The Australian Football League’s "most evenly contested and competitive season on record is also drawing the fans in droves," with the league set to create a new home-and-away attendance record, according to Greg Denham of THE AUSTRALIAN. The league confirmed on Monday that it is "heading for a combined home-and-away attendance figure of more than 6,525,071," the current record which was achieved in '11. An AFL spokesperson said that based on current trends, the league is "confident a total attendance in excess of 200,000 more than last year would be set by the end of the month." This "stands in contrast" to the National Rugby League, which has seen attendances fall by 2.5% from last season with an average crowd of 15,117 for the season. The Etihad Stadium-based Essendon Bombers are the "new AFL club leader in the popularity stakes." Essendon has "surged in rank-and-file support" over the past month to attract more fans to its games this year than Collingwood and Richmond, the two clubs that "dominated attendances over the past two years." Essendon's average crowd of almost 48,000 this year is "well up" on last year's comparison of 36,457 (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/2).
