Our falling membership numbers and how to fix them!

[crippa2sipa]

No it was those and I know a few. wheo did not like the style, or felt the whole team and staff were responsible for behaviours. whch is just ludiccrous

But they are joining this year.

Great to hear. But tell them to get a move on cos it's not lookin good.

and given your not liking much about theSaints at this point How are you encouraging supporters to become members?

What do you mean "not liking"? I won't have a word said against my boys Crippa and Sipa - not to mention Tommy Ledger. And Milney....well, who could ever stop loving Milney? That there is reason enough to join, as anyone worth their salt would know.

[Cairnsman]

Amoungst other things, hope sells memberships. It's hope that you are a chance of making the GF, and as a Saints fan, hope of making the GF but not necessarily winning it. People would have been buying memberships the last few years because they thought we were a real chance of making the GF and a membership gave you some level of priority to GF tickets depending on what type of membership you purchased. There would be long time Saints supporters around that have always promised themselves that no matter where they are in the world that if the Saints get to a GF they will move heaven and earth to be there because there is no other place they would want to be if they actually win a premiership.

[Dave McNamara]

Sack the board, leave Seaford and move to St kilda!

Hi Barks, like you I would love to see the club back 'home'. And yes, after caving in to the council (councillors come and go) over moving a few pokies (c/f increasing their number), I was disappointed we didn't end up back at the Junction Oval.

Barks I would still love to see us there. My question though is how could this now be achieved, especially as Cricket Victoria has taken over the ground??? Or do you have another St Kilda venue in mind?






PS: Does anyone know why we didn't move back to the Junction Oval? How seriously did we look at doing so? Thanks again in anticipation.

PPS: Barks, if you (or anyone else) could sucessfully get us to our own elite training and playing facility in St Kilda, then you have my vote for the board.

[plugger66]

Sack the board, leave Seaford and move to St kilda!

Hi Barks, like you I would love to see the club back 'home'. And yes, after caving in to the council (councillors come and go) over moving a few pokies (c/f increasing their number), I was disappointed we didn't end up back at the Junction Oval.

Barks I would still love to see us there. My question though is how could this now be achieved, especially as Cricket Victoria has taken over the ground??? Or do you have another St Kilda venue in mind?






PS: Does anyone know why we didn't move back to the Junction Oval? How seriously did we look at doing so? Thanks again in anticipation.

PPS: Barks, if you (or anyone else) could sucessfully get us to our own elite training and playing facility in St Kilda, then you have my vote for the board.

We couldnt move back to the Junction Oval as it has Cricket Victoria running the ground. More to the point why would you want to go back there? Maybe should have stayed at Moorabbin but the Junction oval or around there wasnt and shouldnt have been even thought of. Our name maybe St Kilda but our supporter base isnt anywhere near St Kilda.

[GoSaintersGo]

The thing that intrigues me is that there are (supposedly) 78,000 or more who support the Club by liking the StKilda Facebook. Surely the Club can entice at least 50% of those supporters to become Members with the very attractive pakages that are now available from $50.00, $80.00 for a 3 game membership, and so on.

[SainterK]

The thing that intrigues me is that there are (supposedly) 78,000 or more who support the Club by liking the StKilda Facebook. Surely the Club can entice at least 50% of those supporters to become Members with the very attractive pakages that are now available from $50.00, $80.00 for a 3 game membership, and so on.

They do try, they put messages out there like 'draw a line in sand and become a member today' quite often.

It doesn't appear to be working.

They may need to offer some other kind of incentive.

The $80 game membership will probably be pushed more once they despair of getting any more normal memberships.

[GoSaintersGo]

The thing that intrigues me is that there are (supposedly) 78,000 or more who support the Club by liking the StKilda Facebook. Surely the Club can entice at least 50% of those supporters to become Members with the very attractive pakages that are now available from $50.00, $80.00 for a 3 game membership, and so on.

They do try, they put messages out there like 'draw a line in sand and become a member today' quite often.

It doesn't appear to be working.

They may need to offer some other kind of incentive.

The $80 game membership will probably be pushed more once they despair of getting any more normal memberships.

The TV commercial was good but does it target Facebook savvy people who are generally the younger generation, I think not. Maybe Facebook gives many of the 78,000 plus enough satisfaction NOT to join. It has been said for a long time that the Saints have a huge following, but in comparison to some, have always found it difficult to lift the Membership numbers from year to year.

[paddy]

A good start would be a more efficient membership department, still waiting to be called back about upgrading to reserved seats for me and my 2 brothers.
Have been calling every couple of weeks, and keep being told that i will be contacted next week.

Thinking i might give up on the reserved seats, and just go back to standard membership, sick of waiting.

[Dave McNamara]

... It has been said for a long time that the Saints have a huge following, but in comparison to some, have always found it difficult to lift the Membership numbers from year to year.

I've always felt that. A good example was the 1991 'Scary' Davenport game against the Filth at the 'G. 90000 crowd with an estimated 20000 more turned away. The crowd (that did get in) was easily split 50/50 between us and them. I don't think any other club in the league could achieve that level of crowd support in a big match against the Filth.

I also believe that we are the only club who have a huge following, yet have not been perennially succesful. (The success bit is changing though.)

Hence, I've always believed that St Kilda should be a power club in the competition, and like so many others here, I wonder why we aren't (yet).

[asiu]

.there was a 400 000 supporters across australia figure bandied around during rocket rods reign iirc.

[dals_da_bomb]

It was mentioned earlier in the thread and i have to agree. More members will come from winning a flag.
We are not a powerhouse club (based on membership numbers) like collingwood because we just dont have the sucess to back us up IMO.

Some one else also mentioned that memberships could of been up with recent success. I have to agree. Theres been a lot of talk starting even last year that our time was over. Im sure this influences some people when buying memberships.
I think a way of lookin at it 'draw a line in the sand' a fair number of supporters are wanting that of the club. They want the flag. Its been a long time coming. We have all hard many frustrated saints fans in the last few years. I think some of these frustrated fans are not buying memberships.

Also im not positive about it but would it be fair to assume many of our supporter base are older? My grandparents now in their 80s are saint supporters and they stopped buying memberships a few years ago. They just cannot get to the games any more. Would we be finding a fair % of our supporter base is ageing therefore not buying memberships?

[asiu]

.with a high percentage being arty creative types supposably.

[Halo]

Have been waiting for the Membership Department to call back regarding upgrading to seats for 7 adults . have rung 3 times only to be told that they will get to it soon . If it is not sorted out by next we will all be buying AFL memberships. The club keep wanting more & more members but treat the members they already have like crap. I have just about had enough .

[SainterK]

Have been waiting for the Membership Department to call back regarding upgrading to seats for 7 adults . have rung 3 times only to be told that they will get to it soon . If it is not sorted out by next we will all be buying AFL memberships. The club keep wanting more & more members but treat the members they already have like crap. I have just about had enough .

You'd hope the membership department has a SS login name and contacts you.

Are you on facebook Halo?

If you are...type the above on their official page, they seem to follow up when you mention something negative on there.

[skeptic]

no secret that for the success starved clubs like ourselves, members jump on when the premiership is a possibility... we win 5 of our first 6 games we'll be pushing 35k easily.

the strategy becomes keeping our members once they've signed as well as obviously enticing members outside of the side's success

For a start it would be nice if the club actually built up the membership packages to include things other than games. I don't get out to more than 4-5 games a year due to commitments so I buy my social club membership out of loyalty, and the hope of a premiership. What use is the package to people that don't get out to games? I used to enjoy things like the Saint, stickers, cards, memberships etc etc, letters, stationary etc
I used to look forward to the package and the letters - all gone now.

Maybe packages should include other things like sessions to meet the players/coach, tour of the facilities, meet legends, stuff like that... make it more interactive rather than shill out money for games. invitations to places to watch the games. Game day experiences.

Maybe offer options to appeal to poorer supporters, smaller game packages

It's about making the packages worthwhile for people... stupid things like "move to St.Kilda" don't do anything to increase the profile and it's the height of stupidity. Move our social club to acland street amongst the billions of other clubs and train at juntion which is awkwardly placed and not accessible. It won't make a difference.

Evolution not revolution

An official saints forum would be cool, interactive website, saints radio, club nights, prizes

[crippa2sipa]

no secret that for the success starved clubs like ourselves, members jump on when the premiership is a possibility... we win 5 of our first 6 games we'll be pushing 35k easily.

Your argument is unconvincing, skeptic, and is inconsistent with the evidence.
Last year our membership shot up from 21,000 (in late December when the Duthie debacle in began) to 39,000 (in May just before round 9).
That was on the back of 1 win in 8 rounds - hardly putting us in line for a possible premiership.

People are not stupid.

Thousands of Saints fans would have felt insulted by the contrived excitement about "drawing a line in the sand" and being part of a golden future without Ross Lyon - when the Ross Lyon era was in fact a golden era in our history.

That conclusion seems to me inescapable, given that In every other respect - i.e. the absence of Kim Duthie; the gushing media reports on St Kilda; the excitement about seeing more of Crippa, Sipa, Ledger and the rest; and the end of so-called boring Saints Footy - everything points towards our having more, not less, members than last year.

[The Fireman]

A sure fire option.

Get on the street corners and hand out free bananas, will surely attract Collingwood supporters.
Have a van ready , throw them in it and transport them to the nearest Uni, teach them how to read and write and how to mix socially with their close relation, the human. They will then attempt to shed their previous persona and join a civilized club. Ours.

[asiu]

.dental work ?
.police records ?
.sleeping with our womenfolk?
.throw backs ?
.hairypalmed hand shaking ?

[SainterK]

no secret that for the success starved clubs like ourselves, members jump on when the premiership is a possibility... we win 5 of our first 6 games we'll be pushing 35k easily.

Your argument is unconvincing, skeptic, and is inconsistent with the evidence.
Last year our membership shot up from 21,000 (in late December when the Duthie debacle in began) to 39,000 (in May just before round 9).
That was on the back of 1 win in 8 rounds - hardly putting us in line for a possible premiership.

People are not stupid.

Thousands of Saints fans would have felt insulted by the contrived excitement about "drawing a line in the sand" and being part of a golden future without Ross Lyon - when the Ross Lyon era was in fact a golden era in our history.

That conclusion seems to me inescapable, given that In every other respect - i.e. the absence of Kim Duthie; the gushing media reports on St Kilda; the excitement about seeing more of Crippa, Sipa, Ledger and the rest; and the end of so-called boring Saints Footy - everything points towards our having more, not less, members than last year.

Did you address SaintBrats comments last week, about the 7000 members that unrenewed last year?

[crippa2sipa]

no secret that for the success starved clubs like ourselves, members jump on when the premiership is a possibility... we win 5 of our first 6 games we'll be pushing 35k easily.

Your argument is unconvincing, skeptic, and is inconsistent with the evidence.
Last year our membership shot up from 21,000 (in late December when the Duthie debacle in began) to 39,000 (in May just before round 9).
That was on the back of 1 win in 8 rounds - hardly putting us in line for a possible premiership.

People are not stupid.

Thousands of Saints fans would have felt insulted by the contrived excitement about "drawing a line in the sand" and being part of a golden future without Ross Lyon - when the Ross Lyon era was in fact a golden era in our history.

That conclusion seems to me inescapable, given that In every other respect - i.e. the absence of Kim Duthie; the gushing media reports on St Kilda; the excitement about seeing more of Crippa, Sipa, Ledger and the rest; and the end of so-called boring Saints Footy - everything points towards our having more, not less, members than last year.

Did you address SaintBrats comments last week, about the 7000 members that unrenewed last year?

Yes I did. And it's quite beside the point. It's the membership tally that counts, nothing else. And our tally this year is woeful.

[Shaggy]

Of course being on the slide affects membership numbers.

Most supporters are aware the Saints are probably on the slide unless the new development program works.

RL took over a core reaching their peak between 23 and 27 years old that had already taken us to preliminary finals as kids with 50 games or less. Under RL the core in their peak made grand finals without success, saw us slide to seventh as they got older, then RL called the era over and left.

Watters is now left with a list with a massive void amongst the 23 to 27 years old.

The current administration and footy department are doing their best to turnaround the situation abandoned by RL.
Personally I believe it’s a real shame we didn’t have some-one more positive like Watters taking the core over from GT because they were good enough to win a flag and should have by now.

[crippa2sipa]

.
Not sure what you're on about Shaggy. I was comparing the membership tally in 2012 with the tally in 2011 - when we were not only on the slide, but conditions were much, much worse (save for the fact that Ross Lyon was still our coach).

If you think the club are doing a great job in this area, by asking Saints fans to "draw a line in the sand" and dissociate themselves from one the most successful periods in our history, then all I can say is you deserve the admin you get..

[Con Gorozidis]

Am I right in thinking only FOOTSCRAY, NORF, and MELBOURNE have fewer members than us in Victoria?

You'd have thought that with:

- no KIm Duthie to deal with
- the daily puff pieces in the press
- the non-critique of everything St Kilda now that an ex-Pies man is in charge
- the future looking so rosy and hopeful

supporters would have flocked to renew their memberships and buy new ones.

I though all Sainters wanted to "draw a line in the sand" and be part of a future free of Ross Lyon?

holy smokeroony. you managed to slip rls name into every possible thread.
give it time. bit of making up to do from the last 12 months . its all a bit laggy and i tend to agree with shaggy.

[asiu]

.an ex woodsman in charge .

.... their eneny is our enemy.
.from 'let them rot ' to being TOLD to beat em.

... being in melbourne for the aftermath of the drawn granny rates as one of my lifes highlights.

Ahhhhhh,
.do we have a big brother in this fight to the death ?

.... regardless , but thanx anyway.
We are St Kilda , and here we effen stay.