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For detailed profiles of all NRL Club supporters — visit the Roy Morgan Online Store

The Brisbane Broncos (1.259 million supporters, down 14,000 from 2008) are the most popular NRL team in Australia. The Broncos level of support means for the first time since 2004 the Brisbane Broncos are Australia’s most widely supported sporting club — overtaking AFL club the Sydney Swans (1.22 million supporters).

Fans of the two clubs lining up in this week’s NRL Grand Final are also numerous with the Melbourne Storm second in NRL support (826,000, up 57,000) and Parramatta Eels fourth in NRL support (429,000, down 21,000) also amongst the NRL’s most supported clubs. Minor Premiers St. George Illawarra Dragons, who crashed out of the NRL finals with consecutive losses, split the two Grand Finalists with 462,000 supporters (down 8,000).

Wests Tigers (387,000, down a large 102,000) and fellow 2005 NRL Grand Finalists the North Queensland Cowboys (366,000, down 108,000) have both experienced a large drop in support since March 2008, while the NRL’s newest team, the Gold Coast Titans, has experienced the fastest growth in support over the past year with 274,000 (up 67,000) supporters.

Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director at Roy Morgan Research, says:

“The annual Roy Morgan NRL supporter survey shows that the most supported clubs in the NRL are the clubs with significant support outside of Sydney and also clubs connected with long-standing connections to Western Sydney.

“The Brisbane Broncos are clearly Australia’s best supported NRL club — and for the first time in five years, have more support than any AFL club. The most successful team of recent years, the Melbourne Storm, is a clear second continuing its strong growth (from 497,000 in 2004 to 826,000 in June 2009), despite playing in the heartland of AFL football.

“Interestingly for the AFL and A-League, both planning new clubs in Western Sydney, the NRL’s strongest fully Sydney-based clubs all have strong connections to the area - this year’s Cinderella story the Parramatta Eels, the Canterbury Bulldogs and merged club Wests Tigers.”

These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Sports Monitor, part of Roy Morgan Single Source, a nationwide survey of 20,087 people aged 14 years and over from July 2008 to June 2009.

For detailed profiles of all NRL Club supporters — visit the Roy Morgan Online Store: http://www.roymorganonlinestore.com/Browse/Australia/Sport/NRL/NRL-Club-Supporters.aspx.

Which NRL Team do you Support?	Year Ending								Change since December 2001	Change since March 2008
	Dec ‘01	Dec ‘02	Dec ‘03	Dec ‘04	Dec ‘05	Mar ‘07	Mar ‘08	Jun ‘09	%	%
	000s	000s	000s	000s	000s	000s	000s	000s
Brisbane Broncos	1,494	1,609	1,524	1,531	1,467	1,471	1,273	1,259	-15.7	-1.1
Bulldogs (Canterbury)	400	415	494	456	474	395	354	388	-3.0	9.6
Canberra Raiders	247	215	243	230	219	217	149	164	-33.6	10.1
Gold Coast Titans	-	-	-	-	-	-	207	274	na	32.4
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	279	241	226	249	322	310	339	346	24.0	2.1
Melbourne Storm	706	526	585	497	554	732	769	826	17.0	7.4
Newcastle Knights	506	530	593	519	462	486	338	332	-34.4	-1.8
New Zealand Warriors*	117	193	287	240	206	201	157	193	65.0	22.9
North Queensland Cowboys	120	113	178	290	503	539	474	366	205.0	-22.8
Parramatta Eels	666	574	581	511	515	495	450	429	-35.6	-4.7
Penrith Panthers	175	171	305	355	227	201	167	170	-2.9	1.8
Sharks (Cronulla Sutherland)	302	282	272	234	208	193	176	184	-39.1	4.5
St George Dragons	500	497	523	488	520	531	470	462	-7.6	-1.7
South Sydney Rabbitohs	333	299	270	216	250	247	321	293	-12.0	-8.7
Sydney Roosters	260	258	406	417	412	306	276	254	-2.3	-8.0
Wests Tigers	336	334	296	343	511	513	489	387	15.2	-20.9

* This figure represents the number of Warriors’ supporters in Australia.  According to Roy Morgan Research Single Source, the Warriors have a total of 1,294,000 supporters in New Zealand.

 

For comments or further detail, please contact:

Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director

Email: Norman.Morris@RoyMorgan.com

Telephone: +61 (3) 9224 5172; Mobile: +61 402 014 474

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