- May 23, 2016
- 8,099
- 7,025
- AFL Club
- West Coast
I just posted this in another thread:
http://www.*************.au/afl-news/current-afl-membership-numbers-for-2016/
But for a number of reasons that should be obvious, membership doesn't necessarily equate to how many supporters a team has. The majority of supporters are probably casual, and even some pretty diehard ones might choose not to be members for a number of reasons. I personally don't think being a member makes you 'more' of a fan, not that it matters. Without getting too sentimental I guess it's how much you care about your team.
But it got me thinking, I wonder which club has the MOST supporters. Supportership is a hard thing to measure (a bit like say, religious affiliation), since you have a spectrum from very casual fans who might watch a game on telly once in awhile, to those who religiously watch every home game, might be members.etc. Still, it's interesting to speculate.
I'm going to go for one of the Perth clubs. Melbourne has a population of 4.5 million, who knows what percent are AFL fans (a lot would not be), but they're still spread over 8 clubs. Sure, some will have a lot more than others (say Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond vs North and the Dogs), but even then, it's hard to compare to Perth, with 2 clubs, with a population of 2 million in the metropolitan area, and an addition 600,000 in regional WA, of which a fair percentage would support one of the two. Melbourne, by nature of being more multicultural, probably has fewer people who are into AFL, though Perth has the most UK born of any city (yes, even Sydney and Melbourne, despite being so small), but I digress.
Adelaide has also a footy town with 2 clubs, but it's population of 1.4 million in metro Adelaide, plus an addition 200,000 or so in rural SA, makes it less. Obviously, while Sydney and GWS share a catchment of at at least 5 million (x number of AFL fans) the number of AFL fans is much, much lower.
I'd probably say West Coast, in my unbiased opinion, probably has the most 'supporters' of any clubs. Adelaide, Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond, and possibly Port and Freo are probably not too far behind.
http://www.*************.au/afl-news/current-afl-membership-numbers-for-2016/
But for a number of reasons that should be obvious, membership doesn't necessarily equate to how many supporters a team has. The majority of supporters are probably casual, and even some pretty diehard ones might choose not to be members for a number of reasons. I personally don't think being a member makes you 'more' of a fan, not that it matters. Without getting too sentimental I guess it's how much you care about your team.
But it got me thinking, I wonder which club has the MOST supporters. Supportership is a hard thing to measure (a bit like say, religious affiliation), since you have a spectrum from very casual fans who might watch a game on telly once in awhile, to those who religiously watch every home game, might be members.etc. Still, it's interesting to speculate.
I'm going to go for one of the Perth clubs. Melbourne has a population of 4.5 million, who knows what percent are AFL fans (a lot would not be), but they're still spread over 8 clubs. Sure, some will have a lot more than others (say Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond vs North and the Dogs), but even then, it's hard to compare to Perth, with 2 clubs, with a population of 2 million in the metropolitan area, and an addition 600,000 in regional WA, of which a fair percentage would support one of the two. Melbourne, by nature of being more multicultural, probably has fewer people who are into AFL, though Perth has the most UK born of any city (yes, even Sydney and Melbourne, despite being so small), but I digress.
Adelaide has also a footy town with 2 clubs, but it's population of 1.4 million in metro Adelaide, plus an addition 200,000 or so in rural SA, makes it less. Obviously, while Sydney and GWS share a catchment of at at least 5 million (x number of AFL fans) the number of AFL fans is much, much lower.
I'd probably say West Coast, in my unbiased opinion, probably has the most 'supporters' of any clubs. Adelaide, Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond, and possibly Port and Freo are probably not too far behind.
