Australian Sports Fandom on Blogger

This entry was posted by Laura on Wednesday, 20 January, 2010 at

I’ve finished tallying the number of fans by team for blogger.  The following chart is sorted by most popular teams first, least popular teams last.

Australian Sports Fandom on Blogger

State League Interest Blogger  
New South Wales AFL Sydney Swans 34  
Victoria AFL Collingwood Magpies 22  
Western Australia AFL West Coast Eagles 22  
New South Wales A-League Sydney FC 18  
South Australia AFL Adelaide Crows 14  
Queensland NRL Brisbane Broncos 12  
Queensland AFL Brisbane Lions 12  
Victoria AFL Geelong Cats 12  
Victoria AFL Western Bulldogs 12  
Victoria A-League Melbourne Victory 11  
Victoria AFL Essendon Bombers 10  
New South Wales NRL Wests Tigers 10  
New South Wales NRL Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 8  
New South Wales NRL Parramatta Eels 8  
New South Wales NRL Sydney Roosters 8  
New South Wales NRL South Sydney Rabbitohs 6  
South Australia A-League Adelaide United 5  
Western Australia AFL Fremantle Dockers 5  
Victoria AFL Melbourne Demons 5  
Western Australia A-League Perth Glory 5  
Victoria AFL Richmond Tigers 5  
Australian Capital Territory NRL Canberra Raiders 4  
Victoria AFL Carlton Blues 4  
Victoria NRL Melbourne Storm 4  
New South Wales NRL Newcastle Knights 4  
New South Wales NRL St. George Illawarra Dragons 4  
Victoria AFL St. Kilda Saints 4  
Victoria AFL Hawthorn Hawks 3  
Victoria AFL North Melbourne Kangaroos 3  
New South Wales NRL Penrith Panthers 3  
New Zealand A-League Wellington Phoenix 3  
Queensland NBL Brisbane Bullets 2  
New Zealand NRL Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 2  
Queensland NRL Gold Coast Titans 2  
Victoria Commonwealth Bank Trophy Melbourne Phoenix 1  
New Zealand NRL New Zealand Warriors 1  
New South Wales A-League Newcastle Jets 1  
New South Wales NRL Newtown Jets (defunct) 1  
New South Wales NRL North Sydney Bears (defunct) 1  
South Australia AFL Port Adelaide Power 1  
Queensland Brisbane Netball Association ACE Netball Club 0  
South Australia NRL Adelaide Rams (defunct) 0  
South Australia ANZ Championship Adelaide Thunderbirds 0  
Australian Capital Territory Commonwealth Bank Trophy AIS Canberra Darters 0  
New South Wales NRL Annandale Dales (defunct) 0  
Australia Netball Australia Australian Diamonds (national team) 0  
New South Wales NRL Balmain Tigers (defunct) 0  
Western Australia Claxton Shield Barbagallo Perth Heat 0  
Queensland A-League Brisbane Roar 0  
New Zealand Super 14 Canterbury Crusaders 0  
New Zealand ANZ Championship Canterbury Tactix 0  
New South Wales A-League Central Coast Mariners Football Club 0  
New Zealand ANZ Championship Central Pulse 0  
New South Wales NRL Cumberland (defunct) 0  
Victoria Victorian Amateur Football Association Fitzroy Lions 0  
New South Wales NRL Glebe Dirty Reds (defunct) 0  
Queensland NRL Gold Coast Chargers (defunct) 0  
Queensland AFL Gold Coast Football Club 0  
Queensland NRL Gold Coast Giants (defunct) 0  
Queensland NRL Gold Coast Seagulls (defunct) 0  
Queensland A-League Gold Coast United 0  
New South Wales Commonwealth Bank Trophy Hunter Jaegers 0  
New South Wales NRL Hunter Mariners (defunct) 0  
New South Wales NRL Illawarra Steelers (defunct) 0  
New South Wales NRL Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 0  
Victoria Commonwealth Bank Trophy Melbourne Kestrels 0  
Victoria ANZ Championship Melbourne Vixens 0  
New South Wales ANZ Championship New South Wales Swifts (Sydney Swifts) 0  
New South Wales NRL Newcastle Rebels (defunct) 0  
Queensland NRL North Queensland Cowboys 0  
Queensland A-League North Queensland Fury FC 0  
New South Wales NRL Northern Eagles (defunct) 0  
New Zealand ANZ Championship Northern Mystics 0  
Victoria Plenty Valley Netball Association Orcas Netball 0  
Western Australia Commonwealth Bank Trophy Perth Orioles 0  
Western Australia NRL Perth Reds (defunct) 0  
New South Wales Netball New South Wales Petersham RUFC Netball Club 0  
Queensland AHL Queensland Blades 0  
Queensland KFC Twenty20 Big Bash Queensland Bulls 0  
Queensland ANZ Championship Queensland Firebirds 0  
Queensland Rugby League/State of Origin Queensland Maroons 0  
Queensland Claxton Shield Queensland Rams 0  
Queensland Super 14 Queensland Reds 0  
Queensland Gridiron Australia Nationals Queensland Sundevils 0  
Queensland NRL South Queensland Crushers (defunct) 0  
New Zealand ANZ Championship Southern Steel 0  
New South Wales NRL St. George Dragons (defunct) 0  
New Zealand ANZ Championship Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic 0  
Western Australia ANZ Championship West Coast Fever 0  
Western Australia NRL Western Reds (defunct) 0  
New South Wales NRL Western Suburbs Magpies (defunct) 0  

What I didn’t find all that surprising was the dominance of AFL teams at the top.   They have eight of the twelve spots for teams with double digit fans on their service.   Of the remaining four spots, two are for the A-League and two are for the NRL.  The presence of the A-League feels a bit surprising as I didn’t think that soccer was that popular in Australia, at least compared to the NRL.  I do recall a fair amount of advertising for the A-League and they are beginning to build more soccer purpose built stadiums in Australia.

For the 28 teams with 1 to 9 fans, all are from the NRL, AFL or A-League with the exception of the Melbourne Phoenix  who played in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy.  I am a bit surprised that some of the more popular netball teams on Facebook, Twitter and bebo didn’t make the list for blogger.   I’m not surprised that other leagues didn’t make the list as most of these leagues are for secondary sports.

There are 227 total listings for people who list a team as an interest.  (There may be duplicates, where a person lists more than one team as an interest.)  Of the population, 144 or 63% identify themselves as male, 63 or 28% identify themselves as female and 20 or 9% do not identify a gender.  This feels in line with how sports fandom tends to be depicted when looked at by gender: Male dominant but with a growing female demographic.

Of the 227, only 154 listed their birthdate and had their astrological sign displayed.   The distribution amongst various astrological signs is pretty even with the smallest representation at 7 or 5% for Taurus and the largest at 17 or 11% for Pisces.   The distribution for specific teams is much less even, but much of this can be attributed to the small sample size.

142 of he 227 list their age when problematic ages, like 253, are removed.  The oldest fans are those for the Richmond Tigers, who average 41.6 years.  This community is small though, with only three people listing their age.  The Parramatta Eels have the oldest average age for a team with five or more people who list their age.  Their average age is 35.8.   The NRL and AFL are evenly distributed for teams with the oldest fans.  Penrith Panthers has the youngest average fan age at 18, but the population size is only one.  For a team with five or more people listing them as an interest, the Melbourne Victory win with an average age of  22.8.

167 fans list an Australian state of residence.  (There may be more Australian in this sample but they don’t necessarily list their state.)   The most popular state for sports fans on blogger listing an Australian team as an interest in New South Wales, with 62 people.  Victoria is second with 43.   Queensland is third with 28.  Western Australia is fourth with 15.  South Australia is fifth with 11.  The ACT has 5, Tasmania has 2 and the Northern Territory has 1.  In the ACT, the most popular team is the Brisbane Lions with 2 fans.  In New South Wales, Syndey FC is the most popular team with 16 fans.  The Roosters are the second most popular with 7 fans, which is a pretty big difference between the most popular and second most popular teams.  The Collingwood Magpies are the most popular team in the Northern Territory with 1 fan.  The Brisbane Lions are the most popular team in Queensland with 7 fans.  The Broncos are the second most popular with 4 fans.  The Adelaide Crows are the most popular team in South Australia with 8 fans.  The only other team listed as an interest by people listing the state as their place of residence were Adelaide United of the A-League.  No NRL team interested people from that state.  From Tasmania, 1 person listed the Geelong Cats as an interest and 1 person listed the Richmond Tigers as an interest.  In Victoria, the Collingwood Magpies were the most popular team with 12 people listing them as an interest.  The second most popular team with 7 fans was Melbourne Victory.  In Western Australia, there are two most popular teams: Fremantle Dockers and Perth Glory with 5 fans each. There is no second most popular team.  The other five people from the state evenly distribute their interest with one fan for five teams.  I don’t feel well enough informed at this point to know if this reflects on existing regional sports fandom patterns.

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  • http://topsy.com/tb/bit.ly/80zeUF Tweets that mention Australian Sports Fandom on Blogger @ Ozzie Sport — Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Laura H and fanhistory, Laura. Laura said: Australian Sports Fandom on Blogger: bit.ly/80zeUF [...]

  • http://geopoliticallyincorrect.blogspot.com/ Adelaide Dupont

    Soccer fandom is only at the beginning in Australia.

    The A-League has been around for five/six years.

    So you'll find the fans new, young and enthusiastic.

    Also there is a lot of grassroots involvement.

    Seems like a lot of people were born at the start of the (AFL) season or just before it, judging by the Taurus and Pisceian presences.

    About Australian sports fandom in general: there is a really wonderful site known as SportingPulse, which is where I think you'll find your netballers (and others in secondary leagues/minor sports).

    SportingPulse

  • http://www.fanhistory.com LauraH

    I've spent a fair amount of time on Sportingpulse when I put together a list of as many sports teams in the world that I could. :) www.fanhistory.com/wiki/Category:Teams_f... is an index of some of those.

    The birth stuff was in such a narrow range that it didn't seem that statistically significant.

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