Tell me about AFL membership with club support

[LongBomb]

After the debacle of the ballot system I've got to look at a better option for the future.
A couple of questions for AFL members:

- Does the club support work just like a GFC membership? ie: can you book seats with other GFC (non AFL) members?
- Can you get a Captains Club membership (if they are ever available again) attached to an AFL membership?
- How long does it usually take to move up to full membership? 10 years?

cheers

 

[ezbian]

After the debacle of the ballot system I've got to look at a better option for the future.
A couple of questions for AFL members:

- Does the club support work just like a GFC membership? ie: can you book seats with other GFC (non AFL) members?

This depends on what you are trying to do.
- At Skilled Stadium you can purchase a reserved seat like any normal Geelong member.
- At the MCG and Telstra Dome you can sit either in the AFL Members Reserve or the General Admin areas.
- You can take up to 4 guests into the AFL members area for the majority of MCG games at guest prices. You can take up to 2 guests into Telstra Dome but there are only 3000 reserved seats for AFL at TD so you have to be quick to get these otherwise you head to the GA in level 3.

- Can you get a Captains Club membership (if they are ever available again) attached to an AFL membership?

Yes. My mate and I both have September Memberships and are silver AFL members.

- How long does it usually take to move up to full membership? 10 years?

cheers

Yep currently running at about 10 years I think. We are just about to move into year 4.

IMO if you are a GFC member and attend all their Victorian games then AFL membership far and away provides the best value for money. You get excellent seats at all Geelong games particularly if you are willing to pay the $5.50 reservation fee for MCG and Telstra Dome, you get to go to all the big games including the first two weeks of finals when your a silver member, anzac day etc.

This year I have done all the GFC games, all the Victorian finals, Anzac Day and a few Hawthorn games (fiance is a hawk). Fantastic value and not that much dearer than Geelong 17 or 18 membership.

Hope this helps

 

[rizzo]

Sweet thanks Ezbian. I am looking at this option as well. Just to clarify, I can keep my current seat at skilled and be a AFL Member? if so wooo. And i can also be a September member as well?

What is the best way to go about it for next year. Who should i contact? The Club?

 

[LongBomb]

Thanks Ezbian.

To clarify the GFC membership question - do you get a GFC membership number so you can book tickets with other GFC members? Or can you only sit with them if you bring them in as guests?

 

[ezbian]

Sweet thanks Ezbian. I am looking at this option as well. Just to clarify, I can keep my current seat at skilled and be a AFL Member? if so wooo. And i can also be a September member as well?

What is the best way to go about it for next year. Who should i contact? The Club?

Correct. You can keep your reserved seat at Skilled and become a AFL member. You actually end up with two cards. You get a GFC membership with your reserve seat details and any other add ons such as September Member written on it, this is scanned when you enter skilled. Then you also get an AFL membership which is scanned at TD and MCG. When you pre-reserve any seats in the AFL areas you use your AFL barcode. So when I registered in the September Member ballot for example I had to register with my AFL barcode.

It really is a sweet system. Finals tickets in the first two weeks for example cost me $12 per game which was just the booking fee. Interesting that this goes up from $5 in the regular season, surely the admin expense remains the same, but tremendous value all the same.

When I finally get to full membership status grand final tickets are about half the price of standard pricing, although your membership is dearer. If I was a full member and Geelong were to make it I get first crack at the pool of tickets, then come all the other full members, then if there are any others left over silver members with club support get a go, then all other silver members are last. Of course with September Membership as well this is irrelevant, but i guess in a few years I can drop the September membership because i will be guaranteed.

Best option for next year is go to the AFL website and get all the details. Click on the AFL Shop link, there is heaps of promo info that you can download there.

 

[ezbian]

Thanks Ezbian.

To clarify the GFC membership question - do you get a GFC membership number so you can book tickets with other GFC members? Or can you only sit with them if you bring them in as guests?

Yep you get a GFC member number as well and have the option of sitting in the club allocation of tickets or bringing them as guests into the AFL area.

We did the triple header in the first week of the finals and went to the TD on the Saturday arvo, then strolled to the G for the Saturday night game, then went to the Cats on the Sunday, all for $36. Tremendous value! AFL membership really comes into its own if you have a successful team that it playing finals. With the state of our squad I think the next 5 years are going to be excellent value.

 

[Brasil2007]

Yep you get a GFC member number as well and have the option of sitting in the club allocation of tickets or bringing them as guests into the AFL area.

We did the triple header in the first week of the finals and went to the TD on the Saturday arvo, then strolled to the G for the Saturday night game, then went to the Cats on the Sunday, all for $36. Tremendous value! AFL membership really comes into its own if you have a successful team that it playing finals. With the state of our squad I think the next 5 years are going to be excellent value.

It's also good if like me you love footy generally. I can't justify the cost to get out to skilled too often because my partner barracks for Essendon so we'd have to pay for her to get in separately. So when the Cats are there, we go to Essendon games here, plus I often go to other interesting games by myself. I go to over 30 games a year, a real bargain for the pittance it costs me.

As far as the club goes I'm treated exactly the same as every other member. I think with some of other clubs there might be some slight differences, mostly its peripheral stuff to do with whether or not you can vote in club elections etc (at least I think that's the case).

 

[Scarlett30]

AFL membership is the best value in town.

My dad signed me up in 1994 at the tender age of 8.
I have been a full member since 1999, have not missed a Prelim or Grand Final since.

 

[LennyLeonard]

After the debacle of the ballot system I've got to look at a better option for the future.
A couple of questions for AFL members:

- Does the club support work just like a GFC membership? ie: can you book seats with other GFC (non AFL) members?
- Can you get a Captains Club membership (if they are ever available again) attached to an AFL membership?
- How long does it usually take to move up to full membership? 10 years?

cheers

I joined 2000 and got full membership in June 06

 

[tiredcat]

Sweet thanks Ezbian. I am looking at this option as well. Just to clarify, I can keep my current seat at skilled and be a AFL Member? if so wooo. And i can also be a September member as well?

What is the best way to go about it for next year. Who should i contact? The Club?

As a pissed off grand final ticketless silver AFL member with Geelong support could you explain how you become a september member and what is the cost
Thanks

 

[Brasil2007]

As a pissed off grand final ticketless silver AFL member with Geelong support could you explain how you become a september member and what is the cost
Thanks

It's an option at the start of the year. Someone here would know better than I but it costs around $250.

 

[tiredcat]

It's an option at the start of the year. Someone here would know better than I but it costs around $250.

Is it part of the AFL membership or Geelong

 

[hawksrule111]

Mate,

As a full member I think you would be better of with a MCC if your keen on finals tickets. MCC gets you not just footy but cricket and the like + I believe the waiting period has come down servely over the past couple of years. AFL membership not really worth the huge cost (although I do have seats level 2 right on the wing for this w/e)

 

[Brasil2007]

Is it part of the AFL membership or Geelong

Seem to recall it's one of the options on the Catters forms.

 

[Turbocat]

As a pissed off grand final ticketless silver AFL member with Geelong support could you explain how you become a september member and what is the cost
Thanks

September membership is $150.00 a head. I have myself, Mrs Turbo, and the two little Turbos are in it , so I'm up for $600.0 a year. I'm pretty sure there is now a waiting list for it. The thing is it unless the Cats get to the GF its basically just a donation to the club , not even the ability to have a beer in the Social club area at the Dome or at home. Is it worth it? Ask me around 5.30 Sat.

 

[ezbian]

Mate,

As a full member I think you would be better of with a MCC if your keen on finals tickets. MCC gets you not just footy but cricket and the like + I believe the waiting period has come down servely over the past couple of years. AFL membership not really worth the huge cost (although I do have seats level 2 right on the wing for this w/e)

Thats an interesting point of view.

I think the MCC is completely overated. Since the introduction of the Telstra Dome the MCC membership has devalued as all the good games throughout the year aren't always played there anymore. Friday night football use to be a feature of the MCG, now you would say that this has to be more favoured toward Telstra Dome.

How much is MCC? Last I heard it was $600 odd but I could be wrong. AFL is what $240 for silver and $320 for full. You would really have to like your cricket to think there is that much extra value, particularly given AFL gets TD games as well as cheap cricket tickets in the AFL area anyway.

Take a straw pole of AFL members vs MCC on Friday night and see who was happier. Alot can be said for reserved seating vs having to spend all your afternoon standing in a MCC queue.

 

[hawksrule111]

Thats an interesting point of view.

I think the MCC is completely overated. Since the introduction of the Telstra Dome the MCC membership has devalued as all the good games throughout the year aren't always played there anymore. Friday night football use to be a feature of the MCG, now you would say that this has to be more favoured toward Telstra Dome.

How much is MCC? Last I heard it was $600 odd but I could be wrong. AFL is what $240 for silver and $320 for full. You would really have to like your cricket to think there is that much extra value, particularly given AFL gets TD games as well as cheap cricket tickets in the AFL area anyway.

Take a straw pole of AFL members vs MCC on Friday night and see who was happier. Alot can be said for reserved seating vs having to spend all your afternoon standing in a MCC queue.

Disagree

For starters an AFL member is $395 while a silver membership is the same price I think or maybe a little bit less? For an AFL member to attend a finals game it costs $13 while the grand final costs $87. So for me going to three finals games + the grand final it has cost me a total of $521 for the season. I think the MCC is priced around $500 mark and they do not pay to get in unless they reserve a seat. So who has the better value?

My issue is that an AFL membership is meant to be for the true supporters of the AFL yet A) it costs more and B) we don’t even get as many allocated tickets to a GF as MCC does. The whole reason for building Waverly Park was to cut the 25,000 odd MCC members so that clubs and the general supporter were able to access seats at a Grand Final. So really for any of you Cat fans missing out this w/e you can thank the government and AFL commission on that one as the clubs competing would automatically have at least 10,000 seats extra if we didn’t have to share a ground with a cricket club.

Any arguments on that one???

 

[hawksrule111]

I also forgot to add that there are now approx 35,000+ members with an allocation of only 20-25k seats. So many members do miss out, considering they all sold out within 2 ½ hrs on Monday (silver members don’t have a hope in hell) Value in that????

 

[ezbian]

Disagree

For starters an AFL member is $395 while a silver membership is the same price I think or maybe a little bit less? For an AFL member to attend a finals game it costs $13 while the grand final costs $87. So for me going to three finals games + the grand final it has cost me a total of $521 for the season. I think the MCC is priced around $500 mark and they do not pay to get in unless they reserve a seat. So who has the better value?

Pricing is exactly the same $519 for full MCC membership and $395 + finals for AFL which you say is $520. What value does MCC provide at Telstra Dome? None I thought. So for a cats member who plays 1 home game at the G for the year but many home and away games at the dome AFL clearly provides better value. An MCC member visiting the Dome this year to watch Cats games would have to pay another $100+ to get into the Dome as there MCC membership didn't cover that admission. So who has better value? Maybe the Hawks supporter who doesn't have to leave the G to watch many games. But certainly not the Cats supporter who hardly visits the G. AFL membership is clearly better value for a Geelong supporter and anybody interested in watching games outside of the telstra dome.

As in my other post alot can be said for reserved seating also. I enjoy arriving at the ground just before the bounce knowing I have a great seat. Good luck to those MCC members who will be rising at 4:00am Saturday morning to join the queue for their premium seat.

So really for any of you Cat fans missing out this w/e you can thank the government and AFL commission on that one as the clubs competing would automatically have at least 10,000 seats extra if we didn’t have to share a ground with a cricket club.

I have no idea what you are saying here. Are you intimating that Grand Finals were going to be played at Waverly? How would there be more seats for club members?

 

[ezbian]

I also forgot to add that there are now approx 35,000+ members with an allocation of only 20-25k seats. So many members do miss out, considering they all sold out within 2 ½ hrs on Monday (silver members don’t have a hope in hell) Value in that????

And restricted MCC members will be getting a ticket? Nope just the full members.

You do realize you don't automatically have full privileges the day you join MCC. Again no different to AFL.