It is a multibillion-dollar business that evokes fierce, lifelong loyalty amongst followers and creates family names and superstars.
On Saturday, 90,612 followers attended the Melbourne Cricket Floor to see Collingwood defeat Fremantle within the AFL’s first semifinal. It was simply the second match this 12 months with a crowd exceeding 90,000, after the primary qualifying ultimate between Geelong and Collingwood the week earlier than. Each had been blockbusters by Australian requirements.
In 126 years of VFL/AFL soccer, solely 13 home-and-away matches have attracted an viewers of greater than 90,000. Ten of them featured Collingwood.
Midway around the world, additionally on Saturday, the College of Texas Longhorns hosted the Alabama Crimson Tide. Greater than 105,000 followers packed Darrell Ok Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. This was for a university soccer sport. All of the gamers had been college students.
