Newcastle Jets and Sydney FC at EnergyAustralia Stadium in the A-League.

An AFL match at Carrara Stadium between Adelaide and Melbourne.

An NRL match featuring the Brisbane Broncos.

Crusaders scrum against the Brumbies in the Super 14.

Football in Australia can refer to several different variations of football in Australia as there are regional variations of the use of the word "Football" (and also the derived colloquialism "footy").

There are four major football codes in Australia, association football (soccer), Australian rules football, rugby league and rugby union, with different levels of popularity based on different measures in different regions. In some areas, multiple codes of football are popular, in others there is a monopoly.^[1]

The Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that association football is the most played sport in Australia, with the highest number of total participants.^[2]

The Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that overall the most attended football code in Australia is Australian rules football.^[2] Australian rules football currently holds the record for a football code in Australia for the highest individual match attendance (121,696) which was set at the 1970 VFL Grand Final and also league season attendance (7,083,015) which was set for the 2008 AFL season.

Rugby league and Australian rules football directly compete for the largest overall Audience measurement and Media marketshare, primarily measured in terms of television ratings (these two codes share the most free-to-air broadcasting, with other codes being restricted mostly to pay tv) as well as popularity surveys and polls such as the Sweeney Sports Report. Australian rules tends to rate higher in metropolitan figures (major capital cities) however rugby league higher when regional figures are included.

Nationally, the most important football matches in Australia are the Grand Final matches, particularly the AFL Grand Final, which the 2006 Sweeney Sports Report concluded as the most culturally important sport event, and the NRL version in NSW and Queensland. Also important are major internationals featuring the Socceroos and the Wallabies (particularly FIFA World Cup qualification and Tri Nations matches respectively).

[edit] Professional football codes in Australia

[edit] Minority and amateur codes

The following football codes are generally not referred to as "football" in Australia.

• American football and Canadian football — Generally known in Australia as "gridiron". The ruling body in Australia is Gridiron Australia.
• Gaelic football — The governing body is the Gaelic Football & Hurling Association of Australasia
• International rules football - a hybrid code between Gaelic football and Australian Football which is popular and draws notable attendances in Australia, particularly for the International Rules Series

[edit] See also

• Barassi Line
• Football in New South Wales
• Football in Victoria
• Football in Queensland
• Football in South Australia
• Football in Western Australia
• Football in Tasmania
• Football in Northern Territory

[edit] References

1. ^ Football in Australia
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Not so hot on going to the footy retrieved 21 June 2009