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Not to be confused with American football in Australia, Australian rules football in Australia, Rugby league in Australia, Rugby union in Australia, or Soccer in Australia.

In Australia, football may refer to several popular sports played in the country, each with varying popularity and prevalence. The major football codes played in Australia are association football, Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union, and to a lesser extent American football and Gaelic football.[1] All codes of football are played at amateur and semi-professional leaves, where as only the four major football codes have professional competitions. Out of the four major football codes, three (Australian rules football, rugby league and rugby union) have their professional competitions during the Australian winter sports season, while professional association football is played during the Australian summer sports season. All four major football codes have amateur and semi-professional competitions during the Australian winter sports season as well. The football code an Australian plays or follows is often dictated by their location or their cultural heritage, whereas the popularity of football code varies in its participation and specatorship.[1]

Terminology

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In Australian English, the term "football" may refer to either one of the four major codes of football. The popular usage of the term however, largely depends on the location, cultural background or preference of the speaker.[2] Until relatively recently, the term "football" usually meant either Australian rules football or rugby league, depending on the regional background of the speaker. This is due to the long-established ties and popularity each sport has to their respective region. Rugby union, which is not as popular as rugby league in Australia, is also sometimes referred to as "football". Association football has been typically referred to as "soccer" in Australia, although due to the recent popularisation of the sport as well as its own "renaming", it is now often referred to as "football".[3]

The major football codes are also known by various common nicknames, some of which are shared between the codes and others specific to just one. "Footy", for example, is a common nickname for Australian rules football, rugby league and rugby union, where as "Aussie rules" is a common nickname for Australian rules football.[2]

Regional football code divide

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See also: Barassi Line

A historical regional variation of football code has typically divided Australia. The Barassi Line is a rough dividing line between areas where Australia rules football is most popular and where rugby union and rugby league are most popular. Rugby league was historically dominant in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory. Australian rules football was historically dominant in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.[4]

Australian rules football was the first football code to be established in Australia. The sport was codified in Victoria, 1858, with the first clubs founded later that year in Melbourne, and first game played the following year in 1859.[5][6][7] Although the first rugby union team was established at the University of Sydney in 1864,[8] the sport was not established in Australia until 1874, when its first competition commenced in New South Wales.[9] During the 1890s and 1900s, Australian rules football did not gain much traction in New South Wales or Queensland where rugby union was the predominant code. The major exception was the Riverina area of New South Wales close to the Victorian border, and closer to Melbourne than Sydney.[10] The sport also found support in the states of South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. In 1907, rugby league was later established in the country, with the sport soon overtaking rugby union in popularity in New South Wales and Queensland in the 1930s, after the game had gone professional.[11] During the 1980s, the immense mainstream popularity of rugby league and Australian rules football greatly divided the country. Rugby league was the dominant code in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, while Australian rules football dominated in the rest of the country. During the 1980s and 1990s both Australian rules football and rugby league attempted to expand outside their traditional boarders to reflect a more nation-wide approach, although this prove little success.

Both rugby league and rugby union continue to be popular the states of New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory, and Australian rules football remains the dominant code of football in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.[1] Attempts to move outside these traditional geographic boundaries have largely been unsuccessful, with the codes struggling to gain new fans and participants from dominant codes.[12]

Cultural football code divide

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Historically, association football was prominent amoung Australian immigrants,[13] and although its ethnic base helped the sport rise amongst the major football codes, it has somewhat segregated itself from the wider Australian society, unlike that of Australian rules football, rugby league and rugby union which are rooted in the Australian culture.[14][5]

Although association football formally arrived in Australia in 1880, it failed to capture large scales of popularity. This was unlike Australian rules football, rugby league and rugby union, which were already engraved in the sporting psyche of their respective regional area in Australia. It was not until the immediate post-Second World War period when association football saw immense growth. Post-war immigration was directly linked to the sport becoming more commercial and professional in Australia, especially in the states of New South Wales and Victoria, among others.[4][15] South American and European immigrants were bringing their knowledge and culture associated with the sport to Australia. From the 1970s the sport saw success in the form of a national league, although it had not yet managed to enter the Australian mainstream and it was still regarded among the wider community as an ethnic sport; the term "wogball" (a references to the Australian slang: wog) was used as a derogatory term for the sport.[16] After failed attempts by Soccer Australia (the governing body of the association football) to remove ethnic ties association with the sport,[17] the governing body chose to adopted the term "football" as the name of the sport, in preference to "soccer", to reposition the sport within the wider Australian society.[3]

Association football continues to have a storing ethnic base in Australia, although its mainstream appeal has increased in recent time, yet it still lags behind the of that other major football codes of Australian rules football, rugby league and rugby union, who themselves lack in ethnic participants.[18]

Participation and attendance

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graph
Major football codes participation and attendance rates

The popularity of the major football codes generally vary in its participation and attendance rates. As analysed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in May 2009, although association football is the most popular of the football codes in terms of participation (with 2.6% of the Australian population), it is not reflected in the attendance as it has the lowest spectatorship out of the four major football code (with 3.5%). And although Australian rules football is the most popular of the football codes in terms of spectatorship (with 16%), its participation rate is dramatically reduced, seeing it second behind association football in that category (at 1.7%). As for both rugby league and rugby union, their high attendance rates, especially that of rugby league which sits in front of rugby union at second (at 9.3% and 4.3% respectively), are not reflected in their participation rates, which lack and are the lowest out of the major football codes (at 0.6% and 0.5% respectively).[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "FOOTBALL: FOUR GAMES, ONE NAME". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Football in Australia". australia.gov.au. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Mainstream Aussie press finally adopting the term football as soccer seen as thing of the past". news.com.au. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  4. ^ a b John Bloomfield (1 July 2003). Australia's Sporting Success: The Inside Story. UNSW Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-86840-582-7. Retrieved 2 August 2012. Cite error: The named reference "Bloomfield2003" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Andrews, Malcolm (1979). The Encyclopaedia of Australian sports. Sydney: Golden Press. ISBN 0855588497. OCLC 21526949.
  6. ^ Crego, Robert (2003). Sports and Games of the 18th and 19th Centuries. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-31610-4.
  7. ^ Ian Craven (29 April 1994). Australian Popular Culture. Cambridge University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-521-46667-7. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  8. ^ R.I.C. Publications (2008). Primary Australian History. R.I.C. Publications. ISBN 978-1-74126-684-9.
  9. ^ James Jupp (11 May 2004). The English in Australia. Cambridge University Press. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-521-54295-1. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  10. ^ Ken Piesse (1995). The Complete Guide to Australian Football. Pan Macmillan Australia. pp. 200–201. ISBN 0-330-35712-3.
  11. ^ Andreff, Wladimir; Szymański, Stefan (2006). Handbook on the Economics of Sport. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84376-608-7. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  12. ^ Adair, Daryl; Vamplew, Wray (1997). Sport in Australian history. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195535907. OCLC 37217245.
  13. ^ Ross Solly (1 November 2004). Shoot Out: Passion and Politics of Soccer's Fight for Survival in Australia. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-74031-093-2. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  14. ^ Rolls, Eric C; Halligan, Marion; Mathews, Marlene; Cliff, Paul (1999). A sporting nation : celebrating Australia's sporting life. Canberra: National Library of Australia. ISBN 0642107041. OCLC 44839640.
  15. ^ Anastasios Tamis (30 May 2005). The Greeks in Australia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 103–. ISBN 978-0-521-54743-7. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  16. ^ "Timeline of Australian Football". New South Wales Migration Heritage Centre, Powerhouse Museum. 2006. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  17. ^ "MARKETING MEETS MULTICULTURALISM: DAVID HILL'S NATIONAL MERCHANDISING PLAN, 1996-97". Leopold Method. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  18. ^ Russell, Katrina Marie (2011). Youth Sport in Australia. Sydney University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-920899-64-6. Retrieved 3 October 2012.


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