Around the Grounds : A Comparative Analysis of Football in Australia

The past two decades represent an unprecedented era of reform, a time of significant competition restructuring and corporate reorganisation in Australian football, association football, rugby league and rugby union. As rugby league transformed from the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) to the National Rugby League (NRL), Super League begat SANZAR (South African-New Zealand-Australian Rugby), leading to competing visions of tri-nations rugby. Meanwhile, competing visions of football are now offered by the Australian Football League (AFL) and the A-League. The sports fan of the 1980s would barely recognise football in 2007. This chapter addresses these reforms by surveying change in governance, regulatory, and competition structures, revenue, player salaries, attendance, participation, media exposure, competitive balance and national team performance in each code