Membership v Fan Base

[Darren]

some vaguely interesting stats in this poll. Less than 25% follow AFL which doesn;t give much credence to the being a member of a club is an AFL thing. Or perhaps it does - 3 types of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics...

[jargan83]

statistics never lie.....you can however use them selectively to prove your point

[Swee_82]

OK, b&b, you'll have to forgive my use of the term AFL to discriminate "footy" from other forms of football.

And I wasn't necessarily suggesting that EWF members are members (or even followers) of other codes and clubs, more that the drive towards memberships in other codes might inform a sort of cultural zeitgiest in WA that then followed on at the creation of the

Like I said, it's one of many factors at play, but there has to be a reason why a 'non-rugby' province has the highest membership in the competition (even once we've lost nearly 50% from the heights of 2006)

[welshrugbyfan]

Don't stress just wait till next season. Memberships will sky rocket when they go to MES. Subiaco is a crap venue that's a given. I know so many NSW/QLD people who laugh when they paid their $55 to sit 30m from the sidelines. Every one I know is just simply refusing to go to Subi and watch the Force. I don't hold it against anyone, if it didn't happen the heirachy at the Force wouldn't had been proactive and moved out of Subi into MES.

Relax people all will be well in time. MES will be a fortress and I can gaurantee other teams will not want to play there against our boys with 18,000+ screaming blue force fans.

I just wish it was happening this year cause I'm 100% sure the boys love playing in the rectangular stadium under that atmosphere. It may encourage more players to resign with the Force.

We just need to re name it cause MES is a bit weak (No offence to Members Equity the company if it is one).

Dunedin has the house of pain, no we need one equally as good.

GAYFL you can have your shit ground back to play your shit game on.

[AndyS]

Like I said, it's one of many factors at play, but there has to be a reason why a 'non-rugby' province has the highest membership in the competition (even once we've lost nearly 50% from the heights of 2006)

People are members when they need to be. At the moment, the WCE and FD have high membership because you can't attend without it. If they get a new ground the same will either occur as all the additional seats are snapped up, or they may see a drop if it becomes possible to get tickets at the gate. Not a good outcome for the two AFL clubs that, as my understanding is that memberships go to the club while ticket sales go to the AFL.

For mine, something similar happened with the EWF - everyone assumed that you'd need a membership to get a decent seat. Even now, I doubt there are many gold seats available, or any decent silver. For the second year, those who got crap seats decided that there was no need to renew as gate tickets wouldn't be much worse. Still had roughly the same attendance though, but for whatever reason they decided to stop attending in the third year. A move to MES would probably see memberships increase again, mostly for convenience to avoid having to show up early. But I hope they would retain at least some general admission seating. The shed, grassed slope and some of the seating at the opposite end would be ideal - create a bit of competition for seats and a reason for people to show up early.

[BDAVEY]

Agree Andy and the welshman next year the membership will increase by at least 40% which will nearly fill MES, we must come up with a name for the Stadium The Stadium of.... no eatern staters

[JediKnight]

Why are members slugged so much for a season pass where walk-ins get cheaper tickets and are free to move around to better seats ???

Why are they "free to move around to better seats"? Surely the Subi Oval stewards are ensuring that people are seated in the seats to which their ticket entitles them.....full-scale anarchy would exist if this was not the case!!!

[pieter blackie]

Another reason is you don't need to be a member to get a seat at Subi.
You can just rock up to the gate and buy a ticket if you feel the urge on the night.

and we all know that the AFL can't count so we will never know how many people attended

[welshrugbyfan]

Why are they "free to move around to better seats"? Surely the Subi Oval stewards are ensuring that people are seated in the seats to which their ticket entitles them.....full-scale anarchy would exist if this was not the case!!!

I got Blue Crew tickets the weeks I could get there and promptly went and sat at the best seats I could find. Occasionaly people would say "thats my seat I think" and I would politely apologise and move until I found an empty one.

Worked every week.

[jargan83]

Stadium The Stadium of.... no eatern staters

New Zealand is an Eastern State of Australia

[welshrugbyfan]

New Zealand is an Eastern State of Australia

Aren't the Eastern States States of New Zealand as well?

[jargan83]

Aren't the Eastern States States of New Zealand as well?

I was hinting at the original Australian constitution where there was a clause that New Zealand is a state of Australia
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[.X.]

I have to agree with Swee about AFL supporting a membership culture - a while back there was a discussion here about membership numbers for the NRL - some teams have as little as 1000 Members of the League teams, the most was Brisbane Broncos with 8000 I think.

[sandgroperrugby]

I bet that's what you tell all the girls

I suspect then that people who go to a game fall into a few different categories.

2) people who love rugby but especially games involving their (traditional) team and so come along to games involving their team and maybe a few others
.

With respect to point number 2 how many of you have sat next to someone wearing a Force jumper passionately only to be sitting next to the same person who is now a Crazy Bulls supporter the next week when they come to town!

Another key thing to consider is the Forces win loss record at home. If the Force improves at home I think that a lot more people would start coming down again, this includes the AFL supporters that are just curious.

[jargan83]

If the Force improves at home I think that a lot more people would start coming down again

Thats one of the problems

There is a large "Bandwagon" element to any sporting side. When your team isn't winning consistantly the "bandwagoners" will stay away. When your team is winning consistantly everyone wants a piece of the action