That formating .... oooofff lol.
My 2 cents on the correlation between participation and attendance is purely an observation from the sidelines.
I have yet to meet and AFL fan or a fan of football from anywhere in the world apart from Australia that identifies as a fan of "the AFL" or the "EPL" or "Serie A".
Some may have a EPL club and a local club they support, or even have multiple clubs in different leagues they support but it is ALWAYS support fopr the sport THROUGH the club ...
Every single person in Melbourne ( a huge portion of them because of cultural conditioning I guess) will tell you they are a Collingwood fan or a Tigers fan or a Hawks member or whatever... nobody syas "I just like AFL in general but dont follow a team" I dont know much about NRL but I would assume this is similar in the two states that care about it?
Its NOT just an Australia sports fan thing, it seems to just be an Australian Aleague thing....
The only time it has ever come up in conversation where a "fan" is just happy to watch any team is with the US sports lovers in overseas markets.... People I know watch NFL and are not tied to one particular franchsie or NBA where they may want Golden State, Celtic and Lakers to all do well for example....