in Australia. Everyone including children and elderly people love to watch the game. The league contains around 18 different teams fighting each other for the title. The tournament has around $2 billion market value and it makes the tournament one of the richest leagues in the entire World. Only the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), English Premier League (EPL), La Liga, and Indian Premier League (IPL) have more market value than Australian Rules football.
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In recent years, Australian rules football has gained much more popularity and response from fans and followers. The response is not only from Australia but also from the USA and New Zealand. There are actually several motives behind the popularity of Australian rules football.
The history of Australian rules football
If we want to learn about the history of Australian rules football, we need to go back to 1897. The Victorian Football Club, which is based in Melbourne city, started the league. Initially, the name of the league was the Victorian Football League (VFL). The league has ubiquitous popularity among the citizens of Australia. At the time, cricket was the only major Sport for the people and they really enjoyed the game of gentlemen. However, the Australian rules of football changed the scenario. They overtook cricket in terms of popularity in the late 1980s.
In 1990, the Victorian Football Federation changed its name from the Victorian football league (VFL) to the Australian Football League (AFL) and gave chances for the other teams outside the big city of Melbourne to participate. As a result, the league now has more than 18 teams in the top tier. This decision boosts the popularity of the game throughout the country including the big cities, such as Sydney, Western Australia, Queensland, Canberra, Adelaide, and Hobart.
Collingwood football club is the most successful and popular team in the country. The team has 15 titles in their showcase. Although Essendon football club and Carlton football club have one more title than Collingwood Football club, Collingwood has more fans and followers in Australia. Besides, Richmond Football Club, Hawthorn Football Club, Melbourne football club and West Coast have more than five titles. They also have a huge number of loyal fans and followers.
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The current attendance of AFL matches
In 2024, the Australian rules football (AFL) gained more spectators than the previous year’s competition. This year the average number of spectators in the stadium was 37,455 in 198 games. This is two thousand more than the last year and twenty thousand more than the COVID pandemic time. The number of total attendance has also grown in the past years. The tournament had almost 7.5 million crowds from the country. In last year’s tournament, nearly half a million attendants were for the final matches and the average was 59,280.
The average attendance of Australian rules football matches has been growing day by day over the past years. This is happening because the main teams in the tournament are now spending a huge amount of money on the players and upgrading the stadium facilities. Dustin Martin is the most-paid player in the competition. He is earning $1.8 million for each year. Brisbane lion’s player Lachie Neale also earns more than $1.5 million from the club. Besides, Marcus bontempelli, Nat Fyfe, Jeremy Cameron, and Tom Lynch are earning more than a million dollars each year.
The television audience of the AFL
According to the sports industry Australia and VOZ, more than 500,000 to 800,000 people watch the game on television and on online platforms. The statistics for the regular games. The Derby and other top-tier matches witness more than 900,000 TV audiences per game. The men’s Australian Rules football finals witness around 1.2 million to 1.5 million viewership across the country. The most-watched Australian Sports match is the grand final of Australian rules football (AFL). Around 3.5 to 4 million people watch the game in 7 Sports, Fox Sports, and Kayo.
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On the other hand, the women’s Australian rules football (WAFL) is quite unpopular compared to the Australian rules football and the Big Bash League. The average TV audience for a single woman in Australian rules football is around 200,000 to 300,000. The finals remain almost the same amount of audience. However, the grand final witnessed around 800,000 TV audiences on several channels.
What makes Australian rules football greater than other sports
Generally speaking, there are actually numerous reasons why Australian Rules Football (AFL) is the most popular sport in the country. One of the easy answers is that the game takes a much shorter time than cricket and other sports when it was set up. As a result, the game gained huge popularity across the country and became one of the parts of People’s lives. Every school and college in Australia has a football team and they are making a huge difference at the national level.
Additionally, the unique features of Australian rules football really attract spectators from different parts of the world. The game is not quite similar to cricket or football rather the game has various unique features. For example, in the game, players hold the ball in their hands rather than kicking through their feet. However, there are many games like Australian rules football such as rugby, National Football League (NFL), and NRL.
Also, the influence of the Victorian Football Club is insane in Australia and the nearby region. They promoted the game to the people of Australia and the people in that region. As a result, the game became quite frequent to them and they are now worshipping the game just like a God. Every team in the competition has its own fanbase and premium membership.
Most importantly, the game is directly related to their cultural heritage. From the beginning of their Independence country. They were playing the game every year of winter. The game has become more frequent in Western Australia and Southern Australia. The game has dominated those regions for many years. For this reason, the game became one of the parts of their life and created a connection between the people and sport.
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