Melbourne Victory: already the 8th biggest club in Melbourne

 
The Crowd Roar Guru

By Dave, 13 Apr 2008 The Crowd is a Roar Guru

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After only three seasons of operation, the Melbourne Victory are well on the way to establishing themselves as a dominant force within the AFL mad Melbourne sporting scene.

Not only are they the biggest of all the football clubs in Melbourne, they are easily bigger than the NRL team, the Melbourne Storm, who had a six year start and have made three Grand Finals in that time.

But l would argue they are also bigger than North Melbourne, Melbourne, and at least equal to the Western Bulldogs in the AFL, with St Kilda in their sights.

What do l mean by biggest?

Well, there are a number of criteria that could be used. But for the purposes of this article, l will use supporter numbers.

Melbourne Storm average around 11,000 a match at Olympic Park, and even when they’re at Telstra Dome with better facilities, they will struggle to achieve an attendance of 20,000. Remember, this is a team that has been in three Grand Finals, including the last two, and are widely acknowledged as the best team in the NRL over recent seasons.

They have superstars of league playing in their team, including those that are first choice for the State of Origin and the Kangaroos.

In the AFL, North Melbourne averaged home crowds of around 30,000 in 2007 when they finished in the top four.

This is a club with 100 years of history, and as recently as the 1990s, were the benchmark of the competition with several premierships.

They also claim to have 30,000 members in 2008.

I would argue that many of the ‘members’ in 2008 bought tickets out of sympathy and are not North Melbourne supporters.

Look at their attendance today against weak drawing Melbourne at the MCG in perfect weather on the traditional Saturday afternoon — 23,000. Victory had a bigger crowd on Wednesday night against a team who had about 100 supporters at the ground.

Two Melbourne clubs with 23,000 between them!

Look at any North home game against interstate teams or weak drawing Melbourne clubs and they will struggle to get 20-25,000.

Their average from last year and previous years is falsely inflated because 50-70% of support in those home games were from the big rival Melbourne AFL teams such as Essendon and Collingwood.

A couple of years ago they played Port Adelaide in a final at the Telstra Dome and only 25,000 rocked up, many from Adelaide.

Melbourne have been struggling over recent years on the field, and so their current support is below their normal average.

However, their home attendances are also falsely inflated by the massive away support of the big Melbourne AFL clubs who bring 50-70% of the crowd number to any one fixture.

Their memberships are very low in comparison to the big AFL teams. And over recent years, they have drawn less than 20,000 several times at the MCG and tend to try and sell their ‘home’ games against interstate teams such as the Brisbane Lions to the Gabba knowing the crowd numbers will be dismal at the ‘G’.

Melbourne Victory have a larger home average to Melbourne when comparing home games against teams from interstate (true support!)

The Western Bulldogs are doing very well on the field, and so the call against them is controversial, admittedly.

However, l again come back to games played by the Western Bulldogs at home against interstate opposition (that have limited away support) and would argue that the Melbourne Victory have a higher average (26,000 in 2007-8).

For example, in the first game in 2008, the Western Bulldogs drew around 25,000 versus Adelaide to the Telstra Dome, with several thousand Adelaide fans boosting the attendance and a Western Bulldogs star player playing his 300th game!

Their home game average is vastly inflated by games against the big AFL teams in Melbourne, as it is with the other two teams.

So what is the point of this article?

The Melbourne Victory in three years have surpassed, in terms of true supporter numbers at games, the Melbourne Storm and 3 Melbourne AFL teams who have had 100 years or so head start.

Therefore, despite all the recent controversy about the number of AFL teams in Melbourne and relocation, the conclusion is clear: Melbourne will lose two-three AFL teams within the foreseeable future. And, yes, the writing is clearly on the wall for North and Melbourne.

Melbourne will also have a second HAL team within that same time frame.

The NRL still have a lot of work to do to establish the code in Melbourne. What happens when the Storm stop winning and lose their best players?

And the ARU are nowhere to be seen!

‘The times, they are a changn’.

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