AFL will charge $170 for its members to maintain membership privileges
In difficult financial times brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the AFL has emailed its members saying they must fork out an exorbitant sum to maintain their privileges — even while unable to attend games.
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The AFL will charge $170 for its members to maintain their privileges.
The league has emailed its AFL membership base, offering four options for their 2020 memberships.
The membership can be maintained, converted to an absentee membership, upcoming payments paused or the membership refunded in full and cancelled.
The absentee membership costs $170 and allows fans to keep their level of membership.
But if that amount has already been paid up by AFL members - whether as a lump sum or monthly instalments - they will be refunded the difference.
If a member requests a full refund for 2020, the AFL says members are: “effectively terminating their 2020 membership benefits including membership continuity and existing level of membership.”
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“Most options provide you with benefits into 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership Season and we encourage you to select the choice that best suits your current situation,” the email reads.
Should members continue with full payment, they will receive a 30 per cent discount on their 2021 fees.
Those who elect to convert to an absentee membership – which still allow them to attend in 2020 if crowds are permitted at any stage – will receive four guest passes to use in 2021.
The $170 absentee membership will also see clubs receive their normal distribution of funds allocated under AFL memberships.
But if a refund is requested, “your AFL membership will be cancelled”, the email reads.
“You will no longer receive benefits and entitlements in 2021 season and beyond,” it says.
Clubs are continuing to explore options with their members, with St Kilda calling on its financial supporters to pledge their membership in support of the club.
League boss Gillon McLachlan said last month that only “a very small amount” of members had requested refunds.
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“It’s been limited and we thank everyone for their support,” he said in April.
Club membership is a separate category to AFL membership.
The league has maintained that every case of financial hardship will be assessed on its merits.
If a member elects to pause their membership, they will receive “up to 15 per cent discount” on their 2021 membership.
The AFL Fans’ Association said it considered three of the four options to be “fair”, but believed the heavy consequence of opting for a refund and subsequent membership level revocation was “too harsh”.
“The AFL has done a good job at providing different options for AFL members to consider,” fans’ association president Gerry Eeman said.
“We feel the first three options are fair, however the consequence of the full refund option, where your AFL membership is cancelled, is too harsh for gold members.
“There may be gold members who have been AFL members for over 20 years who will need to seek a full refund due to loss of income. Members such as these should have been allowed to pause their membership for 2020 rather than having it cancelled and losing entitlements they have built up after significant years of patronage.
“The $170 price of the absentee membership could also have been a bit lower.”
GWS Giants chief operating officer James Avery said the club was prepared to treat every refund submission individually and wouldn’t necessarily terminate the continuity of a membership for a Giant who had suffered financial hardship.
“Yes, that’s something we would consider. Tenure of membership is really important to members, particularly our members, because we’ve got a lot of members who can say they’ve been a member since day one of the club which is a very unique situation. So we don’t take that lightly,” he said.
“For our members, it’s a real badge of honour. Anything we can do to maintain that tenure of membership, we’re always going to be happy to have a discussion with a member about that.
“Our policy has been in our communication with you, if you come to us and tell us you’re suffering financial hardship, we will do whatever you want.
“That’s been the case to date and that will continue to be the case. We want to make sure they’re OK with what’s going on in the community at the moment.”
Sydney has offered members the choice of staying solid as full-paying members, adjusting or downgrading memberships for a reduced fee, or full refunds.
“This will effectively terminate any further 2020 membership benefits and 2021 membership benefits, including membership continuity and reserve seating,” the club said in an email sent to members.
The AFL has also maintained that every situation can be assessed on a case by case basis, with members concerned that the application of the new policy will cause financial or other hardship or prejudice encourage to email the league.
It said that the $170 had been set in order to service the costs associated with the membership, and that club distributions of cash - determined by AFL members nominating their club of support - would still occur.
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Members have until August 31 to make their decision.
Should they elect the refund option, they have been told that the joining fee to come back as an AFL member will be waived. They will, however, “be required to pay a lapsed member fee to return to your previous member category”.
The “lapsed member fee” amounts to $170.
Years of continuous membership will also be foregone should members decide to opt for a refund, even if they rejoin next year at the same level of membership.
Prices have also been frozen at the 2020 rate for 2021.
Originally published as AFL will charge $170 for its members to maintain membership privileges
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