Marketing of memberships

[Corso_Pete]

No doubt they're a section of the Northern Beaches, but I suspect a minority.

And little wonder the majority don't want to avail themselves of what you state is the only thing going for the membership packages.

But you talk of "buses" ie more than 1. Sureley you don't believe that the majority of the supporters have travelled some considerable distance from the outlying suburbs to Brookvale, to get on a bus to take them back from near whence the journey started, returned on said buses all the ay back to Brookvale, which is when you saw them and then relied presumably on public transport to return beyond the boundaries of the Northern Beaches to their places of residence in the Western Suburbs.

You have stated many a fanciful comment within these pages but can you show evidence that the majority of the supporters on these buses are not from the Northern Beaches. Without evidence your comment is no more than another ill informed comment about Manly supporters.

 

[Matabele]

No, read it again. I am saying they are from the Northern Beaches. Are you aware that 15% of the North Shore is still Housing Commission?

That leaves the 85% which is the majority of the North Shore demographic that I fear the club is not properly targetting or presenting a suitable face to.

Thanks for making my point for me.

 

[Corso_Pete]

No, read it again. I am saying they are from the Northern Beaches. Are you aware that 15% of the North Shore is still Housing Commission?

That leaves the 85% which is the majority of the North Shore demographic that I fear the club is not properly targetting or presenting a suitable face to.

Thanks for making my point for me.

North Shore is not Northern Beaches

 

[Fluffy]

not stalking mata - just a educated guess.

Hopium has finished college of law and is completing her work experience component - should be finished sometime in September and admitted late this year, whenever the next ceremony is.

She currently is working 3 days per week for one centre which gives cheap (in legal terms) advice to youth and should be starting soon 2 days a week in an government division that looks after a area to do with aboriginals (i cant remember exactly what department) - might interest you a little i guess.

 

[Matabele]

[quote author=Matabele]
No, read it again. I am saying they are from the Northern Beaches. Are you aware that 15% of the North Shore is still Housing Commission?

That leaves the 85% which is the majority of the North Shore demographic that I fear the club is not properly targetting or presenting a suitable face to.

Thanks for making my point for me.

North Shore is not Northern Beaches

[/quote]

Corso Pete, I am working on a daily basis with the Department of Housing. 15% of the Northern Beaches is Housing Commission. If you want I could ask my contacts for numbers of houses and addresses etc.

So where does your expertise on the subject come from?

 

[clontaago]

Even then in afl you are not seen to support a team unless you are a member - league is different.

Sorry Fluffy but thats a load of crap. A lot of my friends and myself arent members and no one has ever questioned our support.

On the attendance side of things, I can tell you one simple reason why AFL attendances are higher than league.

Mata and I were discussing this on Sunday. The MCG and Telstra Dome, where the majority of all Melbourne AFL games are played (Geelong and Carlton are the only teams who's home ground isnt either TD or MCG), are both smack bang in the middle of town and are walking distance from most city fringe suburbs. Their are trams running straight to the gates.

The placement of these stadiums, which are both now state of the art facilities, is nothing short of briliant. You have one on the eastern fringe of the CBD and one on the Western Fringe. Both stadiums are on the city loop train line.

 

[DSM5]

I agree with all the comments. As a member coming from the inner city there's nothing much to grab my heart other than the 'they've always been my team' thing. The events at the club after the home games are dreary and dull, the stall selling club membership is hidden under the concrete stand, there's no-bodies walking the ground selling the concept. There's no discount on ticket prices, a free coke/beer etc. A free cap? I don't wear caps. If I lived a Brookie I'd take the bus.

 

[PJ]

comparing the afl with league is not the same.

Melbourne worst average crowd would be better than the broncos (leagues best)
I think the funds available are obviously constricting but there are a few changes that could help.

The easiest one having already been stated - after match function to be members only.

But apart from using our players as marketers there isnt much that can be done without funding input.

At 2000 members paying 80 bucks each its only 160K - hence the budget has to be less than that (including all caps, busses, posters etc)

and mata if your scared to ride the bus maybe you mummy could hold your hand

I don't have the time to look up the facts but I would disagree with this...I'd say the likes of Geelong, the Kangaroos and maybe even my team the Western Bulldogs would be possibly lower than the Broncos and maybe a few other league teams. The Kangaroos moved alot of their home games to Canberra where they struggle to get 15,000!

 

[clontaago]

Things like this dont do any harm for the AFL either.

$55m boost for venues
10:52:56 AM Wed 7 June, 2006
Ashley Browne
Exclusive to afl.com.au
Victorian-based AFL clubs will soon boast modern and up-to-date facilities to match those of non-Victorian clubs, and they will be made available to community groups and the general public, as part of a $55 million funding project announced by the AFL and the Victorian government on Wednesday.

The project will mean major overhauls of much-loved former AFL match venues that are now club training and administrative bases including MC Labour Park (formerly Princes Park), Punt Road Oval, Moorabbin, Windy Hill, Arden Street , Victoria Park and Waverley Park.

The AFL will commit $10.3 million over the next three years to the project, with the state government adding $14 million. The seven affected AFL clubs (Carlton, Richmond, St Kilda, Essendon, the Kangaroos, Collingwood and Hawthorn) will commit $15 million between them as will the various local councils.

Speaking at the project launch at Punt Road on Wednesday, AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said it was a landmark day for the Victorian AFL clubs and the community at large.

"There’s no argument the club facilities needed attention. The Victorian AFL Club Facilities Funding Program initiatives announced today will go a long way to ensuring Victorian clubs keep pace with the advances made by clubs interstate," he said.


"It will mean that the improved facilities are more open to community organisations and that the daily connection between the clubs and their diverse local communities is strengthened.

"It is a win for AFL clubs and a win for the wider community who will use the facilities or benefit from those that do. This funding is an investment and one that will provide a significant return to the community," Demetriou said.

Several of the one-time AFL venues will undergo significant redevelopment as part of the project. Among the grandstands that will disappear include:

- the Pratt and Gardiner stands at MC Labour Park
- the Richmond Social Club stand at Punt Road
- both grandstands at Moorabbin
- the upper level of the Rush Stand at Victoria Park

Other grandstands such as the Cookson Stand at Windy Hill, the Heroes and Harris stands at MC Labour Park, the Jack Dyer Stand at Punt Road and the Ryder and Sherrin stands at Victoria Park will all undergo major refurbishment.

St Kilda will get an entirely new facility at Moorabbin with a new training complex to be built where the grandstands currently sit, while a new social club and merchandising outlet will be nearby facing the busy South Road.

Victorian premier Steve Bracks welcomed the creation of new "community assets".

"These are assets which have been built up for the national competition over a long period of time and, of course, if we don't take action now, we can see that they will deteriorate and this is a great opportunity not just to upgrade those facilities … but also to ensure we have greater community access.

"This is a good opportunity to utilise state resources, council resources and also the resources of the clubs and the AFL to open them up for the community.

"This is a good co-operative partnership and venture that we are entering into."

Wednesday's announcement follows on from work either completed, in progress or in the wings for the three other Victorian-based AFL clubs. Geelong's redevelopment of Skilled Stadium is complete with talk of a further refurbishment already being suggested, the redevelopment of the Western Bulldogs' headquarters at the Whitten Oval now underway and a new sports facility to be built alongside Olympic Park near the MCG with Melbourne as a key tenant.

The redeveloped Skilled Stadium, at which several community groups share facilities with the Geelong Football Club, is regarded as the model for the other AFL training venues going forward.

 

[clontaago]

Average crowd figures for 2005

ATTENDANCE LADDER 2005


Club Total Average

Collingwood 873,223 45,959

Essendon 854,552 44,976

St.Kilda 718,288 37,804

Richmond 714,401 37,600

Carlton 708,143 37,270

Geelong 690,851 36,360

West Coast 686,575 36,135

Melbourne 684,521 36,027

Adelaide 681,944 35,891

Brisbane 653,819 34,411

Hawthorn 634,922 33,416

Sydney 605,373 31,861

Kangaroos 597,185 31,430

Bulldogs 587,309 30,911

Fremantle 568,720 29,932

Port Adelaide 538,936 28,365

 

[Canteen Worker]

We are comparing apples with oranges here. There is no culture of membership in the NRL and the way that membership was set up was really as a one off donation to the club. Most home games last year had 18000 and yet less than 1700 signed up as members. I have lots of mates who will watch the team but won't sign up unless totally committed to the cause or if there is some percieved benefit in doing do - financial or otherwise.

I am not going to argue demographics but would suggest that a lot of the big dollars on the peninsual go to Warringah and Manly Rugby (support and attendance etc) but also that the insular nature of some of the supporter groups (maybe even this little one?) contribute to the lack of members.

 

[Fluffy]

clon - that is what i have heard from ex pat melbournites - i stand corrected if its different

2006 afl crowd averages per venue

Carrara 10,287
Docklands 35,725
Football Park 33,698
Gabba 30,624
Kardinia Park 23,462
M.C.G. 48,290
Manuka Oval 12,232
S.C.G. 31,491
Stadium Australia 37,032
Subiaco 38,502
York Park 14,572

Brisbane average 28,124

So only york, manuka and kardina average less and im not sure if they are in melbourne or not (manuka is canberra i know)

 

[Canteen Worker]

Kardinaia is Geelong! York - never heard of it but think it might be a place in Tasmania where they had a one off game.

 

[Fluffy]

ok had a look

york park is tasmania

Kardinia is in geelong - technically out of melbourne so my statement is correct however if you want to include geelong it would rank as the second highest in league which is really what the point was about.

 

[Ryan]

It's a very simple formula people. Success. On the park. They say The Tigers membership trebled in numbers this year. I guarantee, if Manly won the Premiership, we'd be far and away higher in the membership stakes than we are now. The average person couldn't actually even commit to BEING a member until only a few years ago. What was Manly's success say the prior 5 years to that? Null and void? Why would a young person commit to $80 (in this fickle society) to a team that they have only seen lose?
Additionally, demographic has nothing to do with member numbers. Again, it's (membership numbers) are driven by success.
You have to spend money to make money. We need to suggest we are a community with a like goal (Manly's success) like the "RED and White army of St George". We need someone like Steve Menzies to go onto a free to air network and sell his brand.
We need our leagues club to get involved in marketting itself. It's a real damn shame the place is so much of a hovel. Imagine The leagues club had an outlook like The Diggers !!! I always held hope the two businesses would combine. That's the kind of thing that "draws" youth through the doors. Look at Panthers for example. It provides recognition for a brand.
A lot of it also comes down to perception. Quite frankly, our footy ground isn't up to scratch. I said over at MSE that this is due to our area being dominated by one government, and our local seat needs to become more marginal.
Imagine how many more "opportunities" would venture to a Brookvale oval that had just had a 10 million dollar revamp !!!
In my opinion, our brand is old, and tattered at the edges. I also think with a bit of money, and good marketting, the skies the limits. All of this will only happen if one thing occurs:-

Success on the park.

 

[Matabele]

Carlton only drew 18000 to the Telstra Dome last Sunday.

I wonder how the MElbourne Teams AVERAGE at some of those venues?

 

[Fluffy]

ryan i had a look and panthers last sunday and the spectators from the ground certainly were not heading there from what i could see - id say panthers leagues success is due to demographic and geographic reasons. The culture out west is more for leagues clubs rather than dance clubs

 

[Matabele]

Why then does our club market itself as though it's based in Penrif?

 

[Fluffy]

you will have to ask the leagues club about that

i dont know how you can market football as metrosexual surfie anyway

 

[Chip and Chase]

It's no good comparing our membership numbers with AFL clubs, it's totally irrelavant. AFL supporters are freaks, it's much more of a captive market in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

How do we stack up with the rest of the NRL clubs in terms of memberships ? Does anyone have any figures on memberships for the rest of the NRL clubs. Be interested to see where we sit on that scale.

Also be intrested to see what the membership numbers for the Swans and Brisbane Lions are, and also what pecentage of those members are old school South Melbourne and Fitzroy fans still based in Melbourne.

I think the club is at least heading in the right direction with the membership drive, but there isn't really a culture of football club membership in the NRL so it will take a bit of time. But still, it's something else to complain about whilst the team are travelling alright on the park ATM.