Melbourne Storm tops Sydney Swans as Australia's most supported club

The Melbourne Storm have been identified as Australia’s most supported club according to the latest information from market research company Roy Morgan.

Released before this weekend’s NRL Grand Final, the figures show the Storm - with 1,211,000 supporters, an increase of 28.7% on a year ago - to be Australia’s most supported team of any code, surpassing the AFL’s Sydney Swans’ 1,031,000 fans and the Brisbane Broncos’ 1,028,00 fans.

The Storm’s fan numbers are a 28.7% increase on their 2020 figures, with the NRL as a whole growing by more than one million supporters from 2020, recording a 19% growth of Australians aged 14+, totalling 6.3 million supporters.

Despite the sport dealing with two COVID-interrupted seasons throughout 2020/21, support for the NRL has grown with 11 of the 16 clubs experiencing an increase in support from last year.

With the Storm’s rise following the club’s fourth Premiership in 2020, the Broncos saw an increase of 15% on a year ago despite the club’s first wooden spoon in 2020 since joining the competition in 1988.

The biggest jump in support over the past year was the Sydney Roosters with an increase in support of 39.1% to 384,000 to be just behind the St. George Illawarra Dragons up 10.6% to 387,000. Other clubs to increase their support include the Canberra Raiders, up 19.2% to 273,000, the Canterbury Bulldogs, up 20.7% to 268,000, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, up 3.9% to 267,000, the Newcastle Knights, up 5.3% to 220,000 and the New Zealand Warriors, up 27.2% to 145,000.

The NRL was forced to relocate all 16 clubs to Queensland in July this year after outbreaks of COVID-19 in the key market of New South Wales as well as in Victoria and the ACT.

NRL Club Supporter Ladder 2021

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, July 2019-June 2020, n=54,279 & July 2020-June 2021, n=64,973. Base: Australians 14+. *New Zealand Warriors support only includes Australian-based supporters.

The relocation of the competition mid-season has meant most fans have had to watch the sport on TV rather than at the ground this year, and for large parts of the 2020 season as well. According to Roy Morgan more than 5.9 million (28.2%) of Australians watch the NRL on TV, up 2.8% on a year ago.

Commenting on the findings, Roy Morgan Industry Communications Director, Julian McCrann advised “for the second year in a row the COVID-19 pandemic has played havoc with the NRL season with the entire competition relocated to Queensland in July following outbreaks in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra that continue to this day.

“However, the challenges of COVID-19 have not prevented the NRL from growing overall club support substantially over the last year with an increase of over 1 million new supporters (+19%) compared to a year ago for a total of over 6.3 million club supporters in 2021.

“The biggest winners over the past year were the Melbourne Storm which not only won the Premiership in 2020 but also had a massive increase in support, up 28.7% to over 1.2 million supporters to claim top spot ahead of the Brisbane Broncos.

“The Melbourne Storm have been clearly the most successful club of the last two decades making the NRL finals for 11 years straight, winning three premierships in the last decade in 2012, 2017, and 2020, and featuring in 9/15 grand finals and winning five of them.

“In fact, the last time the Storm missed the finals after playing a full season without a points deduction (as in 2010) was in 2002, nearly 20 years ago.”

On the AFL figures, McCrann noted “the biggest winners in terms of increasing their support over the last year are unsurprisingly the clubs that have enjoyed success on the field in the 2020 and 2021 seasons as well as the two newest clubs in the AFL.”

These findings are derived from detailed in-depth interview with over 50,000 Australians each year as part of the Roy Morgan Single Source survey.