Out of curiosity, what is included in the official membership number? Would Northern and NSW memberships count towards the total members (as in, the figure that FFA/the website would use)?
yes, every one of the options is included in the total members count. It's funny that the FFA make a big deal about membership numbers for their metrics but don't actually seem to care if the numbers are inflated by expanding the definition of what a member is. As far as I am aware all the other clubs do similar things with their membership numbers too
But what is a member? A member is someone who hold a membership. That does not just mean a season ticket holder. This is more important for the Nix than any other team, because I would hazard a guess to say we have the highest ratio of non-ticketed members, to total members. And I, personally, would be outraged if I found out I didn't count towards the total membership count (I'm an out-of-Towner holding a single-ticket club membership). A Northern or NSW member is a member who holds a ticket to all the Northern/NSW games.
Also, the main reason, I reckon, that out-of-Towners buy club memberships is to count towards the 'metrics' That's what I did, anyway (I don't care about no silly hat, and the single ticket doesn't change much, I got to 2-3 games a season anyway).
If the other clubs want to do a similar thing, good on 'em. But the difference is, almost all Manchester City or Smurf members live in their respective cities, and hold memberships that reflect that. But Phoenix fans are everywhere in NZ (although very concentrated in Welly). Thus, the club must have membership options to accommodate all fans.