Our survey also revealed just how much fans are spending to follow the sport in Australia.

More than two-thirds of all the fans who responded will splash out between $50 and $200 a month on match tickets, season tickets, parking, public transport and pay TV to watch football.

Most are spending up to $100 every month (27.28 percent) but another quarter are spending up to double that or more, with 1 in 10 spending more than $200 a month.

Most of those who responded had put their playing days behind them. Almost half (46.41 percent) said they no longer played the game, but another 26.6 percent still play every week or more. Just 8 percent said they had never played, while 11.70 percent play occasionally and 7.18 percent play frequently.

Just more than half (52.93 percent) were a member of a club however, and of those who paid fees, most paid between $300 and $500 a year (21.97 percent), with around 15 percent playing less than that.

Worryingly though, more than 10 percent who took part in the survey said they were paying more than $1000 a year, while 2 percent claimed to be paying more than $3000 a year.

And do they get value for their money with that? Yes and no - literally! Half of those surveyed said they did get value for money (49.63 percent)...and half said they didn't (50.37 percent).

Less than 10 percent said the cost of football encouraged them to play versus 35.87 percent who said they were discouraged by the cost, with a healthy 54.38 percent saying the cost had no impact on them playing.

Most fans said they spent up to 10 hours a week on football (31.06 percent), whether it was playing or watching, but almost a quarter spent up to 20 hours on the sport.

Another quarter spent between one and five hours - but a surprising one in nine devoted more than 30 hours, a full working week, to the game.

NEXT: What are fans favourite leagues around the world?