Barassi Line

The Barassi Line is an imaginary line in Australia which approximately divides areas where Australian rules football or rugby league is the most popular football code. The term was first used by historian Ian Turner in his 1978 Ron Barassi Memorial Lecture.^[1] Crowd figures, media coverage, and participation rates are heavily skewed in favour of the dominant code on either side.^[2][3][4] Most other sports are unaffected by the dichotomy; Australian cricket, for example, has maintained consistent national interest throughout its history, though soccer faces more competition for participation in areas where Australian rules is more popular.

Roughly speaking, the line follows Queensland's western border, drops southeast through western New South Wales, and ends at the Pacific Ocean at Cape Howe on the border of New South Wales and Victoria.^[5] It divides New South Wales, with rugby dominating in the state's eastern population centres but enjoying less popularity in the southwest and west; the Riverina region and western mining city of Broken Hill both fall on the Australian rules football side. The line also runs through the Australian Capital Territory, where each sport has had similar prominence at different times throughout history – although the rugby codes have established greater prominence there in the decades since it was first proposed.

A 2022 study of grassroots support found that just 15% of Australian rules football clubs (243 of 1616) and 13% of rugby league clubs (109 of 863) are located across the line.^[6] Professional teams that compete across the line in national competitions include: Sydney Swans (1982), Brisbane Lions (1996), Melbourne Storm (1997), Western Force (2005), Gold Coast Suns (2009) and Greater Western Sydney Giants (2010). That is, four Australian rules football clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL), and two rugby football clubs across the National Rugby League (NRL) and Super Rugby Pacific competitions. However the majority of these clubs would not be viable without ongoing financial support from their parent competitions,^[7][8][9] with the AFL alone providing over AUD$70 million a year in total financial assistance in 2023 to its four northern clubs.^[10] Teams that no longer compete include the Brisbane Bears (1987–1995),^[11] Western/Perth Reds (1992–1997),^[12] Adelaide Rams (1995–1997)^[13] and Melbourne Rebels (2009–2024).^[14][15] Active expansion bids include the Western Bears (NRL) and Cairns (AFL).