Poll reveals the Sydney Swans boast more AFL supporters than any other club

THE Tiger Army might be all the talk but when it comes to overall club support, one AFL club sits head and shoulders above its rivals — and it’s probably not who you think.

The Tiger Army. Picture: AAP

THE Tiger Army might be all the talk but when it comes to overall club support, one AFL club sits head and shoulders above its rivals — and it’s probably not who you think.

A poll released on Thursday revealed the Sydney Swans boasted almost twice as many supporters as their nearest rival.

SEE THE FULL AFL SUPPORTER LADDER BELOW

The Sydney Swans have more than 1.2 million supporters. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Essendon came in second on the ‘AFL club supporter ladder’ — the most of any Victorian club — but its estimated 671,000 fans was almost half of the massive 1,204,000 people believed to call themselves Swans supporters.

West Coast, the first WA state to join the national competition, came in third on the supporter ladder while Eddie McGuire’s Collingwood was fourth.

The MCG is set to be filled with yellow and black in Saturday’s preliminary final but surprisingly, Richmond came in 11th on the list.

Essendon has the most fans of any Victorian club. Picture: Jay Town

At the bottom end of the table was the league’s newest franchises, preliminary finalist GWS (17th with 175,000) and the Gold Coast Suns (106,000).

The poll also attempted to measure the numbers of supporters that clubs successfully converted into paid-up club members.

Reigning premier the Western Bulldogs led that category (19.3% of supporters buying a membership), with Melbourne (18.4%), Port Adelaide (17.5%) and Richmond (16.4%) rounding out the top four.

AFL club supporter ladder

CLUB	No. of supporters
Sydney Swans	1,204,000
Essendon	671,000
West Coast	669,000
Collingwood	663,000
Adelaide	541,000
Hawthorn	528,000
Geelong	515,000
Brisbane Lions	489,000
Carlton	464,000
Fremantle	459,000
Richmond	442,000
Port Adelaide	298,000
St Kilda	294,000
North Melbourne	263,000
Western Bulldogs	247,000
Melbourne	229,000
GWS	175,000
Gold Coast	106,000
*Numbers are generated from the Roy Morgan Single Source Australia poll.

Originally published as Poll reveals the Sydney Swans boast more AFL supporters than any other club