North only have themselves to blame.

[walhawk]

How do they expect to grow their membership when they: -
1. Changed the playing name of the club
2. Play half their games in a different jumper.
3. Move from 2nd home to 2nd home chasing $$$ without doing enough in any market to build up any support and make it worthwhile.

North have already sold much their soul.

I really hope they can maintain what is left, whether it is by consolidating in Melbourne or on the GC, but they cannot blame the AFL for their current predicament.

What ever happens, they need to wear their blue and white stripes every week and commit to something. Anything.

[Vitamin K]

All of the moves you've outlined have come out of a need to chase the $$$'s and avoid a situation like this. They might not have gone about it the right way but I don't think they were out trying to alienate themselves.

Roos fans, the administration (both your club and the AFL) have let you down, so get out there rattling tins and sign up for 2008. Good luck with it.

BTW Walhawk, the 2nd home option is not all that different from playing a bunch of games in front of 16,000 people in Inceston.

[The Zebra]

I agree with a but of what you said Wallhawk, but as a Hawthorn supporter you know that reaching the point where the very real possibility that your club will be gone can be the spark that turns things around.

The AFL are attempting to take away that chance and are far from blameless.

[giantroo]

At least your not blaming the supporters.

[walhawk]

I hate the fact that Hawthorn have to play 4 games in Tassie to stay strong.
But we really committed heavily to Tassie and it is working. Our club would do more promotion / events / clinics in one year than North have done in 10 years as part time gypsies. Tassie means the Hawks will be safe from these kinds of discussions over the next 10 years while GC & Western Sydney is sorted out.
And we did not change our name or our jumper. We just moved our 4 Dome games a little further south.
We invested the cash in THE best training facility in the AFL.

North supporters should have put more heat on the club when they chaged the name and then when they started messing with the jumper. So the supporters must take some blame. Not all change is progress.

[Hearts to hearts]

How do they expect to grow their membership when they: -
1. Changed the playing name of the club
2. Play half their games in a different jumper.
3. Move from 2nd home to 2nd home chasing $$$ without doing enough in any market to build up any support and make it worthwhile.

North have already sold much their soul.

I really hope they can maintain what is left, whether it is by consolidating in Melbourne or on the GC, but they cannot blame the AFL for their current predicament.

What ever happens, they need to wear their blue and white stripes every week and commit to something. Anything.

add 4. Blame the supporters, never themselves, if numbers don't meet their hopes.

But I think we can blame the AFL too - every one of those dumb ideas has been initiated or encouraged by them.

[Vitamin K]

So you can see that what North has done has been to do their best to ensure the survival of the club, they just went about it a bit poorly. Also, not everyone is lucky enough to find a bunch of suckers like the Tas goverment to throw huge amounts of money them. I can tell you as a former Tasmanian tax payer still living with the memory of the '89 GF I was very upset about the deal you guys got.

I guess to the extent that they ballsed it all up Nth have no one to blame but themselves, but its not a situation they were trying to get themselves in.

[ROORAGE]

Walhawk.
the point with the most validity is the changing of the name.
WHY DID WE DO THIS!!!!!!
No-one was consulted, the decision was just.....made. And the the end of a rather successful stint too.
CHANGE IT BACK!!!! Put out a media release, something! We should hereafter ALWAYS be referred to as NORTH MELBOURNE.
The Kangaroos thing is a joke. I can only assume it was done to 'appeal' to an Australia wide audience- at the expense of NORTH MELBOURNE supporters. If this is in fact the case, why do Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton and Richmond have strong supporter bases outside of Victoria?
FFS- CHANGE IT BACK!!!!!!!!!!

[MarkT]

add 4. Blame the supporters, never themselves, if numbers don't meet their hopes.

But I think we can blame the AFL too - every one of those dumb ideas has been initiated or encouraged by them.Therein lies the lesson. Club board and AFL. Don’t trust ‘em – publicly and overtly.

[evo]

Therein lies the lesson. Club board and AFL. Don’t trust ‘em – publicly and overtly.

North supporters understand that better than anyone.But what can they do? It's a rock and hard place for them.

As memebers they can lobby and petition all they like but ultimately, in Norths case it's the shareholders who decide their fate (unlike a Collingwood or a Richmond)

[MarkT]

North supporters understand that better than anyone.But what can they do? It's a rock and hard place for them.

As memebers they can lobby and petition all they like but ultimately, in Norths case it's the shareholders who decide their fate (unlike a Collingwood or a Richmond)No members = no club. The shareholders owning shares in an insolvent club doesn’t do them much good. The members have the power it is just harder to mobilise and organise.