Crowds / Membership

Million dollar question. I ask myself with Melbourne Storm on how to get more people through. The AFL is a juggernaught in this state. What can be done, it requires to be its own alternative overall however that is brought about. The benefit of AFL standard/listed players playing in the comp is negated by it being 'the twos'. Like anything you're fighting for exposure. Problem is you're up against the AFL which is so powerful exposure-wise its made McGuire the problem he is today, and Thursday nights TV are dominated by trash like the Footy Show which runs for near two hours... Then again it reverses in NSW and Qld where Nine would be lynched if they screened AFL instead of Friday night league.

Some excellent ideas there ons.But as I have pointed out before its going to get harder and harder for VFL clubs to retain or even grow their support with most football ppl looking on the comp as the AFL seconds. The main reason for the lack of public support is that the comp now has no soul or real identity that the VFA had - you cant just destroy a sporting culture built up over 125 years and surplant it with another and expect all the original supporters to just love it and jump on board in fact the opposite has happened with the vast majority of dyed in the wool VFA club supporters (like I was for 45 yeas) giving the VFL away and doing something else with their lives. Please dont forget the VFA teams were basiclly run by fanatical club supporters who gave their time and money because gererations were brought up to love their clubs and this is the greatest problem for the so called VFL clubs as most of the passionate people have been lost forever and cannot be easily replaced. This weekend will be a big test of support for the VFL as there is no AFL games on in Melbourne and each VFL club is aligned to an AFL club whose supporters you would think might make an effort to go to one of the games anything less than 5000 to each match would be terrible. You are right about the "local" comps getting more passionate supporters to their games than the VFL. The games out here in the west that I have attedded all get more then Werribee get tho their home games and that is in a city with 120,000 and no close AFL team in comptition with them.

I think the stand alone clubs have the best chance to build a supporter base and market there local club. Alot of the people who used to attend the VFA are either not going to the fooball anymore or going to the local football. I think the AFL allignments have alot to do with this. The alignments are also the reason that young local footballers are staying at there junior club instead of aspiring to play at VFL team in the area. Realistically there are maybe 6-8 spots available to play senior VFL football on a weekly basis and at finals time 10 spots. This is keeping many talented fooballers away. Next year at Port Melbourne we have a fantastic opportunity to market our club as a stand alone club and get more interest in the local community. If young footballers in the area aspire to play the highest level possible and know there is a realistic opportunity of playing seniors, I believe this will be a major factor in attendances at games. If we have players living locally, this will bring there family and friends to games and also more players wanting to play in the VFL. Hopefully Port can make some strong links with the clubs in the area to promote the club and form a pathway for young players to make there way to Port Melbourne. Too many players from the TAC Cup from port/south melb are coming out of the under 18s and dont think its an option to do a pre season at Port which can now be changed if we stand alone.

Being involved with elite level netball, I asked myself the same question and despite Australia being such a well performed nation at the international level of netball it just doesn't translate to the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. We did get 6,000 at the grand final between Melbourne Phoenix and Sydney Swifts at Vodafone Arena last Saturday afternoon. Netball has come a long way this year and it can only get better.

My biggest gripe is where do the VFL get their feedback on the competition from? Do they do any market research? Do they survey fans? Do they know what people want? I don't think they do. What they need to do is start collating some data and find out why people don't go to matches, why people didn't go to the state game, why the Grand Final doesn't appeal and draws such a poor crowd, see how they rate the VFL compared to suburban competitions, see when they want the games played, see which grounds they like footy at, see whether the 1pm starts are a problem, see how many games of VFL they watch on ABC each year, what issues prevent them from feeling a part of their VFL club. The list is endless, that's for them to come up with. I know many AFL clubs sent their members a survey two or three weeks ago by email with those types of questions on them.

I think the VFL needs to appoint a Marketing/Communication manager, much like what Netball Australia have done with Grant Birsse. This needs to be someone who has a proven track record in sports administration, marketing and related communications work with large sporting organisations. Any ideas who the marketing manager for the VFL/Football Victoria should be ?

Have a read of the VFL 2004 Annual Report, the Marketing Manager is Peter Harley.

Thanks for letting me know.

Shamus wrote:Have a read of the VFL 2004 Annual Report, the Marketing Manager is Peter Harley.

WHO?

Then again, it could also be issues of funding as the VFL is not as rich as the AFL or other football organisations. Any ideas on the breakdown of funding, anyone care to do some research ?