[room 6]

DANG : Its Thursday.

Your suppost to be here you B#stard.
Professor Yianni should be here on deck...!

Although away in the fresh air with your lovely wife appears as a much better choice when looking at the options. Only a few days left now my man .. hope your making them count. Although knowing your inability to sit still + behave - I'm sure your up at the crack of dawn probing for the next adventure. (try to keep it clean when reading the previous sentence)

I have one word for you John-san-fu : ENVY !

Hope you bring back some fresh, calming shots... so we can stick them up around the office and absorb a little of your getaway through osmosis : )

What are people's thoughts on the penalties on Essendon's salary cap breaches?

Essendon - Fine imposed of $85,000.

Carlton - Loss of draft picks a plenty.

Oh I forgot, and by the way if this is a relevant factor or not...... the AFL Commission Chairman, Mr Ron Evans who was in charge of the hearing is an ex President of Essendon Footy Club !!...hmmmmm.......

Well not much has changed since we last looked.

plenty of AFL (tragic collingwood) conjecture to look through if one has the spare time

Hope your time away is going off big fella.

We're missin ya back here dude - wish you were here to help out with some things.... the numbers are small - and our BIG J has a huge impact on the environment around here.

Will be good to catch you up : and hear all the stories - talk soon J - there is much to catch up on.

PS : the new movie "gettin square" is most awesome

Every club will have a winch at some point about the draw. It is uneven...yes...but I guess it takes years for the draw to even it self out. For example, this year the Pies travelled less. Don't forgot that pervious years they did travel interstate five times. The same will be for clubs in the 04 draw like Melbourne FC who seem to travel a bit this year and next. But I'm sure they will (Should travel less in 05.) we'll wait and see on that one.

As far as supporting your team even, if you are paid up member and don't attend, at least its more then not been a paid up member and not attending. Me personally, my family and kids are all paid up members and we go to as many games as our time allows us. Stemming back for me way back to when I was a little tacker at Vic Park standing on beer cans to watch the game, through the lean years (and we've had those) recently watching the team get flogged and be wooden spooners. Interestedly the club still managered to pull in good crowds in its dark days. Its nice to see the team do well now with the success, just need to pull of the big one.

I say support your club anyway you can, not just when they are winning. Everything is rosy and great when your team is winning, its when they are losing and down that they need more support.
Just remember a few years ago when we had our darkness day in Victorian football when they killed the Fitzroy FC. The images of the Roy boys coming off the ground in WA was the sadness day in my life for Aussie rules. A team that had some bad luck yet won six GF......5 more then the Saints. Just speak to those supporters and what it did to them, it has changed their life forever. My dad inc who did followed the Roy boys, now just has a passing interest. It takes generations for supports to come together and it was all gone in a minute.

I can not image what it would be like to have the league without any of the Victorian based clubs. Even if we give each other heaps...it adds to the atmosphere here in Vic where footy is the best in the land. My brother in law (who is a Victorian boy born and bred) is playing footy in WA at the moment and knows some of the West Coast players. He confirms that footy over in WA is not the same as in Victoria. Even at the level he is at. He was the club captain for an A grade team for the last two years and won the Amateur Footy league B&F in WA this year. He rates the footy in Vic far superior then WA, having played here for a number of years as well. Lets not take things for granted.

So lets get off the band wagon and support your club..good or bad.

My two bobs worth.

Gentleman, please!

The excellent, whimsical 1989 Kevin Costner movie "Field Of Dreams" contained the quote "build it and they will come". Well, win matches consistently and they will come. Collingwood, under Mick Malthouse's tutelage, won 7 games in 2000, 10 in 2001, 15 (from 25) in 2002, and 17 (from 25) this year, including 10 from the last 12 games. Win games consistently (not just 6 from the first 8 then 1 of the remaining FOURTEEN) and the crowds will stick/increase. Do you really want to play Essendon or Brisbane twice a year? I sure as hell don't. Collingwood has won something like 2 of the past 10 matches against Essendon, and has a similar paltry return for games v Brisbane. Carlton I want to play twice - more if possible. Richmond v Essendon has a similar deplorable recent history. Ever since the uneven draw came into existence (1987 with the inclusion of West Coast Eagles and Brisbane Bears, methinks) Collingwood has played Carlton and Essendon twice every year (sole exeption being 1991, please correct me if i'm wrong) when both teams were competitive and Collingwood was on the wane. Many other Victorian-based clubs had easier draws but they know Collingwood will draw a crowd. Collingwood has the most members of any Victorian-based club, having overtaken Essendon in 2003. The average crowd at the traditional Anzac Day match btw C'wood v Essendon - established 1995 - is around 78K - including 82K in 2002 in teeming rain. Anyway, the re-development of the MCG over the next few seasons will reduce the capacity to app 75-80K - the time to complain about not getting blockbuster games will be in a few years when the 'G is finished and back to 100K capacity.

Collingwood Season Ticket holder 1984-2003
Collingwood Reserved Seat holder 1984-2003

JC,

I'm pretty sure I have been a paid up member of some nature for the past 5 to 6 years. Happy to defer to Tox's memory over yours (hopefully he won't shoot me down in flames!)

As to quantity of games attended, er yes, I may reluctantly have to concede to your point on that one...

How come we haven't seen Tox's view of any of this garble to date ????

BTW how many years have you been a member of RFC JC ???

TDL, I feel you are exaggerating the length of time you have been on the bandwagon and what you classify as the bandwagon. Out of the last 5 to 6 years, how many of those have you been a member? How many of those did you attend more than 7 games per season? Out of a possible 34 years as a Collingwood supporter, why have you only started supporting them so late in life? :)

At the end of the day, you are right. $$$'s count for everything.

JC, even though you are supporting your club from a revenue perspective by being a paid up member, you would further enhance the revenue level for RFC home games if you attended. This is because (Tox please correct me if I'm wrong), but by purchasing food, drink & merchandise at the game I'm told a percentage of the takings go to the home team.

A small amount you may say, but if every home team supporter did stay @ home even if they were paid up members, it would have a significant impact on a club's finances.

No, your memory fails you, I have been on the CFC bandwagon for a good for about 5 or 6 years now..(though I would once again need Tox to confirm). As such, I have experienced lows being wooden spoon back a few years ago.

No idea who "Matthew" is, but it would be funny if it was Richo !!!...room6 gathering fame in footy circles!!!!

Also read that prior to the draw, all remaining 15 clubs had made submissions to the AFL to host games against CFC (for revenue generation reasons), and as such, 4 clubs were unsuccessful. The AFL I guess had to grant the remaining 11 games to clubs where they would think would generate the most cash. As a result, this has a significant effect on where CFC travels and the frequency thereof.

Once again, (Tox please confirm), doesnt a percentage of the take from the home games get allocated to the rest of the clubs?

On that presumption, you take a game like Anzac Day (Coll v Ess) or the new deal with (Coll V Sydney) @ Telstra Stadium, and a % of the take goes to the remaining clubs anyway, all as a result of savvy marketing by the participating clubs who have done all the hard work promoting the game.

But I think @ the end of the day and I suspect few will disagree, it all comes down to the almighty $$$$ involved in the game.

With regards to Eddie, he cops a bagging I know (and personally I'm not keen on him calling Fri night games, tho theres no apparent prob with Dermie - board member of Hawthorn calling games also), but I suspect every team wished they had a president maybe not like Eddie, but certainly Eddie's business acumen, high profile style and business contacts to generate sponsorship, the lifeline of all clubs, especially Victorian clubs. Eddie has even assisted Bulldogs in securing several sponsorship deals during 2003.

Curious on anyone's viewpoint (based on a reasoned argument), on this matter, as distinct from simple folk who are merely enchanted by our game (S.Newman).

Have a great trip by the way! :)

TDL your last comment would only work on me if I was wasn't a paid up member. I can buy a club membership and not go to any games for the year and still have contributed revenue to the club.

If my memory serves me right you've only just joined the Collingwood bandwagon and started attending games in the last 2-3 seasons. Could that be cause they've started winning games again. Only people like Tox/Matt have the right to give me shit. People that go and have been going to see there team through the good and BAD times.

Lets compare the number of club memberships we own and I think we know who leads that tally.

So who is this Matthew from the previous post? I'm sure richo aint reading my blog.

I don't like this tdl character.

JC, tigers with exception of perhaps this year due to poor performance, have IMO been a blockbuster drawcard, but to answer your question about how to raise revenue for RFC is perhaps to attend footy games and not to stay home simply because your team is not playing well.

You may recall several times during 2003 that you told me that you refused to go to the footy cos you were unhappy with watching bad performance, which is your choice, yet hypocritical when questioning revenue generation :)

JC, would be surprised if you got both Solly and Brown on the basis that neither Dogs or Dons would accept anything but 1st round draft pick and tigers only have one 1st round pick in the first 20 selections.

Also, Richo & Bowden have signed new contracts so may be difficult to trade other stocks to entice the Dogs / Dons.

On the plus side though, Solly & Brown are meant to be good mates....never know....

A few disheartened gents I sense, enough with the rhetoric in earlier posts.

I'm afraid it comes purely down to the money, ability to promote and build on a clubs supporter base (or more so how fickle your own teams supporters can be in times for success or otherwise and I stress otherwise), and administration of your particular club.

There are usually not too many grievances when (eg): the $$ generated by the Dons when they are hosting the home game against the Pies on Anzac Day.....same can also be said for other teams......

Perhaps we may even start to see some of COLLINGWOOD team on WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONARE - and all the questions will be game related or something they can all sink their teeth into like.

for 1 million dollars ..

WHICH TEAM LOST THIS YEARS GRAND FINAL ?

on the buzzer.

If you can't win a grant final .. then just take your bat and ball and go home.

Nice 1 Eddie -- you big sook !!

However .. Perhaps its a concilation prize for being such a good sport when it comes to loosing - they have had plenty of practice now - and may becoming disheartened !!

Still he is a bloody SOOK if ever I've seen one.

GO THE BOMBERS !!

it's okay JC. while collingwood's season looks easy, it means nothing if they can't perform on that last saturday in september..

do you have any highlights from the season just gone? my would be giving the black and white a good flogging on anzac day, finally getting over our brisbane voodoo and jimmy getting within a game of another brownlow..

look at round 1 on the 2004 fixture and it shows who essendon's new voodoo team is. we've played the lions on the season opener the last 2 years, but come next year it's port..

i hope richmond can pick up a couple of good, well oiled performers. coming from a family of tiger's supporters i can't stand the passion lacking from my family members who have had enough of the richmond football club.