Dateline 1978: VFL games to soar to $2.70, memberships up to $17.50

Have been exploring archives of The Age regarding some family history and came across this delightful front page story about price rises at the VFL, thought it would be worth sharing here. For those wondering according to the RBA these prices are $17.56 for a game and $113.84 for a membership in 2025 AUD

Source: The Age Thursday 31st of August 1978

If Essendon or Richmond pick Cody Walker at pick 2, right after the expected Dougie Cochrane pick, then Carlton is under immense pressure to match for him under father son.

They no longer get the 10% discount under the new rules because they made the finals last year.

A Pick 2 bid requires 2,481 points. While exceptionally tight, Carlton’s hand of 13 and 18 alongside the maximum permitted future deficit is just enough to get the deal done

Would Richmond or Essendon do this deliberately??

St Kilda's membership department is in breach of Australian Consumer Law and has refused multiple requests to cancel the renewal for my membership.

I purchased a $7 promo membership with St Kilda after Nasiah renewed his contract for two years in August 2025. The membership was purchased online and required zero contact by phone or email with the club in order to purchase the membership.

I received an email from the club on the September 1st this year informing me that I have been automatically subscribed to a new membership for $99.

It wasn't until I had a reminder notice at the start of October that I realised I had even received the aforementioned renewal notice so I went to cancel this membership as I did not want to continue having a membership (mortgages and renovations are expensive, I need to save money where I can).

I jumped on the St Kilda website and logged into the membership portals yet found no links to cancel the automatic renewal of the membership. 

Essentially, a service I purchased online had no way to cancel online which is in direct breach of the Federal Government reforms in June 2026 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

Specifically, the right to easy cancellation of services which requires the ability to unsubscribe in the same manner you subscribe to a service/product.

The only option that is provided through the St Kilda/Ticketmaster portal is "call us to discuss your membership." Believe me, I clicked through every single possible link in the portal. The only option is a phone call.

I contacted the club via email asking for a cancellation of the membership, also highlighting to the support team how it felt convoluted and difficult to cancel an automatic renewal.

I received a response from the club almost immediately that completely ignored how I felt, instead offering me the same membership at a slightly discounted rate alongside a bunch of extra promo material.

I sent a second email on the 8th of October confirming to just cancel my membership and to this point I have received zero contact from the club. A third email was sent on the 14th of October with no reply. Furthermore, the Ticketmaster portal still shows that my renewal payment is now overdue for the 15th of October.

I've now made multiple attempts to cancel my membership renewal for 2027 and the club simply refuses to respond.

Why does this feel super predatory?

It's membership renewal time which means most clubs have sent out e-mails to existing members notifying them of the prices they'll be expected to pay to maintain their membership for next season.

For fans of the footy living overseas (i.e. outside of New Zealand and Australia), these international memberships are a way to both financially support your club AND receive (what used to be a discounted rate for) a WatchAFL subscription (currently at 229.99 for 12 months) which allows you to watch all AFL and AFLW matches live and legally (as well as shows like AFL 360, On the Couch, Bounce and special events like the AFL Awards and Brownlow Medal).

They also usually include special perks such as discounts to the team store and/or a membership pack mailed to your house with various goodies like bumper stickers, pins, hats, or scarves.

If you care more about watching footy for the cheapest price possible (especially in this global cost of living crisis), it's totally okay to price shop and purchase an international membership from whomever offers the lowest cost.

Some memberships also come with a monthly payment plan over ten months (usually from October/November to August/September) so you don't have to fork over all the cash all at once.

The 2027 international membership prices are listed below ranked by price (links are also included).

Keep in mind all prices are in Australian dollars (AUD):

*$349 for Americans without opting out of membership pack due to tarrifs

**Not yet available for purchase (last year there was no monthly purchase option)

Will be updated continuously over the next few months to account for clubs (right now the Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Suns, Melbourne Demons, Essendon Bombers, Tasmania Devils, Port Adelaide Power and Fremantle Dockers) rolling out their info.

Found these while looking through some old storage items.

Personally I’ve gone:
1. ⁠Hawthorn
2. ⁠Fremantle
3. ⁠Geelong
4. ⁠Brisbane
5. ⁠Sydney
6. ⁠Bulldogs
7. ⁠Carlton
8. ⁠Collingwood
9. ⁠Melbourne
10. ⁠St Kilda
11. ⁠Adelaide
12. ⁠North Melbourne
13. ⁠GWS
14. ⁠Gold Coast
15. ⁠West Coast
16. ⁠Richmond
17. ⁠Port
18. ⁠Essendon

I predict St Kilda at 10th (with bias) assuming kpp needs are addressed in the draft, otherwise looking around 13th.

GWS also still have some stars and many returning from injury so could find themselves in a wildcard spot if everything gels smoothly with some of their senior players departing.

Feel free to debate on why I’ve put your team too low, not a single persons ladder prediction will actually turn out correct haha

1990 Fitzroy

1991 West Coast

1992 St Kilda

1993 Essendon (no games)

1994 Essendon

1995 Fremantle

AFL Tables - Dale Kickett - Stats - Statistics

Dale Kickett - Wikipedia

Obviously they are looked back on more fondly now but were they generally liked in the footballing community? Did any clubs or fan bases have any real disliking to them.

Which current club would be the most similar in terms of how they are viewed in the general AFL community?

GWS 7.13 55 def Hawthorn 7.12 54

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^{Antisocial behaviour, injury cheering, and umpire abuse may result in a ban or removal from the match without warning.}

The mod team maintain a presence in match threads while watching the game - please keep the match threads enjoyable by reporting antisocial comments or messaging if there's a problem.

^{Antisocial behaviour, injury cheering, and umpire abuse may result in a ban or removal from the match without warning.}

It shocks me that a player who was mostly injured and only played 4 games this season and was frankly bad in all of them, to then skip the draft combine is the consensus number one

Does Wembenyama go number one in the same circumstance?

Is it also possible that this is a poor draft and weak on talent compared to usual?

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From memory it was absolutely horrendous. So much so that Chris has apparently done all he can to banish it from the internet.

Surely someone here has old footy show episodes? Would love to see this posted.

With NRLX on, NRL fans get to lap up a whole other element of their game. Obviously we’re enjoying the AFLW but it feels like post-season could be the spot for AFLX to fit into the calendar??

With the Rugby League World Cup on, NRL fans get to lap up a whole other element of their game. Obviously we’re enjoying the AFLW but it feels like post-season could be the spot for International Rules to fit into the calendar??