Australia Edition 5

THE MARKET

Australian Football League competes in a much

broader market than simply sport. Its obvious

competitors are Rugby League, soccer and

basketball. In reality theAFLexists in the extremely

diverse and dynamic entertainment industry, in

whichAustralians spendmore than $5 billion every

year.

The market in which theAFL directly operates

is equally diverse, composed of revenue generated

by match attendance, media rights, corporate

sponsorship, membership and sales of licensed

products. The combined effect values the AFL’s

market contribution at $276million per year.

While the AFL enjoys a growing national

following, its heartland is in the southern states

where Australian Rules Football has been part of

the culture for over a century. Given the dominance

of Rugby League in NSW and Queensland, the

two largely populated northern states are still

considered growth markets.

ACHIEVEMENTS

TheAFL regularly breaks attendance records. The

2005 season saw 6,763,852 go through the

turnstiles, breaking the previous season record

6,691,897 previously set in 1998, this was then

followed by 6,736,234 in 2006. This is more than

double the figure for theAFL’s nearest competitor.

Club membership has also exploded in recent

seasons, rising from 217,474 in 1994 to 519,121 in

2006 - an increase of more than 139%.

AFL football continues to maintain its position

as Australia’s most valuable television sports

property with cumulative national audiences each

week of up to 5million people. Each year, theAFL

GrandFinal is televised live and is themost watched

sports program inAustralia as well as being viewed

in 150 countries around the world.

AFL licensed product alsomaintains its position

as Australia’s number one licensed sports brand

with retail sales ofmore than $150million in 2006.

HISTORY

In 1857, a youngman namedTomWills returned to

Australia after going to school in England where

he was football captain of Rugby School and a

brilliant cricketer. In 1858,Wills was appointed the

Secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club, and he

published his now famous letter suggesting that

cricketers should keep fit in the winter by playing

football.

Given the oval shape of cricket grounds, a

different style of football game was required to that

normally played on rectangular fields. Hence, this

newgame was devised byWills, his cousinH.C.A.

Harrison, W.J. Hammersley and J.B. Thompson.

The Melbourne Football Club was formed on

August 7, 1858, the year of the code’s first recorded

game between Scotch College and Melbourne

GrammarSchool.

Australian football quickly blossomed. The

Victorian Football League was established in 1897

and the following year the League’s first games

were played among the foundation clubs; Carlton,

Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong,

Melbourne, St Kilda and SouthMelbourne. In 1925

North Melbourne, Hawthorn and Footscray

entered the competition.

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