Australian rules football attendance records

Australian rules football attendance records

Australia

Note: Since the 1970s in Australia, many grounds have been reconfigured without standing room, which reduces maximum capacity.

Single Matches

By Australian State and Territory

State	Attendance	Date	League	Event	Venue	Sold out ?
Victoria	121,696	1970	VFL	Grand Final - Carlton v Collingwood	MCG, Melbourne	Yes
New South Wales	72,393	2003	AFL	Round 21 - Sydney Swans v. Collingwood	Telstra Stadium, Sydney	No
South Australia	66,987	1976	SANFL	Grand Final - Sturt vs Port Adelaide	Football Park, Adelaide	Yes
Western Australia	52,781	1979	WAFL	Grand Final - East Fremantle v South Fremantle	Subiaco Oval, Perth	Yes
Queensland	37,224	2005	AFL	Round 15 - Brisbane Lions vs Collingwood	Gabba, Brisbane	No
Tasmania	24,968	1979	TFL	Grand Final - Glenorchy v Clarence	North Hobart Oval, Hobart	Yes
Northern Territory	17,500	2002	AFL (pre-season practice)	Aboriginal All-Stars vs Carlton	Marrara Oval, Darwin	Yes
Australian Capital Territory	14,922	4 June 2006	AFL	Round 10 - Kangaroos v Sydney Swans	Manuka Oval, Canberra	Yes

The table gives official crowd figures only. In the case of the 1976 SANFL Grand Final, the official crowd of 66,987 was the number of tickets sold, but when the SANFL ran out they opened Football Park's gates for free and the crowd grew by an estimated 15,000.^[1]

Regional

• Largest Crowd outside an Australian capital city - 49,109 (1952). VFL Geelong v Carlton (Kardinia Park, Geelong, Victoria)
• Largest Crowd outside a metropolitan city - 20,971 - (2006). AFL Hawthorn v Richmond (Aurora Stadium, Launceston, Tasmania)

State of Origin Representative Matches

• Victoria v. South Australia - 91,960 (1989). (MCG, Melbourne)

League Seasons

• AFL - 7,146,604. (2010). Number of Games - 186. Average attendance - 38,423
• VFL - 2,720,119. (1976). Number of Games - 113. Average attendance - 28,173
• SANFL - 1,090,164. (1967). Number of Games - 104. Average attendance - 10,482^[2]
• WAFL - 960,169. (1967). Number of Games - 88. Average attendance - 10,911^[2]
• VFA - 937,291. (1976). Number of Games - 94. Average Attendance - 9,971^[3]
• TFL - 318,496. (1967). Number of Games - 58 Average attendance - 5,491^[2]

League Single Round

• AFL - 371,212. Round 15, 2013.^[4]

International

Exhibition matches

• AFL (VFL/AFL)
  • Canada - 32,789 (1987). Melbourne v. Sydney (B.C. Place, Vancouver)
  • Japan - 25,000 (1986). Carlton v. Hawthorn (Yokohama Stadium, Tokyo)
  • United Kingdom - 18,884 (2005). West Coast v. Fremantle (The Oval, London)
  • USA - 14,787 (1990). Melbourne v. West Coast (Civic Stadium, Portland)
  • New Zealand - 11,666 (2000). Bulldogs v. Hawthorn. (Westpac Stadium, Wellington)
  • South Africa - 10,123 (1998). Brisbane v. Fremantle. (Cape Town)
  • United Arab Emirates - 6,102 (2008). Collingwood v. Adelaide. (Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club, Abu Dhabi)
  • China - 7,100 (2010). Melbourne v. Brisbane Lions. (Jiangwan Stadium, Shanghai)
• Other
  • France - 700 (11 March 2006). Reading Kangaroos v. France (Perpignan)^[5]

International Tests

Country	Attendance	Date	Tournament	Teams	Venue	City	Notes
Papua New Guinea	7,500	2009	Indigenous tour of PNG	Central Highlands vs Flying Boomerangs		Lae, Papua New Guinea	[6]
Australia	5,000	2005	2005 Australian Football International Cup	Japan vs South Africa	City Oval	Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia	[7]
Australia	3,500	2008	2008 Australian Football International Cup	Papua New Guinea vs South Africa	Reid Oval	Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia	[8]
Canada	2,500	2007	49th Parallel Cup	Canada vs United States	Thunderbird Stadium	Vancouver, British Columbia	[7]
Papua New Guinea	2,500	2009	Indigenous tour of PNG	PNG (U18) Kupundas vs Flying Boomerangs	University of PNG	Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea	[6]
Czech Republic	500	2008	2008 EU Cup Australian rules football	England vs Croatia	Slavia Sports Centre	Prague	[9]
Finland	150	2007	2007 European Australian Football Tri-nations Tournament	Finland vs Sweden	Halikko Stadium	Halikko	[10]

Notes

1. The International Cup carnival does not charge for admission, and crowd figures are estimates to the nearest 500 spectators based on total ground capacity. These figures do not include International Rules tests between Australia and Ireland or tests played as curtain raisers to AFL matches.

2. The 49th Parallel Cup charged admission for the first time in 2007.

Domestic Representative Matches

• Ontario vs Quebec - 500^[11]

Notable Crowds for Leagues Outside of Australia

Country	Attendance	Date	League	Teams	Venue	City	Notes
Papua New Guinea	5,000	1999	AFL PNG (Grand Final)	Wests vs Koboni		Port Moresby	[7]
Nauru	3,000	1999	NAFA championship finale	Menaida vs Panzer (Meneng)	Linkbelt Oval	Aiwo	[7]
United Kingdom	1,500	1999	BARFL Grand Final	West London Wildcats vs Wandsworth Demons	Clapham Common	London	[7]
United States of America	1,000	2004	MAAFL	Nashville Kangaroos vs Chicago Swans		Nashville, Tennessee	[12]
Canada	600	October 2008	OAFL Grand Final	Toronto Eagles vs Etobicoke Kangaroos	Humber Park	Toronto	[13]
Indonesia	500	12 July 2005	West Java AFL (Pancawati Cup) Grand Final	Pancawati Eages vs Pancawatti Scorpions		Pancawati (Bogor)	[14]

Note: No international Australian Rules Football leagues currently charge for admission, and crowd figures are estimates to the nearest 500 spectators based on total ground capacity.

References

1. Norton, Daniel (2013). Port Adelaide Football Club - 2013 Season Guide. Adelaide: Bowden Group. p. 28.
2. Review of the 1967 football seasion from Full Points Footy
3. "The VFA and the Search for an Identity." (PDF). Retrieved 2013-07-02.
4. from afl.com.au
5. French almost pull off an upset against the Reading Roos by Aaron Richard for World Footy News
6. Brett Northey. "Boomerangs PNG tour wrap up and photos". World Footy News. Retrieved 2013-07-02.
7. IAFC
8. WORLD BEATER: Rave reviews for city's International Cup role The Standard
9. Aaron Richard. "England take EU Cup - tournament review". World Footy News. Retrieved 2013-07-02.
10. Finland building towards 2008 from worldfootynews.com
11. Official Website of the Australian Football League > NEWS ARTICLE > Australia winners at Canada Day Football Carnival Archived 24 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
12. MAAFL
13. Kangaroos Bounce Their Way To First Premiership Archived 29 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
14. Eagles Win Second Flag