Cats break member record

Geelong Cats players Tom Atkins and Nina Morrison with the family of one of Geelong’s youngest members, Olivia (parents Jack and Bianca) and 90-year-old member Keith. (Brad McGee/Geelong Cats)

Geelong broke its all-time AFL membership numbers this season with more than 90,000 signing up.

The Cats surpassed their previous all-time record of 82,155 from 2023 in June and this year, nearly a third of the total has been hometown support, with 32.2 percent of members hailing from the Geelong region, while 13 per cent of the membership base holds interstate memberships.

The growth in 2024 marks Geelong’s fourth-consecutive record-breaking year and is the 11th time in the past 12 years the Cats have set a record for Club membership numbers.

Of the 90,000-plus members, the longest-tenured Cats member spans 79 years on continual support, while more than 700 people have been a member for 40 years or more.

Geelong Football Club chief executive Steve Hocking expressed his gratitude to the club’s members for their support.

“With more than 90,000 members and more than 275,000 fans attending games at GMHBA Stadium this year, our members contribute to a Team of All effort like no other and achieving this is only made possible by the unwavering support of each and every one of you,” he said.

“The next month is set to be big, with our AFL and VFL teams chasing prosperous finals campaigns, and our AFLW team kickstarting their 2024 season in front of hopefully a jampacked home crowd at GMHBA Stadium.

“Last season, we also set a club record for AFLW memberships and led the competition with the largest AFLW membership base. With the start of our 2024 AFLW campaign just days away, we’re well on track to beat last year’s record and are striving for 10,000 members for the first time.”