Ozzie Sport

Canberra has traditionally been a place that people aren’t from.  Rather, it is a place that people have traditionally moved to.  When they move, they take their sporting loyalties with them.  For that reason, there is a conflicting mess of sport loyalties in the city.  If you went to see the Sydney Swans play the Western Bulldogs at Manuka Oval this year, you could clearly see these different loyalties on display as it pertains to the AFL.  On the whole, I’ve generally found Canberrans to be pretty good with these loyalties: You can safely wear your team’s kit with out fear that some stranger is going to take the piss out of you.

The Grand Final is soon approaching.  Given the different sporting loyalties, it is interesting to see which team people in Canberra are barracking for.  Is one team more popular than another?  Do Canberran loyalties mirror national loyalties?

One way of measuring loyalty and team identification is to count how many people follow a team on Twitter.  All followers combined, Collingwood 7,381 followers, St. Kilda has 4,492 followers, Geelong has 2,153 and the Western Bulldogs have 1,554.  When Twitter followers for each team are filtered by location using time zones and user listed location, you can get an idea as to how many Canberrans are followers of the various teams playing in the Grand Finals:

It isn’t that big of a surprise that Collingwood is number one. Roy Morgan Research had them as the most popular Melbourne based team in 2009.  Beyond that, Canberrans on Twitter buck the popularity trend.  Roy Morgan has Geelong at number 2.  On Twitter, Canberrans are the least likely to follow Geelong.  Roy Morgan had the Western Bulldogs last.   Canberrans had them at third.  Overall, when compared to total number of followers for a team, Canberrans don’t  always follow the national patterns.  Again, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs are the ones that don’t match: More people follow Geelong on Twitter but more Canberrans on Twitter follow the Western Bulldogs.  It looks like Canberrans, who don’t have their own AFL team, follow a different drummer than the one that beats on a national level.

Another way to measure team loyalty and team identification in Canberra is to use Facebook.  Facebook says that there are 198,500 users who live in the ACT and 175,900 people who live within 50 miles of Canberra.  What Grand Finals teams do Canberrans like?

Well, not the Western Bulldogs, that’s for sure.  Canberran fans on Facebook much more clearly follow the national patterns as established by Roy Morgan.

Other social networks exist and Canberran sport fans are present on them.  One such network is LiveJournal (and its clones).  There are a number of fans on it who list their teams as an interest on their profile:   4 for Collingwood,  22 for Geelong,  16 for St. Kilda and 23  for the Western Bulldogs.  When broken down by city and state, there are two fans from the ACT who list Geelong as an interest and one fan who lists the Saints as an interest.  This pattern for the ACT does not mirror the pattern for the whole of LiveJournal.  It also doesn’t follow the pattern for team fandom size as identified by Roy Morgan Research.

Over on 43 things, there is one Canberran who has a goal related to an AFL team.  It just isn’t a team in the finals.  (The Canberran has a goal of buying a Sydney Swans jumper.)  On bebo, there are 18 people identified as being from the ACT who list an AFL team as an interest, four of which list a Grand Finals team as an interest.  Two support Collingwood, one supports Geelong and one supports St. Kilda.  This pattern mirrors the national one as established by Roy Morgan Research.  On Blogger, there are four people from the ACT who list an AFL team as an interest.  Of these four, only one lists a finals bound team: Geelong.

What does tell us?  Canberran AFL fans are most likely to be found on Facebook.  Their support of their clubs is similar to the national club support though there are differences.    Different social networks attract Canberrans fans of different teams.  It shouldn’t be that hard to find a like minded fan who will support your team if you’re here for the game.  The easiest time of doing that will probably be for Collingwood Supporters but Bulldog fans shouldn’t be that worried either.  Just go on Twitter Doggies fans and reach out to your fellow Canberrans.

Most of the raw data referenced in this post can be found at csv.ozziesport.com/.

Related Posts:

• Based on data to date: Biggest Australian sports fandom
• One week Twitter change for Australia/New Zealand sport related accounts
• Most popular Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 1)
• Most popular Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (November 24)

It has been a while since I’ve done one of these lists of most popular. I’m hoping this list is more comprehensive than others I’ve done. The list includes all Australian athletes, clubs, leagues and sport organizations on Twitter that I’m aware of. There are a few cases where athletes and clubs outside Australia have been included. These are on there because the league they are part of is primarily Australian based: The Super 14, the A-League, the NRL, the Tri-Nations Cup,  the ANZ Championship, and the NBL. If anyone is missing, let me know. I’m especially interested in athletes competing in the Commonwealth Games.

This list doesn’t necessarily have much meaning from an analysis viewpoint. It can provide insight into some of the leagues, teams and athletes that do social media better. It might suggest who the most popular people and groups are online. Taken as a whole, it might suggest the best type of update strategy for getting followers. Or it might not. This information doesn’t exists in isolation and additional analysis is needed to impart greater meaning.

Now, on with the list…

Related Posts:

• Most popular Australian athletes, clubs, leagues and sport organizations on Twitter (October 11)
• Most popular Australian athletes, clubs, leagues and sport organizations on Twitter (October 4)
• Most popular Australian athletes, clubs, leagues and sport organizations on Twitter (version 2)
• Most popular Australian athletes, clubs, leagues and sport organizations on Twitter (November 7)

I know I haven’t posted an update on how my lit review is going but it is going. At the moment, it mostly consists of tossing citations together about teams in order to get a better picture of the fanbase for particular clubs and how that has evolved over time.

Review of Literature

The review of literature will define what fans and sport fandom are, and examine how sport fans show allegiance to clubs they barrack for. The definitions of fandom and fans are key to understanding how and why people express interest in a team online. After that, the lit review will look at population studies of and characterizations of sport fandom in Australia.

The Definition of Sport Fandom

There are very few works that focus on the definition of fandom as it pertains to sport. Most literature presupposes that its readers understand what the concept means and then proceed to examine some aspect of sport fandom. While researching sports fandom and its definitions, four different groups were identified as offering their own perspective on how to identify and define fandom. The first group includes sports marketers and managers, who broadly speaking, define sports fandom around potential for spectatorship. The second group involves sports sociologists and historians; they tend to define sports fandom as a form of identity and as a product of a specific culture. The third group involves the media and sports fans, where the definition involves the expression of allegiance to a club that is often grounded in the moment or the short term. A fourth group was identified as doing research about sport fandom. This group includes popular culture studies academics, who tend to focus on fan interaction with the team and the game, and who focus on sport fandom as a smaller subcomponent of fandom.

Sports marketers and managers.

Stewart (1983) wrote for an audience of VFL fans, while providing a great deal of information regarding the organization of the league, its financial situation and other information that would be of more interest to people interested in sports marketing. Fans are frequently described based on their proximity to stadiums, training grounds and the location found in a team’s name. These descriptions were used to explain the potential for spectatorship: “The Club has little local support — there are few private dwellings in the vicinity — and most of its supporters are centred in the outer south-eastern suburbs.” (p. 41) In a few cases, fans are all described based on their economic status and how fans of other teams perceive them: “It is thought that while the affluent eastern suburbs residents are appreciative of the team’s success, they prefer to spend Saturday afternoon in active leisure activities like tennis or gardening.” (p. 40)

Shilbury, D., Quick, S., & Westerbeck, H. (2003) published a book about sports marketing. Much of the content is focused on fans from the perspective revenue for a club, league or sport converting them into spectators and consumers of merchandise related to the organization and its sponsors. The authors do not create their own definition of fan. Rather, the authors (p. 70) borrow from Smith and Stewart (1999) to define categories of fans: passionate fans, champ followers, reclusive partisans, theatergoers and aficionados.

Sullivan (2004) wrote for an audience of potential sport marketers. The author said “the term fan will be used in the broadest sense and will, therefore, imply a range of attachments.” (p. 131) Sullivan then characterized fans as spectators and consumers of various media who could be profiled using three key factors: Geographic, demographic and behavioral factors. The discussion around these factors involved how they impacted the potential for spectatorship and the consumption of media related to a team.

Nicholson (2004), a sport management academic, wrote to reflect on the problems the AFL faces in terms of becoming a national game. The geographic population imbalance between clubs in Queensland and New South Wales compared to Victoria was a major problem: The league was not balancing team location with population areas, nor was it financially sponsoring player development. The author rarely used the word fans to describe these problems: Spectators, the market and television audience are used instead.

Sports sociologists and historians.

Collins (2005) wrote for an audience interested in the history and evolution of several football codes in Australia. In describing a proposal to merge rugby league with Australian rules football, the different codes were described as appealing to two different views about Australia’s place in the world: transnational versus nationalistic. These differences point to a definition of sports fandom relating to identity.

Like Collins, Cashman (2002) was writing for an audience of those interested in history. Cashman (2002) differs in that his history focused on more on the connection between Australian sport and other issues in Australian life including identity, culture and parallel Australian history. Both authors connected sport to national identity. In the case of Cashman, the term fan is almost never used in the text. Words like crowds, interest, Australian with adjectives further identifying spectator culture and sport participants are used instead. Again, the author’s undefined use of fandom involves identity.

Adair, D. & Vamplew, W. (1997) are sports historians that tried to debunk some historical myths about sports culture in Australia. One of these myths involved the defining of Australians as sports obsessed. This definition, where fans are defined as people obsessed with sports, is reinforced by talking about match attendance compared to the total population, and by the consumption of sport on television. Spectatorship plays a role in the definition with less frequency than that of the identity of a nation obsessed with sports and as an important component of Australian popular culture.

The media and sport fans.

Sport fans and the media often talk about fandom on a personal level or to describe their actions around the short term.

Popular culture studies academics.

Popular culture studies scholars like Jenkins (2006) offer the last definition. They define fans as an active population who engage in activities related to an object produced by the larger popular culture. This production includes activities like writing fan fiction, creating costumes, producing fanvids and organizing conventions. Popular culture academics also define fans as posessing a sense of ownership of their product that is removed and distinct from the official one, that they view actors, athletes, copyrighted and trademarked materials as communally owned by fans.

Population and Characteristics of Australian Sports Fandom

While there are many definitions and underlying assumptions as to what a fan is, there has been less work done looking at what makes these communities demographically distinct from populations. Much of the work done approaches the issue from the perspective of comparing the population of different sports or leagues. When specific clubs are looked at, the literature tends to focus less on research done about fans of those teams than it does on repeating traditional narratives about fan allegiances that may date back one hundred years.

Sports.

Delpy & Bosetti (1998) conducted a demographic study of sports fans online that found sports fans were 6% more likely to be female (36% compared to 30%) and were 1.3 years older (34 compared to 32.7) than the whole population of the Internet.

Adair, D. & Vamplew, W. (1997) cite a study that found that during the 1970s, 28 percent of men and 21 percent of women in Australia regularly attending sporting events as spectators.

The VFL and AFL.

The VFL and AFL have been attributed with having historically high levels of female fans, both as spectators and barrackers, when compared to other football codes in Australia and around the world. In the early days of the sport, female spectatorship was between 30 and 50 percent. (Cashman, 2002, p. 48) This contrasts with Australian, specifically New South Wales, rugby which is characterized as being conservative, middle class, patriarchal and often containing strains of misogyny that discouraged the growth of female spectatorship. (Cashman, 2002, p. 52) Both codes were characterized as having large white spectator bases. (Cashman, 2002, p. 56)

Characteristics of sport fan communities can differ by club. A survey of research done about VFL/AFL teams reveals some of these different characteristics.

The Fitzroy Lions, who eventually became the Brisbane Lions, were originally from an area where their fanbase drew heavily from a population middle-class white-collar workers. (Shaw, 2006, p. 115) During the 1940s, Fitzroy Lions were similar to their counterparts at Collingwood and North Melbourne in terms of fan composition. Shaw (2006, p. 79) characterizes them as being drawn from the working classes and prone to violence similar to that of future British football hooligans. The 2009 team ranked second for total fans, with 861,000 fans. (Roy Morgan Research, 2009, July 19).

Early in the history of the Carlton Blues, most of their fans were from the Carlton area and represented the major population found there: “middle-class white-collar workers and the occasional silvertail.” (Shaw, 2006, p. 115) The Carlton Blues had one of the largest fan bases during the 1940s. According to Shaw (2006, p. 101), they could draw crowds irrespective of their on-field performance. The 2009 team ranked seventh for total fans, with 493,000 fans. (Roy Morgan Research, 2009, July 19).

In the period around the Magpies founding in 1892, fans were characterized as being bootmakers and working in the footwear industry. (Grow, 1998, p. 69, 77) During the clubs early part of the 20^th century, the Collingwood Magpies fans were predominantly from Collingwood. They matched the characteristics of the neighborhood: Semi-skilled members of the working class that were mostly Irish Catholics. (Shaw, 2006, p. 115) The Collingwood Magpie fans are characterized as having “strong working-class origins”. (Stewart, 1983, p. 35) The club has historically enjoyed strong local support, both in terms of developing a fan base and with local businesses. During the early part of the 1900s, 70 percent of the club supporters were local and 80 percent were members of the working class. (Sandercock, 1981, p. 199) In the decade around 1900 to 1910, fans were described as being drawn from the working class. (Shaw, 2006, p. 79) During the 1940s, the club had one of the largest fan bases in terms of game attendance. According to Shaw (2006, p. 101), the team could draw crowds irrespective of their on-field performance. There was a demographic shift by the 1970s, with over 50 percent of the local population being not native born and Anglo-Irish-Australian; instead, the local fan base was composed largely of Southern Europeans. (Sandercock, 1981, p. 200) The characterization of working class values continued on despite these changes. According to Roy Morgan Research. (2009, July 19), the modern team has the third largest AFL fan base, with over 731,000 fans.

During the 1870s and 1880s, Essendon was one of the three big clubs in terms of the number of paying fans. (Grow, 1998, p. 55) During the early part of the 20^th century, Essendon Bombers fans were drawn from the local area and fans were mostly from the lower middle-class. (Shaw, 2006, p. 116) Essendon Bomber fans are from the “moderately affluent north-west suburbs” who have a reputation “for being conservative and responsible.” (Stewart, 1983, p. 36) The team has the fourth largest AFL fan community with 638,000 barrackers. (Roy Morgan Research, 2009, July 19).

During the 1870s and 1880s, Geelong was one of the three big clubs in terms of the number of paying fans. (Grow, 1998, p. 55) The team has the eighth largest AFL fan community with 488,000 barrackers. (Roy Morgan Research, 2009, July 19).

The Hawthorn Hawks fans are characterized as being from the affluent eastern suburbs, but who would are not as interested in attending matches as fans of other teams. (Stewart, 1983, p. 40) The 2009 club ranked tenth in the AFL for most fans, with 381,000. (Roy Morgan Research, 2009, July 19).

The Melbourne Demons are characterized as not being able to draw local support, with most of the team barracking for the team being “centred in the outer south-eastern suburbs.” (Stewart, 1983, p. 41) The team had the fewest people barracking for them of any team in the AFL during the 2009 season; only 187,000 people identified themselves as fans in research conducted by Roy Morgan (2009, July 19).

The North Melbourne Kangaroos fans during the early part of the 20^th century are described as being from the working class and being a precursor of the British football hooligans. (Shaw, 2006, p. 79) During the 1920s, the fanbase had a noticeable amount of butchers. (Shaw, 2006, p. 83) The 2009 club ranked second to last in the AFL for most fans, with 219,000. (Roy Morgan Research, 2009, July 19).

At the Richmond Tigers founding in 1885, fans were characterized as being larrikins who threatened the club’s existence by keeping away paying customers. (Grow, 1998, p. 72) During the early 20^th century, Richmond Tigers fans were mostly semi-skilled Irish Catholic members of the working class. (Shaw, 2006, p. 115) The Richmond Tigers supporters are characterized as “defiant and arrogant.” (Stewart, 1983, p. 42) Prior to the 1950s, being born in Richmond meant being a Richmond Tigers fan. This pattern of fans being located close to the historical home of the team changed with in the post war era. (Sandercock, 1981, p. 183) The 2009 team ranked ninth for total fans, with 392,000 fans. (Roy Morgan Research, 2009, July 19).

During the 1870s and 1880s, South Melbourne was one of the three big clubs in terms of the number of paying fans. (Grow, 1998, p. 55) The South Melbourne Football Club, that eventually became the Sydney Swans, began with most of their supporters being aspirational members of the lower-middle-class. (Shaw, 2006, p. 116) During the 1930s, the club was considered a Catholic one. (Shaw, 2006, p. 116) During 2009, the club ranked first in the AFL with 1,217,000 fans. (Roy Morgan Research, 2009, July 19)

During the 1880s, St. Kilda fans were characterized as being stockbrokers. (Grow, 1998, p. 69) The 2009 team ranked twelth for total fans, with 311,000 fans. (Roy Morgan Research, 2009, July 19).

Demonstrating Club Allegiance

In the AFL, fans has historically expressed their allegiance to their clubs in a variety of ways.

Up until about thirty years ago, if the Collingwood Magpies performed poorly, The Sporting Globe no one would buy it. (Shaw, 2006, p. 117)

The morale of the city of Geelong is said to be dependent on the club’s performance. (Shaw, 2006, p. 116)

During the 1920s, the North Melbourne Kangaroos were called “The Shinboners” because, according to Shaw (2006, p. 83), many fans from the area the team drew from were butchers and “would attach royal blue ribbons to animals’ shinbones and use them as window displays before North Melbourne home games.” (Shaw, 2006, p. 83)

The Connection Between Sport Fandom and Online Activity

References

Adair, D. & Vamplew, W. (1997). Sport in Australian History. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Cashman, R. (2002). Sport in the National Imagination, Australian sport in the Federation decades. Sydney: Walla Walla Press.

Collins, T. (2005). “‘One Common Code of Football for Australia!’: The Australian Rules and Rugby League Merger Proposal of 1933.” In R. Hess, M. Nicholson, & B. Stewart (Eds.), Football Fever: Crossing Boundaries (pp. 27-38). Hawthorn: Maribyrnong Press.

Depley, L. and Boetti, H.A. (1998). “Sport Management and Marketing via the World Wide Web”, Sport Marketing Quarterly, 7 (1), pp. 21-27.

Grow, R. (1998). The Victorian Football Association in Control, 1877-1896. In R. Hess & B. Stewart (Eds.), More Than a Game (pp. 45-85). Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

Jenkins, H. (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.

Nicholson, M. (2004). “Take the Game to the North: The Strategic and Demographic Imperative Facing Australian Rules Football.” In M. Nicholson, R. Hess, & B. Stewart (Eds.), Football Fever: Grassroots (pp. 111-121). Hawthorn: Maribyrnong Press.

Roy Morgan Research. (2009, July 19). More Than 7.6 Million AFL Supporters A Great Market for Prospective Sponsors 2008 Grand Finalists Hawthorn (Up 72,000) & Geelong (Up 99,000) Have Biggest Jumps in Support. [Press Release]. Retrieved from http://www.roymorgan.com/news/press-releases/2009/906/

Sandercock, L., & Turner, I. (1981). Up Where, Cazaly? The Great Australian Game. Sydney: Granada.

Shaw, I. W. (2006). The Bloodbath, The 1945 VFL Grand Final. Melbourne: Scribe.

Shilbury, D., Quick, S., & Westerbeck, H. (2003). Strategic sport marketing (2nd ed.). Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin.

Smith, A. and Stewart, B. (1999) Sports Management: A Guide to Professional Practice, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.

Stewart, B. (1983). The Australian Football Business, a Spectator’s Guide to the VFL. Maryborough, Victoria: Kangaroo Press.

Sullivan, M. (2004). “Sports Marketing.” In J. Beech & S. Chadwick (Eds.), The Business of Sport Management (pp. 128-153). Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

Related Posts:

• One week Twitter change for Australia/New Zealand sport related accounts
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I wanted to feel a bit productive this afternoon so I thought I would go back and look at one of the easily measurable populations that I have. In this case, I chose Dreamwidth Studios. Was there a population shift since June when I last recorded how many people listed a team as an interest? Nope. Data below.

Related Posts:

• One week Twitter change for Australia/New Zealand sport related accounts
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While on vacation, a friend of mine recommended I read Want to be Retweeted? Add Hashtags to Your Tweets! The article is rather interesting and looks at the #hashtags that led to the most ReTweets.

I have a collection of AFL related tweets that I update semi-regularly. More often than not, I use these for geographic related analysis. My AFL tweet collection has a series of issues though that make me hesitant to always draw definitive conclusions from it. These issues include:

• Incomplete tweet set for keywords: I only get what is available from Searchtastic.
• Incomplete tweet set based on keyword limitations: Even supposing I could get all the tweets related to a keyword, I can’t find every reference to the AFL as there are too many possible words that could reference the AFL and its clubs.
• Incomplete tweet set because of time: Some keywords were searched for earlier and some later. Not all keywords were looked at over the same period.
• Irrelevant tweets: Keywords like #gosaints may refer to the St. Kilda Saints or the New Orleans Saints. AFL may refer to the AFL-CIO, a union in the United States. Unless every tweet is examined, irrelevant tweets will remain in the data set.

These are major obstacles to doing any sort of content analysis for Twitter when specific subgroups are looked at. Many of these issues are ones that other researchers are likely to have too: You can’t get the complete data set, will include garbage data and may not be entirely timely.

That said, despite these limitations, I still wanted to know what are the most popular #hashtags for AFL related tweets and what type of hashtags are likely to be ReTweeted.

To get my dataset of Tweets, first I went to Searchtastic, ran a series of searches over the course of 6 weeks, and exported those results to Excel. I noted the keyword I searched for and the team that keyword is related to. The keyword searches that were run on Searchtastic during this period included: #afl, #aflbluestigers, #aflcatslions, #afldemonsswans, #afldogscats, #afldogsfreo, #afldogspower, #afleaglesblues, #aflfooty, #aflhawksdemons, #aflkangasbombers, #aflkangasfreo, #AFLPAQUIZ, #aflpiestigers, #aflpowercrows, #aflpowereagles, #aflsaintshawks, #aflswanshawks , #brisbanelions, #dreamteam, #footy, #fremantle, #freo, #freo AFL, #goblues, #gobombers, #Gocats, #gocrows, #gopies, #gosaints, #goswans, #NMFC, #northmelbourne, #sackermanis, #supercoach, #sydneyswans, #teamgws, #thekennel, #wafl, #westcoast afl, ackermanis sacked, ACT4GWS, Adelaide Crows, Adelaide_FC, afl Bombers, AFL GWS, AFL Magpies, afl pies, AFL Tony Lockett, Aker Bulldogs, Akermanis, akermanis dogs, akermanis gillard, Australian rules, blues afl, Brad Johnson, Brad Johnson AFL, Brady Rawlings, brisbane afl, Brisbane Lions, Brownlow Medal, Cameron Mooney cats, Carlton Blues, Chris Judd Carlton, Collingwood, collingwood AFL, Collingwood Magpies, crows afl, Damien Hardwick, DemonsHQ, Dockers AFL, eagles afl, eagles perth, Eric Mackenzie , Essendon afl, Essendon Bombers, etihad kilda, folau afl, folau israel, Fremantle Dockers, fremantle ruckman, GCFC, geelong cats, Gold Coast Suns, harry_o, Hawthorn Hawks, HawthornFC, Jason Akermanis, Jeff Kennett, Judd Blues, kilda, kilda AFL, kilda riewoldt, lions afl, Mark Harvey, mcg kilda, Melbourne Demons, milburn cats, Nathan van Berlo Crows, North Melbourne Kangaroos, PAFC, Peter Szental, Port Adelaide Power, portadelaidefc, Richmond Football, Richmond Tigers, Rodney Eade dogs, roos afl, sackermanis, spoon eagles, spoon lions, spoon tigers, spoon wce, swans afl, swans footy, swans ruckman, Sydney Swans, tigers afl, Travis Johnstone, Trent Cotchin, WCE AFL, West Coast Eagles, and Western Bulldogs. These keywords represent all teams and often include multiple keywords for them.

The next step was to remove all duplicate tweets. As some tweets contain multiple keywords and some searches were run more than once over that 6-week time period, that possibility existed. To do this, three columns were copy and pasted to a new worksheet: Username, Tweet and In Reply To. On Excel, I did this using Filter -> Advanced Filter -> Unique records only. This process took the total tweets from 8,523 to 5,427.

The third step was to identify all the hash tags used in this data set. To do this, I copy and pasted all the tweets to Notepad. I ran a find and replace for [space]# and replaced with [tab]#. I copy and pasted these back, removed all cells that did not start with a #. After this was done, the data set was copy and pasted back to Notepad. Another find and replace was done, this time, [space] was replaced with [tab]. This was pasted back to excel and all cells that did not start with # were deleted. The completed list was 2,833 total hashtags used. Of these, 556 were unique. The following table counts their total usage:

The next step was to count the total @ replies and hashtag uses. To do this, all the unique tweets were copied to a new worksheet. A filter was created to list all tweets that did not include an @ sign. These tweets were deleted. This brought the total tweets from 5,427 to 1,844. The next step was to create a filter to show all tweets that did not include a #. These tweets were then deleted. This brought the total Tweets down to 832. The next step was to look remove tweets that did not contain “RT @”, “RT:@”, “retweeting @”, “retweet @”, “via @”, “thx @”, “HT @”, or “r @”. This leaves 458 tweets that are retweets that contain hash tags.

The same process was conducted to count the hash tags that was used for all hash tags and RT @. The following list was created of people who were the most ReTweeted (or mentioned in the ReTweeted tweet) where the tweets contained #hashtags and the #hashtag totals for ReTweets. These were then totaled and counted, resulting in the following table:

Based on this sample, (because the whole of the population of AFL tweets is not available and cannot the total cannot be counted to determine the representative value of the sample) the most RTed #hashtag in a Tweet related to the AFL is #gosaints. #dreamteam comes in second. #gocats comes in third. #afl comes in fourth.

The #gosaints tag is popular and the team’s official account has encouraged its use. More recently, New Orleans Saints fans have used it as the NFL pre-season has started. #dreamteam is one of the two most popular AFL fantasy leagues and those fantasy leagues are big into fostering community. Beyond these top four, the most popular tags tend to involve specific match ups. If all tags related to match ups had been included around the time that the games took place, it is highly possible more would be on that list.

In terms of who gets RTed and mentioned in ReTweets, official accounts dominate: The AFL, Carlton, St. Kilda, Hawthorn, the Bombers, Geelong and the Swans. The first non-team account to appear is P. Diddy and he is followed by a number of influential Australian social media people. The next person / non-official AFL account to appear is Julia Gillard. AFL players do not appear to be ReTweeted en masse when compared to their club sides. This isn’t to say that people don’t actively read and follow them. If looking at ReTweets without #hashtags, @harry_o would appear on top with 50 mentions. It is probable that clubs are using #hashtags and players are not; there could be a digital cultural awareness divide between the two.

A copy of the data and some of my step by step process making it workable can be found at RTAFL.xls. I find the whole thing really interesting. If anyone has any tools to make dataming easier or has a suggestion for additional research in this area, let me know as I’d love to hear it.

Related Posts:

• One week Twitter change for Australia/New Zealand sport related accounts
• Most popular Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 1)
• Most popular Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (November 24)
• Most popular Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (November 18)

This list extends a bit beyond the AFL and NRL but not much.  The following list contains the total number of fans or members of a Facebook group or fanpage today.  All the official AFL and NRL club pages and accounts are included.  Beyond that, there are a number of other groups and clubs that I had looked at before.  Some of these are official accounts.  Some of them are not.  A number have been deleted after they were originally looked at.  This gives a bit of an idea of what I’m interested in.  It also gives an idea as to how successful official club pages are at capturing the majority of their audience or if fans are going elsewhere.  In some cases, it also gives an idea as to how successful anti-campaigns are at garnering attention.

League	Team	Name	Url	Total members	Official
AFL	AFL	AFL	https://www.facebook.com/AFL	175,275	Yes
Rugby League/State of Origin	Queensland Maroons	Queensland Maroons	https://www.facebook.com/queenslandmaroons	164,028	Yes
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Socceroos – Australian National Football Team	https://www.facebook.com/Socceroos	122,725	Yes
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Brisbane Broncos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Hill-Australia/Brisbane-Broncos/99453774630	83,157	Yes
AFL	Richmond Tigers	I hate it when I’m kicking the footy around and Richmond try to recruit me.	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Richmond-VA/I-hate-it-when-Im-kicking-the-footy-around-and-Richmond-try-to-recruit-me/116177261751551?v=wall	70,250	No
AFL	Essendon Bombers	Essendon FC	https://www.facebook.com/Essendon	68,724	Yes
Rugby League/State of Origin	New South Wales Blues	NSW Blues	https://www.facebook.com/nswblues	62,852	Yes
AFL	Adelaide Crows	Adelaide Crows	https://www.facebook.com/adelaidecrows	51,467	Yes
AFL	Collingwood Magpies	Collingwood Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/collingwoodfc	49,007	Yes
AFL	West Coast Eagles	West Coast Eagles	https://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Coast-Eagles/38862387223	47,295	Yes
AFL	St. Kilda Saints	St Kilda Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/stkfc	33,109	Yes
AFL	Carlton Blues	Carlton Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/OfficialCarltonFC	30,322	Yes
AFL	Sydney Swans	Sydney Swans	https://www.facebook.com/sydneyswans	27,261	Yes
NRL	Gold Coast Titans	Gold Coast Titans	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gold-Coast-Australia/Gold-Coast-Titans/22602574592	25,714	Yes
AFL	Hawthorn Hawks	Hawthorn Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/hawthornfc	25,267	Yes
AFL	Fremantle Dockers	Fremantle Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/fremantlefootballclub	23,293	Yes
NRL	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Manly-Warringah-Sea-Eagles/222674735992	20,241	Yes
NRL	Wests Tigers	Wests Tigers – Official National Rugby League Club	https://www.facebook.com/WestsTigers.com.au	19,355	Yes
AFL	Richmond Tigers	Richmond Tigers	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melbourne-Australia/Richmond-Tigers/7769834477	18,045	No
NRL	Newcastle Knights	Newcastle Knights	https://www.facebook.com/NewcastleKnights	16,470	Yes
NRL	Sydney Roosters	The Official Sydney Roosters Page	https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-Sydney-Roosters-Page/222342250384?ref=sgm	15,362	Yes
AFL	Brisbane Lions	Brisbane Lions	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brisbane-Lions/21301860172	15,014	No
AFL	Brisbane Lions	Brisbane Lions	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brisbane-Lions/21301860172	15,014	Yes
AFL	North Melbourne Kangaroos	North Melbourne Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/northkangaroos	14,496	Yes
AFL	Richmond Tigers	Richmond FC	https://www.facebook.com/Richmond.FC	13,504	Yes
AFL	Port Adelaide Power	Port Adelaide Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/portadelaidefootballclub	13,229	Yes
NRL	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Cronulla Sharks	https://www.facebook.com/cronullasutherlandsharks	11,230	Yes
Rugby League	New Zealand Kiwis	New Zealand Kiwis	https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Zealand-Kiwis/29087221880	10,745	Yes
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Western Bulldogs	https://www.facebook.com/Western.Bulldogs	9,304	Yes
NRL	Melbourne Storm	Sucked in Melbourne Storm! HAHA	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sucked-in-Melbourne-Storm-HAHA/119988934680797	8,566	No
AFL	Collingwood Magpies	Collingwood Magpies	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2208766149	8,066	No
Rugby League	Australian Kangaroos	Australian Kangaroos	https://www.facebook.com/australiankangaroos	8,042	Yes
AFL	Melbourne Demons	Melbourne Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/MELBOURNEfc	8,015	Yes
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Western Bulldogs	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5483691593	7,086	No
AFL	Hawthorn Hawks	hawthorn football club	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2210288061	6,557	No
AFL	Geelong Cats	Geelong Cats	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Geelong-Australia/Geelong-Cats/64398281288	6,278	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Raiders	https://www.facebook.com/canberraraiders	6,269	Yes
AFL	Geelong Cats	Geelong Cats Insider	https://www.facebook.com/GeelongCatsInsider	5,906	Yes
AFL	Adelaide Crows	Adelaide Crows	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2208515594	5,810	No
AFL	North Melbourne Kangaroos	North Melbourne Kangaroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Melbourne-Kangaroos/33221186760	5,173	No
ANZ Championship	ANZ Championship	ANZ Netball	https://www.facebook.com/pages/ANZ-Netball/92385331744	5,158	Yes
AFL	West Coast Eagles	West Coast Eagles Appreciation Group	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2212678352	5,031	No
NRL	Melbourne Storm	Storm Man	https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=725961793&ref=search&sid=7259	4,986	Yes
AFL	Sydney Swans	Sydney Swans	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2210531221	4,670	No
Rugby League	England Rugby League	England Rugby League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/England-Rugby-League/22459291791	4,645	Yes
NRL	Melbourne Storm	Give Melbourne Storm Their Premierships Back	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Give-Melbourne-Storm-Their-Premierships-Back/119876964691459	4,479	No
AFL	St. Kilda Saints	St Kilda Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2215006752	4,265	No
AFL	Gold Coast Football Club	Gold Coast Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/GoldCoastFC	4,111	Yes
AFL	Melbourne Demons	Melbourne Football Club, The Mighty Demons	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2207848796	4,052	No
AFL	Geelong Cats	GEELONG FOOTBALL CLUB	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2528050096	3,939	No
AFL	Fremantle Dockers	Fremantle Dockers Fan Club	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2207069891	3,725	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Israel Folau	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israel-Folau/10150092717680478	3,577	No
Super 14	ACT Brumbies	ACT Brumbies	https://www.facebook.com/actbrumbies	3,542	No
Super 14	Western Force	Western Force	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-Force/24790235284	3,472
Super 14	Western Force	Western Force	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-Force/24790235284	3,472	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Raiders	https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=wall&ref=profile&id=1589355881	3,413	Yes
Rugby League	Papua New Guinea Kumuls	Papua New Guinea Kumuls	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Papua-New-Guinea-Kumuls/48575750514	3,310	Yes
NRL	North Queensland Cowboys	North Queensland Toyota Cowboys	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kirwan-Australia/North-Queensland-Toyota-Cowboys/9098495661	3,208	Yes
AFL	Hawthorn Hawks	Hawthorn Hawks	https://www.facebook.com/hawthornhawks	3,182	No
AFL	Port Adelaide Power	Port Adelaide Power	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2373641808	3,152	No
AFL	Richmond Tigers	Richmond Tigers	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2249604493	2,748	No
AFL	North Melbourne Kangaroos	North Melbourne Kangaroos	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2600790272	2,413	No
AFL	Brisbane Lions	Brisbane Lions AFC	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2210819520	2,321	No
Women’s World Cup	Matildas	Matildas – Australian National Women’s Football Team	https://www.facebook.com/matildas	2,204	Yes
Super 14	ACT Brumbies	Official Brumbies Fan Page	https://www.facebook.com/BrumbiesFanPage	2,196	Yes
AFL	Adelaide Crows	Adelaide Crows The team for all proud South Aussies	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adelaide-Crows-The-team-for-all-proud-South-Aussies/153984865902	2,116	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Western Bulldogs 2010	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-Bulldogs-2010/217871884770	2,019	No
AFL	Essendon Bombers	Essendon Bombers	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14594414804	2,016	No
Women’s Flat Track Derby Association	Western Sydney Rollers	Western Sydney Rollers	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Penrith-Australia/Western-Sydney-Rollers/42792267115	2,001	Yes
AFL	Carlton Blues	Carlton Blues Supporters Club	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2205002774	1,614	No
Rugby League/State of Origin	New South Wales Blues	New South Wales Rugby League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-South-Wales-Rugby-League/62360768317	1,436	Yes
W-League	W-League	Westfield W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Westfield-W-League/284833825576	1,424	Yes
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	Team GWS	https://www.facebook.com/teamgws	1,359	Yes
NRL	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Raiders	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberra-Australia/Canberra-Raiders/44722778922	1,255	Yes
NRL	Melbourne Storm	Support the Melbourne Storm this Sunday Night	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Support-the-Melbourne-Storm-this-Sunday-Night/112926535407833	1,244	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Anything To Do With Footy.	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=46374304132	984	No
AFL	West Coast Eagles	West Coast Eagles SUCK!	https://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Coast-Eagles-SUCK/283601832162	953	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis/301148780410	943	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	WESTERN BULLDOGS 2010 PREMIERSHIP TEAM	https://www.facebook.com/pages/WESTERN-BULLDOGS-2010-PREMIERSHIP-TEAM/304790027975	673	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis is a homophobe.	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118380594866779	631	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis/107712129252191	630	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Socceroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Socceroos/106353142733985	617	No
AFL	St. Kilda Saints	ST KILDA SAINTS	https://www.facebook.com/pages/ST-KILDA-SAINTS/76945789299	599	No
SEABL	SEABL	SEABL	https://www.facebook.com/pages/SEABL/156802199436	599	Yes
AFL	Collingwood Magpies	COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES PREMIERS OF 2010.	https://www.facebook.com/pages/COLLINGWOOD-MAGPIES-PREMIERS-OF-2010/206003434840	591	No
AFL	Carlton Blues	Carlton Blues	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melbourne-Australia/Carlton-Blues/159855878819	590	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Don’t you hate it when you’re in the shower and Jason Akermanis comes in?	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-you-hate-it-when-youre-in-the-shower-and-Jason-Akermanis-comes-in/124465230905493	548	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	The Jason Akermanis Appreciation Society	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20900401086	482	No
W-League	Canberra United	Canberra United Fans	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31893404397	459	Yes
AFL	Essendon Bombers	Essendon Bombers Premiers 2010!!	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Essendon-Bombers-Premiers-2010/292548086075	444	No
NRL	Melbourne Storm	melbourne storm	https://www.facebook.com/pages/melbourne-storm-/234035998634	426	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	100,000 Strong Socceroos Supporters To Win 2010 World Cup	https://www.facebook.com/pages/100000-Strong-Socceroos-Supporters-To-Win-2010-World-Cup/362147231671	403	No
AIHL	Sydney Bears	Sydney Bears	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sydney-Bears/231164562115	372	Yes
WNBL	Canberra Capitals	WNBL – Canberra Capitals	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5865846788	368
AFL	Fremantle Dockers	Fremantle Dockers : Rebuilding since 1995	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fremantle-Dockers-Rebuilding-since-1995/320031751833	365	No
AFL	Carlton Blues	Carlton Blues FC	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=85618681803	361	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Socceroos to dominate in 2010	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Socceroos-to-dominate-in-2010/125877250762609	356	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Western Bulldogs	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-Bulldogs/109838169034373	352	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jarrod Harbrow Stay At The Western Bulldogs	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jarrod-Harbrow-Stay-At-The-Western-Bulldogs/111810932186509	348	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Karmichael Hunt & Israel Folau: Smartest NRL players in history	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Karmichael-Hunt-Israel-Folau-Smartest-NRL-players-in-history/125580140798379	333	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Israel Folau	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israel-Folau/116955588324978	308	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Raiders	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberra-Raiders/107811962573583	281	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	I’m not a traitor to my sport… LOL jks, im Israel Folau	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Im-not-a-traitor-to-my-sport-LOL-jks-im-Israel-Folau/126807534010649	261	No
NBL	Wollongong Hawks	Wollongong Hawks	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2511926702	246
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	its not all about the money… LOL jkz im Israel Folau	https://www.facebook.com/pages/its-not-all-about-the-money-LOL-jkz-im-Israel-Folau/128394483853228	246	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	ACT 4 GWS	https://www.facebook.com/pages/ACT-4-GWS/131873296847254	226	Yes
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	Supporters of Greater Western Sydney (Team GWS) AFL	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=197444073672	224	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	Team GWS	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=211851956941	222	No
AFL	Port Adelaide Power	Port Adelaide Power	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Port-Adelaide-Power/9426342069	221	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	Todd Carney 16 – Canberra Raiders 6……..(17/4/2010) Roosters Vs. Raiders	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Todd-Carney-16-Canberra-Raiders-61742010-Roosters-Vs-Raiders/117965208220477	218	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Australian University Socceroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Australian-University-Socceroos/279400107713	217	No
World Interuniversity Games	Australian University Socceroos	Australian University Socceroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Australian-University-Socceroos/279400107713	217	No
NWBL	Wollongong Roller Hawks	Wollongong Roller Hawks	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=34282398124	215
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis is a legend	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10308061363	211	No
WNBL	Bendigo Spirit	The Official Bendigo Spirit Basketball	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bendigo-Australia/The-Official-Bendigo-Spirit-Basketball/227515051849	183	Yes
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Vote Julia Gillard as full forward for the Bulldogs!!!	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vote-Julia-Gillard-as-full-forward-for-the-Bulldogs/135068153186079	177	No
Archery Australia	Guy Phillips	Guy Phillips	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Guy-Phillips/136216599725314	177	Yes
AFL	Richmond Tigers	Trent Cotchin	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=288344968328	174	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Raiders	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberra-Australia/Canberra-Raiders/142939450791	174	No
Greater Western Sydney and Blue Mountains Senior AFL	Penrith Rams	IGA PENRITH RAMS	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=34780778851	170	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	Greater Western Sydney	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Greater-Western-Sydney/110850405598090	163	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Western Bulldogs	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-Bulldogs/275365171824	156	No
NRL	Wests Tigers	Wests Tigers NYC	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14767245041	153	No
VFL	Bendigo Bombers	Bendigo Bombers Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=166091156567	151
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Julia Gillard, full-foward for Western Bulldogs	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Julia-Gillard-full-foward-for-Western-Bulldogs/138828299460524	142	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Im Not Really That Awesome, LOL jk, Im Israel Folau ♥	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Im-Not-Really-That-Awesome-LOL-jk-Im-Israel-Folau-3/120925127943654	141	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	SOCCEROOS	https://www.facebook.com/pages/SOCCEROOS-/126051170744978	136	No
AFL	Richmond Tigers	Daniel Jackson – TIGER TUFF!	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123091481992	134	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Israel Folau has discraced rugby league and is a DOG	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israel-Folau-has-discraced-rugby-league-and-is-a-DOG/131445246866465	126	No
WNBL	Townsville Fire	Townsville McCafe Fire	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Townsville-Australia/Townsville-McCafe-Fire/239691963244	123	Yes
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	kickoff.com.au: A-League, Socceroos, Australian and International football	https://www.facebook.com/pages/kickoffcomau-A-League-Socceroos-Australian-and-International-football/238919388600	119	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	I’m going to be an AFL superstar. Oh wait, no i’m not. I’m Israel Folau.	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Im-going-to-be-an-AFL-superstar-Oh-wait-no-im-not-Im-Israel-Folau/130787570267787	114	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Brett Holman shouldn’t play for the Socceroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brett-Holman-shouldnt-play-for-the-Socceroos/155289433083	114	No
NRL	Newcastle Knights	Matt Johns to coach the Newcastle Knights in 2010!	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105298639854	110	No
Super 14	ACT Brumbies	act brumbies	https://www.facebook.com/pages/act-brumbies/188338778385	107	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	WESTERN BULLDOGS	https://www.facebook.com/pages/WESTERN-BULLDOGS/271303674325	105	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Western Bulldogs	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-Bulldogs/110292775655582	104	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	I love NRL, LOL jk i’m Israel Folau.	https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-love-NRL-LOL-jk-im-Israel-Folau/132015913479883	98	No
Super 14	New South Wales Waratahs	Waratahs 2008	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6889666197	98
Super 14	New South Wales Waratahs	Waratahs 2008	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6889666197	98	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Cheering for the Socceroos at the local club in the World Cup	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cheering-for-the-Socceroos-at-the-local-club-in-the-World-Cup/406886935323	98	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis handstand appreciation society	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19647855868	97	No
AFL	Richmond Tigers	Greeks who support Richmond F.C the Tigers	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56793324172	94	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Akermaniacs!!	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13979751018	88	No
AFL	Gold Coast Football Club	Gold Coast Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=116206475832	87	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Langerak is a God, and will be in the Socceroos one day p.s hes HOT	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Langerak-is-a-God-and-will-be-in-the-Socceroos-one-day-ps-hes-HOT/103909322982210	86	No
WNBL	Townsville Fire	TOWNSVILLE FIRE	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7634104737	80	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis/376142636801	78	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	i bet u i can find 10,000 people who hate canberra raiders	https://www.facebook.com/pages/i-bet-u-i-can-find-10000-people-who-hate-canberra-raiders/115693885138853	69	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	for people who wanna see Jason Akermanis shove his head up his own Ass	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38642639632	68	No
NRL	Sydney Roosters	Sign Up Jake Friend	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=311599952794	66	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	I’m a 2010 Canberra Raiders member	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberra-Australia/Im-a-2010-Canberra-Raiders-member/217845443478	65	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Raiders	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberra-Raiders/370953541588	62	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Socceroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Socceroos/108710262493191	57	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Socceroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Socceroos/112443855448354	57	No
AFL	Richmond Tigers	No matter how bad they are, I will still barrack for the Richmond Tigers!	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=80991032015	56	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	GO Team GWS	https://www.facebook.com/pages/GO-Team-GWS/201507074991	55	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Western bulldogs	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-bulldogs/208698572908	51	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	Greater Western Sydney Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Greater-Western-Sydney-Football-Club/100573089984951	49	No
VFL	Frankston Dolphins	Aaron Edwards Fan page	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=139834293787	46
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis is a dick	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118537708183794	45	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	I miss my family in brisbane…lol jk im Israel Folau	https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-miss-my-family-in-brisbanelol-jk-im-Israel-Folau/121631641206963	45	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Hi I’m Julia Gillard, I’m a politic LOL jk, I’m full forward for the bulldogs	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hi-Im-Julia-Gillard-Im-a-politic-LOL-jk-Im-full-forward-for-the-bulldogs/133430483342149	41	No
Victorian Amateur Football Association	Werribee Tigers	Werribee Amateur Football Club	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7111400046	41
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Socceroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Socceroos/106019049438817	33	No
AFL	Hawthorn Hawks	The New Hawks Cheer Squad 2009 hawthorn football club	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14866934870	32	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Raiders	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberra-Raiders/148093829783	32	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Israel Folau to switch codes and Play AFL, Stick that where it fits Gallup	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israel-Folau-to-switch-codes-and-Play-AFL-Stick-that-where-it-fits-Gallup/121244824577993	31	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Ive always wanted to play AFL LOL jk I’m Israel Folau	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ive-always-wanted-to-play-AFL-LOL-jk-Im-Israel-Folau/121790094527530	31	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	Team Gws	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=432992410322	30	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Queensland will win Origin 2010… LOL JK, Israel Folau plays AFL now.	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Queensland-will-win-Origin-2010-LOL-JK-Israel-Folau-plays-AFL-now/121736904533450	30	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	GWS AFL TEAM WE DO NOT WANT YOU !!!!	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115243691825820	24	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis slept with me	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis-slept-with-me/115552025153010	24	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Petition for Israel to come play the Socceroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Petition-for-Israel-to-come-play-the-Socceroos/124315894249250	24	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Western Bulldogs 2010	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-Bulldogs-2010-/121258311217816	21	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	I’m loyal to rugby league….lol JK I’m Israel Folau	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Im-loyal-to-rugby-leaguelol-JK-Im-Israel-Folau/101306539918069	21	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	I’m Israel Folau I’m an NRL superstar, LOL jk im gonna go play footy	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Im-Israel-Folau-Im-an-NRL-superstar-LOL-jk-im-gonna-go-play-footy/118386028202456	19	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Israel Folau ♥	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israel-Folau-3/118502131501099	19	No
AFL	AFL	I Loved football, then Andrew ‘Dollars’ Demetriou came along	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=376087484378&ref=search	18	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	BOYCOTT TEAM GWS	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=127403363954150	18	No
AFL	Hawthorn Hawks	Law Hawks	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5033799337	18
AFL	Western Bulldogs	I’ll never play for the Bulldogs, LOL jk, I’m Julia Gillard	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ill-never-play-for-the-Bulldogs-LOL-jk-Im-Julia-Gillard/104083189641887	18	No
NRL	Wests Tigers	Melbourne-based Wests Tigers Fanatics	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4979514491	18	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis should be locked and gagged in a closet!	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=109095775801131	16	No
AHL	Tassie Tigers	Tassie Tigers Hockey – Top 4 three years in a row	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10850081395	16
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Israel folau, please stay with NRL	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israel-folau-please-stay-with-NRL/129283270431508	16	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	Supporting the Canberra Raiders	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Supporting-the-Canberra-Raiders/378099581051	15	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Raiders	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberra-Raiders/105808109459157	14	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Support for the Socceroos in South Africa	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Support-for-the-Socceroos-in-South-Africa/118426448190124	14	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	jason akermanis is amazing!	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=344061166761	13	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	israel folau is injury prone	https://www.facebook.com/pages/israel-folau-is-injury-prone/114024501946027	13	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Change the name of the Socceroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brisbane-Australia/Change-the-name-of-the-Socceroos/206601790281	12	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	I live here and don’t support Team GWS	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=140288354383	11	No
WNBL	Townsville Fire	Fire Roster	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10595065717	10	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis for Brownlow 2008	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16522463154	9	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis to win the Coleman medal.	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21877556009	9	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	socceroos fan? get on it!!!!!	https://www.facebook.com/pages/socceroos-fan-get-on-it/118141831550071	9	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	JASON AKERMANIS’S IQ OF A PLANT	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107444465957654	8	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	Team GWS is stupid – Nobody cares!	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=201349721647	7	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	Israel Folau an AFL player?	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israel-Folau-an-AFL-player/125596160796485	7	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis/105738419448658	6	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Socceroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Socceroos/119664741377244	6	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	The Football Supporters’ Pledge: A-League, Socceroos & Grassroots	https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Football-Supporters-Pledge-A-League-Socceroos-Grassroots/114421618592491	5	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Only Homophobes think Jason Akermanis is a homophobe!	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=128825660465576	4	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	I’m not angry Israel Folau, I’m just very disappointed in you.	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Im-not-angry-Israel-Folau-Im-just-very-disappointed-in-you/122542961115419	4	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	CANBERRA RAIDERS (GREEN MACHINE)	https://www.facebook.com/pages/CANBERRA-RAIDERS-GREEN-MACHINE/131955160151271	4	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	Team GWS	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-GWS/110182962355046	3	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	Team GWS	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-GWS/110460898989193	3	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124872100865630	3	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis Biography	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis-Biography/106142142741832	3	No
W-League	Brisbane Roar	Brisbane Roar FC W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brisbane-Roar-FC-W-League/113243915352961	3	No
World Cup Soccer	Socceroos	Young Socceroos	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Young-Socceroos/115695218444154	3	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	The Battle Within by Jason Akermanis	https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Battle-Within-by-Jason-Akermanis/110570445624262	2	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	On a scale of 1-Canberra Raiders how premature are you	https://www.facebook.com/pages/On-a-scale-of-1-Canberra-Raiders-how-premature-are-you/125897990754134	2	No
W-League	Melbourne Victory	Melbourne Victory W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melbourne-Victory-W-League/114789105203249	2	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis Can’t Drive A Race Car	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123972501889	1	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis/373300971735	1	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis Autobiography	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis-Autobiography/106446502709782	1	No
NRL	Canberra Raiders	Raiders de canberra	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Raiders-de-canberra/106471522724049	1	No
W-League	Adelaide United	Adelaide United FC W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adelaide-United-FC-W-League/108294542532589	1	No
W-League	Adelaide United	Adelaide United F.C. W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adelaide-United-FC-W-League/111672428851109	1	No
W-League	Adelaide United	Adelaide United W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adelaide-United-W-League/110542468965980	1	No
W-League	Brisbane Roar	Brisbane Roar W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brisbane-Roar-W-League/106111719427974	1	No
W-League	Canberra United	Canberra United FC W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberra-United-FC-W-League/109991445697639	1	No
W-League	Melbourne Victory	Melbourne Victory FC W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melbourne-Victory-FC-W-League/107986482554786	1	No
W-League	Queensland Roar	Queensland Roar W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Queensland-Roar-W-League/106361719403254	1	No
W-League	W-League	Westfield W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Westfield-W-League/106287136076565	1	No
AFL	Greater Western Sydney	Team GWS	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-GWS/116207325073108	0	No
AFL	Melbourne Demons	Melbourne Demons	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melbourne-Australia/Melbourne-Demons/8283147091	0	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis Is Totally Gay	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118573961511057	0	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis is a F*ckwit	https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18564050741	0	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis: Homophobe and complete fuckwit!	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis-Homophobe-and-complete-fuckwit/105067262872425	0	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis is a coward	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis-is-a-coward/105337389512086	0	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis is an idiot.	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis-is-an-idiot/125326927493237	0	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Jason Akermanis, you are a MORON!	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Akermanis-you-are-a-MORON/109009685810123	0	No
AFL	Western Bulldogs	Western Bulldogs FC	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-Bulldogs-FC/22912285819	0	No
NBL	Wollongong Hawks	Wollongong Hawks	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wollongong-Australia/Wollongong-Hawks/250640730611	0
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	I’d rather see the world end in 2012 then see Israel Folau play AFL	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Id-rather-see-the-world-end-in-2012-then-see-Israel-Folau-play-AFL/125789914109136	0	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	I hate AFL…lol jk i’m karmichael hunt and israel folau	https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-hate-AFLlol-jk-im-karmichael-hunt-and-israel-folau/121488781224409	0	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	israel folau turned gay for 3 million	https://www.facebook.com/pages/israel-folau-turned-gay-for-3-million/128843927141424	0	No
NRL	Brisbane Broncos	sucks Israel Folau joined AFL, LOL jk AFL needs better players anyways	https://www.facebook.com/pages/sucks-Israel-Folau-joined-AFL-LOL-jk-AFL-needs-better-players-anyways/132172480131292	0	No
NRL	Melbourne Storm	Best team in NRL.. Melbourne Storm !	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Best-team-in-NRL-Melbourne-Storm-/43558529287	0	No
NRL	Melbourne Storm	Melbourne Storm	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melbourne-Australia/Melbourne-Storm/21222300614	0	Yes
W-League	Canberra United	Canberra United W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberra-United-W-League/106044356102375	0	No
W-League	Central Coast Mariners	Central Coast Mariners FC W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Central-Coast-Mariners-FC-W-League/108518769173365	0	No
W-League	Central Coast Mariners	Central Coast Mariners W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Central-Coast-Mariners-W-League/111835622169478	0	No
W-League	Newcastle Jets	Newcastle Jets FC W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Newcastle-Jets-FC-W-League/105841596122300	0	No
W-League	Newcastle Jets	Newcastle Jets W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Newcastle-Jets-W-League/110694742284280	0	No
W-League	Newcastle United Jets	Newcastle United Jets FC W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Newcastle-United-Jets-FC-W-League/107745802588731	0	No
W-League	Newcastle United Jets	Newcastle United Jets W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Newcastle-United-Jets-W-League/106256169412363	0	No
W-League	Perth Glory	Perth Glory W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Perth-Glory-W-League/106426936059962	0	No
W-League	Perth Glory FC	Perth Glory FC W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Perth-Glory-FC-W-League/105709786128298	0	No
W-League	Queensland Roar	Queensland Roar FC W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Queensland-Roar-FC-W-League/106577539379058	0	No
W-League	Sydney FC	Sydney FC W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sydney-FC-W-League/107350229294344	0	No
W-League	W-League	Westfield W-League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Westfield-W-League/112250692140005	0	No
W-League	W-League	W League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/W-League/105657402802575	0	Yes
W-League	W-League	W League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/W-League/105657402802575	0	No
W-League	W-League	W League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/W-League/109267555759761	0	No
W-League	W-League	W League	https://www.facebook.com/pages/W-League/119918504685192	0	No
WNBL	Bendigo Spirit	WNBL – Bendigo Spirit	https://www.facebook.com/BendigoSpirit	0	Yes