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My original statement was that soccer had surpassed rugby in popularity in Australia. I simply used the A-League vs Super Rugby as evidence of this. The big events - Wallabies games in rugby, Socceroos plus European club exhibitions more or less cancel each other out. And if you include the...

If the team can't exist then it's irrelevant. The A League could have multiple theoretical new teams that would probably average around 5,000. Teams getting around that have failed in the A League in the past. Do you honestly believe there are more rugby fans in Australia than soccer fans?

It's entirely relevant! How can you possibly think it isn't? You're saying that in a hypothetical situation Rugby could equal or surpass the A League - but your hypothetical situation isn't possible because a 5000 average isn't enough to survive! Plus you're only saying the ARU would need 2 new...

Teams averaging 5,000 per game in Super Rugby wouldn't survive. The A League has 9 teams in Australia that are all surviving. Rugby couldn't. You are making these ridiculous assumptions that if Super Rugby was almost twice as long that the average attendance wouldn't change. And that if more...

Hopefully someone posts some decent highlights. Full crowd, awesome atmosphere and great local commentators apparently with some good tries. Uruguay only has a couple of professional players, so it's a great effort from them. The IRB need to help them prepare over the next 12 months so that...

You are basically saying that if rugby had more professional teams, local rivalries and a longer season then it MIGHT be more popular than the A-League. Well it doesn't, and it's clearly not. Having more teams in more markets (or sometimes in the same markets) is another sign of popularity...

I just checked and those figures I posted before about the A League only include the 9 Australian teams. If you assume the current 5 teams could maintain their average crowd over almost twice as many games then the 4 new teams would have to average about 7.5k to match the A League. I doubt...

The population of western Sydney is 2 million. The population of the inner west is 200,000. The difference probably isn't as big if you just consider hard core rugby people, but surely there's still more in the greater west. I don't think the length of the season has too much to do with it...

By this logic you could argue super rugby is more popular than the NRL too. It clearly isn't. Content is king and aggregate is very important to sponsors and broadcasters. It's why Fox Sports pay so much more for the A League than Super Rugby. If we had 9 Super Rugby teams in Australia and...

Yes, and this is the reason why soccer has become bigger than rugby in Australia. One day the NRC may peg back some ground. And the structure of Super Rugby might change in future to provide more content in good time zones for Australian viewers. We'll see. In the meantime the A-League is...

Great post. The Rams are doing a lot of things right. They have a good presence on social media with a lot more followers on Facebook and Twitter than the other Sydney teams. The Bar TV streams have been great and there's been some good initiatives. Yet the crowds have been similar to what the...

Stats that show more than twice as many people attend soccer matches in Australia than rugby matches? The A League has 10 teams, Super Rugby 5. The A League teams also play more games so you can expect the average to be lower. And it's not that much lower! The NRL also has an average...

Considering how good the product is on the field, it hasn't been well put together off it. But given it was rushed together for this year I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt and judge them on what happens in 2015 when they've had a whole year to plan ahead.

Last season the A League had total crowds of 1,760,508 at an average of 13,041 per match. Super Rugby (in Australia only) had a total crowd figure of 700,040 at an average of 17,501. While Australian super rugby matches also tend to average better than A League matches on fox sports, on...

It's not the same though is it. The Reds getting the bonus point wouldn't have been of any benefit to the Brumbies or any of their players.

One game of 7's on its own is not going to count for much in terms of getting into the selection frame. In such a circumstance it would be in the interests of all involved for England to win.

Though there were reports earlier in the year that the Super Rugby CEO's felt it needed to be $50m a year for ongoing financial sustainability. But hopefully it's enough to keep their heads above water. Then by the next deal perhaps rugby will have taken off in Japan and Asia due to their...

Three alternatives: 1) They compete as GB in the Olympic Qualifying year of the world series. 2) They can't qualify through the World series and must therefore qualify as GB in the regional qualifier or repechage qualifier. 3) Only one of the teams can qualify and that team goes onto...

Because obviously having a different opinion to you and criticising the organisation, promotion and structure of a sport you love, and making suggestions about how you think it could be better, means you don't support the sport. But yes, rugby at the professional level has to primarily be...

How about if it's the final leg of the series and prior results mean England need to make the cup semi finals to come 4th and achieve automatic qualification. Lets say England play Wales or Scotland in the quarter finals. IMO that isn't fair.