I live in Melbourne but I was still the ONLY Melbourne supporter in my WHOLE primary school (About 300 kids in the whole school) after year 3. Melbourne aren't a very popular team amongst kids around my age (14) because of the insults that come at me every week, I struggle to have conversations about the footy at school because all the other guys are talking about the intense match between Hawthorn and Geelong or something.
In shorter terms, nobody in school could give a crap about Melbourne, unless they are talking about how bad this guy or that guy played or how embarrassing it was for Melbourne to lose by 30 goals against Geelong. I can take the insults mind you, I just laugh it off, but other kids don't want to deal with it. If it wasn't for the classic "Go for the team your dad goes for" Melbourne probably would struggle to have 1 in 100 kids following them.