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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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