St Kilda’s ‘Saints on the Street’ campaign has been hailed a major success with the club reaching out to tens of thousands of people across Melbourne’s bayside region.

The initiative was aimed at re-connecting St Kilda’s closest regions and the community response was enormous with many people inducted as part of the Saints’ faithful, joining the red, white and black army of fans.

Traditional St Kilda supporters and members weren’t overlooked either, with many getting a surprise visit by their favourite club.

The Port Phillip, Frankston, Kingston, Glen Eira and Bayside municipalities were all inundated with Saints players, staff members and volunteers – each person armed with free tickets and stickers but most importantly, a key message: Thankyou.

‘Thankyou’ for remaining loyal, ‘thankyou’ for supporting the Saints, and ‘thankyou’ for all that you do in the community.

10,000 postcards were handed out, each with two free tickets to St Kilda’s round two clash against GWS at Etihad Stadium. Thousands of conversations were had for the week between St Kilda people and members of the public. It was a great few days of community engagement, one in which every single person associated with the club approached with a positive vibe.

But it wasn’t just community shops and small companies that were visited last week. Tuesday afternoon was dedicated to dozens of Primary Schools, with players taking clinics and fielding questions from hundreds of enthusiastic kids. 

Phil Martin from the AFL was hugely impressed with the commitment from everyone involved.

“Sometimes football clubs can be very serious places,” he told SAINTS.com.au. “But to see the smiles on so many faces was a really refreshing thing and I know people high up at AFL headquarters feel the same way.”

“I spoke to the entire playing group at the beginning of the week and they fully embraced what I told them. It’s a great credit to the guys because we got such pleasing results.”