National Rugby League player Luke Lewis believes that "his code is so perfect for television consumption it may be contributing to its downfall in the escalating battle for live crowd support from Sydney's spoilt sport fans," according to Adrian Warren of the AAP. A "massive crowd of 83,598 packed into Sydney's ANZ Stadium on Tuesday night" to watch EPL champions Chelsea beat A-League side Sydney FC 1-0. That "was just three days after more than 71,500 attended the same venue to watch Sydney lose by the same scoreline" to Tottenham. Although rugby league's first State of Origin drew 80,122 punters to ANZ Stadium last Wednesday, "club games are struggling to pull big crowds." Lewis acknowledged the NRL "had a fight" on its hands from both football and the Australian Football League. Lewis said, "The worst thing for us I think is that our game is such a good game to watch on TV, you can see everything twice, you don't miss too much. ... I think that's probably our biggest downfall is that our game is such a good game to watch on TV" (AAP, 6/4).
