Quote Originally Posted by KTigers View Post
Barry is right, Bloods05. If anyone is ever in any doubt about how much GWS, and the Swans are up against it, take a look
at the two main papers here, the SMH & the Daily Telegraph. Every day the AFL stories are buried seven or eight pages back
from the back cover, and combined they'll take up about 3/4 of a page max. It's a miracle both teams are supported as much
as they are.
I am well aware that the Sydney (and Queensland) teams are up against it. My point was that comparing membership figures from decades ago with contemporary ones is invalid, because AFL club membership numbers are vastly higher across the board than they were back then. Back in the early 90s, when the Swans' membership was hovering around 9000-10,000, the average membership for Melbourne clubs was around twice that. The current level of GWS membership is about 20% of the average. They have a very long way to go. They are in a tough market, sure, but their biggest problem is and will always be that they have not grown out of any groundswell of local support, as all of the Melbourne clubs did, without exception. Identity may be a nebulous thing, but we know two things about it: (1) it matters to people; and (2) it can't be imposed from above.