Each year at least one Australian Football League (AFL) team will break a membership record. But how stable are these membership numbers?
In 1987 the economic market crashed. Although Australia managed to deal with the fallout well when compared to other countries such as the United States, there is a significant drop in VFL memberships during that year. The VFL became the AFL in 1990.
Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Melbourne and North Melbourne are the five teams with the largest decrease in members. All having lost over 30% of their members in 1987 compared to the previous year.
Despite the low numbers all teams saw an increase in memberships the following year in 1988.
Maybe paid sport memberships are the first to go during an economic downturn but the years following the 1987 crash those membership numbers returned most of the time.
In the last 20 years overall AFL memberships have increased for the most part year to year.
Over the years more and more people have chosen to support their chosen AFL team by buying a membership rather than a group of paying members moving to different teams.
Some notable exceptions are Collingwood’s increase of around 30 thousand members in 2012. 2 years after they won the grand final.
Another is Richmond’s increase in 2018. They also gained just under 30 thousand members following their 2017 grand final win.
But grand final wins don’t always mean an increase in membership the following year.
Hawthorn in 1886, West Coast in 1992 and Collingwood in 2010 all saw a decrease in membership the year after a grand final win. But this didn’t affect the overall memberships numbers.
Overall the AFL memberships increase. But there are occasional drops in numbers within teams.
Some clubs are more stable than others.
Richmond has a very high increase from around 2010. They haven’t dropped since.
The Western Bulldogs have highs and low but they don’t change sharply.
Whereas Geelong has very particular sharp highs and lows specifically in 2004, 2008 and 2015.
Featured Image: Cameraman at the MCG. AMEEL KHAN
