Sydney Swans boss makes sensational claim that his team are MILES in front of Collingwood as the country’s most popular club – but do the numbers stack up?
Sydney Swans boss Andrew Pridham has attracted a lot of ridicule in AFL circles after claiming his club has more fans than premiership-winning powerhouse Collingwood.
The Magpies are widely regarded as the most successful footy club in Australia across all codes, with membership and attendance numbers to back that up, along with on-field performance.
That hasn’t stopped Pridham from using a statistic from a research firm to make the extraordinary claim that the Swans have more fans than Collingwood – and any other football team in the country.
“The Sydney Swans have two million fans, that’s more than any other sporting club in Australia,” he claimed in an interview with Sam McClure on 3AW radio on Tuesday.
Pridham found a statistic that claims the Sydney Swans have two million supporters – a figure he says gives the side almost 700,000 more fans than Collingwood
Further research shows that only five percent of Swans fans are members, the lowest conversion rate in the AFL
By contrast, Collinwood has more members than any footy club in any code in Australia
“There’s no NRL club, there’s no AFL club with that many fans. We have more fans than Collingwood.
‘Collingwood has 1.3 million fans and we have 2 million fans.’
McClure then asked Pridham, “How is that measured?”
“There’s a (survey) organization called YouGov that does this every year for the AFL,” he replied.
‘Collingwood at number 2, Carlton at number 10.’
YouGov is a legitimate organization that does a lot of high-profile work for the government and has a 4.6 out of 5 star rating on consumer review website Trustpilot based on almost 40,000 reviews.
However, their research information does not tell the full story.
A 2023 Roy Morgan survey found the Swans were the most followed AFL club with 1.34 million supporters.
What that figure didn’t show is the fact that the Swans rank last in terms of percentage of fans who are members at just 4.9 percent.
The Swans’ final tally of 65,332 places them only 10th overall in terms of AFL membership, but puts them comfortably first for Sydney sports clubs, ahead of NRL team the Parramatta Eels (35,015 members) and city rivals the GWS Giants ( 33,036).
Collingwood had 106,470 members in 2023, a number likely to rise further following their victory as Prime Minister.
The embattled West Coast Eagles retained second place with 103,275 members, while Richmond claimed third place with 101,349 paid supporters.
Needless to say, Pridham’s claim drew much ridicule.
GWS led the response, sharing Pridham who made the claim with a clip of comedian Zach Galifianakis delivering a mocking, squeaky laugh in the 2010 film Dinner for Schmucks.
AFL fans were quick to mock the Swans boss for picking a statistic to put his club in a good light.
‘Haha. This is not accurate. He can point to a data set that is incomplete if it makes him feel better,” one person said.
“They must be pretty inactive fans as they can’t fill 70 percent of the ACG capacity every home game,” another commented.
“Surveys are all open to interpretation. It all depends on who you ask and what you ask. But kudos to Pridham for creating interest,” another added.
Pridham said the retirement of Lance Franklin (pictured) could boost jersey sales as most Swans fans had his iconic number 23 on their existing strip
The Swans boss also believes the club can one day attract 100,000 fans to every home game, similar to the numbers Taylor Swift gets at her concerts.
Pridham also compared the Swans to the NFL Super Bowl and said they could generate the same type of demand over time
It’s not the only bizarre statement Pridham has made as the countdown to the 2024 AFL season continues.
He has also compared the Swans to Taylor Swift and the NFL Super Bowl and believes the club is closing in on getting 100,000 people to every home game.
Average attendance at the team’s home games in 2023 was 41,000, a 19 percent decrease from 2022 attendance.
Pridham also made the extraordinary claim that the retirement of superstar Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin would actually boost fans’ investment in the club.
“Buddy is a huge superstar, as you know. I don’t think it’s had a huge impact, it’ll probably boost merchandise sales now that he’s retired,” he claimed.
‘The only reason I say that is because the 95 percent who had a number 23 on their back will have to buy a new jersey.
“So maybe we’ll get a Buddy exit boost.”