ANDREW Demetriou and Colin Carter worked together for close to a decade at the helm of the AFL but it emerged yesterday that the two men were at odds regarding the game's relationship with its fans.
With supporters facing increased pressure to buy club memberships and Foxtel subscriptions from 2012, AFL chief Demetriou reiterated his vow to cap general admission prices and disputed the new Geelong president's vision, which would see hundreds of thousands of fans buy club memberships with no expectation of discount admission to games.
Demetriou yesterday expanded upon the AFL's own ambitious five-year vision, unveiling a wish list underpinned by annual attendances of eight million fans and club memberships totalling one million by 2016. He said his obsession remained bringing people through the gates.
Demetriou was not concerned by a small drop in average crowds at the season's halfway mark - about 2 per cent - and said he expected that shortfall would be made up in the coming weeks. The AFL chief executive said supporters had every right to expect their memberships would buy them both ownership of their club and a seat at most games they wished to attend.
Carter, a long-serving AFL commissioner and now president of Geelong, told The Age four days ago that the Cats hoped to achieve 100,000 members, with most of those happy simply to be part of the Geelong ''experience'' without expecting discount admission to games as full club memberships have always dictated.
''We don't advocate that,'' Demetriou said last night. ''Colin [Carter] has been to Barcelona and he's a bit besotted by Barcelona, which is an unbelievable club - it's a phenomenon. But the fundamental difference is that Barcelona has capacity issues and we have space at our grounds.
''Collingwood plays at the MCG and might attract 70,000 fans but there's generally room for more. You don't see 50,000 fans fill Etihad Stadium every week. People buy memberships because they want a sense of ownership in their club.
''Some buy memberships because they want to go to the footy every week. Some pay a premium to support their club and some don't go to more than one or two games and some want to take their families every week. Some people want the same seat every week. There are Geelong fans who have had the same seat at Skilled Stadium for 20 years.
''We are certainly nowhere near the stage where fans should be asked to financially contribute to their club without any expectation of attending games.''
The general admission to an AFL game, while not always available, is $20 or $2.50 for children under 15, or free for children under six.
Enthusing about Barcelona soccer club, Carter said: ''I think one of our challenges is to wean people off this idea that membership means discount admission. I'd like to move in the direction where you have a membership and then some people - who are lucky, or live locally - will be sold tickets to games.''
Demetriou said while membership growth had been remarkable, the Western Bulldogs, Brisbane Lions, Adelaide and Port Adelaide had seen memberships fall this season, with Sydney's also just marginally lower than this time last year.
''There are a number of reasons people don't come back,'' he said. ''Fans might be unhappy with the way their club is performing, they might be disappointed in decision-making like, for example, signing Brendan Fevola, or they simply might decide they can't afford it.
''But if we re-signed every club member who joined last season we would have 97,000 more club members this season alone. The churn rate is enormous.''
While club memberships have jumped from 605,791 to 633,825 - the Gold Coast membership of 10,865 is included in the increase - over the corresponding 12-month period average crowds have slightly dropped from 37,483 to 36,617.
Television ratings - no longer obsessively scrutinised since the new broadcast deal had been signed - were also slightly higher than this time last season.
Demetriou also confirmed that the AFL is still in dispute with the players over their wage claims, with there also being disagreement over the length of the next collective bargaining agreement. The AFL is pushing for a five-year deal while the players - disenchanted over money still owed from the previous agreement - want to limit the new contract to three.
''We want to deliver to clubs a five-year strategy of what money they're going to get,'' Demetriou said. ''We need to be able to plan. I'm a five-year view. It's the view Adrian shares and it's the view of the AFL.''
The AFL boss said he was at a loss to understand the recent push - revealed in The Age this week - which would link player wages to executive salaries. ''I'm still trying to understand the logic of it,'' he said.
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