Final Membership Totals 2013

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Cmarsh said:
Sheeds said I think of the cuff lets now aim for 20,000 after 10k was posted. Don't think there is an official membership goal put out by the club though. 15k would be nice to end up with for this season
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20k would be fantastic - even 15k would be a huge achievement. Seems like the people of Western Sydney are buying into the team which is encouraging signs for the code.
 
Is anyone else shocked by the GWS member numbers?

It would be great if they are legit, but at first glance they seem strange. Why would their member numbers be more than double the same stage last year??? After Gold Coast's first year their member numbers fell I think.

Unless the Swans Grand Final win has had an unprecedented impact on AFL support across Sydney. I wonder if they aren't giving 3 game memberships away to certain targeted groups? (There was a report on the Lions board that Gold Coast were doing that for some junior footy teams or something along those lines).

Assuming they and Gold Coasts figures are as reported then it really does highlight how bad a shape the Lions are in. At this stage it looks as though our final membership number will be pretty similar to last year = around 21k (which is about 10k down from our peak in 2004, and 8k less than in 2010).
 

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Last of the Roys said:
Is anyone else shocked by the GWS member numbers?

It would be great if they are legit, but at first glance they seem strange. Why would their member numbers be more than double the same stage last year??? After Gold Coast's first year their member numbers fell I think.

Unless the Swans Grand Final win has had an unprecedented impact on AFL support across Sydney. I wonder if they aren't giving 3 game memberships away to certain targeted groups? (There was a report on the Lions board that Gold Coast were doing that for some junior footy teams or something along those lines).

Assuming they and Gold Coasts figures are as reported then it really does highlight how bad a shape the Lions are in. At this stage it looks as though our final membership number will be pretty similar to last year = around 21k (which is about 10k down from our peak in 2004, and 8k less than in 2010).
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Just an IMO, but given both the Wanderers and the Giants have had good pick up in support, I think it shows that despite the NRL propaganda, there was a sizable amount of people looking for a fresh football offering. I'm not saying this will take people away from NRL (I follow the storm, but it doesn't mean I stop following the tigers), but I think they have obviously done their marketing well, and targeted the segments they need to get.

The big challenge for GWS is crowds. Comparing their ratio of attendances to memberships, the crowd figures are well down on other clubs. Hopefully they start getting more bums on seats in 2013 (following a similar increase that their membership has enjoyed)
 
Last of the Roys said:
Is anyone else shocked by the GWS member numbers?

It would be great if they are legit, but at first glance they seem strange. Why would their member numbers be more than double the same stage last year??? After Gold Coast's first year their member numbers fell I think.

Unless the Swans Grand Final win has had an unprecedented impact on AFL support across Sydney. I wonder if they aren't giving 3 game memberships away to certain targeted groups? (There was a report on the Lions board that Gold Coast were doing that for some junior footy teams or something along those lines).

Assuming they and Gold Coasts figures are as reported then it really does highlight how bad a shape the Lions are in. At this stage it looks as though our final membership number will be pretty similar to last year = around 21k (which is about 10k down from our peak in 2004, and 8k less than in 2010).
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There has been quite a bit of discussion about this on the GWS board. There may be a number of reasons for the increase, but I don't think any of them are really convincing that would account for such a large increase as we have seen.

Reasons that have been mentioned include the confidence there is in the team to be competitive, that is after 1 year in the comp, people can see we have something decent on the park, where there was a cloud over this last year, and also the expected development of the young side would lead to this expectation. The resignation of Folau may have (ironically) increased membership, as he may have been seen as non legit and potential fans of the side may have been turned off by his mere presence. The club has also been very active in the community, which always helps to engage the public, and perhaps also there have been a number of resignings of key players, which ofcoarse also helps. Innovative promotions like a deal where you can get reduced price entry to the Sydney Easter show and later attend the GWS game could also have attracted more families.

Although these reasons don't necessarily spell obvious reasons for the size of the membership jump, I do think it is legit. Hoeever I do wonder how many kids have been signed up to the non-ticketed option and get trinkets like hats and backpacks.

But I can understand the frustration of Lions and Suns fans about their numbers. As I said on the Lions forum, QLD fans just may be big bandwagoners. The Broncos, who are a one city club in what is suppossed to be the 'home of rugby league' have only been able to muster 18k at this stage, and their comp starts next week!
 
Rusty22 said:
Why does Sydney have so little members?:eek:
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Your a Collingwood fan. You could say that about any club with a sense of distain.:p

However, I did expect they would be in the 30k's by now, and would still be on track to beat their all time membership tally of 35k I think (can a Swans fan confirm this number is right?).
Nonetheless, they are still the sporting club with the most members in NSW. This state doesn't quite have the membership culture of Victoria.
 
Last of the Roys said:
Is anyone else shocked by the GWS member numbers?

It would be great if they are legit, but at first glance they seem strange. Why would their member numbers be more than double the same stage last year??? After Gold Coast's first year their member numbers fell I think.
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GC had a few 3 game Brisbane members in their first season that probably didn't renew. Whereas GWS 3 game Canberra members probably did.
I'd also expect their numbers to be substantially higher at this stage simply because last year's members would have renewed earlier than they purchased a membership in year 1.

Other than that, I can't really explain the overall increase. Hopefully it translates to more bums on seats, although if they're a lot more competitive on the field then that will probably happen anyway.
 

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Rusty22 said:
Why does Sydney have so little members?:eek:
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one of the constraints is the redevelopment of the SCG.. its limiting numbers and quality of viewing. We could see a big improvement next year (? the redevelpment finishes late this year??).

could be wrong, but there seems to be a good jump in memberships whenever a stadium upgrade is completed... think thats the case...
 
Rob said:
GC had a few 3 game Brisbane members in their first season that probably didn't renew. Whereas GWS 3 game Canberra members probably did.
I'd also expect their numbers to be substantially higher at this stage simply because last year's members would have renewed earlier than they purchased a membership in year 1.

Other than that, I can't really explain the overall increase. Hopefully it translates to more bums on seats, although if they're a lot more competitive on the field then that will probably happen anyway.
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I think the Canberra members are pretty solid and probably expanding. I would expect the Manuka games to go well this year.
 
The giants figures are definitely dodgy

I spoke to someone involved with the afl in Sydney and he said the afl aim was to beat a number of nrl clubs with gws members. He then said a lot of powerbrokers in the afl have invested heavily in the giants. On further questioning, i. out that a lot of big wigs at the afl have bought memberships for them and their family.

He said "watch the giants crowds this year and they won't be near the membership number."

We shall see.
 
Tbone McGraw said:
The giants figures are definitely dodgy

I spoke to someone involved with the afl in Sydney and he said the afl aim was to beat a number of nrl clubs with gws members. He then said a lot of powerbrokers in the afl have invested heavily in the giants. On further questioning, i. out that a lot of big wigs at the afl have bought memberships for them and their family.

He said "watch the giants crowds this year and they won't be near the membership number."

We shall see.
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I look forward to all of Collingwood's 70,000 crowds when they play sides from interstate.
 
Barry_Badrinath said:
I know of one Carlton supporter that's turncoated to the Crows this season, simply because he doesn't like Malthouse. He's put a fair few off.
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Shock horror that he decided to support a better side.
 
Mayb
Tbone McGraw said:
The giants figures are definitely dodgy

I spoke to someone involved with the afl in Sydney and he said the afl aim was to beat a number of nrl clubs with gws members. He then said a lot of powerbrokers in the afl have invested heavily in the giants. On further questioning, i. out that a lot of big wigs at the afl have bought memberships for them and their family.

He said "watch the giants crowds this year and they won't be near the membership number."

We shall see.
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Maybe true.

I live in Melbourne but I buy a GWS membership to help them out.GWS are a ten year proposition and will improve their memberships and crowds as they get success.
The two AFL clubs that are a worry are Brisbane and the W Bulldogs who both seem to be going backwards or stagnating..

Talking about nRL memberships they are atm 176,000 in Total for all their clubs!
 

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