The following information is from the 2009 AFL Annual Report
Club Membership
For the ninth consecutive year, AFL clubs secured a record level of total membership, with 586,748 members, an increase of 2 per cent on the previous mark of 574,091 in 2008. One in every 37
Australians was a member of an AFL club in 2009.
Nine of the 16 AFL clubs posted a year-on-year increase in membership, highlighted by an increase of 26.7 per cent for Hawthorn and 20 per cent for Richmond. The Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Collingwood, Melbourne and St Kilda all enjoyed membership growth of more than fi ve per cent.
Twelve of the 16 AFL clubs – Adelaide, Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fremantle, the Geelong Cats, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Richmond, St Kilda and the West Coast Eagles had
a membership base of more than 30,000. Hawthorn became the fi rst Victorian-based club to sign more than 50,000 members, with a final total of 52,496.
AFL Membership
AFL Membership grew in 2009, reaching a total of 51,740. The breakdown of membership included 29,827 full members, 19,431 silver members and 2482 absentee memberships. Some 41,882 AFL Members were club support members, representing 7.4 per cent of the total club membership nationally.
Membership Shared Services
The AFL continued to provide membership administrative support and guidance to clubs through the AFL Membership Shared Service Program. In 2009, seven clubs (Melbourne, North
Melbourne, St Kilda, the Western Bulldogs, Collingwood, the Geelong Cats and Hawthorn) utilised the service with positive outcomes. Collingwood, the Geelong Cats and Hawthorn joined
the shared service program this year. Carlton has joined the program for 2010, bringing the number of members being supported by this initiative to around 300,000
