just hit 30,000 members https://www.gwsgiants.com.au/news/2019-07-17/30000-strong-as-giants-celebrate-historic-milestone

eels on 25k

WSW=15K last year i think? 

Ask how many are from Canberra.

30k members but they still give out free tickets in mass amounts and pay girls with hijabs to play/do photo shoots? 

Weird. 

30,000 members but yet their highest attendance this year at home is 15,424 at Spotless and 14,974 at Manuka (their biggest crowd ever there).

Those member numbers will count those that have purchased memberships just for games at one of the venues and probably their dogs, cats and budgies as well, so I don't think the "achievement" is that impressive.

30000 members, where ever they come from, is 30000 members. Do you think WSW would knock back any potential members who reside on the other side of the Blue mountains. Obviously an envious post. Maybe the Aleague clubs should be doing more to find memberships, wherever they might be.

How many of those are complimentary memberships? Given out free in droves to schoolkids?

This is so obviously a nonsense figure that it deserves no further comment.

Lol sure...

that figure is 100% bullshit. GWS received the least amount of membership revenue in 2018 out of 18 AFL teams. So either their membership packages are the cheapest, or they have given shitloads away for free. I'd say its both.

source:
http://www.footyindustry.com/?page_id=4497

I actually know of Melbourne based supporters of other sides who get giants memberships (min games) so they can get access to finals and grand final tickets.

And no they haven’t won the battle of the west.

that's bloody smart idea on their part tbh and i don't believe they have won the battle just an interesting topic 

now that the wanderers have their new stadium, it will be a short lived victory

I saw a thing where people anylised the crowds and multiple came up with 4/5k when the AFL called it an 9k crowd at spotless

This does happen.

Also how many are pet memberships?

Why can't we just change ours to season ticket holders, or match ticket holders etc... then when something like this comes up maybe they can pull actual AFL match ticket holders to compare to rather than them adding their pet numbat or their letterbox to the membership tally.

Given that they have been up near the top of the table for the last few years, their overall attendance figures would indicate that they have failed badly.

AFL memberships tend to be very different than for the HAL, so the numbers aren’t comparable. 

GWS is still largely irrelevant in its market, so the AFL is likely still having to throw a lot of money at it to keep it going, just as the Gold Coast is also struggling. Expansion certainly came with a significant cost for them. 

Let's put it this way. I'm pretty sure I'm a Swans and Giants member despite only going to one Swans game my entire life. You get on the mailing list and you're part of the count.

are you counted as a member just for being on a mailing list?  no wonder the swans and giants report these sorts of numbers

Ok what is more important members or fans attending the games?

AFL love to push the membership figures but how many of those members really attend more than 5 games a year.

The Giants first ever game in the AFL was at ANZ in 2012 against the Swans and they only got 38k (a figure probably propped up heavily by swans fans and curious spectators)

The following year they played the same fixture in round 1 at ANZ and got 23k.

Since then they have only cracked 20k (highest - 21k) three times (all against the swans) and against all other teams have never achieved anything higher than 15k.

For them to claim they have 30k is a blatant lie but so to are most of the AFL membership figures imo. No one questions it, we may as well do the same in the A-League...

I might also add that their stadium only holds 24k max, other configurations are even lower. So even if that figure was legit, it’s definitely not ticketed members which are the only category that should be counted imo

The email gives me a member number. I have nfi how I got there but it popped up a year or 2 ago.

Spot on. Fudging definately going on. We cant talk though because Wanderers crowds were fudged in the exact same manner.

Also have to remember that AFL habitually overstate crowd numbers by up to 10,000. It becomes obvious on TV. GWS will be playing in front of barely 5,000, yet the official crowd number is never less than say 13,000. They openly lie. I wouldn't take any figures from the AFL at face value. GWS still play to nearly empty stadiums. 

Tbf, Swans actually get the crowds. Amazing crowds really. It's never less than 20,000 at the lowest and usually 25-30,000. I guess there are a lot of expats in Sydney, but they also have a rabid fanbase in Melbourne that actually travels to Sydney for each home game. 

Most ex-pat Victorians that I know are Swans members and regularly go the Swans games. One game a year they support the away team (their favourite) but the rest they support their next favourite - the Swans. This is what the Swans were built on. Where does that leave GWS - nowhere - except to give away free tickets. 

The AFL are dodgy. They constantly announce numbers that don’t add up. I’m this instance their crowds don’t add up to their members. They are obviously exploiting some loop hole. Wouldn’t surprise me if they were offering free memberships with every so and so. They are a cancer on every other sport in this country. I honestly believe that is why we aren’t the great sporting nation we use to be. We use to be world champions at Union and cricket. We also use to have a much stronger Socceroo team. We also use to have much better quality league players. The AFL raid players from other codes and they will do what ever they can to reduce interest in other sports. Then they turn around and say that their is no turf wars going on. Whilst other sports do the morally and ethically right thing. They don’t.

How close or off the mark would depend on how many members they have in Canberra.

by my count the AFL has thrown at least $700 million towards GWS and the Suns. Crazy numbers.


This is an interesting read. it explains how the Adelaide Crows fudge their numbers. I'm sure other AFL clubs (ie. The Giants) do the same. 

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2019/01/14/has-adelaide-fudged-their-membership-numbers/

You could build a couple of stadiums for that sort of money