Shannon Meyer researched recently which National Rugby League club was best supported.
DETERMINING THE NRL INDEX (NRLI)
Shannon decided on a range of aspects including social media, Membership and crowd numbers. All teams were ranked top to bottom in each category, with 16 was assigned to the top performed in each category and 1 to the lowest ranked club. To determine the overall winner, the scores from all the categories were tallied and the highest scorer judged to be the best supported club.
It’s worth noting whilst some aspects may heavily favour teams like the Broncos, Shannon has also used a cross reference back to the size of the city which we call the City Corrected figure. For Sydney we used the total for the Sydney metro area and divided by the nine teams. For North Queensland we used the populations of the major cities in the catchment area.
He also considered TV viewing figures, but that would include too many neutrals.
0.5 points are due to teams that are equal in a category and the ranks scores are added and divided equally amongst the relevant teams.
Social Media figures are as of the official account on December 31, 2015.
CATEGORY 1 – SOCIAL MEDIA – TWITTER
| TEAM | TWITTER FOLLOWERS | TWEETS | TWEET LIKES | TWITTER SUB TOTAL |
| NEW ZEALAND | 15.5 | 12 | 16 | 43.5 |
| SOUTHS | 15.5 | 13 | 14 | 42.5 |
| MELBOURNE | 13 | 15 | 12 | 40 |
| BRISBANE | 14 | 8 | 15 | 37 |
| BULLDOGS | 12 | 14 | 10 | 36 |
| WESTS TIGERS | 10 | 16 | 9 | 35 |
| ROOSTERS | 11 | 10 | 13 | 34 |
| PARRAMATTA | 9 | 7 | 8 | 24 |
| NEWCASTLE | 4 | 6 | 11 | 21 |
| NORTH QLD | 8 | 9 | 3 | 20 |
| ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA | 5 | 11 | 4 | 20 |
| MANLY | 7 | 5 | 5 | 17 |
| PENRITH | 2 | 4 | 7 | 13 |
| CRONULLA | 3 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| GOLD COAST | 6 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| CANBERRA | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
CATEGORY 2 – SOCIAL MEDIA – FACEBOOK LIKES
| TEAM | FACEBOOK LIKES |
| BRISBANE | 16 |
| MELBOURNE | 15 |
| SOUTHS | 14 |
| PARRAMATTA | 13 |
| BULLDOGS | 12 |
| WESTS TIGERS | 11 |
| NORTH QLD | 10 |
| ROOSTERS | 9 |
| MANLY | 8 |
| GOLD COAST | 7 |
| ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA | 6 |
| NEWCASTLE | 5 |
| CRONULLA | 4 |
| PENRITH | 3 |
| CANBERRA | 2 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 1 |
CATEGORY 3 – ATTENDANCES – HIGHEST AND LOWEST CROWDS IN 2015
| TEAM | HIGHEST CROWD 2015 | HIGH CROWD CITY CORRECTED | LOWEST CROWD | LOWEST CROWD CITY CORRECTED | DIFF HIGH TO LOW | HIGH LOW SUB TOTAL |
| NORTH QLD | 11 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 65 |
| NEWCASTLE | 10 | 16 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 64 |
| BULLDOGS | 15 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 3 | 60 |
| ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA | 9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 54 |
| BRISBANE | 16 | 3 | 16 | 3 | 15 | 53 |
| SOUTHS | 12 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 48 |
| PARRAMATTA | 14 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 45 |
| ROOSTERS | 13 | 13 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 42 |
| CRONULLA | 7 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 41 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 5 | 2 | 15 | 2 | 16 | 40 |
| WESTS TIGERS | 8 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 34 |
| CANBERRA | 1 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 31 |
| MELBOURNE | 4 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 14 | 30 |
| GOLD COAST | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 25 |
| MANLY | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 24 |
| PENRITH | 6 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 24 |
CATEGORY 4 – ATTENDANCES – AVERAGE CROWDS
| TEAM | AVERAGE CROWD | AVERAGE CROWD CITY CORRECTED | AVERAGE MONDAY NIGHT CROWD | AVERAGE SUB TOTAL |
| BULLDOGS | 15 | 15 | 16 | 46 |
| NEWCASTLE | 14 | 16 | 12 | 42 |
| SOUTHS | 13 | 13 | 15 | 41 |
| NORTH QLD | 12 | 14 | 13 | 39 |
| ROOSTERS | 11 | 12 | 8 | 31 |
| PARRAMATTA | 9 | 11 | 9 | 29 |
| ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA | 8 | 10 | 10 | 28 |
| WESTS TIGERS | 5 | 7 | 14 | 26 |
| CRONULLA | 6 | 8 | 11 | 25 |
| BRISBANE | 16 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
| MELBOURNE | 7 | 1 | 7 | 15 |
| PENRITH | 4 | 6 | 5 | 15 |
| GOLD COAST | 3 | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| CANBERRA | 1 | 9 | 3 | 13 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 10 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| MANLY | 2 | 5 | 4 | 11 |
CATEGORY 5 – TICKETED MEMBERSHIPS
| TEAM | MEMBERS | MEMBERS CITY CORRECTED | NEW MEMBERS | M’SHIP SUB TOTAL |
| SOUTHS | 16 | 16 | 10 | 42 |
| ROOSTERS | 11 | 12 | 14 | 37 |
| ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA | 14 | 14 | 8 | 36 |
| BRISBANE | 15 | 3 | 16 | 34 |
| NEWCASTLE | 13 | 15 | 1 | 29 |
| PARRAMATTA | 12 | 13 | 4 | 29 |
| BULLDOGS | 10 | 11 | 7 | 28 |
| MANLY | 7 | 9 | 11 | 27 |
| CRONULLA | 4 | 6 | 12 | 22 |
| NORTH QLD | 8 | 10 | 2 | 20 |
| WESTS TIGERS | 1 | 4 | 15 | 20 |
| PENRITH | 6 | 7 | 6 | 19 |
| CANBERRA | 2 | 8 | 9 | 19 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 3 | 2 | 13 | 18 |
| MELBOURNE | 9 | 1 | 5 | 15 |
| GOLD COAST | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
CATEGORY 6 – HIGHEST PRICE FOR A JERSEY ON EBAY
| TEAM | EBAY HIGH |
| ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA | 16 |
| NORTH QLD | 15 |
| PARRAMATTA | 14 |
| BRISBANE | 13 |
| CRONULLA | 12 |
| SOUTHS | 11 |
| ROOSTERS | 10 |
| MELBOURNE | 9 |
| WESTS TIGERS | 8 |
| MANLY | 7 |
| NEWCASTLE | 6 |
| PENRITH | 5 |
| GOLD COAST | 4 |
| CANBERRA | 3 |
| BULLDOGS | 2 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 1 |
CATEGORY 7 – TAKING IT TO THE FANS – NUMBER OF HOME GROUNDS USED
| TEAM | NUMBER OF HOME GROUNDS USED IN 2015 |
| ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA | 16 |
| SOUTHS | 15 |
| BULLDOGS | 12.5 |
| PARRAMATTA | 12.5 |
| WESTS TIGERS | 12.5 |
| MANLY | 12.5 |
| ROOSTERS | 8.5 |
| MELBOURNE | 8.5 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 8.5 |
| PENRITH | 8.5 |
| BRISBANE | 3.5 |
| NORTH QLD | 3.5 |
| NEWCASTLE | 3.5 |
| CRONULLA | 3.5 |
| CANBERRA | 3.5 |
| GOLD COAST | 3.5 |
TOTAL OVERALL SCORE
| TEAM | TOTAL SCORE |
| SOUTHS | 213.5 |
| BULLDOGS | 196.5 |
| ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA | 176 |
| BRISBANE | 175.5 |
| NORTH QLD | 172.5 |
| ROOSTERS | 171.5 |
| NEWCASTLE | 170.5 |
| PARRAMATTA | 166.5 |
| WESTS TIGERS | 146.5 |
| MELBOURNE | 132.5 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 124 |
| CRONULLA | 119.5 |
| MANLY | 106.5 |
| PENRITH | 87.5 |
| CANBERRA | 76.5 |
| GOLD COAST | 73.5 |
So there you have it, given 100,000 marched to keep them in the competition it is not much of a surprise to see South Sydney at the top of the list. Although they’d be happy if a bigger percentage of that crowd showed up for more games. Bulldogs too are famed for their fans so second isn’t surprising either.
There wasn’t much in it between 3rd and 7th, a few extra through the gate may have just tipped it.
Gold Coast are also probably no surprise in last given they are the newest team in the comp and haven’t played finals football in a while.
