THE EXCITEMENT surrounding new recruits Darren Jolly, Luke Ball and coach-in-waiting Nathan Buckley has seen membership numbers skyrocket at Collingwood this summer and put the club on track to smash the all-time AFL membership record.

The Pies’ membership figure has spiked by 15,000 compared to this time last year, with more than 43,000 people signed up for 2010.
 
Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert said the Victorian powerhouse was aiming to have an unprecedented 60,000 members by next year.

“A lot of those people [in the current figure] are new members coming onboard and we’ve still got 14,000 members from last year that haven’t re-signed," Pert told afl.com.au. "We won’t get all of them back, but if we get a good start on the field there’s no reason why we won’t be pushing up towards or even over 50,000 this year and then that’s a good springboard to get to 60,000 next year.

“From talking to the members and supporters and from the emails I’ve been getting there’s no doubt that our recruiting this year has been a contributing factor [to the spike].

“With Darren Jolly and Luke Ball coming to the club, our supporters and members see them as really bolstering our existing list. I think everyone is pretty excited about Nathan Buckley coming back to the club and bringing his ideas and input into the coaching panel too, so in all everyone is pretty excited about the year.”

Last year, Hawthorn became the first Victorian club to reach 50,000 members in a season on its way to recording the highest club membership figure (52,496) in AFL history. 

The Hawks started opened renewals for category one members three weeks earlier this year and have also enjoyed a surge in the number of supporters buying memberships.

The club has signed 41,686 members, which already exceeds the total number of members recorded in the premiership year of 2008.

The Hawks are aiming for 55,000 members this season and general manager of marketing and communication Greg Cook said there was a “silent competition” between the clubs to see who would win the membership race in 2010.

“The fact that Collingwood’s [figure] has jumped significantly is a credit to them and hats off because they’ve been a club that everyone’s been waiting to wake up," Cook said.

The fact Hawthorn was the first Victorian club to reach the 50,000 member mark may have acted as a wake-up call to Collingwood, Cook explained.

“I got an email from their general manager of membership saying, ‘now, the race is on…first to 100,000’, so there’s a bit of banter that goes on. Collingwood has jumped out of the blocks, but I’d like to see what their total is at June 30.”

Both clubs invested significant resources into their membership departments last year.

Hawthorn introduced a dedicated membership site and introduced an automated renewal service, while Collingwood also introduced a dedicated membership site, applied a price freeze and sought feedback from supporters.

Pert said the information gained from the exercise was another major factor behind the club’s membership spike this season.

“Our issue was, if we’ve got over a million supporters then how come we actually don’t have the large majority of those supporters signed up as members?” Pert said.

“That’s what our focus and research has been about. It’s a simple process when you go to people and ask, ‘what do you need to go from being a supporter to a member? They’re pretty open about giving that feedback and then it’s about us putting that in place for them."

The league-wide membership figures include all categories of membership.

Hawthorn’s number also includes a one-game membership, which is exclusive to the club, and more than 6500 paid-up Tasmanian members.

Membership figures across the League have continued to rise, despite the tough economic climate and Cook said supporters had started to appreciate the importance of members to a club.

“Membership generated more than $7.3 million for our club last year,” Cook said.

“Outside of sponsorship, our membership revenue is the second largest income for the club. Whether it’s sponsorship, membership or merchandise the money all goes back into the same pot, which is fed back into football to deliver a premiership and that’s what we’re all in it for.”