An interesting article on the abc website today dissecting the funding of AFL clubs and the impact of prime time matches on finances, crowd attendances and sponsorships.

Lots of data to unpack. It’s easy to understand the logic as to why the popular Victorian clubs get the blockbuster time slots. 

 

Fun fact. The Dees had the third highest memberships in 1988… just 2,000 off Collingwood who had the most.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-14/are-afl-clubs-getting-a-fair-deal-off-field-finances-money-footy/100987862

 

Interesting point made by Geelong in an AFL submission. I assume the reference is to Hawthorn...

"Over half of supporters follow their parent's team. There is little evidence that the relative size of supporter bases has moved much between clubs over the last 50 years.

A few clubs may have lost a little ground after decades of poor performance and arguably only one club has gained due to a level of sustained on-field success 30 years ago that cannot be repeated."

16 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Interesting point made by Geelong in an AFL submission. I assume the reference is to Hawthorn...

"Over half of supporters follow their parent's team. There is little evidence that the relative size of supporter bases has moved much between clubs over the last 50 years.

A few clubs may have lost a little ground after decades of poor performance and arguably only one club has gained due to a level of sustained on-field success 30 years ago that cannot be repeated."

Interesting comments.

It just goes to show that if you are a team like Carlton, Hawthorn, Richmond or Essendon and you achieve regular Premiership success for over 20 or 30 years that you will definitely grow your membership and supporter base massively.

I will give you a few examples.

Firstly from 1939 until 1964, Melbourne won 10 Premierships in 25 years. Which is a pretty amazing strike rate! I am quite confident we had a very large following during that time.

Secondly, from 1968 until 1995, Carlton won 8 Premierships in 27 years.

Thirdly, from 1961 until 1991, Hawthorn won 9 Premierships in 30 years. Or more significantly from 1971 until 1991, Hawthorn won 8 Premierships in 20 years.

Fourthly, from 1967 until 1980, Richmond won 5 Premierships in 13 years.

Lastly from 1984 until 2000, Essendon won 4 Premierships in 16 years.

A Premiership drought of 57 years has definitely hindered us. That's stating the obvious. But if we can hopefully build sustained success from 2021 onward for the next 30 years we will definitely have a bright future.

The most important thing is making sure we keep good people at our club and continue to recruit good people and good players as well. We are very fortunate with those we currently have at the Melbourne Football Club, but we need to be constantly seeking to improve and get better. I am optimistic we are on the right track.

Any team that was strong from mid-sixties on was gifted massive media exposure as TV replays improved in quality and the same teams were getting constant exposure.