Link to Article

Very interesting. In one sense it shows that we are doing extremely well membership wise and with bums on seats at games. On the other hand, it is very disturbing. How can we compete long term with that sort of disparity?

Lok forward to what others make of it.

Interesting, but I wouldn't worry too much about a 'random sampling' survey such as this one. Could easily be laden with errors. Nonetheless, very surprised about Sydney having so many supporters.

It's a credit to our club's marketing that we can attract about 2/3 the number of members as the Swans with only 1/10th the supporter base.

Or, the poll is a crock.

Link to Roy Morgan Article

Not sure if I would dismiss these results so quickly.

52,574 seems to be an adaquate sample size to draw conclusions from.

I can't help but think the AFL will notice and the MFC will be concerned.

This has been the case for a long time, and luckily we have the number 1 conversion rate for supporter to member.

But seriously... MFC has been the least successful club over the last 44 years. Not one premiership and for about 20 years we hardly made the finals. Only a couple of grandfinals since 1964 and both of them we were thrashed...

So it's hardly surprising that we have the least number of members. Young kidz growing up want to support the best club.

I saw a guy with his 2 kidz after the StKilda match and they were in MFC gear from top to bottom- I was chatting to the father for a bit and his sons were speaking about how much Melbourne sucked... I mean honestly what kind of a young kid wants to support a team that has no success.

Remedy- win premierships.

If melbourne had been as successful as Essendon or Carlton over the past 20 yrs we'd have a lot more supporters

if Melbourne don't win a premiership in the next 15 years i honestly don't think it will survive. purely based on support.

I'm 21 and my parents generation were demon supporters bc they were such a successful club. for that reason i was indoctrinated into becoming a demons supporter.

In AusKick there are very few melbourne supporters because people with young kidz grew up in an era where MFC was very unsuccessful.

If MFC continues to be horribly unsuccessful, then their will be no new generation of supporters to bring up their kidz loving MFC

Link to Roy Morgan Article

Not sure if I would dismiss these results so quickly.

52,574 seems to be an adaquate sample size to draw conclusions from.

I can't help but think the AFL will notice and the MFC will be concerned.

It might be an adequate sample size - but what about the sampling methodology? If based on population then naturally Sydney would come out ahead. Before you could draw any conclusions you would need all those variables.

Meaningless.

Consider that Sydney has a lot of Melbourne support because of South Melbourne, more then Brisbane has for Fitzroy.

Going by the Herald Sun SuperCoach rankings (which are obviously focused on Victorians with computers.)

There are 8,400 users who support Melbourne, 10,277 who support North Melbourne, and 7,958 who support the Bulldogs.

I'm not surprised about the Swans. I live in sydney (moved from melb 3 years ago) and a lot of people follow the swans (as in at least watch their games when on tv, know players etc). It has really caught on up here and I think even though the swans play ugly football at times, they are the perfect team to have up here because they are successful and so dependable (ie. consistent). They don't disillusion their supporters with pathetic performances, like some other teams (!!!!). AFL also gets more free to air coverage (sat arvo, sun arvo, and fri/sat night if swans play then) here than NRL (fri night, sun arvo) and super 14s (fox). Its probably pretty similar to the way soccer has gone off since the a league and the world cup. Unless you are so die-hard AFL that you feel you are betraying it by supporting the other code, most people have an interest in the a league and socceroos.

But then again, no one really cares that much about sport in sydney.

It might be an adequate sample size - but what about the sampling methodology? If based on population then naturally Sydney would come out ahead. Before you could draw any conclusions you would need all those variables.

Indeed. If you lived in NSW and someone asked you which AFL team you supported, it's a fair bet you'd say Sydney. It doesn't mean you're a huge footy fan, and will contribute to the Club in a meaningful way (by attending games, buying merchandise, memberships, etc).

PS. I seem to remember hearing reports of a similar study in a previous year, with some similar 'trivia' - something about Dees fans not using shopping docket coupons or something.

Imagine a similar poll done in Melb about NRL.

Most people (when pushed) would say that their preferred team is the Storm, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll buy a membership, go to games or even watch on TV.

if Melbourne don't win a premiership in the next 15 years i honestly don't think it will survive. purely based on support.

I'm 21 and my parents generation were demon supporters bc they were such a successful club. for that reason i was indoctrinated into becoming a demons supporter.

In AusKick there are very few melbourne supporters because people with young kidz grew up in an era where MFC was very unsuccessful.

If MFC continues to be horribly unsuccessful, then their will be no new generation of supporters to bring up their kidz loving MFC

Exactly my thoughts, children are extremely fickle supporters and go purely for the teams that allow them to say, "well my teams better than your team". There aren't many young Dees fans that'd have the balls to say that. When i started really following Melbourne it was late 1997-early 1998, i was able to say my team was winning. I got sucked in early!

Bottom line is we need ultimate success to get the young buggers on board!

I am surprised so many people are so un-concerned by the results in this survey.

Ignoring them because we don't know exactly what methods the survey used, or becuase some of the people in Sydney might no really follow Sydney that strongly is just putting your heads in the sand.

Our competitors are in THIS state and the team that we are closest too has more than 10% more supporters than us. Norh Melbourne has more than 10% ore people from whch to draw mmberships and to encourage sponsorship $$$'s. To hear some poeple on this forum mock North Melbourne as a basket case is laughable.

The big boys in THIS state have over 3.5 times more poeple from which to create $$$.

Go to a Auskick centre and see how few Melbourne jumpers are worn.

If you have a close look at the Roy Morgan release, then you will also know that premierships don't count for much either. There is some short term gains but nothing really sustainable. The people influenced by premierships probably aren't the kind to invest in the club financially or are to young to contribute for 10+ years. IF we win a premiership??? A very big IF, and one that won't count for much in the long run.

Demetriou has given us an ultimatim for this Monday. I think we will have the 65k+ numbers covered, but it is a worrisome trend that he is saying publically that things important to our financial stability can and will be withdrawn if we don't get enough people to games etc.

I am kinda worried now that the AFL has said it is expanding 18 teams and the new teams will be started from scratch. If we go belly up financially, then what happens to us?

If you have a close look at the Roy Morgan release, then you will also know that premierships don't count for much either. There is some short term gains but nothing really sustainable. The people influenced by premierships probably aren't the kind to invest in the club financially or are to young to contribute for 10+ years. IF we win a premiership??? A very big IF, and one that won't count for much in the long run.

On one hand you say that those who are influenced by premierships will be too young to contribute for 10+ years, but you then go on to say that if we win a premiership it won't count for much in the long run.

I'd suggest that success/winning a flag will count for something, and will be one of the few ways we can grow our supporter base. However, I do agree that it's probably going to have the biggest influence on kids, who won't have a disposable income for ~10+ years.

CarnTheDees is also right in that 'supporters' as defined by this poll aren't necessarily those who will actively contribute to the Club. I imagine that teams in one and two-Club towns will have more people that say they barrack for x team without contributing than those Clubs in Melbourne, though.