Originally Posted by
Bloods05
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.
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