By ALEX GLUYAS

Football  has captured the imagination of Victoria’s youth with recent government data revealing its dominance over Australian Rules football in both Victoria and Australia.

While more than 650,000 people played football in 2013-2014 in Australia, AFL only attracted 224,000 participants, the Participation in Sport and Physical Recreation Australia report revealed.

Football Federation Victoria chief executive Peter Gome said football attracted greater numbers because it was an international sport.

“It is the world game and can be played by everyone, including immigrants newly arriving in Australia," Gome said.

Gome also attributed the popularity of football to the triumph of the Socceroos, whose 2006 World Cup success “put Australia on the map”.

“Australians get excited when the Socceroos perform well. Young kids go into their backyard and try to emulate stars such as Tim Cahill and his bicycle kick in the Asian Cup,” Gome said.

Such inspiration is evident among young Victorians as 39.6 per cent of football participants are aged between 12 and 18 years old while 34.9 per cent are in the age group of 4 and 11 years.

These statistics indicate a significant change, says Gome.

“Previously, soccer was always popular in primary schools but then was dropped, however, now, a number of 12-18 year olds are continuing to play instead of dropping it,” Gome said.

In Victoria, the growing disparity between football and AFL participants is most noticeable at the adolescent level, and 19-year-old football enthusiast Etienne Harburn said he had noticed this among his peers.

“Football is becoming more popular among my friends because of the culture; it’s the world game and it’s a basic and easy to understand sport,” Harburn said.

Harburn also noted the shift in popularity between football and AFL in its home state of Victoria, which saw 123,100 football participants compared to 121,000 playing AFL.

“It’s a cultural change I think, soccer appeals to parents as a more mature sport, it’s not as violent as footy," he said.

"The culture surrounding footy is becoming outdated.”

However, AFL still boasts better attendance rates than soccer, averaging 32,327 spectators per game compared to football’s average of just 14,759.

This could be attributed to the larger venues the AFL has at its disposal.

Interest in football nationally continues to increase and has been assisted through the Socceroos' recent victory in the 2015 Asian Cup which attracted more than half a million fans.