Richmond is the 8th most supported AFL team (Roy Morgan poll)

[one-eyed]

Sydney Swans are the most widely supported AFL club ahead of Collingwood, Brisbane and West Coast

Roy Morgan
September 19, 2023

The Sydney Swans have again topped the annual Roy Morgan AFL supporter ladder as the only club with over 1 million supporters. The Swans now have 1,344,000 supporters, an increase of 209,000 supporters (+18.4%) on a year ago according to the 2023 annual Roy Morgan AFL club supporters survey – the largest increase of any AFL club over the last 12 months.

Three other [2022] finalists experienced an increase in support over the last year including Melbourne, up 40,000 (+12.7%) to 354,000, Richmond, up 27,000 (+5.1%) to 554,000 and the Western Bulldogs, up 15,000 (4.6%) to 341,000. Of these three clubs, only Melbourne backed up with a strong season in 2023 finishing fourth on the ladder before crashing out of finals in ‘straight sets’ for the second year running.

AFL Supporter Conversion to Membership Rates

Recent three-time Premiers Richmond (2017, 2019 & 2020), one of only three clubs with over 100,000 paid-up members,comes in fifth with an excellent conversion rate of 18.3% of its supporters into members.

                                     % of          Roy Morgan   Official 2023
                                   supporters     Supporter     AFL Club
                                    who are        Numbers    Memberships*
                                    members   
   
1. Port Adelaide Power             21.3%   301,000   64,041
2. North Melbourne Kangaroos  20.4%   251,000   51,084
3. Melbourne Demons              20.0%   354,000   70,785
4. Gold Coast Suns                  19.8%   118,000   23,359
5. Richmond Tigers                  18.3%   554,000   101,349
6. Carlton Blues                       17.9%   532,000   95,277
7. St. Kilda Saints                    17.1%   353,000   60,239
8. Hawthorn Hawks                 17.0%   475,000   80,698
9. Western Bulldogs                16.5%   341,000   56,302
10. GWS Giants                      16.4%   202,000   33,036
11. West Coast Eagles             14.8%   697,000   103,275
12. Fremantle Dockers            14.6%   425,000   62,064
13. Geelong Cats                    12.9%   638,000   82,155
14. Essendon Bombers            12.6%   687,000   86,274
15. Collingwood Magpies         12.2%   875,000   106,470
16. Adelaide Crows                 10.5%   651,000   68,536
17. Brisbane Lions                   6.6%   826,000   54,676
18. Sydney Swans                  4.9% 1,344,000   65,332

TOTAL                                  13.1% 9,625,000  1,264,952

* Full AFL Membership Figures available at: https://www.afl.com.au/news/1024903/afl-breaks-all-time-club-membership-record

Full article: https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/sydney-swans-are-the-most-widely-supported-afl-club-ahead-of-collingwood-brisbane-and-west-coast

[Gracie]

This comes up regularly but the data is flawed. The survey asks which AFL club do you support.

Nearly all Victorians have an AFL team and know all the other teams.

In NSW there is a large % of the population has no or little interest in AFL. But they all know the Swans exist. So when asked that question they respond with the only team they know.

[Andyy]

Only thing that really matters is the number of paid members and crowd attendance, which we consistently do well with.

Now we just need to maintain during some lean years.

[Diocletian]

LMAO - most Sydneysiders don't give a stuff about the Swans, Brisbane supporters were just outnumbered by oppo fans in a home prelim, Port's fanbase is limited to people who supported one SANFL club in a ten team comp. in a state of less than 2 million people and 3/4 of Geelong supporters are from a regional area with a population of less than a third of their claimed number.