The AFL have claimed a big win over the NRL after Friday night’s adjacent finals in Sydney’s Moore Park precinct.
A huge crowd of 44,053 fans packed in the SCG to watch the Swans book their spot in the grand final with a big win over Port Adelaide.
Next door at Allianz Stadium, a crowd of just 19,124 turned up to see the Sharks end their finals drought with victory over the Cowboys.
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The SCG holds slightly more people with a capacity of 48,000 to the 45,500 at Allianz.
The Sharks had previously flagged the potential issue of playing at the same time as the Swans, and had pleaded with the NRL to host the match at their home ground, PointsBet Stadium, which has a capacity of 13,500.
But their calls fell on deaf ears as the NRL persisted with the fixture and were dealt a body blow in their ongoing code war.
The stark disparity in crowds wasn’t lost on the footy world.
During the AFL broadcast, Channel 7 commentator Brian Taylor noted the difference.
“Lovely scenes here at the SCG, prelim finals of course,” Taylor said as cameras showed a bird’s-eye view of the precinct.
“Next door, an NRL game looks half empty there about 10,000 people.
“The SCG absolutely packed out. Amazing. Give some attention to Aussie rules up here, it’s going pretty well I reckon.”
NRL fans were quick to point out the stadium choice and the two clubs playing as a reason for the low crowd, but others were not as forgiving.
“PACKED HOUSE: Not. This game should have been at PointsBet,” Sydney Morning Herald sports reporter Christian Nicolussi said.
“Literally the smallest club in the NRL playing NQ at a neutral ground. This has happened before and had the exact same result,” one fan added.
“Sharks CEO wanted to lock out more than 7000 fans if this game was at Shark Park. Crowd still not great but 19k is better than 12k,” one said.
“Good crowd Swans. Now….Cronulla is one of nine Sydney basin teams. The Swans are one of two (one really because GWS don’t have fans). If Sydney only had two NRL teams, there would be 80,000 at the game,” one fan claimed.
“The commentary on the Swans game gloating about the crowd being bigger than the NRL game next door, between a Queensland team and one of Sydney’s smaller fanbases, is incredibly sad,” another said.
“That was really embarrassing for all of rugby league that ‘crowd’,” another added.
“Sharks should be relocated. Diabolically embarrassing crowd,” another said.
