2015 AFL Members - Sports Industry AU

The AFL today released its official membership figures for 2015.

In boasting a record membership, the Swans were joined by the Hawks (72,924), the Tigers (70,809), Essendon (60,818), West Coast (60,221), Port Adelaide (54,057), Fremantle (51,433), Geelong (44,312), North Melbourne (41,012) and the Western Bulldogs (35,222).

Expansion clubs Gold Coast (13,643) and Greater Western Sydney (13,480) also experienced natural improvement to record levels, while Melbourne (35,943), St Kilda (32,746) and the Brisbane Lions (25,408) improved on their 2014 figures.

The only teams to suffer drops in membership were Adelaide (52,920), Carlton (47,305) and Collingwood (75,037).

The overall tally, which was compiled after the July 31 deadline, was 836,136 club members nationally, with an overall increase of 31,656.

According to the leagues 2015 Annual Report

AFL club membership continued to break records, reaching a total of 836,136 members nationally. This is a growth of 31,656 members (3.93 per cent) from 2014 and again the highest recorded figure in the game’s history.

Port Adelaide, the Sydney Swans and the Western Bulldogs recorded double-digit growth and all but three clubs – the Adelaide Crows, Carlton and Collingwood – recording increases on their

2014 membership figures. The Sydney Swans have led the clubs in membership growth with a 21.7 per cent rise thanks to a highly successful junior membership engagement program. The

Western Bulldogs were second with an 11.68 per cent increase to 35,222 members and Port Adelaide continued its growth after its move to Adelaide Oval with membership growing to 14,219 members (36 per cent) in just two seasons. Collingwood continues to be the largest-supported club in the competition with a total membership of 75,037, heading a list of eight clubs exceeding 50,000.

The League opted not to pubish a table in the Report indicating AFL members and club support splits, but did say this

AFL Membership posted strong results again in 2015, with a total of 55,301 members. This represented a slight decrease of 2.26 per cent on 2014. AFL Membership again had lower than industry

churn rates of 3.71 per cent for Full members and 9.3 per cent for Silver members.

AFL Membership is made up of 31,017 Full members, 20,469 Silver members and 3270 Absentee members. With 49,239 members electing a club of support, AFL Membership accounts for 7.06 per cent of total club access members.