Ozzie Sport

Yesterday, I made a post about the most popular Australian athlete, league and team related Twitter accounts.

On Twitter, @anthonyalsop pointed me to a list of Australian athletes on Twitter he had created.  I had missed quite a few on his list and some of those accounts led me to lists where I found additional athletes, teams and leagues.  All told, I added about 61 new rows of data.  There are a few repeats from yesterday’s list as I updated some numbers.  (Historical twitter growth for athletes would be interesting to look at and there are tools for just that.  It is a project for a different day. Maybe.)  There doesn’t appear to be much change.

Things to remember with this list: It does not include athletes who do not play for team based sports.  Swimmers, golfers, tennis players, surfers and race car drivers are not on the list.  It also does not include Australian athletes playing for teams outside of Australia.  This includes cyclists (who are probably the most popular Australian athletes that I can find) as they often compete for teams outside Australia.  It does not include Australian NBA and WNBA players.  It also does not include retired Australian athletes, unless they are now involved in a management role with a specific team.  National teams are included but players are generally sorted by their other playing affiliation. This list does include athletes and teams from outside Australia when the league has teams from other countries.  Thus, South Africa is represented with its Super 14 teams and New Zealand is included with a variety of teams in leagues such as the NRL, Super 14 and the NBL.

First class cricket : New South Wales Blues : PH408 (unofficial) -10,729 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Wests Tigers : LoteTuqiri (unofficial) -4,957 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Pretoria Bulls (Northern Bulls) : VictorMatfield (unofficial) -4,559 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : NRL : NRL -4,231 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : Collingwood_FC -3,980 (8-Mar-10)

AFL : Essendon Bombers : Essendon_FC -3,808 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Adelaide Crows : Adelaide_FC -3,696 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Essendon Bombers : JobeWatson (unofficial) -3,523 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : Collingwood_FC -3,506 (30-Dec-09)

Super 14 : Natal Sharks : JohnSmit123 (unofficial) -3,412 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Wellington Hurricanes : Hurricanesrugby -3,395 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Sydney Swans : sydneyswans -3,160 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Essendon Bombers : AngusMonfries (unofficial) -3,052 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Melbourne Demons : jimstynes (unofficial) -3,004 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : harry_o (unofficial) -2,712 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : harry_o (unofficial) -2,703 (8-Mar-10)

AFL : St. Kilda Saints : stkildafc -2,617 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Wellington Hurricanes : neyza3 (unofficial) -2,446 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Gold Coast Titans : mat_rogers6 (unofficial) -2,219 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : St. Kilda Saints : stkildafc -2,214 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Carlton Blues : Carlton_FC -1,932 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Geelong Cats : Geelong_FC (unofficial) -1,856 (30-Dec-09)

Super 14 : Canterbury Crusaders : mornesteyn (unofficial) -1,631 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Gold Coast Titans : GCTitans -1,616 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : New Zealand Warriors (Auckland Warriors) : nzwarriors (unofficial) -1,533 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : St. George Illawarra Dragons : RealBigDell (unofficial) -1,438 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : MVFCVIDEOS (unofficial) -1,432 (5-Jan-10)

NRL : North Queensland Cowboys : northqldcowboys -1,403 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Brisbane Broncos : BrisBroncosClub -1,365 (2-Jan-10)

AFL : Hawthorn Hawks : Hawks_AFL (unofficial) -1,336 (9-Mar-10)

First class cricket : New South Wales Blues : ClarkeVC (unofficial) -1,230 (10-Mar-10)

AFL : Melbourne Demons : nathan2jones (unofficial) -1,216 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : gomvfc -1,185 (5-Jan-10)

NRL : Wests Tigers : Wests_Tigers (unofficial) -1,165 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Durban Sharks (Coastal Sharks)(Natal Sharks) : sharksrugby -1,159 (9-Mar-10)

National team : Socceroos : socceroos_news (unofficial) -1,099 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : jarryd_hayne (unofficial) -1,078 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Richmond Tigers : Richmond_FC -1,062 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : North Melbourne Kangaroos : northkangaroos -1,052 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Melbourne Demons : CamSchwab (unofficial) -961 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Port Adelaide Power : PAFC -946 (30-Dec-09)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : Adelaide36ers -908 (8-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : Melbourne Vixens : MelbourneVixens -904 (12-Jan-10)

First class cricket : Victorian Bushrangers : Bushrangers -895 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Manly Sea Eagles : manlyseaeagles -888 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : PirtekParraEels (unofficial) -853 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Melbourne Demons : DemonsHQ -841 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : PeterDaicos (unofficial) -838 (8-Mar-10)

AFL : Hawthorn Hawks : HawthornFC -823 (30-Dec-09)

NRL : Sydney Roosters : sydroosters (unofficial) -800 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : South Sydney Rabbitohs : SSFCRABBITOHS -761 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Wellington Hurricanes : Powza13 (unofficial) -719 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Canterbury Crusaders : crusadersrugby -717 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Brisbane Lions : ALFbrisbane (unofficial) -690 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Central Coast Mariners Football Club : LawrieMcKinna (unofficial) -681 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : West Coast Eagles : WCEofficial -671 (30-Dec-09)

NRL : Penrith Panthers : penrithpanthers (unofficial) -644 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : North Queensland Fury FC : nqfuryfc -627 (5-Jan-10)

AFL : Melbourne Demons : DemonsHQ -624 (30-Dec-09)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : parramatta_eels -618 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : South Sydney Rabbitohs : rabbitohs (unofficial) -617 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Melbourne Tigers : Follow24Hodge (unofficial) -612 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Melbourne Storm : MelbourneStorm_ (unofficial) -605 (8-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Queensland Reds : QuadeCooper (unofficial) -594 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Cape Town Stormers (Western Stormers) : THESTORMERS -593 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Wollongong Hawks : wollongonghawks -585 (10-Mar-10)

First class cricket : New South Wales Blues : NBRACKEN142 (unofficial) -577 (10-Mar-10)

NBL : Wollongong Hawks : wollongonghawks -572 (6-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Queensland Reds : Reds_Rugby -560 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : collingwoodnews (unofficial) -545 (8-Mar-10)

Super 14 : New South Wales Waratahs : HSBCWaratahs -504 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : West Coast Eagles : wingsofperth (unofficial) -503 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : New Zealand Breakers : johnrillie (unofficial) -474 (6-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Queensland Reds : RedsRugby (unofficial) -460 (3-Jan-10)

NRL : Melbourne Storm : MelbStormRLC (unofficial) -458 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Perth Wildcats : perthwildcats -457 (6-Mar-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : adrianleijer (unofficial) -454 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : South Sydney Rabbitohs : therabbitohs (unofficial) -448 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : mitchlangerak (unofficial) -445 (8-Mar-10)

AFL : St. Kilda Saints : njbrown17 (unofficial) -437 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : ACT Brumbies : BrumbiesRugby -436 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : New Zealand Warriors (Auckland Warriors) : thenzwarriors -434 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : South Dragons : Joeingles7 (unofficial) -431 (6-Mar-10)

AFL : Fremantle Dockers : FremantleFC (unofficial) -427 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : North Melbourne Kangaroos : andrewswallow (unofficial) -417 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Central Coast Mariners Football Club : LawrieMcKinna -414 (5-Jan-10)

NRL : Gold Coast Titans : AshHarrison1 (unofficial) -410 (9-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : Melbourne Vixens : SharelleVixens -400 (12-Jan-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : victoryinmelb -392 (5-Jan-10)

AFL : Fremantle Dockers : Freo_Dockers (unofficial) -388 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : bigdyman (unofficial) -376 (8-Mar-10)

A-League : Adelaide United : adelaideunited -376 (5-Jan-10)

A-League : Wellington Phoenix : wgtnphoenixfc -376 (5-Jan-10)

AFL : Gold Coast Football Club : GoldCoastFC -373 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Brisbane Lions : AFLbrisbanelion -363 (30-Dec-09)

National team : Socceroos : Socceroos -353 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Gold Coast Titans : lukeodwyer (unofficial) -348 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Newcastle Jets : newcastle_jets -338 (5-Jan-10)

Super 14 : Natal Sharks : KeeganDaniel (unofficial) -333 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : St. George Illawarra Dragons : mighty_dragons (unofficial) -316 (9-Mar-10)

Basketball Australia : Australian Boomers : aussieboomers -307 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Brisbane Roar : BNERoar (unofficial) -300 (5-Jan-10)

A-League : Sydney FC : SFCNews (unofficial) -297 (5-Jan-10)

A-League : Brisbane Roar : BNERoar (unofficial) -296 (3-Jan-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : PlanetEels (unofficial) -293 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : West Coast Eagles : WestCoastEagles (unofficial) -291 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Melbourne Tigers : Wortho33 (unofficial) -285 (6-Mar-10)

AFL : Fremantle Dockers : Fremantle_FC -282 (30-Dec-09)

NBL : Wollongong Hawks : milisimic (unofficial) -272 (8-Mar-10)

First class cricket : Tassie Tigers : crickettas -271 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Brisbane Broncos : BrisbaneBronco (unofficial) -270 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks : SharksOnline (unofficial) -263 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : TsvCrocs -259 (6-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : TsvCrocs -259 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Perth Wildcats : nickmarvin (unofficial) -251 (8-Mar-10)

AFL : Hawthorn Hawks : LanceFranklin (unofficial) -250 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : chomicide (unofficial) -237 (6-Mar-10)

NBL : Cairns Taipans : Dusty_Rychart (unofficial) -234 (8-Mar-10)

A-League : Adelaide United : adelaidereds -231 (5-Jan-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : blueandgoldarmy (unofficial) -225 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Melbourne Demons : MelbourneFC (unofficial) -223 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Brisbane Roar : brisbaneroar -221 (3-Jan-10)

NRL : Wests Tigers : beauryan_winger (unofficial) -215 (9-Mar-10)

First class cricket : Queensland Bulls : andrew_symonds (unofficial) -215 (10-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : Queensland Firebirds : laurafirebirds (unofficial) -213 (3-Jan-10)

NSW Premier League : Sydney Olympic : MarkBosnich (unofficial) -208 (9-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : Adelaide Thunderbirds : NatTbirds -205 (12-Jan-10)

NRL : Canberra Raiders : RaidersCanberra -202 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : West Coast Eagles : MitchJbrown17 (unofficial) -198 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Perth Glory : PerthGlory_FC -190 (5-Jan-10)

First class cricket : New South Wales Blues : eddiecowan (unofficial) -183 (10-Mar-10)

NBL : New Zealand Breakers : oscarforman (unofficial) -177 (6-Mar-10)

A-League : Sydney FC : SydneyFC0910 -174 (5-Jan-10)

Netball Victoria : Netball Victoria : netballvic -174 (12-Jan-10)

First class cricket : South Australian Redbacks (Southern Redbacks) : RedbacksT20 -173 (8-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : New South Wales Swifts : SusanSwifts -160 (12-Jan-10)

NBL : Perth Wildcats : TheRealSchensh (unofficial) -154 (6-Mar-10)

NBL : Perth Wildcats : TheRealSchensh (unofficial) -154 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : rustyhinder (unofficial) -153 (6-Mar-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : victorytwit (unofficial) -144 (5-Jan-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : 1eyedeel (unofficial) -143 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Essendon Bombers : essendonfc (unofficial) -143 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Melbourne Rebels : melbournerebels -141 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Gold Coast Football Club : GoldCoastFC -139 (30-Dec-09)

WNBL : WNBL : -138 (10-Mar-10)

NRL : Brisbane Broncos : broncosbigfan (unofficial) -137 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : ACT Brumbies : Hoilesy (unofficial) -133 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Brisbane Lions : AFLBrisbaneFC -126 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : South Sydney Rabbitohs : benross23 (unofficial) -124 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Western Australia Force (Western Force) : s14_force -118 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : jgovereasy (unofficial) -110 (6-Mar-10)

AFL : Melbourne Demons : jordiemck (unofficial) -102 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Central Cheetahs (Vodacom Cheetahs) : VodacomCheetahs -102 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Hawthorn Hawks : bmsew (unofficial) -100 (9-Mar-10)

VFL : Casey Scorpions : CaseyScorpions -100 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Sydney Swans : BionicSwan (unofficial) -99 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : North Melbourne Kangaroos : Marcus__White (unofficial) -99 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Queensland Reds : s14_queensland (unofficial) -99 (3-Jan-10)

First class cricket : Victorian Bushrangers : petersiddle (unofficial) -99 (10-Mar-10)

NRL : Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks : Fergo1990 (unofficial) -97 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Wests Tigers : fakebrycegibbs (unofficial) -93 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Gold Coast United : GCUSC -92 (5-Jan-10)

NRL : Brisbane Broncos : broncobasher (unofficial) -91 (9-Mar-10)

Rugby League/State of Origin : Queensland Maroons : QLD_Maroons -91 (3-Jan-10)

ANZ Championship : New South Wales Swifts : nswswifts -90 (12-Jan-10)

VFL : North Ballarat Roosters : NB_Roosters -90 (9-Mar-10)

Rugby League/State of Origin : New South Wales Blues : NSWRL -88 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : DarrenNg8 (unofficial) -86 (6-Mar-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : mvfcfanzone -84 (5-Jan-10)

NSW Premier League : Sydney United : addsie (unofficial) -83 (8-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Queensland Reds : ezytaylor (unofficial) -83 (9-Mar-10)

Australia Athletics : Australian Flames (national team) : australianflame -83 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Central Coast Mariners Football Club : CCMarinersFC (unofficial) -82 (5-Jan-10)

NBL : New Zealand Breakers : NZBreakers -79 (9-Mar-10)

First class cricket : Queensland Bulls : qldcricket -72 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : JoshJenkins24 (unofficial) -72 (6-Mar-10)

Netball Australia : Netball Australia : NetballAust -72 (12-Jan-10)

Netball Australia : Australian Diamonds (national team) : AussieDiamonds -71 (12-Jan-10)

ANZ Championship : West Coast Fever : SusanWCFever -66 (12-Jan-10)

Gridiron Australia Nationals : WA Raiders : fatloaf (unofficial) -65 (8-Mar-10)

Gridiron Australia Nationals : Perth Blitz : fatloaf (unofficial) -65 (8-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : Adelaide Thunderbirds : AdelaideTBirds -62 (12-Jan-10)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : BenFitz (unofficial) -62 (6-Mar-10)

NRL : St. George Illawarra Dragons : jsaffy (unofficial) -60 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Western Bulldogs : ccaallward (unofficial) -57 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : 36ers (unofficial) -51 (6-Mar-10)

Semi Professional Basketball League : Semi Professional Basketball League : SEABL -50 (10-Mar-10)

A-League : Sydney FC : SydneyFC -44 (5-Jan-10)

NBL : South (Melbourne) Dragons : SAVEOURDRAGONS (unofficial) -44 (10-Mar-10)

NBL : Sydney Kings : sydneykings -43 (8-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : VictoriaParkHC (unofficial) -42 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Balmain Tigers : tigers1908 (unofficial) -42 (9-Mar-10)

WNBL : Dandenong Jayco Rangers : jennaohea (unofficial) -42 (10-Mar-10)

AFL : Fremantle Dockers : ryanmcrowley (unofficial) -41 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Gold Coast Titans : Aaron_Cannings (unofficial) -41 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Newcastle Knights : Corypato (unofficial) -41 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Melbourne Demons : matesOmelbourne (unofficial) -39 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Manly Sea Eagles : gorgeousgrose (unofficial) -39 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Richmond Tigers : yellow_n_black (unofficial) -38 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : Kegs42 (unofficial) -38 (6-Mar-10)

AFL : Essendon Bombers : bomberblitz (unofficial) -37 (9-Mar-10)

Claxton Shield : Barbagallo Perth Heat : PerthHeat -35 (3-Jan-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : willo43 (unofficial) -35 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Gold Coast Blaze : Vandy21 (unofficial) -33 (6-Mar-10)

NBL : Gold Coast Blaze : Vandy21 (unofficial) -33 (8-Mar-10)

AFL : Melbourne Demons : demonwiki (unofficial) -33 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Wollongong Hawks : danjackson9 (unofficial) -32 (8-Mar-10)

Netball New South Wales : : Sydney_Netball -31 (12-Jan-10)

AFL : St. Kilda Saints : RWBFooty (unofficial) -26 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Fremantle Dockers : briansham (unofficial) -22 (9-Mar-10)

Netball New South Wales : Petersham RUFC Netball Club : PetershamNetbal -22 (12-Jan-10)

Brisbane Netball Association : ACE Netball Club : ACENetball -21 (12-Jan-10)

WNBL : Dandenong Jayco Rangers : JaycoRangers -21 (10-Mar-10)

Plenty Valley Netball Association : Orcas Netball : Orcas_Netball -20 (12-Jan-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : parraeels (unofficial) -19 (9-Mar-10)

Basketball Australia: Australian Opals: AustralianOpals – 19 (9-Mar-10)

NSW Premier League : Manly United : ManlyUnited -18 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : ToffCedar (unofficial) -17 (8-Mar-10)

VFL : Port Melbourne Borough : BoroughBoy (unofficial) -14 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : cameronwhiting (unofficial) -13 (6-Mar-10)

AFL : Fremantle Dockers : bc8977 (unofficial) -10 (9-Mar-10)

WNBL : Logan Thunder : loganthunder -8 (10-Mar-10)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : brad_393 (unofficial) -5 (8-Mar-10)

Gridiron Australia Nationals : Perth Blitz : perthblitz -1 (9-Mar-10)If there is anyone  I missed, or anything that really surprised you, let me know.

Updated this list on the 11th to include the Australian Opals thanks to a comment by @SportingSheilas.

Related Posts:

• Version 3: Most popular Australian athlete and team related Twitter accounts by total followers.
• Most popular Australian clubs and teams on Twitter
• One week Twitter change for Australia/New Zealand sport related accounts
• Most popular Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 11)

An updated version of this list can be found at Version 2: Most popular Australian athlete and team related Twitter accounts by total followers.

This is sorted by total number of followers. If an account is tagged (unofficial), it indicates that it is not the official account; it belongs to management, a player or a fansite.  The list includes teams from most of the major sports leagues in Australia.  Teams that play in those leagues that are not from Australia have also been included.  Players were only counted as belonging to a team if they currently play for it.  (Some players that are on NRL player lists have gone to play in Europe.  They aren’t included.)  The date that the information was collected is also included as these numbers actively change over time.  If some one/team/organization is listed twice, it is because the data was collected on multiple dates.

First class cricket : New South Wales Blues : PH408 (unofficial) -10,729 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Wests Tigers : LoteTuqiri (unofficial) -4,957 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Pretoria Bulls (Northern Bulls) : VictorMatfield (unofficial) -4,559 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : NRL : NRL -4,231 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : Collingwood_FC -3,980 (8-Mar-10)

AFL : Essendon Bombers : Essendon_FC -3,808 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Adelaide Crows : Adelaide_FC -3,696 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : Collingwood_FC -3,506 (30-Dec-09)

Super 14 : Natal Sharks : JohnSmit123 (unofficial) -3,412 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Wellington Hurricanes : Hurricanesrugby -3,395 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Sydney Swans : sydneyswans -3,160 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : harry_o (unofficial) -2,703 (8-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Wellington Hurricanes : neyza3 (unofficial) -2,446 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Gold Coast Titans : mat_rogers6 (unofficial) -2,219 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : St. Kilda Saints : stkildafc -2,214 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Carlton Blues : Carlton_FC -1,932 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Geelong Cats : Geelong_FC -1,856 (30-Dec-09)

Super 14 : Canterbury Crusaders : mornesteyn (unofficial) -1,631 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Gold Coast Titans : GCTitans -1,616 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : St. George Illawarra Dragons : RealBigDell (unofficial) -1,438 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : MVFCVIDEOS (unofficial) -1,432 (5-Jan-10)

NRL : North Queensland Cowboys : northqldcowboys -1,403 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Brisbane Broncos : BrisBroncosClub -1,365 (2-Jan-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : gomvfc -1,185 (5-Jan-10)

NRL : Wests Tigers : Wests_Tigers (unofficial) -1,165 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Durban Sharks (Coastal Sharks)(Natal Sharks) : sharksrugby -1,159 (9-Mar-10)

National team : Socceroos : socceroos_news (unofficial) -1,099 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : jarryd_hayne (unofficial) -1,078 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Richmond Tigers : Richmond_FC -1,062 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : North Melbourne Kangaroos : northkangaroos -1,052 (30-Dec-09)

AFL : Port Adelaide Power : PAFC -946 (30-Dec-09)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : Adelaide36ers -908 (8-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : Melbourne Vixens : MelbourneVixens -904 (12-Jan-10)

First class cricket : Victorian Bushrangers : Bushrangers -895 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Manly Sea Eagles : manlyseaeagles -888 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : PirtekParraEels (unofficial) -853 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : PeterDaicos (unofficial) -838 (8-Mar-10)

AFL : Hawthorn Hawks : HawthornFC -823 (30-Dec-09)

NRL : Sydney Roosters : sydroosters (unofficial) -800 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : South Sydney Rabbitohs : SSFCRABBITOHS -761 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Wellington Hurricanes : Powza13 (unofficial) -719 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Canterbury Crusaders : crusadersrugby -717 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : West Coast Eagles : WCEofficial -671 (30-Dec-09)

NRL : Penrith Panthers : penrithpanthers (unofficial) -644 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : North Queensland Fury FC : nqfuryfc -627 (5-Jan-10)

AFL : Melbourne Demons : DemonsHQ -624 (30-Dec-09)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : parramatta_eels -618 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : South Sydney Rabbitohs : rabbitohs (unofficial) -617 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Melbourne Tigers : Follow24Hodge (unofficial) -612 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Melbourne Storm : MelbourneStorm_ (unofficial) -605 (8-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Queensland Reds : QuadeCooper (unofficial) -594 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Cape Town Stormers (Western Stormers) : THESTORMERS -593 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Wollongong Hawks : wollongonghawks -572 (6-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Queensland Reds : Reds_Rugby -560 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : collingwoodnews (unofficial) -545 (8-Mar-10)

Super 14 : New South Wales Waratahs : HSBCWaratahs -504 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : New Zealand Breakers : johnrillie (unofficial) -474 (6-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Queensland Reds : RedsRugby (unofficial) -460 (3-Jan-10)

NRL : Melbourne Storm : MelbStormRLC (unofficial) -458 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Perth Wildcats : perthwildcats -457 (6-Mar-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : adrianleijer (unofficial) -454 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : South Sydney Rabbitohs : therabbitohs (unofficial) -448 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : mitchlangerak (unofficial) -445 (8-Mar-10)

Super 14 : ACT Brumbies : BrumbiesRugby -436 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : New Zealand Warriors (Auckland Warriors) : thenzwarriors (unofficial) -434 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : South Dragons : Joeingles7 (unofficial) -431 (6-Mar-10)

A-League : Central Coast Mariners Football Club : LawrieMcKinna -414 (5-Jan-10)

NRL : Gold Coast Titans : AshHarrison1 (unofficial) -410 (9-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : Melbourne Vixens : SharelleVixens -400 (12-Jan-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : victoryinmelb -392 (5-Jan-10)

A-League : Adelaide United : adelaideunited -376 (5-Jan-10)

A-League : Wellington Phoenix : wgtnphoenixfc -376 (5-Jan-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : bigdyman (unofficial) -376 (8-Mar-10)

AFL : Brisbane Lions : AFLbrisbanelion -363 (30-Dec-09)

National team : Socceroos : Socceroos -353 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Gold Coast Titans : lukeodwyer (unofficial) -348 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Newcastle Jets : newcastle_jets -338 (5-Jan-10)

Super 14 : Natal Sharks : KeeganDaniel (unofficial) -333 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : St. George Illawarra Dragons : mighty_dragons (unofficial) -316 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Brisbane Roar : BNERoar (unofficial) -300 (5-Jan-10)

A-League : Sydney FC : SFCNews (unofficial) -297 (5-Jan-10)

A-League : Brisbane Roar : BNERoar (unofficial) -296 (3-Jan-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : PlanetEels (unofficial) -293 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Melbourne Tigers : Wortho33 (unofficial) -285 (6-Mar-10)

AFL : Fremantle Dockers : Fremantle_FC -282 (30-Dec-09)

NBL : Wollongong Hawks : milisimic (unofficial) -272 (8-Mar-10)

First class cricket : Tassie Tigers : crickettas -271 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks : SharksOnline (unofficial) -263 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : TsvCrocs -259 (6-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : TsvCrocs -259 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Perth Wildcats : nickmarvin (unofficial) -251 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : chomicide (unofficial) -237 (6-Mar-10)

NBL : Cairns Taipans : Dusty_Rychart (unofficial) -234 (8-Mar-10)

A-League : Adelaide United : adelaidereds -231 (5-Jan-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : blueandgoldarmy (unofficial) -225 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Brisbane Roar : brisbaneroar -221 (3-Jan-10)

NRL : Wests Tigers : beauryan_winger (unofficial) -215 (9-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : Queensland Firebirds : laurafirebirds (unofficial) -213 (3-Jan-10)

ANZ Championship : Adelaide Thunderbirds : NatTbirds -205 (12-Jan-10)

NRL : Canberra Raiders : RaidersCanberra -202 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Perth Glory : PerthGlory_FC -190 (5-Jan-10)

NBL : New Zealand Breakers : oscarforman (unofficial) -177 (6-Mar-10)

A-League : Sydney FC : SydneyFC0910 -174 (5-Jan-10)

Netball Victoria : Netball Victoria : netballvic -174 (12-Jan-10)

First class cricket : South Australian Redbacks (Southern Redbacks) : RedbacksT20 -173 (8-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : New South Wales Swifts : SusanSwifts -160 (12-Jan-10)

NBL : Perth Wildcats : TheRealSchensh (unofficial) -154 (6-Mar-10)

NBL : Perth Wildcats : TheRealSchensh (unofficial) -154 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : rustyhinder (unofficial) -153 (6-Mar-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : victorytwit (unofficial) -144 (5-Jan-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : 1eyedeel (unofficial) -143 (9-Mar-10)

AFL : Gold Coast Football Club : GoldCoastFC -139 (30-Dec-09)

NRL : Brisbane Broncos : broncosbigfan (unofficial) -137 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : jgovereasy (unofficial) -110 (6-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Central Cheetahs (Vodacom Cheetahs) : VodacomCheetahs -102 (9-Mar-10)

Super 14 : Queensland Reds : s14_queensland (unofficial) -99 (3-Jan-10)

NRL : Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks : Fergo1990 (unofficial) -97 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Wests Tigers : fakebrycegibbs (unofficial) -93 (9-Mar-10)

A-League : Gold Coast United : GCUSC -92 (5-Jan-10)

Rugby League/State of Origin : Queensland Maroons : QLD_Maroons -91 (3-Jan-10)

NRL : Brisbane Broncos : broncobasher (unofficial) -91 (9-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : New South Wales Swifts : nswswifts -90 (12-Jan-10)

Rugby League/State of Origin : New South Wales Blues : NSWRL -88 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : DarrenNg8 (unofficial) -86 (6-Mar-10)

A-League : Melbourne Victory : mvfcfanzone -84 (5-Jan-10)

NSW Premier League : Sydney United : addsie (unofficial) -83 (8-Mar-10)

A-League : Central Coast Mariners Football Club : CCMarinersFC (unofficial) -82 (5-Jan-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : JoshJenkins24 (unofficial) -72 (6-Mar-10)

Netball Australia : Netball Australia : NetballAust -72 (12-Jan-10)

First class cricket : Queensland Bulls : qldcricket -72 (8-Mar-10)

Netball Australia : Australian Diamonds (national team) : AussieDiamonds -71 (12-Jan-10)

ANZ Championship : West Coast Fever : SusanWCFever -66 (12-Jan-10)

Gridiron Australia Nationals : WA Raiders : fatloaf (unofficial) -65 (8-Mar-10)

Gridiron Australia Nationals : Perth Blitz : fatloaf (unofficial) -65 (8-Mar-10)

ANZ Championship : Adelaide Thunderbirds : AdelaideTBirds -62 (12-Jan-10)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : BenFitz (unofficial) -62 (6-Mar-10)

NRL : St. George Illawarra Dragons : jsaffy (unofficial) -60 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : 36ers (unofficial) -51 (6-Mar-10)

A-League : Sydney FC : SydneyFC -44 (5-Jan-10)

NBL : Sydney Kings : sydneykings -43 (8-Mar-10)

AFL : Collingwood Magpies : VictoriaParkHC (unofficial) -42 (8-Mar-10)

NRL : Balmain Tigers : tigers1908 (unofficial) -42 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Newcastle Knights : Corypato (unofficial) -41 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Gold Coast Titans : Aaron_Cannings (unofficial) -41 (9-Mar-10)

NRL : Manly Sea Eagles : gorgeousgrose (unofficial) -39 (9-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : Kegs42 (unofficial) -38 (6-Mar-10)

AFL : Richmond Tigers : yellow_n_black (unofficial) -38 (8-Mar-10)

Claxton Shield : Barbagallo Perth Heat : PerthHeat -35 (3-Jan-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : willo43 (unofficial) -35 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Gold Coast Blaze : Vandy21 (unofficial) -33 (6-Mar-10)

NBL : Gold Coast Blaze : Vandy21 (unofficial) -33 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Wollongong Hawks : danjackson9 (unofficial) -32 (8-Mar-10)

Netball New South Wales : : Sydney_Netball -31 (12-Jan-10)

Netball New South Wales : Petersham RUFC Netball Club : PetershamNetbal -22 (12-Jan-10)

Brisbane Netball Association : ACE Netball Club : ACENetball -21 (12-Jan-10)

Plenty Valley Netball Association : Orcas Netball : Orcas_Netball -20 (12-Jan-10)

NRL : Parramatta Eels : parraeels (unofficial) -19 (9-Mar-10)

NSW Premier League : Manly United : ManlyUnited -18 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : ToffCedar (unofficial) -17 (8-Mar-10)

NBL : Townsville Crocodiles : cameronwhiting (unofficial) -13 (6-Mar-10)

NBL : Adelaide 36ers : brad_393 (unofficial) -5 (8-Mar-10)

NWBL : Wenty Leagues WheelKings : -0 (6-Mar-10)

Victorian Amateur Football Association : University Blues : -0 (6-Mar-10)

Related Posts:

• Version 3: Most popular Australian athlete and team related Twitter accounts by total followers.
• One week Twitter change for Australia/New Zealand sport related accounts
• Most popular Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 11)
• Most popular Australian clubs and teams on Twitter

bebo, blogger, LiveJournal and LiveJournal clones all have relatively small communities when compared to Facebook. It bothers me sometimes because to understand the size and shape of the online fan community on popular social networks almost requires looking at the site if I want to be accurate. The data you get from the advertising information is interesting but limited. Looking at fanpage and group membership is even more limited but at least you can get names and a better feel for location. I decided to do that for ANZ Championship teams. (There are just too many NRL and AFL and even NBL related groups for me to want to tackle at the moment.) I found the following list of groups and fan pages:

Adelaide Thunderbirds – ANZ Championship: Adelaide Thunderbirds

Thunderbirds Adelaide Netball Club Appreciation Community – ANZ Championship: Adelaide Thunderbirds

Thunderbirds are GO in the 2009 grand final! – ANZ Championship: Adelaide Thunderbirds

Canterbury Tactix – ANZ Championship: Canterbury Tactix

SUPPORT THE CANTERBURY TACTIX WITH TIC TACS – ANZ Championship: Canterbury Tactix

Pulse Netball – ANZ Championship: Central Pulse

Melbourne Vixens – ANZ Championship: Melbourne Vixens

Melbourne Vixens – ANZ Championship: Melbourne Vixens

Melbourne Vixens – ANZ Championship: Melbourne Vixens

Northern Mystics – ANZ Championship: Northern Mystics

Northern Mystics Fans – ANZ Championship: Northern Mystics

Queensland Firebirds – ANZ Championship: Queensland Firebirds

Southern Steel – ANZ Championship: Southern Steel

southern steel – ANZ Championship: Southern Steel

Sydney Swifts – ANZ Championship: Sydney Swifts

Waikato/BOP Magic Netball – ANZ Championship: Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic

West Coast Fever – ANZ Championship: West Coast Fever

West Coast Fever – ANZ Championship: West Coast Fever

Some of these groups have as many as 1,000 members and some have as few as 13. I went looked at the membership list, found the people who belonged to specific networks, identified the location of that network and then created a map based on those. Some cases, like for corporations, have no city specific location and some of the schools on the list are affiliated with bigger towns near them. The map below differs a fair bit from the similar map for to the one for bebo, blogger and Facebook. The major difference? Regional fannishness is much, more more apparent on Facebook.

Related Posts:

• One week Twitter change for Australia/New Zealand sport related accounts
• Most popular Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 11)
• Most popular sport league/team websites in Australia
• ANZ Championship fandom location on LiveJournal, bebo and blogger

I’m playing with Microsoft MapPoint. It is pretty awesome, except for the fact that some smaller cities don’t register. Anyway, I finished compiling the location of all fans of ANZ Champship teams on bebo, blogger, LiveJournal and LiveJournal clones. Interest in this particular competition is small compared to the NRL, AFL and A-League. For a few people, fans didn’t list a city which makes getting an accurate idea of where fans are difficult. Two cities didn’t appear as they were really, really rural so they were excluded. I took this data and the output was the following map.

The map has that limited perspective because there were no Queensland based fans. That includes people who just listed state, not city. The same situation existed for Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and Northern Territory.

Related Posts:

• ANZ Championship on Facebook’s fanpages and groups
• ANZ Championship on Facebook
• One week Twitter change for Australia/New Zealand sport related accounts
• Most popular female Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 11)

I’ve spent the past two hours or so culling through various netball related Twitter lists, checking lists that included ANZ Championship teams and players.  After having done that, it looks like five teams have a Twitter presence:  Adelaide Thunderbirds, Melbourne Vixens, New South Wales Swifts, Queensland Firebirds, and West Coast Fever.  For the Thunderbirds, there are two accounts: @AdelaideTBirds and @NatTbirds.  The first is a team account and the second is the personal account of a player.  The Vixens similarly have two accounts, one for the team and a player with a personal account: @MelbourneVixens and @SharelleVixens.  The same situation exists for the New South Wales Swifts: @nswswifts and @SusanSwifts.  For the Queensland Firebirds and West Coast Fever, single players have accounts but the teams do not appear to have an official Twitter presence: @laurafirebirds and @SusanWCFever.

For the team accounts, the Thunderbirds have 62 followers, the Vixens have 904 followers and the Swifts have 90 followers.  This puts the average at 352 followers per team because the 904 skews the numbers really high.  If that is excluded, the average is 76.  For player accounts, the average number of followers is 208.8.  The highest number is 400, for the Vixens player.  The lowest is 66 for the West Coast Fever player.  These numbers are comparable to several of the A-League related Twitter accounts.

Using Twitter Analyzer, the location of the followers of these accounts was determined and the following table was generated:

ANZ Championship on Twitter

The West Coast Fever (represented by their Tweeting player) had the smallest Australian audience and the Melbourne Vixens had the largest percentage Australian audience.  I still believe these numbers are questionably reliable, that people are lying about their location of that there is a huge problem with spam followers on Twitter.  Why?  The Melbourne Vixens have 9 followers from Greenland.   Googling for Greenland and Netball doesn’t bring up any information about sport in the country.  Given that, it doesn’t make sense that the Vixens would have that huge of a following from the country.

If you’re interested in following ANZ Championship teams and players on Twitter, I’ve created a Twitter list @ozziesport/anzchampionship.

Related Posts:

• One week Twitter change for Australia/New Zealand sport related accounts
• Most popular female Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 11)
• Most popular female Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 1)
• Most popular Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 1)

The ANZ Championship replaced the Commonwealth Bank Trophy as the premiere netball championship in 2008. There are ten teams in the competition, five from Australia and five from New Zealand.  They are:

• Adelaide Thunderbirds

• Melbourne Vixens

• New South Wales Swifts

• Queensland Firebirds

• West Coast Fever

• Canterbury Tactix

• Central Pulse

• Northern Mystics

• Southern Steel

• Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic

With the exception of the Melbourne Vixens, no one lists these teams as an interest on Facebook.  The New Zealand based teams also lack a fan base inside New Zealand’s Facebook community. The Melbourne Vixens have 840 people listing them as an interest on Facebook.  I’ve looked at some of the segmentation of this audience and generated the following data which can give you a better idea of the fanbase for this netball team that actually has a fanbase on Facebook, as determined by people listing them as an interest.

One of the things that surprised me in this little data set is that for fans aged 40 to 49, most of the fans are male.  I’m not sure why this is.  Female fans of the team also look to be overwhelming heterosexual.  For a female sports team, this does surprise me a bit as I would have thought that the percentage would have been a little higher.  The fanbase also appears to be a bit older: High school athletes do not appear as interested in the team, which suggests interest in the team may develop as fans get older and are less likely to participate in the sport themselves.

Related Posts:

• One week Twitter change for Australia/New Zealand sport related accounts
• Most popular female Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 11)
• Most popular Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 11)
• Most popular sport league/team websites in Australia

I’ve not really spent much time looking for fan communities for Australian sports teams on Facebook.  This is for a couple of reasons.  First, the data from Facebook’s Advertising Target Selection is often subject to wild fluctuations in the course of small periods of time.  In the case of one search, there was a 200 person drop in ten minutes on a sample size of about 3,000.  That’s pretty significant and calls into  question all the data.  The second reason is that it is hard to get data out of Facebook’s Advertising Target Selection.  For LiveJournal, bebo and blogger, I might not be able to get all a user’s info but I have enough that I can easily tell you that the average Northern Territory fan of a team is this age.  I can identify specific individuals and in some cases make educated guesses about the reliability of the data.    With Facebook, all I get is a number based on the selection.  If I want to find out how many female fans there of the Brisbane Lions from Queensland, I have to make a number of selections to get that number.  (But I only get that based on city for Facebook, not state.)  If I want to find out how many male fans there are, I have to go back to Facebook and make another series of selections.  I can’t do that with in the context of my own data set compiled / exported from Facebook.  This makes it really impossible to compile a complete listing of data in a timely manner.  If I want to find out how many 18 year olds are fans of the Canberra Raiders, I have to make that selection one at a time.  Aggravating.

Still, I wanted an idea of what is going on with Australia’s sports fandom on Facebook in terms of location and demographics.  What I thus have is a load of random data.  (Random data is random.) I tended to focus on cities and teams, with both chosen mostly at random. I can’t find an easy way to display or map this so the table is located below for you to look at.

Before that, some things I found interesting in this data:

• Brisbane Roar’s male fans are double the amount of their female counter parts.
• Brisbane Roar fans also to be single with 420 married compared to 180 married.
• The Perth Wildcats don’t have a fanbase in the Northern Territory or Tasmania.
• Queensland Maroons have 40 fans in Rockhampton, Queensland compared to the 8,100 fans they have in Sydney.
• New Zealand’s Canterbury Crusaders have the same fan community size, 80, in Sydney as the do in Cranbourne.
• The Melbourne Vixens are the only netball team to be listed as an interest from the Tasman ANZ Championship teams.
• St. Kilda is more popular than the Sydney Swans in Adelaide.
• Essendon Bombers are more likely to be college graduates than currently in high school.  At least for those on Facebook.
• In the AFL, the Essendon Bombers are more popular than the Geelong Cats, Hawthorn Hawks, North Melbourne Kangaroos, Richmond Tigers, St. Kilda Saints, and Sydney Swans for all Australians on Facebook.
• The Adelaide Crows are more popular in Brisbane than in Perth.
• Between the Perth Wildcats, Parramatta Eels, St. Kilda Football Club, Penrith Panthers, South Sydney Rabbitohs , Sydney Swans, and Wests Tigers, the mot popular teams in Hobart is St. Kilda with the Sydney Swans coming in second and the Parramatta Eels coming in third.
• Darwin only has 4,360  people from the city on Facebook.  Between, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Gold Coast Titans, Geelong Cats, Perth Wildcats, Hawthorn Hawks, Newcastle Knights, Parramatta Eels, St. Kilda Football Club,South Sydney Rabbitohs, and Wests Tigers, no teams has more than 20 fans in the city and the 50 mile area around it.
• In Perth, the Perth Wildcats are more popular than the Perth Glory.

Edited to add on January 9, 2010: I normally tried variations of a team’s name for Facebook to make sure I get the highest number.  In the case of St. George Illawarra Dragons, I goofed and got the one that listed 240.  When I used St Geoergillawarra Dragons combed with St. George Illawarra Dragons, I got 9,200.  This change will show up in any future data analysis.  The collection date has always been changed to today just so I know when I got that number.

Related Posts:

• One week Twitter change for Australia/New Zealand sport related accounts
• Most popular Australian (and New Zealand) sport related Twitter accounts (December 11)
• 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)