Australia's Most Popular Sport - AFL or Cricket?

[Nige]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of doing this as a topic for my final assignment for the year.

I'd love to hear opinions on what people think is the more popular sport.

I understand this is football forum, but if people can try to give a good response/argument for either side, that'd be great.

Personally, I reckon it's cricket.

[Phasir]

AFL all over the equivalent which is shield cricket, International cricket may be on par/ahead, but not the level that should be compared.

[Holz]

Afl is the answer definitely the most watched and most cared about with easily the biggest media coverage. Cities shutdown on grandfinal day.

You could put a case for soccer as it's the most played.

I would have cricket 3rd or even 4th after rugby.

[PowerBug]

Just to clarify, is this a personal opinion on what we think is bigger/better (The one we waste more time on). Or is it what we think the majority of Australians see as the bigger/better sport?

I waste more time on cricket I think, but AFL would have to be regarded as bigger by the majority.

AFL all over the equivalent which is shield cricket, International cricket may be on par/ahead, but not the level that should be compared.

Does that mean we compare International Rules to the Ashes? I would be comparing International cricket to AFL, as that is the best quality of each sport.

[Justin Bieber]

Outside Test matches, cricket isn't really cared about much at all

[Nige]

Just to clarify, is this a personal opinion on what we think is bigger/better (The one we waste more time on). Or is it what we think the majority of Australians see as the bigger/better sport?

I waste more time on cricket I think, but AFL would have to be regarded as bigger by the majority.

AFL all over the equivalent which is shield cricket, International cricket may be on par/ahead, but not the level that should be compared.

Does that mean we compare International Rules to the Ashes? I would be comparing International cricket to AFL, as that is the best quality of each sport.

To answer your question. It would be in terms of everything - including participation, spectator and television viewer numbers.

[GoLions]

AFL would have to be the most popular in the majority of states in Australia. And after all, it is our national sport. So would have to go with AFL.

[Mr.Craig]

Relevant article

http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/11/12/cricket-claims-to-be-top-dog-of-australian-sport/

[Vinny]

AFL easy I reckon.

[nrich102]

AFLs more popular than Cricket, but RL is more popular than them both where I come from.

[Ringo]

You have set the Topic as Australias most popular sport with the emphasis on Australia.

So with Rugby League being the most popular in Qld and NSW this may even out AFL on the popularity stakes overall  if a poll is conducted bearing in mind NSW and Qld are 1st and 3rd in Population size.  State of Origin matches more than match AFL Grand Finals.

Whereas cricket is the dominant one overall in Summer although Soccer (Aleague) and Basketball are making inroads with their competitions running in summer.

You could change the topic to the sport with the most player participation in Australia and I will leave it to you to come up with the answer which will surprise.

[Capper]

Its hard to say as one is winter and one is summer sport.

[Nige]

Yeah, I realised that. I think I'm gonna just change the issue/subject of the article to The Ashes and Australia returning the urn.

[Master Q]

lol at this thread. People writing cricket off as most are from Vic/SA/WA... Don't you realise that Cricket is the no.1 sport in summer, and is followed nationally. Sydney and Brisbane aren't' shut down on AFL GF day. This is all coming from a Victorian who prefers AFL over Cricket.

[Nails]

Yeah I still think AFL and Rugby/League would be close

I don't think it's 100% that AFL is more popular than Rugby. The claim most AFL fans like to make is "well more people attend AFL matches"

That's because AFL grounds have larger capacity iirc.