North Melbourne, St Kilda, Western Bulldogs, Melbourne - Which club is smallest?

[TheHoneyBadger]

Oh I see you have dropped Darwin like hot potato's and now it's Cairns; didn't the WB pick up any supporters in Darwin?

So the WB aren't investing in Cairns like North is in Tassie and your club wonders why it is struggling financially and with membership numbers?

I wasn't looking at current membership numbers, I was looking at the historical average since the AFL's inception, mentioned in my previous post.

When have a I played the man or is the a deflection?

The club struggles financially because of a lack of historical success and thus supporters in Melbourne. We hardly dropped Darwin like 'hot potato's' - we got a better deal in Cairns.

You were looking at current membership numbers. You rattled them off:

Whats the current memberships numbers?

North: 39,095
Saints: 30,045
WB: 30,400

Irrelevant.

As for playing the man, that refers to the fact you didn't want to acknowledge any of what I said, you chose solely to criticise the Bulldogs, my club.

 

[Elroo]

The club struggles financially because of a lack of historical success and thus supporters in Melbourne. We hardly dropped Darwin like 'hot potato's' - we got a better deal in Cairns.

You were looking at current membership numbers. You rattled them off:

Irrelevant.

As for playing the man, that refers to the fact you didn't want to acknowledge any of what I said, you chose solely to criticise the Bulldogs, my club.

Your club struggles financially due to not growing it's market; Darwin, the Western suburbs of Melbourne and now you have even stated the WB aren't even interested in Cairns it's just for the money.

I mentioned the "historical membership averages" as well or did you skip that?

I responded to what you said I told you you were wrong; but thats playing the man is it?

Lets compare the historical memberships since the AFL inception, the relative financial positions of each club will we or are they inconvenient truths you'll respond with "oh your playing the man"?

 

[TheHoneyBadger]

Unbelievable

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

WBD do not have a 'huge' fanbase in the NT, NT is mainly Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, etc.

 

[doggies ftw]

Your club struggles financially due to not growing it's market; Darwin, the Western suburbs of Melbourne and now you have even stated the WB aren't even interested in Cairns it's just for the money.

I mentioned the "historical membership averages" as well or did you skip that?

I responded to what you said I told you you were wrong; but thats playing the man is it?

Lets compare the historical memberships since the AFL inception, the relative financial positions of each club will we or are they inconvenient truths you'll respond with "oh your playing the man"?

Of course its just for the money, if we get a couple of members from it fantastic but the main purpose is to just get the * out of Etihad.

 

[KillaKanga]

The Bulldogs haven't even played their first fixture in Cairns yet and have sold it entirely for the money, there's no investment in the area as North have with Tassie.

Haven't played in Cairns yet OR sold it for the money and not investing in it? Can't have both.

North haven't played in Hobart yet either.

When the Doggies were playing in Prelims what was the max membership figure? Pretty sure you didn't crack 40k.

Not having a go at you or your club but I'd say North are a bigger club than the Doggies. Lived in QLD for 14 years now and met dozens of Roos supporters and 1 Bulldog supporter (her old man played for the Doggies in the 70's or 80's)

 

[TheHoneyBadger]

Haven't played in Cairns yet OR sold it for the money and not investing in it? Can't have both.

North haven't played in Hobart yet either.

When the Doggies were playing in Prelims what was the max membership figure? Pretty sure you didn't crack 40k.

Not having a go at you or your club but I'd say North are a bigger club than the Doggies. Lived in QLD for 14 years now and met dozens of Roos supporters and 1 Bulldog supporter (her old man played for the Doggies in the 70's or 80's)

North played in Hobart twice last year, and the year before. Besides the point.

When we were playing in preliminary finals, membership figures generally were lower among all clubs - considering reaching 32k was a record back then for us and we're now looking at hitting a similar figure in a third straight bottom six year, I'd say it's evident things have changed. Collingwood have doubled their numbers since 2008 - the flag helps, but double? I think we're capable of cracking 40k with another flag tilt - we haven't invested heavily in another market, as Hawthorn and to a lesser extent North have, though.

I guess it's all based on personal experience. I live in Melbourne's east, and I've met one or two North supporters, and seen a few more. The Dogs aren't much better. In terms of rusted-on support during the hard times we seem to be pretty evenly matched. Full credit to the way North have handled themselves since 2007, though, and particularly since 2010 in a footballing sense. I hope they hit the 40k mark.

 

[Plugger_87]

We're all the battlers of the comp when on field performances are not up to it. I hope 1 of the 4 clubs mentioned can win a flag in the next few years as all us long suffering supporters deserve a bit of success for sticking fat

 

[sverik25]

Not sure why Melbourne don't have more votes. I live in Melbourne's South East (supposedly an area where they have a lot of support) and I know only a handful of Melbourne supporters. Also, I think interstate support should be considered. Even when St Kilda are struggling like this year, we on average still attract larger crowds to interstate matches than the other three.

I think the Bulldogs are probably the smallest, but it could be North. I think the membership numbers that North have compared to the Bulldogs are skewed by Tasmanian members and also the fact that they are doing better at the moment.

 

[Engimal]

Not sure why Melbourne don't have more votes. I live in Melbourne's South East (supposedly an area where they have a lot of support) and I know only a handful of Melbourne supporters. Also, I think interstate support should be considered. Even when St Kilda are struggling like this year, we on average still attract larger crowds to interstate matches than the other three.

Melbourne average higher crowds than the other three. Nice little lie there about interstate crowds, too. In 2014, St Kilda attract an average of 25,968 to interstate games. North pull 28,791. If you don't want to include the Tassie game (as it's a North home game), St Kilda draw an average of 31,007 and North draw 32,442.

 

[sverik25]

Melbourne average higher crowds than the other three. Nice little lie there about interstate crowds, too. In 2014, St Kilda attract an average of 25,968 to interstate games. North pull 28,791. If you don't want to include the Tassie game (as it's a North home game), St Kilda draw an average of 31,007 and North draw 32,442.

Did you count St Kilda's supposed home game in Wellington? Because if you did that would explain this, but it should hardly be counted at all because it is outside of Australia and hardly a reliable figure to use. If you complain about that, I'll exclude North's home game in Hobart from both calculations as well, and you end up with:

St Kilda - 39,411
North Melbourne - 32,422

You could make the argument that we haven't played as many interstate games yet which is true. I'll gladly revisit this at the end of the year if you like.

Also, with regards to Melbourne, their crowd figures are heavily skewed by Queen's Birthday vs Collingwood. I know you can't really completely discount one set of crowd figures, so I won't. What I will say is this, if St Kilda had a fixture like that at the MCG every year, I reckon you would see St Kilda average higher crowd figures than Melbourne.

 

[Engimal]

Did you count St Kilda's supposed home game in Wellington? Because if you did that would explain this, but it should hardly be counted at all because it is outside of Australia and hardly a reliable figure to use. If you complain about that, I'll exclude North's home game in Hobart from both calculations as well, and you end up with:

St Kilda - 39,411
North Melbourne - 32,422

You could make the argument that we haven't played as many interstate games yet which is true. I'll gladly revisit this at the end of the year if you like.

Also, with regards to Melbourne, their crowd figures are heavily skewed by Queen's Birthday vs Collingwood. I know you can't really completely discount one set of crowd figures, so I won't. What I will say is this, if St Kilda had a fixture like that at the MCG every year, I reckon you would see St Kilda average higher crowd figures than Melbourne.

Ah *, that explains why I couldn't remember where Westpac Stadium was.
Lack of interstate games skews it a bit too. You guys play more on the run home whereas North's are sprinkled throughout.