Rank the AFL clubs' support in your city

[Mr Ripper]

This topic was sort-of touched on in the 'Bye Bye Kangas' thread: How would you rank AFL clubs' supporter bases in your city? It's the 'out of town' teams, specifically Vic teams interstate that i'm particularly curious about.

Any ol' how...this is my guesstimate of the Melbourne rankings:

1. Collingwood
2. Essendon
3. Carlton
4. Richmond
5. St. Kilda
6. Geelong
7. Hawthorn
8. Melbourne
9. Dogs
10. Kangas
11. Sydney
12. Brissie Lions
13. Adelaide
14. Port
15. Weagles
16. Dockers

 

[Richmondfan#1]

This is a very hard question from my point of view as most of the news is about the eagles and dockers and RARELY is there a mention of interstate teams. So really, this is a huge guess.

1. Eagles
2. Dockers
3. Essendon
4. Geelong
5. Collingwood
6. Brisbane
7. Carlton
8. Sydney (i have quite a few friends from Sydney who love the swans)
9. Richmond
10. Adelaide
11. Roos
12. St.Kilda
13. Melbourne
14. Hawthorn
15. Port Adelaide
16. Bulldogs

I guess it all depends on where abouts in the state you are living in. I'm in Perth, north of the river. Oh, yep. Richmond are stuck in 9th place again.

 

[Mr Ripper]

That's interesting Rf1, that you've placed Hawthorn so low. My perception from afar would be that the Hawks were one of the more popular Melbourne sides in Perth, along with Carlton and Essendon.

 

[Richmondfan#1]

Yeah i guess i did put Hawthorn a bit too low and Carlton. Essendon and Geelong are the 2 Vic teams that i believe have the biggest supporter base. Just walking into shops, i see people with Essendon hats and jackets on. Same with Carlton. I see alot of Caaaaarlton number plates.

[This message has been edited by Richmondfan#1 (edited 03 December 2000).]

 

[Mags]

IM Going To Do Mine As Sydney! Coz I Lived There Longer Then Melb! And Know Abot More!

1.Sydney
2.Collingwood - It Is Always SoldOut For This Match Or Close To It
3.Essendon
4.Richmond - Have A Very Strong Following Up There
5.Melbourne - There Are Always Alot Of Them There
6.Western Bulldogs
7.Carlton - I really dont know about them havent played in sydney for a while
8.Hawthorn
9.Geelong
10.St Kilda
11.Brisbane

The Rest They Just Dont Give A Shit About With The Roos Very Last Coz They Hate them up there.

[This message has been edited by Mags (edited 03 December 2000).]

 

[sandie]

OK this is my estimate, I do spend a lot of time with footy people over here & know most of the supporter groups, so I think this is pretty close.
1. Eagles
2. Dockers
3. Essendon
4. Collingwood
5. Carlton, hard to split 4 & 5
6. Geelong, surprisingly they have quite a
big following here
7. Melbourne
8. St Kilda, don't laugh it's true
9. Hawthorn
10.Richmnond
11.Roos
12.Doggies
The rest you can raffle, not a lot of interest for the 4 interstate clubs, maybe Crows a little ahead, but mainly the interstate clubs are only supported by eagles & dockers when they are playing a Vic team.
Cheers

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mantis

 

[Dan26]

Living in Melbourne.

1.) Essendon

2.) DAYLIGHT

2a.) Collingwood

3.) Carlton (not as many turn up to games as Richmond)

4.) Richmond (more of their supporters attend games than the Blues)

5.) Geelong

These are the big 5. Not surprisingly, they are the only 5 clubs that have won more than 50% of their games since the league began in 1897

6.) Hawthorn - they have more than the Saints. Just look at their attendances. 9 premierships, all in the modern era helps, of course.

7.) St.Kilda - the DO havce a large following, but it is often overstated.

8.) Melbourne

9.) Bulldogs

10.) Kangaroos- but it is growing

Numbers 11 through to 16 are obviously the non-victorian teams

11.) Sydney - primarily old South Melbourne.

12.) Brisbane - Old Fitzroy fans

13.) Adelaide

14.) West Coast

15.) Port

16.) Fremantle

 

[Donkey Kong]

Essendon may be a large club but they do not monopolize the entire region of Victoria. In metro-melbourne maybe, but there are hardly any Bomber fans down the country (mainly Geelong/Richmond or oddly St.Kilda) or the coastline (St.Kilda/Melbourne) - i would say the Western Bulldogs have the least number of fans in Melbourne.

 

[Roylion]

I mostly agree with your rankings Dan, except I would rank the Western Bulldogs above Melbourne and Richmond above Carlton. I'd also have to disagree with your comment on 'Daylight' between Essendon and Collingwood.

Essendon have approx. 34,000 members, Collingwood have approx. 29,000, at a time where they have had very little success in the past decade. I think any comparision of support in Melbourne between the two clubs is closer than you think.

 

[Rob]

Other than the Eagles and Dockers, i'd put the other clubs in Perth in this order:

Essendon/Collingwood
Hawthorn/Carlton
Geelong
A pretty big gap
Adelaide
Sydney
Melbourne
Brisbane
St Kilda
Richmond
Roos
Port Adelaide
Bulldogs

It pretty much follows the general trend of support across the country. The exceptions seem to be Port (which is understandable given they haven't had much time to build supporters clubs outside SA), Hawthorn (who have a lot of fans in WA, possibly due to a string WA connection when the Eagles came in) and Richmond (who don't really have much support comparatively here).

 

[Crow54]

I wouldn't really have a clue about this, but I do know when I went to Sydney to watch the Crows, I couldn't believe how many people there were dressed in Crows colours, and after the match, when we walked back through the city, every second person cheered when we told them the Crows had won the match.

We also have a pretty big supporter base in Melbourne, so I'm surprised you all put the Crows so low down in your lists. he he

 

[gocatsgo]

Agreed Dan, Essendon are NOW well ahead of Collingwood in Melbourne.

And Mags, I'd have a look at the Geelong estimate in Sydney, remember 3 of the 4 highest crowds ever at the SCG to watch football were for Sydney v Geelong matches, including the top 2, round 14 1996 - more than 45,000 people and the all time record round 22 1997, more than 46,500 people.

The only other game that has gone close to Syndey v Geelong matches was when Plugger kicked the record against Collingwood. All of these matches have higher attendances than the finals played recently in Sydney

Anyway, here's the Geelong estimate.

1)Geelong
DAYLIGHT
STILL DAYLIGHT
.........
2)Essendon
3)Collingwood
4)Carlton
5)Hawthorn - Yes there are a lot of Hawks in Geelong, usually about 20-25 years of age - 80s dominance attracted the kids obviously
6)Richmond
7)Bulldogs - Western Suburbs has them higher up than in other areas
8)Sydney - A bit higher than most would expect, huge South following
9)StKilda
10)Melbourne
11)North Melbourne - Do they have any non Victorian supporters?
12)West Coast
13)Brisbane
14)Adelaide
15)Port Adelaide
16)Fremantle - I know of 1 supporter in Geelong, pretty close to the total I would suspect

[This message has been edited by gocatsgo (edited 03 December 2000).]

 

[CrowsOK]

In Adelaide:

1. Crows
bulk daylight
2. Power
daylight
3. Sydney, West Coast, Essendon, Pies
4. Brisbane, Freo
5. others.

Many SANFL clubs would come in at position
2.5 on this scale.

 

[ptw]

where I live....

Port (me, my daughter and son...although they have had no say in it to date)

Collingwood (a guy at work and my neighbour)

Crows (my wife)

all other clubs....zero....including Essendon.

ptw

 

[Mags]

Yeh I Know GCG,
Think i did put the low!
Coz when they played the roos at the scg i remember seeing more cats fans there!

 

[Dan26]

Roylion,

I "sort of" agree with you, when you say Richmond have more supporters than Carlton here in Melbourne. But I don't agree totaly.

The Tigers CERTAINLY get bigger crowds at their games than the Blues, so in that respect you are correct. However, official stats would show that there are more Carlton supporters in Victoria than Richmond; There HAS to be. The Blues have won 16 flags with a 62% all-time win ratio, while the Tigers have won 10 flags (having had no success for 20 years) with a 52% all-time ratio.

I believe Richmonds more marketable colours and logo (tigers - how many kids want to barrack for a team called the Blues?) contribute to Richmond coming closer to the Blues. But surely, the Blues MUST have more.

 

[TigerTank]

Originally posted by Dan24:
Living in Melbourne.

1.) Essendon

2.) DAYLIGHT

2a.) Collingwood

WRONG!!

According to the Morgan-Gallup Poll Collingwood is more popular than Essendon in Victoria, even though Essendon is more popular than Collingwood nationally.

But, then we'd hate to let the facts get in the road of a good story, wouldn't we.

I have no agenda in pointing this out - I actually prefer Essendon to Collingwood.


PS. You might try at least disguising your bias, because it damages your credibility. Like most here I am biased too, but I try my best to hide the fact sometimes!

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TT

 

[TigerTank]

Damn24,

You are right in your call on Carlton being more popular than Richmond in Victoria. Your reasoning is probably right too.

Actually, if you weren't so "Essendon-blinkered" all the time, you'd probably be right more often than not, I'd expect!




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TT

 

[dees01]

1. Essendon (every second school kid barracks for them)
2. Collingwood
3. Richmond (by far the loudest. Alot there when the team is firing)
4. Carlton (still draw big crowds for the big games)
5. Geelong (nearly the whole town of Geelong barracks for them as well as alot of supporters living in Melbourne)
6. St.Kilda (in 97 and 98 they drew very good crowds.)
7. Melbourne (would have to be one of the biggets bandwagon supported teams. If we are on our way to the finals we have big crowds in August and September as shown by crowds in 98 and 2000.)
8. Hawthorn (crowd figures don't seem to match attendances)
9. Bulldogs (alot of support in the west but once again have fairly low attendances.
10. Kangaroos (12,000 people to a game against Fremantle. That said, they do have good membership figures.)

 

[Mobbs]

Wimmera region of Victoria

Don Kong reckoned on some of country Victoria's support, I reckon he's probably quoting from Gippy, Goulburn Valley or Western District, 'cause his figures differ greatly from mine.

I come from the Wimmera, originally a small town of around 50-100 called Marnoo. These figures are from the mid-late 80's :

Essendon - approx 45%
Collingwood - approx 20%
Richmond - approx 15%
Carlton - approx 10%
The stragglers consisted of about 1,2 or 3 supporters each. Hawthorn may have had a few.

I went to High School in Stawell during the 80s, and in June 1986 I conducted a personal census of support orientation, of over 500 students, who also quoted their parents and local relations' orientation.

I just dug out the results ten minutes ago (hoarding becomes me) :

Total supporters (in order of most to least) :
Collingwood 115
Essendon 104
Richmond 65
Carlton 54
Geelong 46
North Melbourne 44
Hawthorn 43
Saint Kilda 12
Sydney Swans 10
Fitzroy 21
Footscray 17
Melbourne 10

For males, the order is :
Collingwood 77
Essendon 75
Richmond 54
Hawthorn 39
Carlton/Geelong equal 30
North Melbourne 29
Fitzroy 15
Footscray 14
Saint Kilda 9
Sydney/Melbourne equal 6

For females, the order is :
Collingwood 38
Essendon 29
Carlton 24
Geelong 16
North Melbourne 15
Richmond 11
Fitzroy 6
Hawthorn/Sydney/Melbourne equal 4
Saint Kilda/Footscray equal 3

The figures might be adulterated due to asking mainly kids my own age, and also because a 5 or 6 names on the census might not have been Wimmera residents. Of course, the figures are also 15 years out of date. But that was the way it was in '86.

 

[Dan26]

Tiger-Tank,

Essendon have more support in Victoria than the Pies. The annual Herald-Sun survey showed that 19% of Victorians barrack for the Bombers and 14% for the Pies. Even if this was wrong, that masive 5% difference is too huge. Even if the Bombers dropped from 19% to 17% and the Pies rose from 14% to 16%, we'd still be ahead !!!!!!

Attendances, memberships, surveys, young supporters, observational accounts; Essendon are simply more popular IN VICTORIA than Collingwood.

 

[Westy Boy]

Originally posted by Dan24:

The annual Herald-Sun survey showed that 19% of Victorians barrack for the Bombers and 14% for the Pies. Even if this was wrong, that masive 5% difference is too huge.

That wouldn't be the survey in the middle of the Saturday Herald Sun would it? The one that everyone I know always forgets to get around to? The one which fails to disclose the amount of replies received, indicacting that really only about (estimating) 500 people reply, meaning the huge 5% would amount to about 25 people. Is that the one?

 

[CJH]

I found the Roy Morgan article dealing with this. Some of the results are surprising.
http://www.roymorgan.com.au/polls/2000/3324/

• Sydney Swans have the greatest amount of support on a national basis.
• As suggested by Tiger Tank, Collingwood is the strongest club supporter wise in Victoria with and estimated 457,000 members as opposed to 455,000 Essendon.
• At a national level, Essendon have greater support than Collingwood. (715,000 vs 673,000).
• Essendon trail Sydney, West Coast, Brisbane and Adelaide in nationwide support.
• The teams from the 'non-AFL' states come in 1 and 3 respectively. This is another reason why 2 clubs should move to Queensland (Southport) and NSW (Homebush or Canberra (I know Canberra is not in NSW!)
• The Melbourne Demons have the lowest number of supporters, but have the highest percentage of supporters earning over $100K per annum. (This is confirmation of the Range Rover / Tweed Jacket / Snow Season stereotype.
  
  )
• The Western Bulldogs have the second lowest number of supporters and the lowest mean income amongst these supporters. Hmmm, how does the Southport Bulldogs sound.
  
  (Sorry, just being facetious!)

Read the article, it really is quite interesting.

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This is a hallucination and these faces are in a dream. A computer generated environment; a fantasy island you can do anything and not have to face the consequences.

 

[Dan26]

Westy,

Oh, the most widely circulated paper in Melbourne only has 500 replies does it? What a load of crap !!!

If a million copies get sold, 5% of this would be 50,000.

Even if the circulation id only 100,000, this still equates to 5,000.

Anyway, what are you trying to say? Are you disputing Essendon's popularity? It's hardly a controversial statement to say that Essendon is Victorias most popular club.

 

[TigerTank]

Originally posted by Dan24:
Tiger-Tank,

Essendon have more support in Victoria than the Pies. The annual Herald-Sun survey showed that 19% of Victorians barrack for the Bombers and 14% for the Pies.

Damn24,

As the ever-reliable Westy Boy points out, the Herald-Sun survey is NOT accurate. It only measures what Herald-Sun readers who bother to return a survey on a certain day think.

It is inaccurate because:

1) Herald Sun readership does not necessarily represent a legitimate cross-section of the Victorian population, particularly on a Saturday.

2) The result fluctuates wildly every year.

3) Because it is only conducted on one weekend it is effected by events happening on that weekend. For example, if Collingwood got walloped on that weekend it would artificially lower the result.

4) The sample size is not quoted. It may (as Westy Boy highlighted) be as low as 500. That means a plus or minus of around 6% anyway.

5) A great many people may support a team but have better things to do with their time than fill out a survey.

AT BEST, the Herald Sun survey is only useful as a guide.

ON THE OTHER HAND.

1) The Morgan Gallup Poll is arguable Australia's most accurate political forecaster.

2) The sample size is 15,000 therefore the plus or minus is around 2%.

3) The sample is drawn in correct proportion to population.




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TT