Omar Comin'
Chilla Wilson (44)
Really? In what major regions? GC? Nope they got less? Maybe try Geelong?
They've spread to all the major regions. There are no large pockets of fans not catered for.
As we have said to you a million times before, you can't say A League represents all of soccer. Yes there are more soccer fans than rugby fans. I'd wager there are more Super Rugby and Wallabies fans than there are A-LEAGUE fans though.
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 other big criteria - participation, then it's not even close.
If you make it Wallabies + Super Rugby vs A-League on its own, and made the criteria "number of people that have some level of interest" than I would agree with you. But that's not a very useful comparison. A lot of people that will watch the Wallabies (or Socceroos for that matter) in a big match are not really genuinely interested in the sport.
The A League will have 12 teams in a couple of years. Probably a 3rd Sydney team (South) and a 2nd Brisbane team (West). Initially these teams will take some fans away from the existing teams, but long term it will create growth in the league - just as the Wanderers have. As for regions that could have a team and average around 5,000, well I would say North Queensland (the Fury averaged around 5,000 in its two seasons), Canberra, Wollongong, Geelong, Hobart and the Gold Coast with better organisation.
Rugby could maybe have a Super Rugby team do okay in Newcastle/Central Coast (I doubt in both). And maybe you could have a 2nd team in Sydney. Don't think there's anywhere else without someone pumping a lot of money into it.