- Peter V’Landys often spruiks NRL as a vastly superior footy code
Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys has no doubt the NRL is the nation’s leading footy code – but crowd numbers tell a very different story.
While rugby league can argue it has gone global following season-opening double headers in Las Vegas the past couple of years, AFL figures at venues such as the MCG and the Gabba in Brisbane are vastly superior.
According to Austadiums, AFL numbers have broken through the seven million mark in 2025 with an average of 37,000 spectators per game, compared to the NRL’s 20,000.
Rusted-on NRL fans will point to grounds such as Brookvale Oval on Sydney’s northern beaches and WIN Stadium on the NSW south coast having much smaller capacity crowds than Marvel Stadium in Melbourne – but when you directly compare numbers each week between the two codes at fixtures since February, the AFL is well in front.
Statistics from Austadiums reveal Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane has hosted 21 events this year, with average crowds of 36,522.
Given the Broncos have long been the leading NRL club in Brisbane and arguably the biggest club in the game, the figures aren’t great.
Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys has no doubt the NRL is the nation’s leading footy code – but crowd numbers tell a very different story
According to Austadiums, AFL crowds have broken through the seven million mark in 2025 at an average of 37,000 spectators per game, compared to NRL’s 20,000 (pictured, Western Bulldogs star Aaron Naughton)
The State of Origin series is rugby league’s jewel in the crown, with massive TV ratings and capacity crowds (pictured, Queensland star Hamiso Tabuai–Fidow)
Further down the list is GIO Stadium in Canberra, with an average crowd of just over 16,000 per game.
It comes despite the fact Ricky Stuart’s men are the current NRL ladder leaders with the finals looming.
In comparison, the Adelaide Crows – the current yardstick in the AFL – attract an average of 40,990 fans each home game.
The AFL’s highest crowd figure in 2025 was on Anzac Day, when 92,004 fans made their way through the MCG gates to watch Collingwood tackle Essendon.
It was significantly more than the NRL’s largest crowd number – 65,305 – when the resurgent Bulldogs took on the Rabbitohs at Accor Stadium on April 18 in their traditional Good Friday match.
But ask V’landys which footy code reigns supreme, and his answer will never change.
Steve Allen, the director of strategy and research at Pearman Media, is bemused by the constant chest-beating from V’landys.
Speaking after more than four million viewers tuned in to watch the Brisbane Lions hammer the Sydney Swans in last year’s AFL grand final, Allen said V’landys was ‘all bluster’.
‘He is reported to have said NRL is number one (in the country), yet on any statistic I can find… it isn’t so. I think the NRL’s position is all bluster,’ he told Yahoo Sport.
‘AFL outrates them, especially in finals series, completely dominates in attendances, annihilates them in supporter numbers and in revenue.
‘So what more is there to be said?’
