In December we are always searching for ways to say that we are ahead of the opposition. Whilst premierships are not won in December nor the next few months for that matter, there certainly are bragging rights up for grabs in a number of areas.
In recent times only the Winning Edge Club Championship and last year’s VAFA TV’s Strongest Man competition have allowed for competition between the sections. Most rivalries are formed by the bumps, marks and goals of Saturday afternoons, but we have found another way to measure your club’s status in the VAFA.
Social Media has almost been a buzz word in sporting circles the past 18 months and its great to see so many VAFA clubs have picked up this communication medium and are using it effectively too. Whether we like it or not social media matters and whilst not strictly free – someone has to spend time doing it – it is certainly a great way to send messages to your players and supporters and anyone else who might be interested in your club a message at no cash cost.
Many clubs have databases of their supporters family and friends of their players but what about those that are lapsed and didn’t know you are running a database? Social media can be a great mouthpiece for your club.
In doing research purely on Twitter users in the VAFA 51 of our 73 football clubs have a Twitter account. The VAFA Umpires Association also has an account which as they are our 74th club takes the grand total to 52 active Twitter accounts amongst our clubs.
The club with the most followers on Twitter is Fitzroy who are closely folled by Old Xaverians and in third place are Hampton Rovers. Hampton Rovers are the biggest users of twitter as they are the club with the most tweets.
There is not set rules on whether it is clubs in the higher or lower sections that use Twitter. In fact the top side in Premier from 2012, Collegians do not have an account whilst the bottom side of Division 4, Chadstone do.
Of course numbers have changed since this article has been completed but have a look below at the Twitter ladder below for the list of clubs with the most followers and see where you clubs sits.
The @VAFA_HQ account has just passed 2000 followers and as more people sign up twitter accounts we would hope for that number to continue to grow.
In terms of numbers there have been over 20,000 tweets from VAFA clubs or the VAFA in the past couple of seasons and combined we have over 12,000 followers. These numbers don’t consider that some people might follow more than one club but equally they don’t include VAFA players and supporters with their own Twitter accounts that tweet about the VAFA.
These are huge numbers that will only grow next year so if your club doesn’t have an account maybe work with your committee and start one up. Happy tweeting everyone.
Review the table below on where you club sits in the VAFA Twitter ladder. The numbers were taken a couple of days ago so apologies if your club has increased its following in recent days.
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