A fascinating question

[sbagman]

OK, well maybe its not fascinating but anyway...

On the topic of support, who has the most supporters, etc etc (not talking about members here), it was mentioned by Dan that because Essendon have heaps of kids following the bombers at the moment, it will translate into heaps of members (or at least adult supporters) down the track. He used the analogy of teams in previous decades in the same position.

My question is: is this a false assumption? I believe it IS false, because I think the culture of the day and the culture of football has changed. I think going to the football is seen now as "entertainment", competing with movies, other sports, etc etc for the dollar; rather than what it used to be, which was basically tribal.... you have one footy team, and that's it.

What do you guys think? I haven't lived in Melbourne for a while, so I could be out of touch with it. Dan, any stats on the fluctuations of crowds over the years? Do they fluctuate more now compared with, say, 30 years ago?

Cheers,
Sbagman.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

I think that's what the morons on the AFL commission would like to believe, that there is thousands of theatre-goers who will attend any match so long as it's comfortable and they have a TV on their seat.

Personally, I've seen very little evidence of this. I think I've been to 3 or 4 games in the past 5 years that haven't involved Hawthorn, and all were when the Hawks were playing on another day.

I'll watch other teams play on TV, but I won't bother going usually unless it's Hawthorn.

I think Dan is correct. One of the contributing factors to Hawthorn's rise in membership is people who grew up in the 80's are now beginning to buy memberships themselves. You have one team, you support them and the others can do what they like.