On the NRL Footy show they just applauded a total of 100,000 members for the league. What the!!

our 4 worst supported AFL clubs together would beat the 16 NRL memberships by more than 20%. So why do we need two more AFL club and especially one in NSW.!!!

On the NRL Footy show they just applauded a total of 100,000 members for the league. What the!!

our 4 worst supported AFL clubs together would beat the 16 NRL memberships by more than 20%. So why do we need two more AFL club and especially one in NSW.!!!

Membership to an NRL team is a very new concept.......

I think, but don't quote me, that it has only been in place for the last four to five years as an absolute option.

100 000 members is therefore pretty damn good, also factoring in that we up here don't really join stuff with the venom of you guys down there!!!

Membership to an NRL team is a very new concept.......

I think, but don't quote me, that it has only been in place for the last four to five years as an absolute option.

100 000 members is therefore pretty damn good, also factoring in that we up here don't really join stuff with the venom of you guys down there!!!

I uderstand this so why have a new AFL club. Afl clubs survive on memberships.

Membership to an NRL team is a very new concept.......

I think, but don't quote me, that it has only been in place for the last four to five years as an absolute option.

100 000 members is therefore pretty damn good, also factoring in that we up here don't really join stuff with the venom of you guys down there!!!

Heard your neighbour Russell Crowe up there say that the Bunnies have signed up quite a few financial members. Breaking all sorts of numbers. Seems they are heading in the right direction, probably saving him putting his hand in his pocket anyway.

Venom???? You would love it down here...

I uderstand this so why have a new AFL club. Afl clubs survive on memberships.

Oh and the Swans are well down on memberships as well......

There are not too many people (average folk type people, not those that you always hear from) that actually want a second team up here.

Heard your neighbour Russell Crowe up there say that the Bunnies have signed up quite a few financial members. Breaking all sorts of numbers. Seems they are heading in the right direction, probably saving him putting his hand in his pocket anyway.

Yeah the Bunnies have done really well both in sponsorships (which Russell helps with inordinately) and memberships. They have built a great community program up and it is now up and running, predominantly for Aboriginal and inner city kids (which are usually lower income) and this generates enormous good will, as it should, and therefore income.

Venom???? You would love it down here...

Oh you're right my friend, but I would miss the beach and the sun and that kind of stuff !!!

RUSSELL CROWE IS A TOOL!!!!

Sorry I had to say that...

On the NRL Footy show they just applauded a total of 100,000 members for the league. What the!!

our 4 worst supported AFL clubs together would beat the 16 NRL memberships by more than 20%.

When people claim MFC has 'no support' etc it puts it in perspective.

Our average crowd figures also smash most other sporting clubs.

Russell probably threatened to throw phones at people if the didn't sign up.

AFL venues have much larger seating capacity than NRL venues, therefore thery cannot get near the numbers AFL does. And much of the time venues are no far off being full.

Rubbish. When NRL matches are played at larger venues, save for Suncorp, the result is a joke.

They play in small grounds because they don't get large crowds, the small grounds do not stop them from pulling bigger numbers

Thats my point 45. They don't have the support to play at larger stadiums, where did you get the idea i was saying different?

Here is a nice comparision.

The AFL home & away attendance for 2008 - 6,511,189 , average per game 36,995

Beating last years' figure of 6,475,521 average36,792

Club Totals and average and change

Collingwood --- 1,247,297 --- 56,695 + 20,693

Carlton --- 1,070,500 --- 48,659 + 205,747

Essendon --- 1,043,763 --- 47,443 - 44,889

Richmond --- 934,972 --- 42,498 + 25,769

Hawthorn --- 910,679 --- 41,394 +141,140

Geelong --- 837,584 --- 38,072 + 75,534

Adelaide --- 803,035 --- 36,501 + 14,706

St Kilda --- 791,834 --- 35,992 - 71,014

West Coast --- 757,948 --- 34,452 - 76,959

Sydney --- 701,842 --- 31,901 - 70,863

Fremantle --- 700,016 --- 31,818 - 37,553

Western --- 697,926 --- 31,723 - 23,765

North Melbourne --- 680,095 --- 30,913 + 41,214

Melbourne --- 664,110 --- 30,186 - 43,292

Brisbane --- 624,232 --- 28,374 - 41,098

Port Adelaide --- 556,545 --- 25,297 - 43,314

NRL Attendance 2008 for the Home and Away season 2,993,518 , averaging 15,591

The figure is down from 2007 which was 3,024,040 averaging 15,750

NRL Clubs -Home Games Crowds/average/Away games Totals/Average

Brisbane401,108 33,426 181,245 15,104

Bulldogs 184,228 15,352 207,101 17,258

Canberra 142,952 11,913 158,744 13,229

Cronulla 155,581 12,965 168,641 14,053

Gold Coast Titans 259,421 21,618 181,635 15,136

Manly 164,324 13,694 200,426 16,702

Melbourne 149,686 12,474 171,564 14,297

New Zealand 137,274 11,440 164,046 13,671

Newcastle 224,996 18,750 174,126 14,511

North Queensland 217,228 18,102 170,658 14,222

Parramatta 162,335 13,528 228,860 19,072

Penrith 130,790 10,899 163,913 13,659

Souths 175,726 14,644 201,822 16,819

St George Illawarra 151,154 12,596 212,483 17,707

Sydney Roosters 167,642 13,970 217,026 18,086

Wests Tigers 196,637 16,386 218,792 18,233

From http://www.knowfirst.info/forums/showthread.php?t=25904

As of today 26, 492.

9 Teams will not Survive in this city unless some are on welfare & that will never bring a flag.

This gets bandied around a bit and I don't reckon it's true.

Firstly, I don't think the AFL wants to get rid of clubs in Melbourne. Ideally, they would want to keep as many teams as possible as more teams means more games which means more tv money as well as a host of other sources of income. For example, if North folded there would be one less game, which would take an eigth off the tv deal. There would be hundreds of thousands of north fans not buying merchandise, going to games etc.

Secondly, one less team in Melbourne doesn't make it easier for the other struggling Melbourne clubs. Say, there are 200,000 North supporters in Melbourne. If North folds, those 200,000 don't just divide themselves up into the other clubs. The vast majority will just stop going, or at least stop going as much. The market doesn't become easier, it just shrinks. Okay, so the sponsorship market is easier, but when (worldwide economic catastrophe aside) have clubs found it hard to get sponsorships. Also, the market for young kids choosing a team is easier. But, there will also be less kids interested in footy, because their parents aren't taking them to North games.

Finally, the single biggest obstacle in the way of struggling clubs (including ours) are stadium deals. You can talk about sponsorships, memberships and debt demolitions until the cows come home, but attendances are the biggest earner for all clubs and historically these have been adversely affected by the current agreement. It seems like this is finally being rectified and, if it does, it will go a long way to securing the future of 9 clubs in Melbourne.

Sorry for the long post. But I'm a bit of a romantic and would hate to see the roos die because people never challenged the attitude "9 clubs in Melbourne aren't sustainable".

Only around 3,500 to make the 30,000. at this rate we will reach this before the Collingwood game. Keep up the great work.

Whats your nearest the pin final membership number going to be when membership finishes in June?

9 Teams will not Survive in this city unless some are on welfare & that will never bring a flag.

This gets bandied around a bit and I don't reckon it's true.

Firstly, I don't think the AFL wants to get rid of clubs in Melbourne. Ideally, they would want to keep as many teams as possible as more teams means more games which means more tv money as well as a host of other sources of income. For example, if North folded there would be one less game, which would take an eigth off the tv deal. There would be hundreds of thousands of north fans not buying merchandise, going to games etc.

Secondly, one less team in Melbourne doesn't make it easier for the other struggling Melbourne clubs. Say, there are 200,000 North supporters in Melbourne. If North folds, those 200,000 don't just divide themselves up into the other clubs. The vast majority will just stop going, or at least stop going as much. The market doesn't become easier, it just shrinks. Okay, so the sponsorship market is easier, but when (worldwide economic catastrophe aside) have clubs found it hard to get sponsorships. Also, the market for young kids choosing a team is easier. But, there will also be less kids interested in footy, because their parents aren't taking them to North games.

Finally, the single biggest obstacle in the way of struggling clubs (including ours) are stadium deals. You can talk about sponsorships, memberships and debt demolitions until the cows come home, but attendances are the biggest earner for all clubs and historically these have been adversely affected by the current agreement. It seems like this is finally being rectified and, if it does, it will go a long way to securing the future of 9 clubs in Melbourne.

Sorry for the long post. But I'm a bit of a romantic and would hate to see the roos die because people never challenged the attitude "9 clubs in Melbourne aren't sustainable".

In the Hun at the MFC season launch, our gestapo leader of the Afl said there would always be 10 teams in Vic

Azz, it's because I'm mental and my brain has melted because of uni, sorry mate!

Perhaps attending matches is a very new concept as well?

Our Future does not depend on the Failures of others- i didn't say that. All i said is i do not think North will survive within 5 years. They may regret that they did not relocate at all, or else they will leave the building as North Melbourne, or they will prove me wrong & thrive but i seriously doubt it.

I don't Hate North i just don't think they will survive. Last year they received a bucket load of sympathy Memberships. This year the reality of the supporter base kicks in.

Don't Forget 2 years ago only 25,000 rolled up to a Final that the Kangas played in. That is unsustainable.

I still say their is Room for only one melbourne in this city.

WYL - I think your right. Deep down I would hate to see any of the current sides to go/relocate the same as fitzroy and Sth, but facts are facts at this stage. The simple facts are Nth struggle for a crowd ATM while they are enjoying some level of success. Nth has the worst facilities by a long way now we have casey/MCC deals at various stages and they simply have a terrible supporter base. Lets face it when we are winning we have 30k Melb supporters turning up. When nth are winning they are lucky to have 10k of their own turn up to home games.

like you said currently - "thats unsustainable". I really think Nth got it wrong by backing out of the GC deal. I would hate to see them die a slow death ala fitzroy and be forced into a take over rather then standing as your own. I now think western sydney could well be where they are headed which would be the worst outcome possible for them.

But enough of that, back on us...

If we are capable of achieving 30-35k this year is it possible to crack 40k by 2010 if we start having a little success? if we have a champion in the making come out of this crop (JW?) maybe 40k is not such a far dream?

In the Hun at the MFC season launch, our gestapo leader of the Afl said there would always be 10 teams in Vic

Would you seriously expect Vlad to say anything but that?

I would not draw an inch of comfort from statements like that.

Would you seriously expect Vlad to say anything but that?

I would not draw an inch of comfort from statements like that.

just like when a president comes out and "we're 100% behind ______ as our snr coach"!

Would you seriously expect Vlad to say anything but that?

I would not draw an inch of comfort from statements like that.

No. for him today, the AFL tomorrow the world

Our Future does not depend on the Failures of others- i didn't say that. All i said is i do not think North will survive within 5 years. They may regret that they did not relocate at all, or else they will leave the building as North Melbourne, or they will prove me wrong & thrive but i seriously doubt it.

I don't Hate North i just don't think they will survive. Last year they received a bucket load of sympathy Memberships. This year the reality of the supporter base kicks in.

Don't Forget 2 years ago only 25,000 rolled up to a Final that the Kangas played in. That is unsustainable.

I still say their is Room for only one melbourne in this city.

There is only one Melbourne in this city. The other team is North Melbourne. That's a suburb, just like all the other clubs are.

When people claim MFC has 'no support' etc it puts it in perspective.

Our average crowd figures also smash most other sporting clubs.

Definitely. Most AFL supporters don't comprehend the state of other sports. The NRL is on its knees. Golf is floundering. Plenty of other sports have meagre attendances or cannot establish a proper foothold in Australia. But AFL is going strong. Being at the bottom of the AFL puts us above most other codes.

Azz, it's because I'm mental and my brain has melted because of uni, sorry mate!

Don't worry, I thought exactly the same thing as you when I read this post from Azz:

AFL venues have much larger seating capacity than NRL venues, therefore thery cannot get near the numbers AFL does. And much of the time venues are no far off being full.

I'm not sure what he meant to say, but I think the aforementioned quote is pretty clear in asserting that NRL can't get the numbers AFL teams do because of their smaller seating capacity.

What i meant was that the small numbers is WHY they have small venues, that NRL have no hope until they fill the tiny things they play in now.

Clearer?

Just out of interest, this time last year my nephew told me that he had been personally called by Robbo asking if he was going to renew his membership. They had a bit of a chat (my nephew thought initially that it was a wind up) and naturally he re-signed there and then. Apparently this was an initiative that the club was undertaking to prompt previous members to join up again. Sounded like a great idea at the time. Has anyone been called by members of the playing list this year?

No. for him today, the AFL tomorrow the world

I am not sure why you made a point of mentioning it. Its not worth its weight in torn up 2009 Tiger membership tickets

I am not sure why you made a point of mentioning it. Its not worth its weight in torn up 2009 Tiger membership tickets

gold!

i hope they had security around the membership tent after the game for those looking for a refund!