Well, it's certainly true of the Crows administrators, given their lack of regard or respect for the SANFL by roughly and desperately inserting their reserves team in it post haste.
As for their supporters, I can't say whether they are 'real' or not because there's more to it than simply knowing a bit of footy background. It's a pretty subjective label. I've seen plenty on both sides of the fence.
Some Crow fans only 'know' of the Crows and SA football post 1991 because of their age, and that's fair enough (mind you, there are plenty who are old enough and lived through the 70s and 80s but didn't get into footy until the Crows came on board). At any rate that doesn't preclude anyone from developing and appreciating an understanding the circumstances of how and why your club came into existence, its record and its achievements. To me, a true fan digs deeper to understand the club's fabric, its roots, and what's come before.
I think that for the majority of followers the Crows history starts in an Atco hut at West Lakes in October 1990 with Graham Cornes, Bill Sanders and Kerls, as if the stork simply dropped them off into the SA football community.