TrimmyTraggot
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- Oct 2, 2020
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- Geelong
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- #51
Geelong have won 2 flags in the past 3 years and we are shooting for our 3rd. There are no other option
Which club is the biggest club in the AFL right now
- Thread starter Eaglespur
- Start date
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The two biggest clubs in the competition played another epic finals match last night.
Make no mistake, West Coast are Collingwood's biggest rivals. They are perennial contenders like Collingwood, not flashes in the pan who are irrelevant for multiple decades at a time...
Make no mistake, West Coast are Collingwood's biggest rivals. They are perennial contenders like Collingwood, not flashes in the pan who are irrelevant for multiple decades at a time...
It depends on how you measure it. In 2020 West Coast had the most members. I think there is likely to be more Collingwood supporters in Australia than any other club, as annoying as it is to admit it.
The Richmond army is huge ... when we are winning ... when we are losing you can hear the sound of the crickets chirping. Whether Collingwood are winning or losing their supporters still pack the stands.
The Richmond army is huge ... when we are winning ... when we are losing you can hear the sound of the crickets chirping. Whether Collingwood are winning or losing their supporters still pack the stands.
- Banned
- #54
You for real?
gotta give Collingwood fans respect for that, no matter how bad or well they're doing they're always visible and loud about it.
tbh though I think you're being a bit harsh on your own mob, growing up I'd meet Tigers fans just about everywhere even when they were trash(I've lived in WA & QLD), not as loud & proud to the extent pies fans are but certainly more than the vast majority of clubs.
Imo the worst are Hawks fans, prior to there 3-peat it was hard to sport them and then during 2013-16 you'd see them pop up all over the place and what do you know now its hard to find them again. It even shows in their average home attendance which was around 43,000 during their 'up' years and has lately been more around the mid 30,000s(not counting 2020)
Some Idiot
Brownlow Medallist
- Mar 17, 2009
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No one is forgetting the empty stadiums of Richmond home games in the 2000s when they had played one finals series in 30 years
- Banned
- #58
- Banned
- #60
Good thing we didn't then, even when we were at our worst and rooted to the bottom of the ladder.
To be honest, I'm impressed that while being at our worst point of the previous 25 years, we only averaged 7k lower home game attendances compared to a fellow contender for biggest club who had just come off 2 grand final appearances. If that's the best you got, I'm not particularly worried.
- Banned
- #62
Fine then total average, which was 10k. That's barely different. Certainly nowhere near the 15k that people who can't do maths would claim. Again, we are comparing a 25 year basket case on the bottom of the ladder to a team that made the previous 2 grand finals. The fact we were even in the top half is a testament, only an idiot or a troll would think otherwise. And I care not for the opinion of idiots or trolls.
- Mar 14, 2014
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The Matt Rowell Suns should be in first
Jade
Smug lives here.
- Jul 8, 2008
- 34,632
- 53,731
- AFL Club
- Essendon
What is biggest?
Is it revenue? Then probably West Coast, who are able to generate a substantial amount from their limited membership numbers and two-town market. But then again, it is a two-town market.
Is it members? Well then its Richmond. I know Tigers fans like to think this, but then again, their social media platforms trail other clubs in terms of engagement, so I think they're just really good at converting 'fans' in to 'members'.
Is it media demand? Well then it's Essendon. They drive a hell of a lot of clicks. But maybe that's just a hangover from the supplements scandal.
Is it arses in seats? Ok well then it's Collingwood. But they do play the majority of their games at a substantially sized stadium.
Whatever 'it' is - I can tell you no one here is going to be 'right'; and most will simply argue the point that suggests their team is the biggest.
Is it revenue? Then probably West Coast, who are able to generate a substantial amount from their limited membership numbers and two-town market. But then again, it is a two-town market.
Is it members? Well then its Richmond. I know Tigers fans like to think this, but then again, their social media platforms trail other clubs in terms of engagement, so I think they're just really good at converting 'fans' in to 'members'.
Is it media demand? Well then it's Essendon. They drive a hell of a lot of clicks. But maybe that's just a hangover from the supplements scandal.
Is it arses in seats? Ok well then it's Collingwood. But they do play the majority of their games at a substantially sized stadium.
Whatever 'it' is - I can tell you no one here is going to be 'right'; and most will simply argue the point that suggests their team is the biggest.
Outside of the media which is run out of Melbourne, you could argue that West Coast is bigger in every other area.
Jade
Smug lives here.
- Jul 8, 2008
- 34,632
- 53,731
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- Essendon
Not sure how - West Coast has never been the highest attended side, and as recently as four years ago wasn't even in the top 4-5.
They also have an ability to turn a $ per ticket that other clubs can't for various reasons.
Not debating they are 'big' - just suggesting your claim they can be argued as bigger in every other area probably isn't true.
West Coast get 50,000 plus of their own supporters to their home games just about every week. No Victorian side can say that.
Jade
Smug lives here.
- Jul 8, 2008
- 34,632
- 53,731
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- Essendon
Yes I'm aware of that, but as I alluded to in my post, no Victorian side is really able to do that due to their restrictions.
Collingwood and Richmond from time to time do it, because the MCG is large enough to accommodate reserved seating and still allow for surge seating for certain games. West Coast however, allocates a significant quantity of its seating to reserved and then has an environment where its publicly available ticketing is overwhelmingly its own fans.
Essendon for example, has a cap of somewhere in the 22,000 seat mark of seats it can reserve at Marvel Stadium and the rest it is reliant on public sales; and Melbourne has a significant fan base of most sides here that will also grab those tickets (not that I would claim Essendon are putting high level arses in seats - its infinite shitness has finally pissed its membership off).
Hence its disingenuous to suggest that because West Coast gets 40,000-50,000 of its own fans to its home games is 'proof' they are bigger than say a Collingwood or Richmond.
I could equally suggest that no team in the history of football has had a bigger representation of its own fans at a game than Richmond did at the 2019 GF. Equally, that no team has ever had an average attendance of higher than 60k - until Collingwood did.
- Nov 20, 2018
- 1,459
- 1,661
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- Carlton
Agree it is difficult to say.. Essendon do have the most media demand and most website hits WCE not even close.
Collingwood and Carlton are 1 and 2 in terms of overall search interest on Google since 2004. WCE are equal 4th with Richmond both way below Essendon who are third.
Collingwood and Carlton are 1 and 2 with the highest average TV audience in a season with Essendon third WCE 4th.
Collingwood and Carlton are 1 and 2 in unique Youtube views with Coll at 520,000 and Carlton at 464,000 and 1 and 2 in subscribers.
Essendon are second in Facebook have 84,000 members and not one a final since 2004 that is a big club.
Craze
Premiership Player
- Aug 7, 2013
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Carlton would have been as big as Collingwood in around 1980-81. Massive. They seemed to fall behind as Essendon emerged in the mid-80’s and would have been 3rd for support in Victoria, from the perspective of a neutral. I think we’ll see what the blues are capable of when they climb the ladder in the next 4-5 years and hopefully they get more games at the MCG.
Posted this about 7 years ago but it largely holds the same although Richmond have now replaced Carlton in the 2002-2019 period
VFL home and away 1925-1941
Carlton 6,453,474
Richmond 5,705,325
South Melbourne 5,460,580
Collingwood 5,242,330
St Kilda 4,882,603
Essendon 4,647,125
Footscray 4,587,062
Melbourne 4,534,566
Fitzroy 4,487,053
Geelong 4,360,087
North Melbourne 3,260,847
Hawthorn 2,961,458
VFL home and away 1960-1977
Collingwood 10,653,827
Richmond 9,882,139
Carlton 9,479,277
Melbourne 9,257,471
Essendon 8,622,204
St Kilda 8,139,310
Geelong 7,801,814
Hawthorn 6,995,164
Footscray 6,939,251
South Melbourne 6,263,811
Fitzroy 5,973,928
North Melbourne 5,613,855
AFL home and away 1997 - 2014
Collingwood 20,119,156
Essendon 18,761,728
Carlton 16,157,619
Richmond 15,733,715
Hawthorn 14,189,768
Adelaide 13,498,176
Geelong 13,399,210
St Kilda 13,145,652
West Coast 12,847,639
Melbourne 12,461,141
Sydney 12,261,147
W Bulldogs 11,700,503
North Melbourne 11,584,999
Fremantle 11,247,356
Brisbane Lions 10,781,670
Port Adelaide 10,727,516
Across VFL/AFL history Carlton (1, 2, 3), Richmond (2, 2, 4) and Collingwood (4, 1, 1) have been the only consistent 'big clubs'. For all intent and purpose, in terms of football history, its really a big 3 (Collingwood, Richmond and Carlton) with Essendon in 4th
In terms of the climbers, Hawthorn (12, 8, 5) have basically been on a continuous upswing since the mid 1960s (which is a common theme in this thread). Essendon's emergence from a middle of the road club was very late from 6, 5 to a clear 2nd (probably the Sheedy factor).
South Melbourne (3, 10, 11) was a seriously big club through the 20's and 30's but dropped off dramatically in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Melbourne (8, 4, 10) started low, emerged and dropped back to mediocrity while the Saints (5, 6, 8) and Dogs (6, 9, 12) all started from pretty big bases (certainly bigger than Hawthorn and North Melbourne) but decades without premiership success have hindered their growth...
All things considered, I think you are spot on with this post...although you are selling Carlton short massively. For most of their history, Carlton was one of the 2 biggest clubs in the league (with Richmond up to 1940, with Collingwood up until the mid 1990's)
Another stat post, sorry guys
Carlton was the biggest VFL club pre World War II and Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond are the only VFL / AFL clubs that have remained in the top 4 brackets between eras (Essendon were 6th out of 12 between the wars and 5th out of 12 between 1960 and 1977)
Interesting South Melbourne were the 3rd biggest VFL club between the wars and St Kilda were 5th - I presume the location of Junction Oval and the Lakeside Oval in Albert Park catered for larger crowds?
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If you went on the saints board they'd have you believe there's a dormant group of saints fans ready to make them the biggest in the league
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