Barassi Line

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The "Barassi Line", as proposed by Ian Turner in 1978. The line divides the regions where Australian rules football (southwest) and rugby league (northeast) are the most popular football codes. Dots mark the locations of cities with at least one club at the highest professional level that deviates from the Barassi Line; hollow dots mark the locations of cities that formerly had a club.

The "Barassi Line" is an imaginary line in Australia which approximately divides areas where Australian rules football and rugby league is the most popular football code. It was first used by historian Ian Turner in his "1978 Ron Barassi Memorial Lecture".[1] Crowd figures, media coverage, and participation rates are heavily skewed in favour of the dominant code on both sides of the line.[2][3][4]

Despite Australia's relatively homogeneous culture, a strong dichotomy exists in the country's football sporting culture. The divide has existed since Australian rules football and rugby league developed their identities as distinct codes. Australian rules football is the most popular football code to the west and south of the line, with centres in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart, while rugby league and rugby union are more popular on the eastern side, with centres in Sydney and Brisbane. Each side represents roughly half of the Australian population due to the concentration of the population on the east coast.[5]

Roughly speaking, the line follows Queensland's western border, drops southeast through western New South Wales, and ends at the Pacific Ocean at Cape Howe on the border of New South Wales and Victoria.[6] It divides New South Wales, placing the Riverina area of southern New South Wales and the western mining city of Broken Hill on the Australian rules football side, and the rest on the rugby side. The line runs through the national capital of Canberra, where each sport has had similar prominence at different times throughout history – although the rugby codes have established greater prominence there in the decades since the line was first proposed.

At the time the term was first used, neither code had professional teams or leagues operating on the opposing side. In the years since, Australian Football League (AFL) in Australian rules football, the National Rugby League (NRL), and the multinational body SANZAAR which organises the Super Rugby competition in rugby union, expanded their domestic competitions to include teams from both sides of the line.

Other sports have no such separation in Australia. Cricket has been played on a national scale by state representative teams for over 100 years and, in 1977, soccer became the first sport in Australia to start a club-based national league.[7]

Origin

File:Ron Barassi 1953.jpg
Ron Barassi

The Ron Barassi Memorial Lecture was a series of lectures given between 1966 and 1978 by Ian Turner, a professor of history at Monash University, that were named after Ron Barassi, Sr.[8] Barassi played a number of Australian rules football games for Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL) before enlisting to fight in World War II and subsequently dying in action at Tobruk.[9]

The Barassi Line itself was named after Ron Barassi, the former Barassi's son, who was a star player for Melbourne and Carlton and a premiership-winning coach with Carlton and North Melbourne. He believed in spreading the code of Australian rules football around the nation with an evangelical zeal, and became coach and major supporter of the relocated Sydney Swans. He foresaw a time when Australian rules football clubs from around Australia, including up to four from New South Wales and Queensland, would play in a national football league with only a handful of them based in Melbourne, but his ideas were largely ridiculed at the time.[10]

League structures and expansions

The pursuit of national exposure for sports is influenced by the ratings systems used by Australian television. By the late 1980s, the main football codes in Australia realised that in order to garner the desired high national ratings, and increase the value of their product for television broadcast deals and corporate sponsors, they needed to maximise their national exposure.[11][12] This meant heavy investment in grassroots development and in the support of clubs on the "other" side of the Barassi Line.

Australian rules football

In 1990, the Victorian Football League changed its name to the Australian Football League (AFL) to pursue a more national focus. A major reason for the expansion into these non-traditional areas has been to increase both the number of games played each week, and the potential television audience. This resulted in income from television rights rising dramatically.[13][14]By 1997, six of sixteen AFL clubs were based outside Victoria, with two on the Rugby League side of the Barassi Line.[citation needed] With the establishment of the Sydney Swans, Western Sydney Giants, Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns, Ron Barassi Jr's prophecy of a national Australian rules football league with four teams in New South Wales and Queensland has been fulfilled.

Australian Capital Territory

Further information: Australian rules football in the Australian Capital Territory

"Canberra have their own [AFL] team, the GWS Giants. They play a number of games down here."

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan, 2015[15]

Manuka Oval, home of the code in the ACT. The Greater Western Sydney Giants draw higher average attendances here than their home ground in Sydney.

The ACT was once seen as one of the dividing points of the line. In 1981, the ACTAFL, had just begun to edge out rugby league in popularity with an increase in participation and the first calls were made for the VFL to become a national competition.[16] Under significant pressure from rugby league junior development in the territory and fearing the impact on its strong local competition of entry of a Sydney team, a formal bid for license to enter a Canberra team into the VFL was made. The VFL dismissed it, stating it would consider Canberra for a license "within the next 10 years"[17] The league was insistent that the license should go to Sydney which it believed had a much larger potential broadcast audience. The following year, the NSW Rugby League entered the Canberra market with a new Canberra Raiders club.[18] The long term impact of the lack of an AFL club and the introduction of the Canberra Raiders saw Australian rules fall from most popular to least popular of the football codes. Subsequent bids for a Canberra team were rejected by the AFL in 1981, 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1993 with the AFL preferring its existing clubs, most notably North Melbourne to sell their home games. AFL clubs have done so since 2002, however have refrained from committing to the market long term.[19][20] The ACT is now behind the Barassi line, and the code continues to decline and slip further behind other codes. The popularity of rugby football and soccer, combined with the Australian rules football's ageing infrastructure act as significant deterrents to any future AFL expansion there.

The Greater Western Sydney Giants in 2012 signed a 10-year deal with the ACT government worth $23 million which results in the club playing four home games in Canberra during each season. The Giants draw higher average attendances at Manuka Oval in Canberra than their home ground in Sydney. In response to questions relating to a proposed Canberra team, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan stated in 2015 that "Canberra have their own team, the Giants". The AFL also claims that the stadium needs to be upgraded in order for the league to commit further to the market.[21] After a failed $800 million stadium upgrade proposal the AFL stated that the Giants-Canberra deal would continue whether or not the redevelopment occurs.[22] A significant share of Giants members are from the ACT, the figure was 5,800 in 2022.[23] The club in 2015 set a target to overtake the Raiders membership and have 10,000+ members by 2018,[24] however it failed and the Raiders membership has rapidly outpaced it.

New South Wales

Further information: Australian rules football in New South Wales
GWS Giants Inaugural Banner, 24 March 2012
Banner at the inaugural GWS game against the Sydney Swans heralding the AFL's Giant leap in NSW.

Encouraged by the VFL, the South Melbourne Football Club relocated to Sydney and became the Sydney Swans in 1982. The Sydney Swans endured limited success and a series of wooden spoons in their first decade in Sydney before rallying for a series of good years in the mid-1990s onward,[25] culminating in premierships in 2005 and 2012. The lack of public support for the Swans in Sydney caused significant financial losses to the club and league during the late 1980s and 1990s. As such, in 1992 it came close to being expelled from the league. However AFL clubs committed to subsidising it to maintain support for the national compeitition in Sydney.[26] These subsidies were increased until the Swans became viable in the long term, aided by 1996 a Grand Final appearance and the impact of the Super League war on rugby league. The AFL introduced a second New South Wales team, based in Western Sydney in 2012 subsidised with millions of investment with a generational vision to grow into the Greater Western Sydney region. As part of its effort to win over rugby league followers in Sydney, the AFL recruited rugby league star Israel Folau using a promotional salary of more than $6 million for just one AFL season.[27] The strategic success of the Giants franchise has been widely questioned.[28] The league has begun zone and academy recruitment programs fostering talented young players from clubs in the Riverina to Sydney and helping the code to recruit talented athletes from metropolitan areas. In addition to the growth of the game in Sydney, this grassroots expansion has contributed to the Barassi Line moving further north of the border.[29]

Queensland

Further information: Australian rules football in Queensland
AFL at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast. Adelaide vs Melbourne in Round 3 2006 (prior to the entry of the Gold Coast Suns)
The Suns at the redeveloped Cararra Stadium in 2011.

The Brisbane Bears were founded as an privately owned expansion team to the VFL in 1986, initially based on the Gold Coast. It suffered enormously with the introduction of the rugby league expansion club, the Broncos based in Brisbane, which was specifically created to deny the Bears and the VFL a market.[30] The Bears performed poorly on field, including back-to-back wooden spoons between 1990 and 1991. Poor support for the club on both the Gold Coast and Brisbane saw it run into financial difficulties despite significant AFL subsidies and concessions. With their imminent demise the AFL intervened and forced a merger with the Melbourne-based Fitzroy Lions in 1996. The newly formed Brisbane Lions were vastly more successful, becoming the first triple-premiership winner in 46 years, winning back-to-back in 2001, 2002 and 2003.[31] The success of the Lions contributed to a boom in the sport across the major Queensland cities. As a result of the Lions success, the AFL pushed heavily for a permanent presence on the Gold Coast, and despite failed attempts to relocate an existing club, granted a new license to the Gold Coast Football Club (later branded as the Suns) in 2009. As part of its effort to win over rugby league followers in Queensland, the AFL recruited rugby league star Karmichael Hunt using a promotional salary of more than $3.2 million.[32] The AFL considered Hunt's promotional recruitment "a good investment" despite his return to rugby league.[33] While the AFL has gained marketshare in the major cities, the Barassi line has barely moved in Queensland. A notable exception is the expansion of AFL Mount Isa in the state's west to include the outback Dajarra Rhinos team in 2018, the only senior club of any code within hundreds of kilometres of the state border. Rugby league remains otherwise entrenched at the grassroots across the state.[34] The Lions and Suns generally only receive support from the Queensland public when they are performing well and as such require significant concessions from the AFL to remain viable.[35]

Rugby league

Further information: Rugby league in Victoria
Further information: Rugby league in South Australia
Further information: Rugby league in Western Australia
Melbourne Storm players after the 2007 Grand Final.

In 1995 the Australian Rugby League (ARL) created four new expansion teams including one in Perth, resulting in the first major rugby league club based on the Australian rules football side of the Barassi Line, the Western Reds. By the time the breakaway Super League started in 1997 a second club on the opposite side of the line was created, the Adelaide Rams. A third club on the opposite side of the line, the Melbourne Storm, was due to start in the 1998 season of Super League but, in the meantime, the opposing leagues made restitution and established the National Rugby League (NRL).[36] Part of the agreement to form a new league included a reduction of clubs in the league, especially those recently established in difficult markets, resulting in the disbanding of the clubs in Perth and Adelaide.[37] The Melbourne Storm continued with success in the new competition, achieving their first premiership win in 1999.[38]

When a Melbourne NRL side was proposed in 1997, Barassi stated to the media, "I've always thought rugby league would be a success in Melbourne. They've got to start down here sometime and the earlier the better. Melburnians love their sport and I'm sure they'd get behind rugby league. But they won't accept rubbish and that's the key to it."[39]

In the aftermath of the Super League war, the NRL became very reluctant to expand.[40][41][42][43][44] Current commissioner chairman Peter V'landys has signaled that the competition is focused on creating a second team in Brisbane, instead of investing money into AFL states such as Western Australia, which "don't have a huge audience" for rugby league.[45]

There are official bids for expansion teams on both sides of the line; in Queensland, from Brisbane and Rockhampton, from the NSW Central Coast as well as from Perth on the other side.[46] The only NRL club on the non-traditional side of the Barassi Line remains the Melbourne Storm.

Rugby union

Further information: Rugby union in Victoria
Further information: Rugby league in Western Australia
Rugby sevens being played at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, which was held at Melbourne's Docklands Stadium.

Rugby union has also attempted to expand on the Australian football side of the Barassi Line, with mixed results. Shortly after the sport went professional in August 1995, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) joined forces with the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and South African Rugby Union to create the Super 12 competition. It began in 1996 with five regional franchises from New Zealand, four provincial teams from South Africa, and three state/territory teams from Australia. The three Australian teams were all on the traditional side of the Barassi Line; the Brisbane-based Reds, the Canberra-based Brumbies and the Sydney-based Waratahs. The league expanded by two teams, one each in Australia and South Africa, for 2006, with the competition then becoming the Super 14. Significantly, the new Australian team, the Western Force, was based in Perth on the opposite side of the line.[citation needed]

The following year, the ARU sought to create a national domestic competition, launching the Australian Rugby Championship (ARC). It launched with eight teams, with the Melbourne Rebels and Perth Spirit based on the opposite side of the line. However, the ARC lasted only one season.[citation needed]

The next expansion of rugby union on the opposite side of the line came in 2011, when the current Melbourne Rebels were added as Australia's fifth team in the newly renamed Super Rugby.[citation needed]

In 2013, the ARU announced that a new domestic competition, the National Rugby Championship (NRC), would start play in 2014. Of its nine inaugural teams, two were on the Australian rules side of the Barassi Line—Melbourne Rising and a revived Perth Spirit. Both teams remain in the league to this day.

Neither the Western Force nor the Melbourne Rebels have qualified for the finals series in either the Super 14 or Super Rugby, while the Brumbies, Waratahs and Reds, from the traditional areas have all won championships. In 2017, the Western Force was cut from the Super Rugby competition for the 2018 season.[47] Teams from the Australian rules side of the line have enjoyed more success in the NRC. Both Melbourne Rising and Perth Spirit have made the finals series three times, and Perth won the NRC title in 2016.

Current situation

Four professional Australian football clubs, two rugby union Super Rugby clubs and one rugby league club, exist on the non-traditional side of the Barassi Line.

An academic study conducted from 2007 to 2011 shows that the traditional divide remains evident between the two sections of the Barassi Line. The study found:

Results indicated demarcation of viewer loyalty to each code based on geographic boundaries, [was] consistent with the existing notion of "the Barassi line". Both codes were shown to be largely reliant on traditional markets for driving television viewership figures, with little evidence to suggest either code expanded its national reach during the period, despite vastly contrasting broadcast strategies.

— Fujak, Hunter[48]

Australian rules football east of the line

Australian Capital Territory

Governing body: AFL NSW/ACT

  • AFL Women's (AFLW):
    • No clubs (AFLW Giants since 2019 play some home games at Manuka Oval as an unofficial second home)[50]

New South Wales

Governing body: AFL NSW/ACT

Queensland

Governing body: AFL Queensland

Rugby league west of the line

Northern Territory

Governing body: Northern Territory Rugby League

South Australia

Governing body: South Australia Rugby League

Tasmania

Governing body: Tasmanian Rugby League

Victoria

Governing body: Victorian Rugby League

Western Australia

Governing body: Western Australia Rugby League

Rugby union west of the line

Northern Territory

Governing body: Northern Territory Rugby Union

South Australia

Governing body: South Australia Rugby Union

Tasmania

Governing body: Tasmanian Rugby Union

Victoria

Governing body: Victorian Rugby Union

Western Australia

Governing Body: RugbyWA b* Australian Rugby Championship (ARC):

References

  1. ^ Referenced in Hutchinson, Garrie (1983). The Great Australian Book of Football Stories. Melbourne: Currey O'Neil.
  2. ^ 4174.0 - Sports Attendance, Australia, 2005-06 Archived 14 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine; Australian Bureau of Statistics; 25 January 2007: "Notably, the states and territories which had low attendance rates for rugby league had the highest attendance rates for Australian rules football."
  3. ^ "The 'Barassi Line': Quantifying Australia's Great Sporting Divide". 21 December 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  4. ^ "The 'Barassi Line': Quantifying Australia's Great Sporting Divide". 15 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  5. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen_Frawley2/publication/273772263_The_%27Barassi_Line%27_Quantifying_Australia%27s_Great_Sporting_Divide/links/58b5233d45851503bea059db/The-Barassi-Line-Quantifying-Australias-Great-Sporting-Divide.pdf Archived 12 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine p.102
  6. ^ Marshall, Konrad (26 February 2016). "Where do rugby codes' strongholds turn to rules? At the 'Barassi Line', of course..." The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  7. ^ Johnny Warren (2002). Sheilas, Wogs and Poofters. Random House Australia. p. 179. ISBN 1-74051-121-2.
  8. ^ D. B. Waterson, Turner, Ian Alexander Hamilton (1922 - 1978) Archived 25 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 16, Melbourne University Press, 2002, pp 424-425.
  9. ^ Main, Jim (2002). Fallen, the Ultimate Heroes: Footballers who Never Returned from War. Melbourne, Victoria: Crown Content. ISBN 1740950100.
  10. ^ Hess, Rob and Nicholson, Matthew. Beyond the Barassi Line: The Origins and Diffusion of Football Codes in Australia
  11. ^ Ten, Network. "TEN Sport". TenPlay - TEN Sport.
  12. ^ "Subscribe to The Australian | Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps". theaustralian.com.au. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  13. ^ "Why AFL expansion really is worth all the risks - SPORTS OPINIONS - TEN SPORT". Archived from the original on 3 June 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  14. ^ Hawthorne, Mark (25 March 2017). "Pay to play: how sports bodies keeping winning the TV great rights battles". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  15. ^ AFL boss Gillon McLachlan says success in Canberra 'inevitable' by David Polkinghorne for The Age 19 August 2015
  16. ^ "Swans might be Canberra's lever into AFL". The Canberra Times. Vol. 64, no. 19, 730. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 15 October 1989. p. 14. Retrieved 9 December 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "Weaknesses exposed in VFL transfer plan". The Canberra Times. Vol. 55, no. 16, 746. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 2 August 1981. p. 6. Retrieved 9 December 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ "Raiders only bright spot of ACT year". The Canberra Times. Vol. 57, no. 17, 276. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 16 January 1983. p. 6. Retrieved 9 December 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ A fair go for local footy fans Released 30/05/2009
  20. ^ "North Melbourne Kangaroos eye return to Canberra" from The Australian by Greg Denham | May 06, 2009
  21. ^ AFL boss Gillon McLachlan says success in Canberra 'inevitable' by David Polkinghorne for The Age 19 August 2015
  22. ^ AFL boss Gillon McLachlan wants sport to dominate Canberra market via GWS Giants By Chris Dutton, David Polkinghorne 24 April 2018
  23. ^ GWS Giants eye new 10-year deal with ACT government from Canberra Times 18 Apr 2022
  24. ^ Giants boss David Matthews aiming for 10,000 Canberra Canberra Times 20 Apr 2015
  25. ^ Halloran, Jessica (23 September 2005). "Bloods, sweat and tears: how the Swans became pride of Sydney - AFL - Sport". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  26. ^ "ACT hovers over Swans' deathbed". The Canberra Times. Vol. 67, no. 21, 002. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 13 October 1992. p. 20. Retrieved 10 July 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  27. ^ The $6 million flop: Israel Folau experiment fails to kick goals in the former NRL star's move to AFL By Tyson Otto from News Corp Australia Newspapers. 30 September 2022
  28. ^ A tale of two Sydneys: Swans soar, Giants a sore point By Caroline Wilson for The Age. 17 September 2022
  29. ^ How AFL is poking its tongue out at rugby league heartland by Roy Masters 16 September 2022
  30. ^ "Sports". The Canberra Times. Vol. 61, no. 18, 655. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 29 October 1986. p. 46. Retrieved 2 December 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  31. ^ Rucci, Michelangelo. "The fall of AFL football in Queensland, once the pride of the national game". The Advertiser. No. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  32. ^ Time to show if Hunt has what it takes By Jon Pierik for The Age 12 June 2010
  33. ^ Gold Coast Suns to pay outgoing convert Karmichael Hunt $1 million for one game in 2014 by Sam Landsberger and Nick Smart for the Herald Sun 24 July 2014
  34. ^ The Barassi Line: a globally unique divider splitting Australia’s footy fans by Hunter Fujak for The Conversation. 15 July 15 2022
  35. ^ Lions, Suns argue over AFL concessions from sbs.com.au 7 August 2015
  36. ^ "Peace deal brings end to three disastrous years". The Nation. 27 December 1997.
  37. ^ "Rivals bury the hatchet in Australia". The Nation. 25 December 1997.
  38. ^ Boyd, Christopher (30 September 2009). "NRL grand final countdown No.3: 1999, Melbourne Storm v St George Illawarra".
  39. ^ Dunne, Jeff (24 March 1997). "League bosses eye southern frontier in expansion strategies". The Australian. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  40. ^ Brad Walter (20 November 2009). "TV money puts brakes on NRL expansion". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2 October 2014.
  41. ^ David Riccio (22 March 2014). "Lack of talent delaying expansion dreams". The Daily Telegraph. Australia.
  42. ^ Phil Rothfield (1 April 2014). "Expanded 18-team competition and two new conferences would bring back tribalism to NRL". Fox NRL. Archived from the original on 2 October 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  43. ^ Todd Balym (25 October 2012). "NRL expansion being dropped from agenda until at least 2015". Herald Sun. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  44. ^ Kerr, Jack (2 March 2016). "The key battlefronts in the football expansion wars". ABC News. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  45. ^ Webster, Andrew (13 February 2020). "Perth Nines a precursor to Perth team? No chance, says V'landys". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  46. ^ "Flo casts doubt on Perth NRL bid". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 15 February 2012.
  47. ^ "Western Force culled from Super Rugby competition". The Daily Telegraph. 11 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  48. ^ Fujak, Hunter (November 2012). An Analysis of Broadcasting and Attendance in the Australian Football Industry (PDF) (Master of Arts (Sport Studies)). University of Technology, Sydney. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2013.
  49. ^ "Manuka Oval".
  50. ^ "Why playing in Canberra is so special for gun Giant".

External links

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