Barassi Line

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The Barassi Line is an imaginary line in Australia which approximately divides areas where Australian rules football is the most popular football code from those where rugby football is more widely followed, particularly rugby league but also rugby union. On either side of the line, crowd figures, media coverage, and participation rates tend to favour the locally dominant code. While the term was coined by historian Ian Turner in his 1978 Ron Barassi Memorial Lecture, the divide emerged much earlier, in the 1880s, and became firmly established by the early 20th century. Roughly speaking, the line follows Queensland's western border, drops southeast through western New South Wales (NSW), and ends at Cape Howe on the New South Wales–Victoria border. As a result, Queensland and NSW's eastern population centres fall on the rugby side, while Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and New South Wales' Riverina, Murray, and Far West regions fall on the...

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