Exploring potential reasons Richmond has surpassed all AFL clubs in popularity.

[Bill Haverchuck]

Tygrys has nailed it , only vaid explanation why a club can have 2 finals appearances in 30 years and not lose signifigant support...

Can only imagine how many kids have picked us over the last 7 or so years , if people think we are big now they aint seen nothing..

 

[Dr Tigris]

The finals campaigns albeit unsuccessful ones were a step up from a barren period that we failed to qualify year in year out for 11 straight ,,,,they were the making of us

We took a few years to learn from those finals. When we did we transformed how winning footy is played. And we're the only one playing that way - so far.

 

[Wooden Robot]

Tygrys has nailed it , only vaid explanation why a club can have 2 finals appearances in 30 years and not lose signifigant support...

Can only imagine how many kids have picked us over the last 7 or so years , if people think we are big now they aint seen nothing..

Depends how you define support?
Membership in the early 90s was down around 10,000 and you could swing a cat at games.
I would say ithere was also a fair degree of latent support.

 

[This Is Anfield]

In some ways I reckon the 35 years of crap are really important. Our fans stayed on and the depth of passion grew if anything. That translated to an explosion of support when we became successful. One key thing is, IMHO, we never had a sugar daddy. tigers fans had ot do ti themselves. So we got closer to the club, and felt more a part of it. Carlton and Melbourne had rich dudes to rely on, so the supporters lack that same intensity

Not only them but their kids, generally, also stayed on.
Even when we were down I noticed heaps of kids at our games, shitloads of them now.
My son is a case in point, born in 1999 and the day he was born he got the Richmond Bear that played the theme song when you squeezed it's paw... for the first dozen years I expected to be arrested for child abuse!
He never wavered and is now reaping the rewards, as am I. Sharing our success with your family is the best.

 

[eipuorg_]

carltoon fan base has very little young supporters

 

[Tygrys]

carltoon fan base has very little young supporters

North Melbourne as well, their lack of young supporters at games has been noted with concern by a number of posters on their forum.

 

[Ralll]

Yep...bandwagon.
A lot will drop off when we have sustained failure again. We have always been one of the big 4, and football teams are traditionally handed down to the kids, so we were always going to bounce back again when we finally tasted success again. It happens in cycles.

My opinion hasn't changed as to who the champions of this era of success is, Benny, Peggy, the board, and probably the previous board who finally recruited and accepted the right kind of people into the football club.

 

[THE THIN MAN]

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

Tom Hafey and his GF Teams playing at the G...is what stands out for me....
Then rinse and repeat with our current GF Teams and the Board...
100,000 plus members for 3 maybe more years to come says the Sleeping Giant of the AFL has finally stirred into action...
Awesome...

 

[Not Important]

fairly simple, get the right people in place off-field and the rest follows.

 

[HTT]

Lots of parents passing down stories of past success. It’s pretty easy to sell a team that wears yellow and black called the tigers. Then cult hero Richo and gradually coming to identify with failure bridges the gap.

 

[tora tora tora]

fairly simple, get the right people in place off-field and the rest follows.

Simple? If you think string theory is simple. I see football success as insanely difficult. Gale's 5 year plan was looking like a massive egg on face scenario. Peggy was a good call. Steady at Board level, finances started coming good. Dimma was on the brink of getting sacked. Yes we made final but couldn't win & our football in 2016 was horrid. 2017 with Balme & Blake to the club was pivotal. Prestia, Nank & Caddy were gold recruits. The well documented change in philosophy of coach & captain a great game plan evolved through lack of tall forwards. 37 years it took to get the pieces in place.

 

[brett15]

I think some people really underrate this as a reason for the size of the supporter base. Certainly it has cultural significance for people of non-European background, but it's also really significant for caucasian Australian's. Simply put we have is at very worst the equal best club colours in the AFL (Essendon's black and red would be our only rival). Also Richmond has arguably the best nickname/mascot in the AFL in the Tiger and the only one along with Collingwood where the club colours actually correspond with the animal/object that the club is associated with. This translates brilliantly into clothing, into toys, into merchandise in a way it does for almost no other club.

I speak from experience my parents coming from Europe and having no affinity with Australian football. What did it for me when I was extremely young was the 'Tiger'. It was the most colourful, ferocious and attractive animal and I chose it on that basis. It's an amazing advantage in recruiting kids from one generation to the next, of all backgrounds who have no family associations with other clubs. And also give some credit to the club song as well, it also sells the club in a way that no other club song does.

I've long thought along this line, the club's colours, jumper and mascot just stand out. I have my room decorated with stuffed Tigers that wear Richmond beanies and my young nephews and nieces keep trying to pinch them when they visit lol

Agree with comments about Essendon, as a kid I always found Rich vs Ess to be tantalising watching the yellow sash play their red sash

 

[Not Important]

Simple? If you think string theory is simple. I see football success as insanely difficult. Gale's 5 year plan was looking like a massive egg on face scenario. Peggy was a good call. Steady at Board level, finances started coming good. Dimma was on the brink of getting sacked. Yes we made final but couldn't win & our football in 2016 was horrid. 2017 with Balme & Blake to the club was pivotal. Prestia, Nank & Caddy were gold recruits. The well documented change in philosophy of coach & captain a great game plan evolved through lack of tall forwards. 37 years it took to get the pieces in place.

not suggesting it's easy to accomplish. but the principle is simple.

 

[Tygrys]

I've long thought along this line, the club's colours, jumper and mascot just stand out. I have my room decorated with stuffed Tigers that wear Richmond beanies and my young nephews and nieces keep trying to pinch them when they visit lol

Agree with comments about Essendon, as a kid I always found Rich vs Ess to be tantalising watching the yellow sash play their red sash

I was reading the St Kilda membership thread and I came across this interesting comment from one rather saddened saints supporter about a recent experience he had with his daughter.

'Not going to bother with my daughter for now. Having never watched an AFL game in her life, she walked into the AFL shop at Chaddie for 10 minutes over Christmas and walked out a Tigers supporter. There was Richmond $#!+ everywhere, couldn't be helped. Maybe if she sees our girls in action enough she'll change her tune.'

No doubt, we have a lot of stuff at Chadstone, at Southland, at Eastland and so on. But I'd still argue it's more about what that stuff actually is as opposed to how much of it. All the Vic clubs have enough merchandise at AFL shops to literally bankrupt you if let your kid have free reign. She chose the tigers and the reasons I think are pretty obvious (and yes success and being very high profile certainly helps)

And just in case anyone is wondering, yes according to some St Kilda posters (including a very prominent one named George) St Kilda do indeed continue to have as many supporters as Richmond (minus of course one little girl who recently visited Chadstone), their 40,000 members having apparently settled the matter

 

[Soberian Tiger]

I was reading the St Kilda membership thread and I came across this interesting comment from one rather saddened saints supporter about a recent experience he had with his daughter.

'Not going to bother with my daughter for now. Having never watched an AFL game in her life, she walked into the AFL shop at Chaddie for 10 minutes over Christmas and walked out a Tigers supporter. There was Richmond $#!+ everywhere, couldn't be helped. Maybe if she sees our girls in action enough she'll change her tune.'

No doubt, we have a lot of stuff at Chadstone, at Southland, at Eastland and so on. But I'd still argue it's more about what that stuff actually is as opposed to how much of it. All the Vic clubs have enough merchandise at AFL shops to literally bankrupt you if let your kid have free reign. She chose the tigers and the reasons I think are pretty obvious (and yes success and being very high profile certainly helps)

And just in case anyone is wondering, yes according to some St Kilda posters (including a very prominent one named George) St Kilda do indeed continue to have as many supporters as Richmond (minus of course one little girl who recently visited Chadstone), their 40,000 members having apparently settled the matter

Last year, I bought two pairs of St Kilda hologrammed sunglasses for work, costing a grand total of $3.00 (at least 95% off). It's not just a matter of having merchandise supply in shops. You need demand too. Otherwise...

 

[tigs2010]

carltoon fan base has very little young supporters

All part of the Carlton crew and killed each other before they had kids.