- May 23, 2016
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I'm a West Australian whose lived in Melbourne for 3 years, and I've often wondered just how much of a correlation there is between where a club is based and where there supporters are, if at all. Nowadays it seems pretty random, but living in Footscray it really does seem a lot of Bulldogs supporters still live in the West. In Perth, I'm not sure about the WAFL since most teams are based in Fremantle, Perth and the Western suburbs (there's Peel and Swan Districts, West Perth used to play some games in Joondalup in the far north, no idea about now), but support for the WAFL among the masses declined a lot with the WCE and Dockers. There's this idea more Docker fans are south of the Swan River, and Eagles are north, but I haven't noticed a correlation.
Anyway, since people have moved around so much, people tend not to have a 'local club' so much, but do you notice that say, more Saints fans live in the South/Bayside suburbs, Bulldogs fans in the West, Essendon/Carlton in the North, Hawthorn and Richmond in the East? Most clubs were established when Melbourne was a much smaller city geographically, so now the vast majority of supporters live in the suburbs far away from these inner areas anyway. Like one couldn't really draw 'watersheds' for each club, since many would overlap, and many are basically next to each other. Collingwood supporters seem pretty much spread everywhere, although some might argue they're thicker in the more 'bogan' areas. Do some clubs still have certain associations? Like Carlton with Italians, Collingwood as the 'feral' club, St. Kilda and Hawthorn as sort of toffy, Richmond and Footscray as working class. It just seems to me if you're a Victorian whatever club you support is random or based on a personal connection.
Probably already know the answer but just thought it was an interesting topic to discuss. I'm wondering if there've been any studies plotting the addresses of members of each club though? Like if one looked at Western Bulldogs memberships, if they'd be significantly more common in the western suburbs.
Anyway, since people have moved around so much, people tend not to have a 'local club' so much, but do you notice that say, more Saints fans live in the South/Bayside suburbs, Bulldogs fans in the West, Essendon/Carlton in the North, Hawthorn and Richmond in the East? Most clubs were established when Melbourne was a much smaller city geographically, so now the vast majority of supporters live in the suburbs far away from these inner areas anyway. Like one couldn't really draw 'watersheds' for each club, since many would overlap, and many are basically next to each other. Collingwood supporters seem pretty much spread everywhere, although some might argue they're thicker in the more 'bogan' areas. Do some clubs still have certain associations? Like Carlton with Italians, Collingwood as the 'feral' club, St. Kilda and Hawthorn as sort of toffy, Richmond and Footscray as working class. It just seems to me if you're a Victorian whatever club you support is random or based on a personal connection.
Probably already know the answer but just thought it was an interesting topic to discuss. I'm wondering if there've been any studies plotting the addresses of members of each club though? Like if one looked at Western Bulldogs memberships, if they'd be significantly more common in the western suburbs.
, i wasn't sure how to link it showing the graphic, otherwise the link without the graphic showing would have lost impact.
