Bingo.

Completely agree with you.

The ticket prices are the same this year as they were last year though for the Gabba cos they have the same (if not less) amount of members. Last year it was much harder to get tickets to the equivalent game and you could scalp them for decent $$$ outside the ground before the game. We'll see how it goes this year anyway.

Interesting thread this. Just to pick up on a few points. Roy Masters - I remember him from a few years back when The Age (stablemate of the SMH), had him briefly as a columnist. Went down like lead balloon in Melbourne. His journalist motto must be 'Never let the facts get in the way of a good story' (usually applicable to News Ltd).

In this case, he used minimun figure (192,000) for Brisbane Lions ratings, but average (301,000) for Broncos. Correct comparison (on averages) was 245,000 for Lions and 301,000 for Broncos. Also remember that 33,000 also attended Lions game in Brisbane, so comparision really should be 278,000 to 301,000.

This in a traditional rugby state would've been unheard of 5 years ago (just as the reverse wouldn't happen for any NRL club game in Vic, SA, WA, Tas), so in that context, AFL would be pretty happy. As mentioned in other threads, and by Simmo in this, AFL "market penetration" in Qld is far higher than the reverse in the traditional Australian Football states.

Another point is actual participation. In the HUN today, Brian Waldren, new CEO of Melbourne Storm (the first they've had who hasn't been an idiot), speaking about bringing SOO back to Melbourne quote - "... Unless the powers that be are prepared to support that, then we will never grow the game at the levels the AFL has managed in NSW and Qld ...".

There are a total of 9 rugby league clubs in Victoria, of which 7 also field a junior team (ref VRL website). Thats all - a few hundred participants only - not nearly good enough (refer to NRL 2005 thread for press release on this problem and measures to address it). Even Gaelic football has about 4 times as many participants as rugby league in Melbourne. Thats coz up to now, rugby league has spent stuff-all on any grass roots development, and the standard (not that I've seen it) is rated as "park scratch match" level (by a leaguie workmate from Woollongong who has seen it and thought it a joke).

Contrast this to Australian Football in Qld OK, its well short of rugby league as #1 code in Qld, as it always has been - but from almost a basket case scenario say 10 years ago, there's now well over 100 clubs (with more players per club than rugby) at various levels from "park scratch match" up to div1 QAFL which will play WA at Carrara this year), and its growing each year. As mentioned previously, Queensland provided 6 draftees in latest draft - including #6 pick, Tom Williams, son of one of Broncos founders. Pretty amazing effort, and only possible because of the growth and the now high standard (at top level) of Australian Football in Qld.

Even more amazing, 4 Queenslanders (that is raised in Qld - think SOO rules) are now rated in top 15 AFL players, including #1 Riewoldt, Voss, Akermanis and Michael (refer to Top 25 AFL players thread). Yet in Victoria, there is not one prospective NRL player, and its seen as a very long term project to get one - coz hardly anyone plays the game here.

Rus - you need to get out more, travel, spend some time in Melbourne in winter, mix with the locals (as I've done a lot in Qld, NSW and SA)! Then you'll learn what football obsession is really all about. Its a different world than Brisbane.

Simmo, it was reported here that the Lions match was a sell out a few weeks back - but then 3,000 extra seats in the new stand were released at the last minute. Thats why it wasn't a sell out (Though the point about ticket prices is a good one and valid for the future).

Oh BTW (technical point this, I know) rugby (both varities) can't be referred to as 'indigeneous' to Qld, as they were imported from England. Australian Football is our only indigenous game, in the same way gridiron, baseball and basketball are to the USA, and soccer, rugby and rugby league are to England.

The game was a sellout, sold out three weeks prior to the game on the Monday by 11am,the day they went on sale. Problem was on Match day, the Gabba released an additional 3,000 tickets in and around the new stand, it was these tickets that did not sell. The issue of saying all week the game was sold out and then on the day of the game suddenly releasing tickets was rediculous.

As far as Roy Masters selective use of figures (which are incorrect, the AFL rated 245,000 and attracted 35,000 to the game) just shows how desperate he is to hide the truth when ever he can. AFL is doing very well in QLD. The Lions are one of the richest clubs in the competition with one of the best grounds as home ground, they are extreemly well positioned to continue the growth achieved over the last 10 years.

It goes further than that. The AFL (called Victorian Rules at the time) dates back to the late 1870's in QLD, therfore it is actually over 30 years older than League in QLD.

The Lions have capped their Membership at 30,000 this year. This is to allow at least some tickets be avaliable to the general public each game. the new stand will be public seats this year and will convert to Members only in 2006, allowing the Lions to raise their members to 34,000.

The game was never a sellout, ticketek had allocation exhausted for a couple of weeks maybe so more members could still have whatever seats they wanted and they didn't know what was happening with the redevelopment.

The Tuesday before the game they re-released thousands of tickets in the eastern upper and lower, the lower southern/western stands and the new section as u mentioned. It was advised on all the websites on the Tuesday morning that there were heaps of tickets available, it's when I got my tickets anyway.

They certainly need to advertise better. I tried to get more tickets and as you mentioned "Allocation exausted" was shown on the website, but the first I heard that there was a new release of tickets advertised was on gameday. It was very badly handled by the Gabba/lions as heaps more people would have gone if they had known.

A little dated but of interst:






http://www.crikey.com.au/articles/2005/ ... -3225.html

Also of interest is an article in the latest Broncos Journal 01/2005.

TV ratings look good for the Broncs, but the really do need to pull a higher season average crowd figure to unequivocally take top spot. TV audiences are a better indicator of potential or latent support than actual, active support.

A Semi-finals appearance this season should grab them top spot in the crowd figures next year.

Mind you I am prematurely assuming the Lions are already ahead this season. What are the comparative crowd figures this season??

I recall the Broncs got 45k first up (highest in Brisbane this year) but only 25k last home match.
The Lions on the other hand have been selling out the lower capacity Gabba.

Broncos average crowd has dropped under the Lions after the weekend, which was to be expected. Thus far it stands:

*Broncos = 31350 (after 3 games)
*Lions = 33665 (after 2 games)

Lions have attracted better crowd averages than the Broncos since the Gabba has been fully been redeveloped, the Broncos move back to Suncorp has reduced the gap recently though. I'd say the Broncos would be happy with a 30,000 average for the year, something they haven't achieved since '93-'95 when they moved to ANZ (and coincedently before SL).

Should be a closer race this year to see who has the biggest crowds, I'd say the Broncos will get around 25k for most games and probably between 35k and 45k for the Dragons, Roosters and Bulldogs games which may get them over the 30k average.

Lions have the completion of the redevelopment to look forward to in July which should see them beat the Broncos again.

I love the spin media types (even cricky does occasionally and they are normally pretty good) Its like " woohoo, we were beaten by the AFL, lets put on a brave face, throw in some excuses and celebrate.

NRL supporters were very happy to post stories on the forum when round 1 went to the NRL (just) and very quiet when the AFL wins round 3. This is just another confirmation why this thread is very misleading and I will come back to it every time, RL is NOT surging ahead in SE Queensland.



Was that Channel 9 sponsors or controls the Broncos since 1991.....

This just proves the popularity of SOO, not the NRL. SOO is a very well marketed State V State series, but it is not an indication of the competition. I just Know Jeffles will have it in for me, so be it. SOO is also a fundamental roadblock to the NRL becoming a national competition, as all the other states do not relate to a NSW V QLD comp.





I seriously doubt the Broncos will overtake the Lions, the Lions have achieved 33,369 attedance for round 1 with the ticket stuff up and 33,966 for round 3. Until the new stand opens I believe this will be fairly consistant. NRL Round 3 was both QLD teams playing and thats only going to happen once per year.



Dissagree, if you love your sport and team, then go to the game. If you want to look at latent support, look at the morgan teams poll. for all its worth, Morgan says the Lions have 1.492 million fans, now only 39K behind the Broncos with 1.531 million. surely this is a better indication of latent support, than who turns on their TV....

Maybe this thread should be changed to NRL plateaus in popularity in SE Queensland .....fire them off boys

Also before the Reds playing in the Super 12 (although they are different crowds) and the Bears having their breakthrough season into the AFL preliminary final in '96.

Quite incredible that an AFL match outrates a Broncos match in Queensland. Even more incredible that rugby league people can actually put a positive spin on it.
If the Melbourne Storm even got a game in prime time on FTA TV in Melbourne imagine the trumpeting. And then quadruple it if they outrated SBS.

That the Lions can outrate the Broncos and it not be close to armageddon for rugby league shows just how far the game has come in Queensland.