I'm glad to see the code doing well. It should look good for a good TV deal next time.[/quote]

Iam not glad that the code is doing so well as it's smothering the sporting world.
I never understood the hype of the World Cup last year (same with the Olympics) as it was just a fuckin pantomime.I really think alot of people follow Soccer (sorry Football) only because everyone else does.

Futbol is the only universal Austadiums code (apart from the opinion of union).

You're in for it now.

Well i think it's up to Union now to try and become a fast ballhandling,free flowing,hard hitting game as it is far bigger then League worldwide and to prove to the world Soccer is over hyped,overpaid crap and NFL is Chess game with beer adverts every 15 seconds.

Have we worked out if this is a multi yet?

It's definitely someone looking for a bite!

All I'll say is if he thinks Union can become bigger than world Football then he is quite clearly dreaming!!

I really don't ever ever think Union will come close to Football it will never happen nor would i want it to as big as Football.
Iam a fan of both Rugby codes but just can not see the point of having 2 codes as both have there good and bad points (and yes Union had more of bad side then League ever had but hey thats the past).
Maybe Australia will just be like Ireland where you have the GAA(both Hurling
and Football), Soccer (real Football) and Rugby Union all enjoying there own popularity within a small population.

The game was also broadcast "live and nationwide" on foxtel. What sort of ratings would that bring in? Enough to put it over the milllion?

I for one am enjoying the rise of football in this country. I hope it continues.

http://www.mediafire.com/?5wwx99oujwb

1. LIVE & ACTIVE:AFL COLLINGWOOD V HAWTHORN FOX Sports1 244,000
2. LIVE & ACTIVE: NRL RABBITOHS V STORMFOX Sports 3 200,000
3. LIVE: NRL BULLDOGS V ROOSTERS FOX Sports 3 154,000
4. LIVE: NRL COWBOYS V WARRIORS FOX Sports 3 149,000
5. LIVE: NRL RAIDERS V WESTS TIGERS FOX Sports 3 127,000
6. LIVE: AFL ADELAIDE V WEST COAST FOX Sports 1 113,000
7. LIVE: AFL WEST COAST V BRISBANE LIONS FOX Sports 1 111,000
8. LIVE: RUGBY UNION: TRI NATIONS (FOX Sports 2) 108,000

Seems that the clash against South Africa drew nowhere near as much interest as the NZ match. Watched both games at the same pub. To prove a point the Band didnt play during the NZ game and the volume on the coverage was pumped through loudspeakers with the band doing a short set during half time before playing after the game. The SA match the band was playing during the first half and actually basically had there break when the rugby had its half time. I guess thats the way it rolls plus with the press talking about how south africa were sending a sub par team, it just all worked against the game.

A Letter to the Editor in SMH today.

Your article regarding Sunday night's television ratings for the soccer international ("Roundly beaten: soccer outrates big league", July 10) was deliberately misleading in what it sought to compare and blatantly inaccurate in the figures it attributed to rugby league.

The basic premise was that soccer had knocked rugby league off its pay TV pedestal with a national rating of 345,000 people. The article neglected to say it was comparing an international with weekly club matches and that rugby league representative games in fact command free-to-air audiences in the millions each year (the last State of Origin match alone exceeded 1.8 million across the five capital cities).

For the record, the night soccer attracted 345,000 viewers on pay TV nationally (Sunday); the Sharks and the Bulldogs commanded an average of 468,000 viewers across Sydney and Brisbane alone on the Nine Network. There was no mention in the Herald's story of the comparative ratings between soccer's national league and National Rugby League matches because it would have destroyed the Herald's premise.

The average Monday night football figure for this year is 275,000, with four games passing the 300,000 mark. It is not the 158,000 reported in the Herald.

The average Saturday night figure is 260,000, not the peak figure of 245,000 reported in the Herald. Six Saturday night games have recorded figures in excess of 300,000. This year 10 club rugby league games have averaged more than 300,000 viewers on pay TV. Soccer has had just one representative match achieve that figure.

Live coverage of rugby league matches has increased by 11 per cent in terms of subscription television ratings and crowds remain up despite the wettest winter seen on the east coast in years. From lost hearts to lost ratings, the Herald's jaundiced view on the state of rugby league continues to defy all logic.

Soccer deserves recognition on a fine result but readers of all sports deserve better coverage.

John Brady National Rugby League, Sydney

Nice to see the NRL actually getting involved instead of letting articles like that just pass through to the keeper like they normally do.

I agree, the NRL is never proactive enough with these sought of articles.

This is what I don't get though, this is what the NRL stated in their article from yesterday:


And now they are saying:


Its easy for writers to get things wrong when the NRL clearly isn't sure in itself either.

they're right to raise the comparison of the AFC match to week-in, week-out rugby league, that's lazy journalism.

the NRL is engaging in its own brand of spin and misinformation though - comparing an international game on pay tv only to a club game's FTA audience is clearly not measuring equal things when FTA has 4 times the reach of pay tv (assuming all pay tv subscribers have fox sports, which they don't).

the comparison of friendlies against competitive matches is unreasonable too - who can say that a socceroos match against singapore is in the same league, interest wise, as a big monday night derby like the terrific dragons sharks match a few weeks ago - that's comparing a tune-up run with a cage match.

compare competitive socceroos games that were on SBS to rep RL games, and then we've got a fair fight. the socceroos crapped all over the kangaroos, and were more than competitive with SoO viewer numbers.

Nrl

Enough said

Not even a national sport...with nsw losing intrest in their teams, and qld been the only ones who really give a damn i think its funny they call it "national" rugby league

pfft i pity them

Still learning