Play Nice Which club has the biggest supporter base? Collingwood, Richmond or West Coast?

[tigs2010]

as I said, not something living Pies fans could know about, but maybe you get complacent about winning at the back end of a dynasty?

probably just the Docklands thing though.

Docklands with no trains.

Watched it with the heater on at home same as I did for the Pies embarrassing performance my wife was watching earlier. Was no less enjoyable

 

[JayJ20]

Odd year to start the count.
Do you have the numbers for, say, the last 5 or 10 years?

In any case, I'd say the answer to the OP is West Coast.

AFL tables starts it from 1997 so I took it from there.
It's a large enough sample size to cover years of success and years of mediocrity for all clubs.

In any case, I'd say the answer to the OP is West Coast.

People get powerful clubs confused with largest clubs.
Currently, the most powerful clubs are West Coast, Richmond and Collingwood (in that order) because they are the financial powerhouses of the competition. West Coast is the most powerful club by a large margin.

West Coast isn't the biggest club in terms of size though. That goes to Collingwood.
Collingwood and Essendon have the biggest national support. Richmond's size, though boosted by premierships, was hurt by a lack of success when the competition went national.

 

[dave10]

I think it's fairly simple.
Collingwood and Essendon have always been the biggest Melbourne clubs since Essendon moved away from Windy Hill in the 90s.
Richmond enjoyed a boost from the premierships, but we're now seeing it return back to how it always was.
If Essendon won a premiership and moved to the MCG, it wouldn't be a debate.

Home attendance average since 1997

Collingwood - 50,000
Essendon - 46,434
Richmond - 42,697

West Coast don't have the national support Essendon and Collingwood have so it's difficult to say who is bigger.

If Essendon has anything like the success of Richmond and played most of its home games at the MCG they’d comfortably exceed the Tigers on membership and attendance.

They’re the closest thing to Collingwood in terms of overall national support.

Essendon's attendances between
2017-9 indicate huge underlying support during a period of mediocre performance, regularly selling out Marvel Stadium and drawing 40,000+ against interstate teams regularly as an important reference point..

When (?) it finally gets it right on field, they will set new records across many metrics of support.

 

[Gavin Excell]

If Essendon has anything like the success of Richmond and played most of its home games at the MCG they’d comfortably exceed the Tigers on membership and attendance.

They’re the closest thing to Collingwood in terms of overall national support.

Essendon's attendances between
2017-9 indicate huge underlying support during a period of mediocre performance, regularly selling out Marvel Stadium and drawing 40,000+ against interstate teams regularly as an important reference point..

When (?) it finally gets it right on field, they will set new records across many metrics of support.

That's interesting take.
When I was a kid in the 70s i always thought Essendon were the 4th banana of the Big 4
Agree theyve pushed up a bit but I still see them that way

 

[JayJ20]

That's interesting take.
When I was a kid in the 70s i always thought Essendon were the 4th banana of the Big 4
Agree theyve pushed up a bit but I still see them that way

A lot has changed since the 70s.
Windy Hill means we've always had the least capacity. We were also not successful in the 70s unlike the other 3 who were playing in grand finals.
It's like comparing Hawthorn and Melbourne in the 70s and believing that things are still the same. Melbourne were much bigger than Hawthorn, but you can confidently say that Hawthorn are the bigger club now.

Success in the 80s and 90s during national expansion and the subsequent move to the MCG in the 90s made Essendon the biggest club by the end of the decade. Essendon have since maintained their status as the second biggest club despite the lack of success. Richmond have caught up somewhat because of their success, but long term average is still in Essendon's favour.

 

[Gavin Excell]

A lot has changed since the 70s.
Windy Hill means we've always had the least capacity. We were also not successful in the 70s unlike the other 3 who were playing in grand finals.
It's like comparing Hawthorn and Melbourne in the 70s and believing that things are still the same. Melbourne were much bigger than Hawthorn, but you can confidently say that Hawthorn are the bigger club now.

Success in the 80s and 90s during national expansion and the subsequent move to the MCG in the 90s made Essendon the biggest club by the end of the decade. Essendon have since maintained their status as the second biggest club despite the lack of success. Richmond have caught up somewhat because of their success, but long term average is still in Essendon's favour.

So you'd have it
Collingwood
Essendon
Richmond
Carlton?

 

[JayJ20]

So you'd have it
Collingwood
Essendon
Richmond
Carlton?

Yep. That's the order of average home attendances.

Though Carlton have more support outside of Victoria than Richmond do, they have less support in Melbourne.

 

[dave10]

That's interesting take.
When I was a kid in the 70s i always thought Essendon were the 4th banana of the Big 4
Agree theyve pushed up a bit but I still see them that way

Things changed in the Sheedy era. The AFL supplied data the club gets indicated they have similar national support to Collingwood.

If you drill down a bit into their attendance and membership data the last 20 years it provides a pretty strong case that only Collingwood commands a larger audience. If you (per se) have a look I think you’d probably arrive at the same conclusion.

 

[dave10]

So you'd have it
Collingwood
Essendon
Richmond
Carlton?

Maybe Carlton slightly ahead of Richmond based on its broader national following.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Things changed in the Sheedy era. The AFL supplied data the club gets indicated they have similar national support to Collingwood.

If you drill down a bit into their attendance and membership data the last 20 years it provides a pretty strong case that only Collingwood commands a larger audience. If you (per se) have a look I think you’d probably arrive at the same conclusion.

Fair enough
Sometimes perceptions are hard to change once formed
There's an argument that Richmond will increase further off the back of recent success. Every second young person seems to support them

 

[bh90210fan]

19,000!

 

[Daka]

19,000 at Marvel is compelling evidence for Richmond.

I would say it has more to do with GWS & the fact that it wasn't at the MCG, the Pies also got a low crowd vs them and that was at the MCG.

 

[Hank Scorpion]

I would say it has more to do with GWS & the fact that it wasn't at the MCG, the Pies also got a low crowd vs them and that was at the MCG.

Games like that are probably a more reliable measure imo. Can be fairly sure you'll get 99% home supporters against GWS or GCS. But even back at Subi, WC never really had much variation in crowd sizes, no matter who the opponent.

Collingwood still have Freo at Docklands to come this year which I'd tip would do worse than last night.

 

[Brunswick Trap King]

I would say it has more to do with GWS & the fact that it wasn't at the MCG, the Pies also got a low crowd vs them and that was at the MCG.

So it's everyone else's fault?

 

[Vaccination]

West Coast isn't the biggest club in terms of size though. That goes to Collingwood.
Collingwood and Essendon have the biggest national support. Richmond's size, though boosted by premierships, was hurt by a lack of success when the competition went national.

While I agree that West Coast probably don't have the support outside of their own state that competes with the big 4 Victorian sides, I disagree with the size statement. The main sport people follow in WA is footy, and the main team is West Coast. Can safely say the majority of Perth supports them, and just about every country town in Western Australia does as well.

 

[DCT88]

If only WC could build a brand new stadium that could fit 100k....
Any plans in the near future for a new stadium?

They had their chance to build a huge stadium but just built a small one instead for around about the same price

 

[What else we can do]

Carlton were the last of the so called big 4 to move out of their suburban ground and up until the mid 90's were considered the second biggest club.

The data suggests from the AFL and the club that slightly they have second biggest national and internationally following club after Collingwood.

Essendon is closer to Carlton but not Collingwood. WCE is a hard one I believe they have the biggest???but the data suggests that they are behind Collingwood, Carlton and Essendon.

 

[Ash1337]

AFL tables starts it from 1997 so I took it from there.
It's a large enough sample size to cover years of success and years of mediocrity for all clubs.


People get powerful clubs confused with largest clubs.
Currently, the most powerful clubs are West Coast, Richmond and Collingwood (in that order) because they are the financial powerhouses of the competition. West Coast is the most powerful club by a large margin.

West Coast isn't the biggest club in terms of size though. That goes to Collingwood.
Collingwood and Essendon have the biggest national support. Richmond's size, though boosted by premierships, was hurt by a lack of success when the competition went national.

Wrong there. WA is a big footy state. Take the 100k of WCE members and x4 it at least. Not even nationally does pies or dons have that.

 

[Scotland]

I would say it has more to do with GWS & the fact that it wasn't at the MCG, the Pies also got a low crowd vs them and that was at the MCG.

Which is why Melbourne clubs aren't on the same level as WC. It's only people in WA and SA that really get it.

We've had two full seasons at Optus Stadium for a lowest crowd of just under 48,000. Last time we played GWS at home we got 27k and attendances were capped at 30k...

11 times a year (12 if you count the few who go to the Freo home derby) our fans go along to watch our team. Whether it's Friday night vs some so called 'big' team or Sunday afternoon (not twilight, no matter how many times the commentators call 2.40pm twilight) the crowds tend to fluctuate about +/-10% from the average.

It's a different world in Melbourne. 9 teams (10 if you count Geelong who play home games in Melbourne and have Melbourne based/travelling away fans), two grounds, anywhere from 4-6 games on a given weekend. People pick and choose which games they want to go based on who is playing, when, where etc. then people get excited when two teams with supposed memberships of 100,000 play a standalone fixture in a stadium that holds 100,000 people on a Friday night and 70,000 turn up.

 

[nut]

you have to ask why WC didn’t build a bigger stadium ....

 

[Papa G]

you have to ask why WC didn’t build a bigger stadium ....

If the AFL gave them an underhanded 32 year peppercorn sweetheart deal to hold the Grand Final there, they just might have.

 

[ROYAL EAGLE]

you have to ask why WC didn’t build a bigger stadium ....

WCE actually wanted bigger ground.
Stupid Langolant report said they would never get $100k members and take 5 year to regularly fill the stadium of 60k
It was stupid report

 

[Scotland]

you have to ask why WC didn’t build a bigger stadium ....

WC didn't build the stadium.

 

[What else we can do]

VB longneck why dont't you post something instead of loling all the time you *.

 

[woosha24]

19,000!

Thats not entirely fair. Last week Vic had that covid scare from the positive bloke who caught the train to the footy. Lot of people probably playing it safe because of that.