Aberdeen director Willie Garner hailed the work being done to secure the “future of the club” after the Dons’ free membership scheme for under-12s topped the 10,000-member mark.
The AberDNA Junior initiative launched in 2020, with the football club taking a proactive approach to cultivating the next generation of fans by helping introduce primary school-aged kids to the Premiership outfit.
Young Red Army members get two free home match tickets each season – with 5,000 tickets claimed already this term.
They also receive access to exclusive competitions, as well as the chance to “Sign for the Dons” during a special access-all-areas tour of Pittodrie.
More than 3,000 AberDNA Junior members have already taken part in “Sign for the Dons” days – the 15th instalment of which took place on Saturday.
Speaking at the event, Aberdeen board member Garner reflected on AberDNA Junior hitting 10,000 members, and the club remain confident – with around 45,000 children attending the region’s 200 primary schools – the number will continue to grow and help bolster the Dons’ fanbase in the years ahead.
Garner said: “10,000 is a huge milestone, and there’s still more to be done.
“I think it’s a testament to the people out there gathering the new members, especially the people in the Aberdeen FC Community Trust.
“It’s great for the club and very much the future of the club.
“We’ve probably got 8/9,000 season ticket holders, which fluctuates on a regular basis, and the younger we can get kids involved, the better it’s going to be in terms of them staying with the club.”
AberDNA Junior was launched on the back of the 6,000-member-strong, paid-for AberDNA membership scheme – all the income from which goes exclusively into the Dons’ football operation.
Garner is keen to accelerate a further, intermediary “youth DNA” scheme which will continue to engage with young supporters once they are too old for the under-12s AberDNA Junior initiative, helping maintain their links to the club into adulthood.
Chatting as a group of AberDNA Junior members took a look round Pittodrie’s home dressing room, with each Dons first-team star’s name above their seat, Garner added: “Once they come in here as a young kid and looking at the first-team dressing room – although I don’t know who is more excited, the parents or the kids to be honest – but, getting in here and looking and getting their pictures taken… that memory’s going to last with them forever.
“But we can’t be complacent, we’ve got to make sure we’re engaging with them on an ongoing basis.”
When it comes to hooking fans – young and old – on Aberdeen and convincing them buy season tickets going forward, Garner knows “if you’re successful on the pitch, everybody’s job becomes a lot easier.”
Robert McKenzie, 11, of Elgin, attended Saturday’s AberDNA Junior “Sign for the Dons” day.
He was making his second-ever trip to Pittodrie in the space of just seven days – having attended the previous weekend’s 2-0 Premiership win over Kilmarnock, where Luis “Duk” Lopes wowed the crowd by scoring the opener after 16 seconds.
On his behind-the-scenes AberDNA Junior experience, Robert – who got the chance to sign a “contract”, field questions at mock press conference, and run out the tunnel at the stadium, as well as getting to look around the dressing rooms – said: “This is my second time – my first was Aberdeen versus Kilmarnock last Saturday.
“I absolutely love it.”
Robert was keen to get his picture taken at the seat which belongs to his favourite player, Aberdeen skipper Graeme Shinnie, saying: “He’s good at team-work and all of that stuff.”
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