Australian rules football attendance records

Australian rules football attendance records

Regional[]

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Australia[]

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

Single matches[]

• Largest home and away crowd involving at least 1 non-Victorian team – 76,995^[1] (2019). AFL 2019 - Round 23 Richmond v Brisbane Lions (MCG, Melbourne, Victoria)
• Largest home and away crowd involving 2 non-Victorian teams – 62,586^[2] (2007). AFL 2007 - Round 1 Sydney v West Coast (Stadium Australia, Sydney)

By Australian State and Territory[]

State	Attendance	Year	League	Event	Venue	Sold out ?
Victoria	121,686	1970	VFL	Grand Final – Carlton v Collingwood	MCG, Melbourne	Yes
New South Wales	72,393	2003	AFL	Round 21 – Sydney Swans v. Collingwood	Stadium Australia, Sydney	No
South Australia	66,987	1976	SANFL	Grand Final – Sturt vs Port Adelaide	Football Park, Adelaide	Yes
Western Australia	59,585	2018	AFL	Qualifying Final – West Coast v Collingwood	Perth Stadium, Perth	Yes
Queensland	37,478	2019	AFL	Qualifying Final – Brisbane Lions vs Richmond	Gabba, Brisbane	Yes
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	14,974	2016	AFL	Round 19 – Greater Western Sydney Giants vs Richmond	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.^[3]

• 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 – 3,830,231. (1981). Number of Games – 138. Average attendance – 27,755.

Although, the highest average attendance was in 1962 at 28,175 per game.^[4]

• SANFL – 1,090,164. (1967). Number of Games – 104. Average attendance – 10,482^[5]
• WAFL – 960,169. (1967). Number of Games – 88. Average attendance – 10,911^[5]
• VFA – 937,291. (1976). Number of Games – 94. Average Attendance – 9,971^[6]
• TFL – 318,496. (1967). Number of Games – 58 Average attendance – 5,491^[5]

League Single Round[]

• AFL – 400,401. Round 1, 2017.

International[]

AFL Premiership matches[]

• New Zealand - 22,546 (|2013). St Kilda v. Sydney (Westpac Stadium, Wellington)
• China - 10,689 (2018) Gold Coast v. Port Adelaide (Jiangwan Stadium, Shanghai)^[7][8][9]

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)^[10]

International Tests[]

Country	Attendance	Date	Tournament	Teams	Venue	City	Notes
Papua New Guinea	10,000	1976	International Test	PNG vs Nauru	Sir Hubert Murray Stadium	Port Moresby	[11]
Papua New Guinea	7,500	2009	Indigenous tour of PNG	Central Highlands vs Flying Boomerangs		Lae, Papua New Guinea	[12]
Australia	5,000	2005	2005 Australian Football International Cup	Japan vs South Africa	City Oval	Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia	[13]
Australia	3,500	2008	2008 Australian Football International Cup	Papua New Guinea vs South Africa	Reid Oval	Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia	[14]
Canada	2,500	2007	49th Parallel Cup	Canada vs United States	Thunderbird Stadium	Vancouver, British Columbia	[13]
Papua New Guinea	2,500	2009	Indigenous tour of PNG	PNG (U18) Kupundas vs Flying Boomerangs	University of PNG	Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea	[12]
Czech Republic	500	2008	2008 EU Cup Australian rules football	England vs Croatia	Slavia Sports Centre	Prague	[15]
Finland	150	2007	2007 European Australian Football Tri-nations Tournament	Finland vs Sweden	Halikko Stadium	Halikko	[16]

10,000 (1976) PNG vs Nauru Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, Port Moresby^[17]

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^[18]

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	[13]
Nauru	3,000	1999	NAFA championship finale	Menaida vs Panzer (Meneng)	Linkbelt Oval	Aiwo	[13]
United Kingdom	1,500	1999	BARFL Grand Final	West London Wildcats vs Wandsworth Demons	Clapham Common	London	[13]
United States of America	1,000	2004	MAAFL	Nashville Kangaroos vs Chicago Swans		Nashville, Tennessee	[19]
Canada	600	October 2008	OAFL Grand Final	Toronto Eagles vs Etobicoke Kangaroos	Humber Park	Toronto	[20]
Indonesia	500	12 July 2005	West Java AFL (Pancawati Cup) Grand Final	Pancawati Eages vs Pancawatti Scorpions		Pancawati (Bogor)	[21]

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[]