Professional sporting clubs in Australia have placed much emphasis in recent years on turning fans into members. It’s not hard to see why. The money from memberships goes directly to the club, rather than to the league, ticket agencies or other parties.
Attendance that is already paid for is locked in; and if it’s cold or wet or the team isn’t doing well, you’re more likely to make the effort to go to the game if you’ve already paid.
There are other benefits to clubs as well. You have a database to sell to sponsors, and are able to invite them individually to club functions.
AFL clubs have long built up strong membership bases. The 16 longer-running clubs all have memberships over 20,000. Gold Coast have over 10,000 as they enter their second season, while new club GWS Giants are building their membership with their first game just a month away.
NRL clubs were slower to get on board the membership drive bandwagon; but have made big gains in recent seasons. Brisbane, St George Illawarra, the Bulldogs and Souths have over 10,000 members; while other clubs are getting close.
But it’s a new tactic to attract members by Wests Tigers that is attracting attention this week, and could backfire on the club.
The new NRL season starts in the first weekend in March. Wests Tigers are drawn to play Cronulla at Leichhardt Oval on the Sunday afternoon in the opening round.
Leichhardt is a small suburban ground, with one small grandstand on the western side and a standing room hill on the eastern side. It’s an old style venue, the type of ground the AFL abandoned during ground rationalisation in the 1980s and 1990s.
A couple of Wests Tigers member friends asked me if I was interested in going to the opening round game. With the AFL not starting until a few weeks later, I was keen. A couple of Cronulla-supporting mates were keen to come as well.
Tickets were due to go on sale on Monday, but were pulled from sale at the last minute. A phone call to the Wests Tigers club revealed the game had been declared for Tigers members only. A one-game membership was available for $65.
The Cronulla mates were told the same thing. No Wests Tigers membership, no entry to this game.
The plan to make Leichardt Oval games for members only was confirmed by Tigers boss Stephen Humphreys in The Sydney Morning Herald (link -http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/tigers-set-to-shut-doors-to-general-public-for-future-leichhardt-fixtures-20120220-1tjre.html).
Cronulla fans “can watch it on Channel Nine or Fox Sports”. Let them eat cake.
No $65 membership, no entry to stand on muddy grass for a home-and-away game. It’s a bit rich. For away fans, no entry without becoming a member of a club they don’t support. It’s a bit rich.
I can’t help thinking this is going to backfire rather spectacularly on the Tigers.
We live in competitive sporting times. There are other clubs, and other sports, that will admit to vastly superior facilities for a lot less than $65 and having your name on a membership database.
Leichhardt only holds 18,000; and I can understand why they would be worried about a sellout. But both ANZ and the Sydney Football Stadium are vacant that day. Why not move the game? Can an NRL club afford to turn people away?
And to send the message out that the Wests Tigers don’t want casual fans or away supporters at their games is a dangerous message indeed. It’s membership or nothing. That’s the message they’re sending.
But what’s going to happen when the current membership base churns? Who will take their place?
Not casual fans. They’ve been turned away, told they’re not welcome.
And to exclude away fans, unless they buy a $65 membership to a club they don’t support, is very poor form indeed.
Encouraging membership is a good thing. But to force it, to exclude anyone not willing or able to commit to the club from even casual attendance, is surely beyond the bounds of what is reasonable.
It sends the wrong message to potential supporters, driving all but the most committed away.
I’m not going. Neither are the Sharks’ fans. We know when we’re not welcome.
Just don’t bother inviting me to a Wests Tigers game again.
Pete75
Guest
@Jadesbro "Better yet they can set aside one game at Leichhardt for members only, but keep some of the games at the usual price!" For what seems like the thousandth time, they aren't "locking" anyone out. See final post on this thread....
Jaredsbro
Roar Guru
That sounds like holding someone to a ransom for mine :( What about those who love Rugby League and its heritage but don't have that kind of inflated wallet ;)? You can't just charge people for heritage's sake...the fairest thing is to stop the everyman from going a la English Premier League all the time to encourage those who want to go to liquidate their assets. That would be a sign of real affection for one's club. This half-way house is giving off mixed messages...and sounds like greed or desperation or that the Tigers are failing their predominant duties that is to the community they are situated in. Better yet they can set aside one game at Leichhardt for members only, but keep some of the games at the usual price!
Jaredsbro
Roar Guru
But there's the small matter (really small actually) of what happens if there isn't a sell-out or not even close. As someone above said that's not right and it may backfire ;)
Pete75
Guest
mds, "Originally they had advised tickets would go on public sale on Monday, but they were withdrawn from public sale at the last minute" I don't recall there ever being advice that there would be a general release on Monday. In the correspondence I received as a member, it was stated that tickets would be released to members on the Monday (which they were). Where did you see that tickets were for general release on Monday? "... on Tuesday the Sydney Morning Herald and other media sources were running the story that Wests Tigers games were going members-only" That's not exactly true. Sure, the headline may have lead you to believe that, but you only had to read the article for it to be pretty clear what was being said: "WESTS TIGERS boss Stephen Humphreys believes matches at Leichhardt Oval are set to become member-only affairs as the club's round one match against Cronulla heads for a sell-out without tickets going on sale to the general public" That's the first line of the story. It doesn't say that anyone would be locked out, it merely points out that it was possible the game could be sold out before a general release. ''We have had our biggest day of membership sales today,'' he said last night. ''We will see how they go over the next few days and if they are not all gone we will put some tickets on public sale later in the week but at this stage the response has been terrific.'' "Asked what Sharks supporters wanting to see the anticipated clash between Benji Marshall and Todd Carney could do if Tigers members bought all the tickets, Humphreys said: ''They'll have to watch it on Foxtel or Channel Nine.'' Which is a little different from the way you portrayed it in your column: "Cronulla fans “can watch it on Channel Nine or Fox Sports”. Let them eat cake." The story goes on with several quotes from Humphries expressing his belief that a time is "approaching" where Tigers members may buy up all of the available tickets prior to a general release. The statement that Leichhardt games could become "members only" was in that context - members buying tickets before genral release. The Tigers are not unique in offering a head start to members for tickets to home game matches. Every club does it. Let me ask you a question - can you give us a good reason why members, who are paid up, SHOULDN'T get the privilege for which they've paid within their membership dues? You have gone on to ask: "Leichhardt only holds 18,000; and I can understand why they would be worried about a sellout. But both ANZ and the Sydney Football Stadium are vacant that day. Why not move the game? Can an NRL club afford to turn people away?" Which is a reasonable questions, but I'd point out to you that the ground actually holds 20,000. I'd also point out that if you have a look at who the Tigers are scheduled to play this year, with all due respect, teams that generally attract little away support - NZ, Melbourne, Cronulla and Melbourne. The last few years has seen this type of scheduling since a lot of fans were turned away about 3 years ago from the Souths/Tigers game. I'd suggest that packing out Leichhardt and turning a few hundred fans away is better than moving the game to ANZ or the SFS and risk attracting less than 20,000. Ultimately you'd be turning away more Tigers fans than away fans which creates an added incentive for fans to buy memberships. Win. Ultimately, I really can't see what all of the fuss is about. This is a mountain made out of a molehill. http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/tigers-set-to-shut-doors-to-general-public-for-future-leichhardt-fixtures-20120220-1tjre.html#ixzz1nB2G22wR
Al
Guest
Maybe people at the club did have their wires crossed, but for what it's worth, humphries was on the grill team yesterday morning explaining that tickets will be released for sharks fans and that it MAY in time end up being members only, given the deal they were running, however not for a long time... Who knows, the end of the day, the campbelltown crowds aren't the best, so why not capitalize on the great attendance that leichardt does get? Sits fine with me... If other clubs could pack out their grounds with solely their supporters I reckon they would jump at the chance... Adds to that so called home ground advantage which the tigers lose a lot of playing at the SFS and ANZ and where ever else they decide to play at like they usually do...
mds1970
Roar Guru
You can blame the media, or you can blame the club's communications. Originally they had advised tickets would go on public sale on Monday, but they were withdrawn from public sale at the last minute. I rang Wests Tigers to inquire why, and was told they weren't selling game tickets but I could secure my entry with a $65 membership. Seemed a bit strange to me, and I was going to ring back on Tuesday and have another try; but on Tuesday the Sydney Morning Herald and other media sources were running the story that Wests Tigers games were going members-only. The Tigers had obviously told the media the same thing they'd told me. Maybe people at the club had their wires crossed and were giving out wrong information, or maybe they were trying to make people panic-buy the $65 membership and pay overs for this game.
Dan Wighton
Roar Guru
Agree 100% - Leichardt games are already pretty sought after. Turning this into membership (which is likely to see people remain as members) is clever. The Sharks may complain that they wont be able to attend, but any club is free to do this. Its a credit to the Tigers that they have built the popularity of the Leichardt fixtures to such an extent that they will be members only. The move also reinforces their home ground advantage and increases their chances of winning...
Queensland's game is rugby league
Guest
The Broncos charge $70 or more for a seat in the Western and Eastern stands at Lang Park. Can you people in Sydney now see why they only average 33,000?
Tom
Guest
No child abuse is when your in laws are AFL fans and trying to get them to be swans supporters rather then rugby league
roarr
Guest
5 week schedule in advance = great for tv (i.e. friday night blockbusters, in form teams) Full year schedule in advance = great for attendance/memberships. Which do you want... i'd go with the latter and cop the occasional sharks v raiders on a friday night. Would also give teams equal coverage on free to air which would lead to equal exposure of sponsors etc.
Al
Guest
Funny how the media have a way of doing that huh? It was all good news and pretty clear to tigers supporters...
Al
Guest
It's not a one game membership! It's a full year membership (stripes membership) with a one game ticket thrown in for $5. Even without adding the extra 5 bucks and just buying a stripes membership (which is still a club membership) why is that so wrong? People have a a lot of commitments in this day and age with work and family, why can't you people just be happy that we are parting with our hard earned to support our club, even tho we are unable to attend games. I for one still go to the occasional game when work commitments permit, however why should I be seen as a nothing because I cant afford to purchase the full package or attend every game? I lay out as much as I can afford without crippling the family budget to get that member card and have pride in my club... Why is that so wrong? By the reasoning in this article it actually helps opposition team fans because it's one extra seat you can buy to that game! Tigers are only guilty of helping their fans on this one the way I see it.
Al
Guest
Your right Matt, it's a $60 stripes membership which I have bought myself and my son for the past two years, which by itself is a membership number/card and a couple of merchandise items, hat, scarf, sticker etc.. However the $65 option was an extra 5 bucks for a ticket to the opening tigers season game... 5 bucks to go to a game! Bargain! I was always going to be a member anyway! Other options for membership vary for the amount of games you get ticketed for and which games... It's a great idea to push those fans that are indecisive about spending money on a membership, when at the end of the day they could pay half of the price of a membership just for admittance normally anyway... A little extra why the hell not!
Ken
Guest
On the flip side I don't understand why the 5 week system is apparently so bad. I rarely travel interstate specifically to watch my team, so maybe I'm just not hardcore enough for it to bother me. I have my membership and go to plenty of games during the year, but my weekend schedule is normally planned out a couple of days beforehand, not months. I can see if people are planning on travelling interstate to watch their team then it would be ideal to know a couple of months out whether they are playing Friday or Monday so they can get cheap flights otherwise I'm a little dumbfounded as to why people find this such a big deal.
Pete
Guest
This should have been a good news story for Wests Tigers. Memberships are up. High interest in the opening round game. It will be a huge game and a great crowd. A great day. But the communication by the Wests Tigers has been awful. If Humpries had said that one day we will get to a stage where club members will fill the stadium, it would have been a good news story. But instead, by withdrawing tickets from general sale on their original date, giving an interview to the Herald saying that members could fill the ground for this game, and that you need a $65 membership to guarantee your place, he made a mess of it. It's not just this article but other media sources as well are saying that you need a $65 membership to get in, that Wests Tigers games are members only, or that non-members are no longer welcome at games. And no-one from the club is lifting a finger to try to put the record straight.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
"If the NRL had a season schedule spelt out in advance,not just 5 weeks" I'll never understand how that five-week advance system doesn't simply implode. Even the idea of it makes my skin crawl.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
"(I also signed up my two kids – the in-laws are trying to turn them into Parramatta Eels fans, and I really think that allowing your kids to support Parra is a form of child abuse.)" Love it
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
If the NRL had a season schedule spelt out in advance,not just 5 weeks, there would be a substantial jump in memberships.I have no problem as Shark's supporter with the Tiger's decision. Already am informed,club memberships are up 10% on last year. The ground I understand holds 20,000 packed not 18,000.Unless there has been a reduction for safety reasons,that has been unpublicised.
warren
Guest
My understanding was that as part of their NRL licence that clubs had to have a ground that held 20k people. Loved the games I went to at Leichhardt and wish I could go again this year. The $65 is not just for a game but includes other benefits if you become a member. I know the NRL clubs are way behind their AFL counterparts but this move to copy the AFL program has been one of the most significant moves by the NRL for years. Building a strong supporter base is the cornerstone of the AFL & shows why the code is one of the best supported in the world little alone Australia. Good luck to the Tigers and all the other sides this year.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Being part of a completely one-eyed crowd is one of the great experiences of all sports :)