Parramatta got over 74,000 for their play off semi final! Makes our play off crowds look even worse than they already are!

Rugby league will eventually fade out like almost every other sport bar Football in the future.

Cricket, rugby league/union crowds will all suffer because of the 'fashionable' football

This is a take isn't it? One little drop in attendances, most likely due to the credit crunch, and we're worried sports will die out!

We took that to Wembley.

the Nrl is the biggest sport in Oz.It equal to the premier league here

Depends what part of Oz your in. Aussie Rules is alot bigger in Southern & Western Australia, although League is the biggest sport in the more populated East.

Touch rugby league is biggest sport in aus..more people play it than aussie football, full contact rugby league and union combined..the auusie govt plough rouggly a billion dollars a year into it and is a compulsory part of school national curriculum.

What relevance has that. Fishing is the most participated sport in UK but that doesn't affect football crowds. Once again completely irrelevant

Yeah it would be alright if we had grounds in SL that hold 74000 people.

The number 1 league city is definately Sydney, and 74,000 is an impressive crowd for a semi final. Wouldn't surprise me if its more than the total Super League play off attendance so far.

However Rugby League comes a definite second to AFL in the Aussie sporting stakes, especially in terms of crowds. Although league is massive on the East Coast, it isn't a national sport like Aussie Rules, which has to be one of the highest attended sporting leagues in the world.

Football is growing in popularity over there, but its got a long way to go to rival the traditional Australian sports yet.

Attendance is good but not comparable to say soccer in UK or Europe. They can get 15-40,000 per team per game but nothing huge. The Grand Final for AFL attracts 100k.

In Victoria, AFL is huge - it's like soccer in the North West UK, there's nothing else comparable and it's all people talk about. In WA (where I am) too it's pretty much all about AFL even though there is a national union and soccer team.

In NSW and Queensland though, where most of the people are, AFL is a distant sport to League because, as mentioned by someone else, it's a part of their lives from being kids playing it at school. It'll take a long long time before Leaguie can grow to a major force in Victoria/WA, and the same for AFL in NSW/Queensland.

Must admit though that since moving here and going to a few AFL games, it's a good sport to watch.