Barassi Line
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Barassi_Line.jpg/300px-Barassi_Line.jpg)
The Barassi Line is an imaginary line in Australia which approximately divides areas where Australian rules football or rugby league is the most popular football code. The term 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.[2][3][4] Non-football sports in Australia do not share this separation; for instance, Australian cricket has maintained consistent interest nationally for its entire history.
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.[5] 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. It runs through the Australian Capital Territory, 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 it was first proposed.
A 2022 study of grassroots support found that just 15% of Australian rules football clubs (243 of 1616) and 13% of rugby league clubs (109 of 863) are located across the line.[6] Professional teams that compete across the line in national competitions include: Sydney Swans (1982), Brisbane Lions (1996), Melbourne Storm (1997), Western Force (2005), Gold Coast Suns (2009) and Greater Western Sydney Giants (2010). That is, four Australian rules football clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL), and two rugby football clubs across the National Rugby League (NRL) and Super Rugby Pacific competitions. However the majority of these clubs would not be viable without ongoing financial support from their parent competitions,[7][8][9] with the AFL alone providing over AUD$70 million a year in total financial assistance in 2023 to its four northern clubs.[10] Teams that no longer compete include the Brisbane Bears (1987–1995),[11] Western/Perth Reds (1992–1997),[12] Adelaide Rams (1995–1997)[13] and Melbourne Rebels (2009–2024).[14][15] Active expansion bids include the Western Bears (NRL) and Cairns (AFL).
Origin
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Ron_barassi_statue.jpg/170px-Ron_barassi_statue.jpg)
The Ron Barassi Memorial Lecture was a series of lectures named after Ron Barassi Sr. given between 1966 and 1978 by Ian Turner, a professor of history at Monash University.[16] Barassi Sr. 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.[17]
The Barassi Line itself was named after Ron Barassi Jr., the elder 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.[18]
Despite Australian culture's relatively homogeneous nature, a strong dichotomy exists in the country's football sporting culture. The divide has existed since Australian rules football and rugby union developed their identities as distinct codes, before rugby league overtook the latter as the dominant sport on the Eastern Seaboard.
Rugby union's initial organisation in Australia was mainly in response to the rapid growth of the Victorian rules (as Australian rules was then known) across mainland Australia between 1865 and 1868. With the exception of South Australia and Tasmania which had been playing under their own football codes, the colonies of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia had organised Victorian rules clubs and competitions during this time. Following the Victorian Gold Rush, Melbourne in the 1860s had become the largest and most influential city. Due mainly to intercolonial rivalry, the media of the colonial capitals of Sydney, Perth and Brisbane's began to promote the "old English game of football" (rugby union) from 1869 which had begun to become organised in England in the mid 1860s as an alternative to the rival Melbourne colony. While slow to grow initially, by the 1880s had become firmly established in these cities.[19] Victorian rules was established in South Australia and Tasmania mainly through representative matches in the late 1870s. This benefited greatly from their existing code's similarities to Victorian rules and their proximity to Victoria. By the 1880s, however, Australian rules had gained momentum in these colonies and had surpassed rugby union as the dominant code in Western Australia by the turn of the 20th Century. In contrast, by the 1890s, Australian rules was extinct in Sydney and Brisbane with rugby spreading virtually unopposed throughout the respective colonies of New South Wales and Queendland. Rugby League's introduction in 1908 ushered in professionalism which after World War I firmly established the code over rugby union in Sydney and Brisbane respectively, with the governing bodies assisting to spread this code through the major cities to the remote areas of the state mainly through school football. Rugby league's spread however met resistance in areas where Australian rules remained strong, such as the Riverina and Broken Hill in New South Wales as well as the Northern Territory which had developed a strong Australian rules following after the war. The Australian Capital Territory which also developed such a following found itself isolated behind the line and it wasn't until the introduction of the Canberra Raiders in 1982 that it also began to fall into line. The result is the development of a regional dichotomy with strongly ingrained generational football cultures on either side.
Australian rules football is now the most popular football code to the west and south, including the capitals of Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, and Darwin while rugby league and rugby union are more popular on the eastern side, including the capitals of Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra. Each side represents roughly half of the Australian population due to the concentration of the population on the east coast.[20] In many areas the other side's sport remains virtually unknown, lacking any meaningful media profile or awareness. The football culture is significantly ingrained such that it even has an influence on Australians' movement throughout the country.[21] These "insurmountable cultural barriers" have created a significant challenge for each code's national development.[22]
At the time the term was first used, existing club competitions were semi-professional and state-based. The first national club football competitions emerged in the late 20th century: the Championship of Australia, the NFL Night Series and the National Soccer League.[23] However, these struggled for national interest. In the 1980s, the VFL and New South Wales Rugby League premiership began a period of professionalism and expansion, forming the basis of today's Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL). Given the dominance of Australian rules and rugby on either side, other codes have also been slow to establish sustainable national competitions. The multinational body SANZAAR, which organises the Super Rugby competition in rugby union, expanded their domestic competitions in 1996 to include teams from both sides. Football Federation Australia revamped its flagship competition, the A-League, to focus on a more nationally balanced competition in 2005. However, its current composition reflects association football's participation and growth per capita, which is by far strongest in the east (where it faces less competition with Australian rules).[24]
Physical representation
[edit]The Barassi Line is symbolically marked on Federation Way between the towns of Corowa and Wahgunyah near the New South Wales—Victoria state border at the Murray River. Two sets of Australian rules football goal posts are aligned diagonally on either side of the road, with a sign located nearby explaining the site.[25] The set of goal posts were installed in 2005 as part of work associated with the Centenary of Federation funded bridge and bypass road, and was opened on 5 April 2005 by the Federal Member for Farrer, Sussan Ley on behalf of Prime Minister John Howard. Barassi himself visited the site in October 2012 on the occasion of installation of new signage by the Indigo Shire.[26]
League structures and expansions
[edit]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.[27][28] This meant heavy investment in grassroots development and in the support of clubs on the "other" side of the Barassi Line.
Australian rules football
[edit]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.[29][30] From the 1997 AFL season, six of sixteen AFL clubs (Sydney, Brisbane Lions, West Coast, Adelaide, Fremantle and Port Adelaide) were based outside Victoria, with two (Sydney and Brisbane) on the rugby league side of the Barassi Line. Barassi's prophecy of a national Australian rules football league with four teams in New South Wales and Queensland has since been fulfilled with the establishment of Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Australian Capital Territory
[edit]"Canberra have their own [AFL] team, the GWS Giants. They play a number of games down here."
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan, 2015, responding in Canberra to the questions from the media on why Canberra doesn't have an AFL team.[31]
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was once seen as one of the dividing points of the Barassi Line. In 1981, the Australian Capital Territory Australian Football League 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.[32] 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 a 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".[33] 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 New South Wales Rugby League entered the Canberra market with a new club, the Canberra Raiders.[34] The long-term impact of the lack of an AFL club and the introduction of the Raiders saw Australian rules football fall from marginally most popular to least popular of the football codes. Subsequent bids for a Canberra team were rejected by the VFL in 1981, 1986 and 1988, and then by the AFL in 1990 and 1993.
The AFL began playing matches at the newly developed Bruce Stadium as 1990 with a view of it being the future home of the sport. However, politician and former Canberra Raiders rugby league player Paul Osborne began a successful campaign to exclude the AFL from the expanding stadium which ultimately resulted in its conversion into a rectangular field in 1997, effectively putting an end to any future ACT AFL bids.[35][36] Following this setback, the AFL preferred its existing clubs—most notably North Melbourne—to sell their home games to Manuka Oval. AFL clubs have done so since 2002; however, they have refrained from committing to the market long-term.[37][38] The ACT is now behind the Barassi Line, and the code continues to decline and slip further behind other codes. The popularity of rugby league, rugby union and soccer, combined with ageing infrastructure for Australian rules football, act as significant deterrents to any future AFL expansion in the ACT.
In 2012, the Greater Western Sydney Giants signed a 10-year deal with the ACT Government worth $23 million, which resulted in the club playing four home games in Canberra each season. The Giants draw higher average attendances at Manuka Oval in Canberra than at their home ground, Giants Stadium in Sydney. In 2015, in response to questions relating to a proposed Canberra team, then AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan stated that "Canberra have their own team, the Giants". The AFL also claimed that Manuka Oval needed to be upgraded in order for the league to commit further to the market.[31] After a failed $800 million stadium upgrade proposal, the AFL stated that the Giants–Canberra deal would continue regardless of if the redevelopment occurs.[39] A significant share of Giants members are from the ACT; the figure was 5,800 in 2022.[40] In 2015, the Giants set a target to overtake the Raiders membership and have more than 10,000 members by 2018.[41] However, this failed, and the Raiders membership has rapidly outpaced it. Despite this, the deal was extended by the ACT government and the AFL to 2032 for three AFL matches and one AFLW match.[42]
New South Wales
[edit]"The NRL is stronger here now than when the Giants started. As someone who worked in head office in Docklands for 15 years I thought I understood Sydney. I had national responsibility for game development, but I didn’t realise how naive I was."
Dave Matthews, head of the GWS Giants in April 2023.[43]
![GWS Giants Inaugural Banner, 24 March 2012](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/GWS_Giants_Inaugural_Banner%2C_March_24%2C_2012.jpg/220px-GWS_Giants_Inaugural_Banner%2C_March_24%2C_2012.jpg)
Encouraged by the VFL, the South Melbourne Football Club relocated to Sydney and became the Sydney Swans in 1982. The club endured limited success and a series of wooden spoons in their first decade in Sydney before turning a corner in the mid-1990s, culminating in premierships in 2005 and 2012.[44]
The lack of public support in Sydney caused significant financial losses to the club and league during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Excluding a period of privatisation, despite significant loans and writedowns to the club, the league declared the Sydney Swans insolvent in 1984 and again in 1988.[45][46] In 1992, the 15 other AFL clubs were asked to vote on expelling the Swans due to its inability to survive in Sydney.[47] AFL clubs were left with little other option but to commit to subsidising the club to maintain an audience in Sydney.[47] These subsidies were increased until the Swans became viable in the long term. This long-term sustainability was initially aided by a grand final appearance in 1996 and fallout from the Super League war on rugby league.
In addition to promoting the Swans, the AFL attempted to use Auskick participation as a tool to increase awareness in the Sydney market by introducing a generation of children to the sport; however, the success of this strategy has been criticised. The AFL commissioned a study in 2012 by David Lawson, a Melbourne University academic, that found that contrary to reports by the league, club participation rates in Sydney had actually stalled, and that the AFL was masking low figures by using short-term, non-club-affiliated Auskick participants and comparing them to competitive junior club participation numbers in other sports.[48] The league was also accused of faking registration figures in an attempt to gain access to Sydney playing fields.[49]
The AFL introduced a second New South Wales team, the Greater Western Sydney Giants, in 2012, subsidised with millions of dollars of investment and a generational vision to grow into the Greater Western Sydney region. AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou predicted that it would take "20 to 30 years" for GWS to become a "powerhouse club" in terms of support drawing from a potential supporter base of over 2 million people.[50] The league helped secure AFL legend coach Kevin Sheedy to help initially establish the club.[51] As part of its effort to win over rugby league followers in Sydney, the AFL recruited rugby league star Israel Folau, who had not even heard of the sport, using a promotional salary of more than $6 million over four years. Folau broke his AFL contract after just one season and his conversion was criticised by the media as a failed promotional exercise.[52][53] The strategic success of the Giants franchise has been widely questioned.[54] Despite a grand final appearance in 2019, the club's Sydney audience failed to grow,[54] especially among working class rugby league fans. Though in 2021, a fall in the popularity of rugby union and the NSW Waratahs saw many union fans switch to the Swans, further establishing it as a sports club of choice for Sydney's wealthy.[55]
The AFL began zone and academy recruitment programs, fostering talented young players from clubs in the Riverina (where the code retains a strong following) 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 slightly further north of the border.[56] However, the long campaign to lift the sport's popularity in Sydney and New South Wales has been hindered by deep rooted cultural barriers, which even an Australian Senate inquiry has described as insurmountable.[57][22] In 2023 and 2024, despite strong performances from the Giants and Swans, junior numbers are rapidly declining in Western Sydney with numerous junior clubs forced to fold or merge.[58]
The AFL provides an assistance package to keep both the Swans and GWS financially viable. In 2023 GWS received the highest amount of assistance - $25 million a year, while the Swans receive $5 million a year.[10]
Queensland
[edit]"The AFL is doing a great job, no doubt, and I take my hat off to them, but competition lifts all ships and their competition has lifted us. We now have the momentum in Queensland. We have reversed the momentum."
Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V'landys in 2023 on the AFL's growth in popularity in Queensland[59]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Adelaide_v_Gold_Coast_-_Carrara_media_facilities.jpg/220px-Adelaide_v_Gold_Coast_-_Carrara_media_facilities.jpg)
After existing in the shadow of rugby football for almost a century, interest in Australian rules and the Queensland Australian Football League grew substantially in the 1970s and 1980s, aided by significant interstate migration. The Brisbane Bears were founded as the VFL's first privately owned expansion team in 1986, initially based on the Gold Coast. It suffered enormously with the introduction of the Brisbane Broncos, a rugby league expansion club based in the state's capital specifically created to deny the Bears and the VFL a market.[60] The Bears performed poorly on-field, including back-to-back wooden spoons in 1990 and 1991. Poor support for the club in both Gold Coast and Brisbane saw it run into financial difficulties despite significant AFL subsidies and concessions. With their demise imminent, the AFL intervened and forced a merger with the historic Melbourne-based club Fitzroy 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.[61] The success of the Lions contributed to a boom in the sport across the major Queensland cities.
On the back of the code's subsequent growth, 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 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.[62] The AFL considered Hunt's promotional recruitment "a good investment" despite his return to rugby league.[63]
While the AFL has gained market share 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.[64] 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.[65] The Lions, in particular, in 2023 had the competition's highest level of debt requiring more than $18 million a year in assistance from the AFL, while the Suns receive the highest amount of assistance - $25 million a year - to stay solvent.[10]
In 2023, the Far North Queensland city of Cairns entered an official bid for the AFL's 20th license with a team based out of a redeveloped Cazaly's Stadium, vying with a Darwin-based club for entry by 2030.[66][67] The stadium has hosted at least one AFL premiership match every year since 2011, with an average attendance of 7,120.[68] While Cairns' population is higher than Darwin's, AFL attendances and overall participation are lower and a Cairns-based club would also compete for market share with the Townsville-based North Queensland Cowboys and would likely require a similar AFL assistance package to the Lions and Suns.
Rugby league
[edit]"The fabric of rugby league is built on tribalism and rivalry. That’s why we can’t rule out [a second Melbourne team]. The other reason why a second Melbourne team is good for us, is that our junior base in Victoria has expanded considerably"
Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V'landys in 2023 on NRL expansion in Victoria and the addition of a second team[69]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Players_of_Melbourne_Storm_after_the_2007_NRL_grand_final.jpg/220px-Players_of_Melbourne_Storm_after_the_2007_NRL_grand_final.jpg)
Apart from occasional visiting teams and false starts the Rugby league's local presence was virtually nonexistent behind the Barassi line until 1950 when the Northern Territory Rugby Football League Association was founded in Darwin, followed by the South Australian Rugby League in Adelaide in 1976. Rugby league's expansion across the Barassi line has been driven primarily from the top down by professional franchises and benefited in part from its familiarity with rugby union.[70]
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, it had begun establishing more clubs on the opposite side of the line. The Adelaide Rams and the Melbourne Storm were due to start in the 1998 Super League season, but in the meantime, the opposing leagues made restitution and established the National Rugby League (NRL).[71] 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.[72] The Storm continued with success in the new competition, achieving their first premiership win in 1999.[73]
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."[74]
In the aftermath of the Super League war, the NRL became very reluctant to expand.[75][76][77][78][79] Commissioner chairman Peter V'landys signalled that the competition was focused on creating a second team in Brisbane (which became the Dolphins), instead of investing money into AFL states such as Western Australia, which "don't have a huge audience" for rugby league.[80]
"Perth are absolutely on our hit list for expansion and it’s sooner rather than later..."
Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V'landys in 2024 on NRL expansion in Western Australia[81]
Melbourne remains the sole NRL club on the other side of the line. Perth is the only current expansion bid, the consortia chaired by Peter Cummins has been active since 2012,[82] though some see it as only possible to maintain a national supporter base if merged with that of another bid by a Sydney club, such as that of the North Sydney Bears (known as the "Perth Bears" bid).[83][81]
The ARL continues to use the State of Origin series as a promotional tool across the Barassi line, hosting more than eight Origin matches in Melbourne since 1990, two in Perth since 2019, and two in Adelaide since 2020, though some have criticised the promotional value of hosting it outside of its heartland.[84]
Rugby union
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Force_runout_lightened.jpg/220px-Force_runout_lightened.jpg)
"Rugby needs to be national and needs the pathways West Australia and Victoria bring, but there’s an argument our talent pool of players and coaches is spread too thin over five sides."
Rugby commentator Morgan Turinui in 2023 on Super Rugby's chronic struggles across the Barassi line[85]
Rugby union has also attempted to expand on the Australian football side of line, with mixed results. Western Australia, and Perth in particular, is a market which has had strong historical grassroots support. This is due primarily to a strong expatriate presence, particularly of Anglo-Celtic Australians, South African Australians and New Zealand Australians for whom rugby is generationally popular.[86] While grassroots rugby participation is statistically lower in Victoria and Melbourne, it too has a statistically significant population of expatriates from which to draw support.[87]
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 in rugby territory. For the 2006, with the competition then becoming the Super 14, significantly, the new Australian team, the Western Force, was based in Perth.[86]
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.[88]
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.[89]
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 across the line: Melbourne Rising and a revived Perth Spirit. Both Melbourne Rising and Perth Spirit made the finals series three times, and Perth won the NRC title in 2016. The NRC was last held in 2019.
Neither the Western Force nor the Melbourne Rebels have qualified for the finals series in either the Super 14 or Super Rugby. In 2017, the Western Force was cut from the Super Rugby competition for the 2018 season.[90]
In 2024, the Melbourne Rebels were axed after insurmountable financial debts and losses.[15]
Current situation
[edit]Four professional Australian football clubs, one rugby union club 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, 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.
— Hunter Fujak[91]
Australian rules football east of the line
[edit]Australian Capital Territory
[edit]Governing body: AFL NSW/ACT
- Australian Football League (AFL):
- No clubs (the GWS Giants play four home games per season at Manuka Oval as an unofficial second home)[92]
- AFL Women's (AFLW):
- No clubs (the GWS Giants since 2019 play some home games at Manuka Oval as an unofficial second home)[93]
New South Wales
[edit]Governing body: AFL NSW/ACT
- Australian Football League (AFL):
- 1982–present: Sydney Swans
- 2012–present: Greater Western Sydney Giants (Since 2012 play four home games per season in Canberra, ACT)
- AFL Women's (AFLW):
- 2017–present: Greater Western Sydney Giants (Women's)
- 2023: Sydney Swans (Women's) (expansion team)
Queensland
[edit]Governing body: AFL Queensland
- Australian Football League (AFL):
- AFL Women's (AFLW):
- 2017–present: Brisbane Lions (Women's)
- 2020–present: Gold Coast Suns (Women's)
Rugby league west of the line
[edit]Northern Territory
[edit]Governing body: Northern Territory Rugby League
- National Rugby League (NRL):
- No clubs
- NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW):
- No clubs
South Australia
[edit]Governing body: South Australia Rugby League
- National Rugby League (NRL):
- 1997–1998: Adelaide Rams
- NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW):
- No clubs
Tasmania
[edit]Governing body: Tasmanian Rugby League
- National Rugby League (NRL):
- No clubs
- NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW):
- No clubs
Victoria
[edit]Governing body: Victorian Rugby League
- National Rugby League (NRL):
- 1998–present: Melbourne Storm
- NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW):
- No clubs
Western Australia
[edit]Governing body: Western Australia Rugby League
Rugby union west of the line
[edit]Northern Territory
[edit]Governing body: Northern Territory Rugby Union
- Super Rugby:
- No clubs
- Super W:
- No clubs
South Australia
[edit]Governing body: South Australia Rugby Union
- Super Rugby:
- No clubs
- Super W:
- No clubs
Tasmania
[edit]Governing body: Tasmanian Rugby Union
- Super Rugby:
- No clubs
- Super W:
- No clubs
Victoria
[edit]Governing body: Victorian Rugby Union
- Super Rugby:
- 2011–2024: Melbourne Rebels
- Super W:
- 2018–present: Melbourne Rebels (Women's)
Western Australia
[edit]Governing Body: RugbyWA
- Super Rugby:
- 2006–2017, 2020–present: Western Force
- Super W:
- 2018–present: Western Force (Women's)
- 2019–present: RugbyWA (Women's)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Referenced in Hutchinson, Garrie (1983). The Great Australian Book of Football Stories. Melbourne: Currey O'Neil.
- ^ 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."
- ^ "The 'Barassi Line': Quantifying Australia's Great Sporting Divide". 21 December 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
- ^ "The 'Barassi Line': Quantifying Australia's Great Sporting Divide". 15 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ 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.
- ^ The Barassi Line Brett Tweedie. December 2022
- ^ Funding of AFL clubs revealed in massive $100m gap from rich and poor by Ben Cotton from Fox Sports 8 March 2022
- ^ Melbourne Storm Financials from FootyIndustry.com 5 October 2016
- ^ Melbourne Rebels may have traded insolvent since 2018: PwC by Zoe Samios Business reporter 25 Apr 2024
- ^ a b c Winners and losers: The 2023 AFL club funding ladder revealed by Jake Niall for The Age 3 February 2023
- ^ AFL sank its claws into Queensland thanks to Christopher Skase and the Brisbane Bears By Solua Middleton ABC Gld Coast 22 March 2020
- ^ 'Stop the fight': Western Reds legends call for introduction of Perth-based NRL team Nine Wide World of Sports 6 August 2023
- ^ What happened to the Adelaide Rams? The formation and demise of rugby league’s forgotten club by Kye Kuncoro for Sporting News 4 May 2023
- ^ Fate of women's team still to be decided
- ^ a b Sarah Danckert, Iain Payten and Carla Jaeger (30 May 2024). "Battle looms as Rugby Australia slams rescue plan, shuts down Melbourne Rebels". The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Main, Jim (2002). Fallen, the Ultimate Heroes: Footballers who Never Returned from War. Melbourne, Victoria: Crown Content. ISBN 1740950100.
- ^ Hess, Rob and Nicholson, Matthew. Beyond the Barassi Line: The Origins and Diffusion of Football Codes in Australia
- ^ de Moore, Greg; Hess, Rob; Nicholson, Matthew; Stewart, Bob (2021). Australia's Game: The History of Australian Football. Hardie Grant Books. p. 188. ISBN 9781-74379-657-3.
- ^ 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
- ^ Your choice of footy team can predict where you’ll move Aidan Devine, The Telegraph 4 Jun 2018
- ^ a b "AFL tells Senate to mind their own business".
- ^ Johnny Warren (2002). Sheilas, Wogs and Poofters. Random House Australia. p. 179. ISBN 1-74051-121-2.
- ^ "Ausplay Research Football/soccer 2022". Clearinghouseforsport.gov.au. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ "The Barassi Line". Read The Plaque. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
- ^ "Marking 'The Barassi Line'". The Free Press Corowa. 22 October 2014. p. 3. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
- ^ Ten, Network. "TEN Sport". TenPlay - TEN Sport.
- ^ "Subscribe to The Australian | Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps". theaustralian.com.au. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b AFL boss Gillon McLachlan says success in Canberra 'inevitable' by David Polkinghorne for The Age 19 August 2015
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Ossie's plans for Bruce Stadium development get AFL off-side". The Canberra Times. Vol. 70, no. 21, 873. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 7 March 1995. p. 22. Retrieved 14 September 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Ossie v AFL". The Canberra Times. Vol. 70, no. 21, 873. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 7 March 1995. p. 1. Retrieved 14 September 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "A fair go for local footy fans". Chief Minister, Australian Capital Territory. 30 May 2009. Archived from the original on 23 February 2011.
- ^ "North Melbourne Kangaroos eye return to Canberra" from The Australian by Greg Denham | May 06, 2009
- ^ AFL boss Gillon McLachlan wants sport to dominate Canberra market via GWS Giants By Chris Dutton, David Polkinghorne 24 April 2018
- ^ GWS Giants eye new 10-year deal with ACT government from Canberra Times 18 Apr 2022
- ^ Giants boss David Matthews aiming for 10,000 Canberra Canberra Times 20 Apr 2015
- ^ GIANTS Announce Landmark Long-Term Partnership Extension with ACT Government by GIANTS Media 11 December 2022
- ^ ‘The NRL is stronger here than when the Giants started’: Swans, GWS want AFL to lift its game by Caroline Wilson for the Sydney Morning Herald 9 April 2023
- ^ 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.
- ^ On This Day: Powerplay sells Swans for $10 May 6, 2020
- ^ "TIMES Sport VFL takes control of Sydney Swans". The Canberra Times. Vol. 62, no. 19, 206. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 7 May 1988. p. 64. Retrieved 10 December 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ "Auskick putting Sydney kids off". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
- ^ "AFL accused of exploiting figures". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
- ^ Former AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou tips GWS Giants to be ‘much bigger’ than Gold Coast Suns by Marc McGowan 23 March 2022
- ^ GWS Giants - Foundation Years
- ^ 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
- ^ Israel Folau Reveals Why He Quit The AFL By Ethan Meldrum for TripleM 16 September 2017
- ^ a b A tale of two Sydneys: Swans soar, Giants a sore point By Caroline Wilson for The Age. 17 September 2022
- ^ The NRL Isn’t Killing Super Rugby; The AFL Is by Mike Meehall Wood for Forbes Business 1 April 2021
- ^ How AFL is poking its tongue out at rugby league heartland by Roy Masters 16 September 2022
- ^ Healy, Matthew (2002). Hard Sell: Australian Football in Sydney (PDF). Archived 18 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Melbourne, Vic.: Victoria University. pp. 20–28.
- ^ Call for help: Junior AFL clubs struggling for numbers By Nathan Taylor for the Western Weekender 13 March 2024
- ^ State of the Game: Peter V’landys on fifth Queensland team, AFL threat, trade window by Peter Badel for the News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom 7 May 2023
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Time to show if Hunt has what it takes By Jon Pierik for The Age 12 June 2010
- ^ 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
- ^ The Barassi Line: a globally unique divider splitting Australia’s footy fans by Hunter Fujak for The Conversation. 15 July 15, 2022
- ^ Lions, Suns argue over AFL concessions from sbs.com.au 7 August 2015
- ^ NT task force reacts to Cairns AFL bid for 20th licence by Nathaniel Chambers for Code Sports 20 June 2023
- ^ Ambitious proposal for Cairns to join expanding AFL from The Cairns Post 20 June 2023
- ^ Cazaly's Stadium - Attendances (2011-2022)
- ^ ‘I’d be shocked’: Christian Welch’s surprise as NRL considers second Victorian team in expansion plans from Fox Sports 2 May 2023
- ^ League tackles growth beyond grass roots - Business News 20 Apr 2022
- ^ "Peace deal brings end to three disastrous years". The Nation. 27 December 1997.
- ^ "Rivals bury the hatchet in Australia". The Nation. 25 December 1997.
- ^ Boyd, Christopher (30 September 2009). "NRL grand final countdown No.3: 1999, Melbourne Storm v St George Illawarra".
- ^ Dunne, Jeff (24 March 1997). "League bosses eye southern frontier in expansion strategies". The Australian. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
- ^ Brad Walter (20 November 2009). "TV money puts brakes on NRL expansion". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2 October 2014.
- ^ David Riccio (22 March 2014). "Lack of talent delaying expansion dreams". The Daily Telegraph. Australia.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Todd Balym (25 October 2012). "NRL expansion being dropped from agenda until at least 2015". Herald Sun. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
- ^ Kerr, Jack (2 March 2016). "The key battlefronts in the football expansion wars". ABC News. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ Webster, Andrew (13 February 2020). "Perth Nines a precursor to Perth team? No chance, says V'landys". The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ a b ‘That’s the ambition’: V’landys’ plan for 18th, 19th NRL franchises revealed amid Bears return Fox League from Fox Sports 13 May 2024
- ^ "Flo casts doubt on Perth NRL bid". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 15 February 2012.
- ^ Perth NRL bid open to Bears, Jets liaison but would rather go alone By Joel Gould 12 May 2024
- ^ State of Origin is dying and I think I know why by Des Houghton for the Courier Mail 25 May 2023
- ^ ‘It’ll take a miracle’: decades of decline leave Australian rugby at dire crossroads by Angus Fontaine for The Guardian 23 February 2024
- ^ a b by Justin Gris for Business News 1 March 2024
- ^ The unlikely Melbourne suburbs pumping out professional rugby players by Nicole Precel for The Age 28 March 2022
- ^ Axed championship splits Aussie game from Stuff.co.nz 18 February 2009
- ^ Rebels 2011 from Rugby 365 7 February 2011
- ^ "Western Force culled from Super Rugby competition". The Daily Telegraph. 11 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Manuka Oval".
- ^ "Why playing in Canberra is so special for gun Giant". AFLW.
External links
[edit]- The Barassi Line Archived 11 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine Investigation by Colin Ross