According to this Age Poll 3 per cent of Victorians do not support an AFL team. Presumably most of these are recent arrivals from foreign countries, such as Sydney, but the remaining heretics must be a tough-minded breed.
6 thoughts on “Atheism in Melbourne”
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John Quiggin 
The other 3% are probably ex-South Melbourne or Fitzroy supporters who haven’t forgiven the VFL/AFL for destroying their teams.
Or people who actually have no interest in footbrawl at all
Depends on what you mean by support, if you mean actually watch games played by the team, I suspect the amount would be much higher.
But supporting a team in Melbourne is more like a starsign, you have to have a favourite team, even if you have never watched a game in your life.
Oh and that is enforced by the Melbourne Mafia.
If you read the poll results, it’s clear that more than a nominal allegiance is required. Only 7 per cent answered “Don’t Know” to a question about who was most likely to win the premiership and 70 per cent correctly nominated the Brisbane Lions.
Given that the 23 per cent can mostly be attributed to wishful thinking and that some of the 7 per cent may have been genuinely ambivalent, this suggests that the proportion not interested is very small.
Just the way it should be!
As a Melbournian I can say that I used to follow a team. (A selection and nominal support of a team being mandatory). But over the years my interest has declined to the point where I simply don’t watch read or care about it. I have not even watched the grand final for the last five years (apparently obligatory).
It is more fun to go for a walk through the silent streets and simply wonder at the quietness.
Rex