heres a pom perspective.i do often see huge attendances for afl.WHY?WHY THE @UCK does inferior product get em in?is it marketing?is it mass auto suggestion?im baffled.over here we havd to suffer soccer even the most dull 0-0draw doesnt detract from the massif crowds .incedently the most boring arrogant git of an ozzie i ever met in uk ....was a braindead union bum .

AFL is ingrained in the public much more than RL. There has been a long history of club membership (season tickets) and entire families sign up to be members. Also RL is mostly in a city where they don't have a great tradition of going to live sports games. Some comes down to marketing, some comes down to stadiums, some of it just comes down to Sydneysiders blase attitude to following their team. In non heartland areas RL has a very low profile and so attracts ltd fanbase at the moment. This is mainly due to no FTA coverage and poor marketing/management/media for the sport.

IMO the main reasons why the AFL has bigger crowds are:
1. Good, cheap public transport.
2. Big modern, central stadiums shared by many teams. (Melbourne has 9? AFL teams and onyl two stadiums)
3. They've been pushing memberships for a couple of decades.

The NRL in Sydney is only starting to push memberships and encourage teams to move into central stadiums. Hopefully it starts to pay off sooner rather than later.

Just for an example, I'll compare Brisbane to Sydney. Brisbane has large crowds, it also has a large, modern, central stadium, public transport to the stadium is great and the cost of the bus/train is included in the ticket price. Meanwhile in Sydney most teams play out of small stadiums, getting to the stadiums is an issue and most stadiums are not near PT.

When i went to Cronulla it was no dramas hopping on a train and a free bus to the ground. ANZ is easy to get to as well. SFS isn't too hard. Not been to Brooky, Parra or Penrith so can't comment.

If you've ever tried to get from Dandenong to the MCG you might not think PT in Melbourne is so great! PT to Subi in Perth is great with a train station right next door and trains running from virtually everywhere. Never been to Adelaide so can't comment.

kogarah. wonglonggong 10 mins walk from stations

not now . its a building site

thanks for the answers!interesting it does begger the question why the hell have the powers that be in rl not come up with an idea like 'membership'?i mean its not cutting edge marketing.also to cocede hegemony to afl,certainly in terms of game stewardship.our sport is blighted with d..kheads at the top its almost customary to self implode at the top .this is very similar to uk run by half wits post war who let a magnificent sport fall from grace.tell me someting positive !!is there a visionary in power yet?finally this greatest game deserves.finally who has been your worst and greatest rl ambassadors?(im thinkin more bosses and rl chief's,).tell me theres a deliverer in the making?

and since its been demolished and rebuilt with a capacity of under 10,000.

stick to surfing and night and watching AFL mate.

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they is anyone involved with the perths reds. the club freely chose to betray the ARL and go to news ltd. when news ltd killed them off, its karma

losing souths and norths was terrible for RL. we lost the north shore to AwFuL and onion and i dont need to even mention all the good things souths bring to RL.

cronulla are a club developing. as english fans, who are you to belitte a club getting 13,000, the club you support only gets 8000 and by many standards shouldnt be in SL.

but im sure when it comes to Hull KR all your rantings on this thread re. cronulla wont they apply will they

1. marketing.

2. they didnt have League clubs to fund them so needed to get fan based revenues up.

3. cheap season tickets.

4. melbourne is a really boring city vs sydney.

5. TV ratings - RL is the number there so maybe RL fans are more lazy or tight with their money

with most games at night, the stadium is poor.

it often rains and is freezing and doesnt have too many seats under cover, something they are slowly improving.

the past decade has seen over $300 million spent on RL grounds. before our grounds would often consist of a single main grand stand holding 2000 and the rest all grassed. but the past decade has seen :

1. gold coast getting a new $300 million, 27,000 all seater ground
2. townsville getting around $20 million in ground improvements with more seats, and more to follow
3. newcastle getting a brand new $26 million eastern grandstand, with the old grand stand to also be replaced soon
4. kogarah - around 15 million spent building seats around the ground and extending the grand stand
5. melbourne to get a brand new 30,000 seat ground next year
6. manly to soon get $20 million to upgrade brookie.
7. brisbane getting a brand new stadium at Lang Park
8. cronulla getting $10 million to build a new grand stand on the western side.
9. penrith - $10 million on extension to grand stand
10. wollongong - new grand stand built on northern side.

our grounds are getting rebuilt, the nrl is pushing season tickets. its all beginning to kick into place.

before we had millions from poker machines so we didnt need to get fan based revenues up.