Clubs break membership record

Here are the final 2009 Club Membership figures for all teams....

Clubs break membership record
The Herald Sun | July 21, 2009

THE AFL's club have set a new membership record, with nearly 600,000 fans signing up for the 2009 season. As of June 30, the 16 AFL clubs had signed a new record tally of 586,748 members, a rise of 2.2 per cent on last year’s total of 574,091 members.

Eight clubs had recorded increases on their 2008 membership tally – Brisbane, Carlton, Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Richmond and St Kilda.

Hawthorn recorded a massive increase of nearly 27 per cent, taking its total membership to 52,496 – a record for any club in the game’s history and making the Hawks only the second team behind the Adelaide Crows (2006 and 2007) to top 50,000 members in a season.

MEMBERSHIP FIGURES

ADELAIDE 46,472
BRISBANE 24,873
CARLTON 42,408
COLLINGWOOD 45,972
ESSENDON 40,412
FREMANTLE 39,206
GEELONG 37,160
HAWTHORN 52,496
NORTH MELBOURNE 28,340
MELBOURNE 31,506
PORT ADELAIDE 30,605
RICHMOND 36,981
ST KILDA 31,906
SYDNEY 26,269
WEST COAST 43,927
WESTERN BULLDOGS 28,215

TOTAL: 586,748

Beaten by both North Melbourne and Melbourne, an absolute disgrace.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mitcha

Beaten by both North Melbourne and Melbourne, an absolute disgrace.

---

It's more of a shame than a disgrace and the result is not through a lack of trying.
There is a great core of supporters but about 8,000 that don't commit every year.

From where we were it's been an excellent effort to get us around the 28K mark over the past 3 years, so job well done.

In saying that the club must be at wits end in how to attract the extra 4K they are after to make our financial position a little stronger and our position in the competition a little safer (I think we are safe, but there will always be speculation to suggest otherwise)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GVGjr

It's more of a shame than a disgrace and the result is not through a lack of trying.

---

Yes, the club is always trying to continually come up with different marketing strategies each year. A few more different initiatives are planned for 2010, hopefully some of them will boost those figures.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BulldogBelle

Yes, the club is always trying to continually come up with different marketing strategies each year. A few more different initiatives are planned for 2010, hopefully some of them will boost those figures.

---

Care to share this information with us?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mantis

From where we were it's been an excellent effort to get us around the 28K mark over the past 3 years, so job well done.

In saying that the club must be at wits end in how to attract the extra 4K they are after to make our financial position a little stronger and our position in the competition a little safer (I think we are safe, but there will always be speculation to suggest otherwise)

---

24 / 7 Online payment option
You can join up at the club during the week and at things like the family day and the East meets West day etc
I think you can join up at Australia Post from next year as well
Payments can be spread out over a period of time to lessen the burden
They have educated people over a number of years as to the importance of memberships to the club
Mail outs to errant supporters
Membership tents at the games

And the club is very competitive on the field

So yes, there doesn't appear to be a lot more they can do to get that 32,000 mark.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BulldogBelle

Here are the final 2009 Club Membership figures for all teams....


MEMBERSHIP FIGURES

ADELAIDE 46,472
BRISBANE 24,873
CARLTON 42,408
COLLINGWOOD 45,972
ESSENDON 40,412
FREMANTLE 39,206
GEELONG 37,160
HAWTHORN 52,496
NORTH MELBOURNE 28,340
MELBOURNE 31,506
PORT ADELAIDE 30,605
RICHMOND 36,981
ST KILDA 31,906
SYDNEY 26,269
WEST COAST 43,927
WESTERN BULLDOGS 28,215

TOTAL: 586,748

---

Are all these figures, full home game memberships, ie 11 games or more? I believe clubs like Hawthorn/Collingwood have two game memberships, and three game packages etc and they count those. We only count the full members in our figures.

Still, very disappointing we aren't up around 35,000, where we should be.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bornadog

Are all these figures, full home game memberships, ie 11 games or more? I believe clubs like Hawthorn/Collingwood have two game memberships, and three game packages etc and they count those. We only count the full members in our figures.

Still, very disappointing we aren't up around 35,000, where we should be.

---

I'm not 100% sure but i suspect that the figures aren't reflective of full season memberships.

Our figure is our match day membership, whereas i think Hawthorn include their Tasmanian memberships. These can include 3 game and i think even 1 game memberships!

Melbourne's figures have increased as they have a new deal with the MCC members, i believe previously they may not of been counted as Melbourne members.

North's figures are high because of the "keep North in Melbourne" campaign last year along with new administration. If they don't sign a big name coach like Buckley i would assume they will have a big fall next year.

I may be wrong but that is what i heard.

Along side of each team's membership totals I would like to see the income that each team derived from their memberships too.

That would be a fairer way of comparing how Clubs have performed with their membership rather than just membership numbers; which a number of Clubs use various different methods to make numbers look better.