2014 membership- Target 40,000

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3rd best result in our history, coming off 2 bottom 4 finishes, "s**t result".

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you - logic.
 
31,538
 
Mattdougie said:
Sorry guys we are over 20% behind Nth who are the team we should respectfully gauge ourselves against IMO

All bias aside this is a sh!t result no matter how you spin it
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It's a relatively big jump on last year, we'll finish outside the 8 for a fourth year in a row and we're coming off 2 bottom 4 years, and North Melbourne have spent the last 3 having the media blow steam up their backsides and will play finals. Not to mention getting a boost in Tassie.

We can gauge ourselves against them when we're even in the vicinity of them on the ladder, and when we've got a home away from home to make the numbers look better.
 

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I disagree. We know membership fluctuates with good years and bad years but it is what it is. If you have a lot of bad years (as we have over the last 60 years) then your membership is going to trend downwards and perhaps stay there. You can't just ignore those bad years.

Perhaps a better average would be a rolling five year average. This would take into account some of the cyclical rises and falls on the ladder. Ten years is too long (due to changes in the way AFL is marketed etc and also because the average becomes too inert) so something like 4-7 year rolling averages would be best.

Anyone care to research and publish the rolling membership averages for all 18 clubs? I'd do it but I would need access to all clubs' membership tallies for the last 5 years. Can anyone point me to a single source for them?

Whether we get those stats or not, we know we would be pretty close to bottom of the established clubs. That's a fact. We just have to keep working on building it and if we happen to overtake the likes of StKilda and North well that's great. While that's important (because of the devil-takes-the-hindmost principle) it is not the sole point of the exercise. We are trying to build membership to keep pace with average AFL club expenditures so we can stay competitive on field. And of course there's just the intangible benefit of having 30,000+ cheering on the side at every home game.
 
Igloo said:
3rd best result in our history, coming off 2 bottom 4 finishes, "s**t result".

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you - logic.
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Ladies and gentlemen I present you someone with a personal issue

Anything less than an improvement EVERY year should be seen as a failure and that stands for every club not just ours.

Sanding for mediocrity as I now see some are happy with will not take us forward, we must strive for records year after year and be happy with nothin less
 
Igloo said:
3rd best result in our history, coming off 2 bottom 4 finishes, "s**t result".

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you - logic.
Click to expand...


Ladies and gentlemen I present you someone with a personal issue

Anything less than an improvement EVERY year should be seen as a failure and that stands for every club not just ours.

Standing for mediocrity as I now see some are happy with will not take us forward, we must strive for records year after year and be happy with nothing less
 
Mattdougie said:
Ladies and gentlemen I present you someone with a personal issue

Anything less than an improvement EVERY year should be seen as a failure and that stands for every club not just ours.

Sanding for mediocrity as I now see some are happy with will not take us forward, we must strive for records year after year and be happy with nothin less
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Sure, if you live in a land that is entirely unrealistic. Every club has bandwagoners. There's plenty of them as well. You just have to look at our 2010 numbers to see it. We're a small club, and still jumped up 6000.

Striving is one thing. Obtaining a realistic target is another.

But yes, this is super personal :drunk:. More accurately, calling out bullshit.
 
Igloo said:
Sure, if you live in a land that is entirely unrealistic. Every club has bandwagoners. There's plenty of them as well. You just have to look at our 2010 numbers to see it. We're a small club, and still jumped up 6000.

Striving is one thing. Obtaining a realistic target is another.

But yes, this is super personal :drunk:. More accurately, calling out bullshit.
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Can you IGGY a mod??
 
Mattdougie said:
Ladies and gentlemen I present you someone with a personal issue

Anything less than an improvement EVERY year should be seen as a failure and that stands for every club not just ours.

Standing for mediocrity as I now see some are happy with will not take us forward, we must strive for records year after year and be happy with nothing less
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We have improved from last year. Undeniable fact.
 
We must strive for records year after year

Funny how you left that part out igloo???

Records every year or that is failure, we may not achieve this but that should be the goal not backslapping coz we got 3rd best ever and then use the caviet of us being sh!t to make this look even better

I'd call your bullshit but I don't have all day, Lol but it's not personal now!! Guess there is a ban coming for me, you know rules for some diff to others
 
Mattdougie said:
We must strive for records year after year

Funny how you left that part out igloo???

Records every year or that is failure

I'd call your bullshit but I don't have all day, Lol but it's not personal now!! Guess there is a ban coming for me, you know rules for some diff to others
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I didn't leave it out. I addressed it quite clearly. Right here.

Igloo said:
Sure, if you live in a land that is entirely unrealistic. Every club has bandwagoners. There's plenty of them as well. You just have to look at our 2010 numbers to see it. We're a small club, and still jumped up 6000.

Striving is one thing. Obtaining a realistic target is another.

But yes, this is super personal :drunk:. More accurately, calling out bullshit.
Click to expand...

There is no doubt the club has things in place to reach the goals that they do have. But realistically, you're not going to get a record every year. Especially if you're going down the ladder.
 

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Igloo said:
I didn't leave it out. I addressed it quite clearly. Right here.



There is no doubt the club has things in place to reach the goals that they do have. But realistically, you're not going to get a record every year. Especially if you're going down the ladder.
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No u didn't igloo, u attempted to pick pieces of my post out to make me look "stupid" simply coz you have an issue with me and IF someone took the time to look back at your post to me 99% are sarcastic negativity. Now I only notice coz most that now have issues with me ignore me so I invite you sir to do the same and not respond to me.

I've said 1000 times I simply state my opinion right or wrong and do not think I'm the oracle of knowledge but I don't lambast some of the completely incorrect posts that come from u coz I simply ignore them

Enjoy your day , the sun just came out :)
 
Mattdougie said:
No u didn't igloo, u attempted to pick pieces of my post out to make me look "stupid" simply coz you have an issue with me and IF someone took the time to look back at your post to me 99% are sarcastic negativity. Now I only notice coz most that now have issues with me ignore me so I invite you sir to do the same and not respond to me.

I've said 1000 times I simply state my opinion right or wrong and do not think I'm the oracle of knowledge but I don't lambast some of the completely incorrect posts that come from u coz I simply ignore them

Enjoy your day , the sun just came out :)
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Yes I did. See those bold letters? I even added a little bit in my last post, just for your pleasure.

If I ignored you, how could I keep my vendetta going?
 
Can we just move this little stoush to the sack-the-coach thread or somewhere else that nobody else bothers to go to, please?

I think we have drifted a fair way off topic.
 
dogwatch said:
Can we just move this little stoush to the sack-the-coach thread or somewhere else that nobody else bothers to go to, please?

I think we have drifted a fair way off topic.
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Calling out a mod on taking a thread off topic. It's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off.

Back on topic, to still be at our 3rd best result ever and be in the bottom 3rd of the ladder is a great result. Our players like Libba, Bontempelli, Macrae etc. are starting to bring in new supporters and it looks like we're going to keep heading up. Great news.
 
People see my comments as negative because well a lot are to be honest but I speak from a very different view point to most here.

Where a lot use the fact we have finished bottom 4 as an excuse why we are not breaking records I simply do not accept this as an excuse

NOW I understand it is and it does effect the tally but I want MY club to extend itself.

Use the record membership tally as a starting point regardless of ladder position and do everything possible to beat that.

Are the club doing that?? IMO no coz I still have several bulldog fans that arnt members and used to be and have not been contacted at all.

Yes I'm totality the result isn't bad but I'm sure we could find excuses every year for the figure not to improve

Shoot for the stars guys
 
Mattdougie said:
People see my comments as negative because well a lot are to be honest but I speak from a very different view point to most here.

Where a lot use the fact we have finished bottom 4 as an excuse why we are not breaking records I simply do not accept this as an excuse

NOW I understand it is and it does effect the tally but I want MY club to extend itself.

Use the record membership tally as a starting point regardless of ladder position and do everything possible to beat that.

Are the club doing that?? IMO no coz I still have several bulldog fans that arnt members and used to be and have not been contacted at all.

Yes I'm totality the result isn't bad but I'm sure we could find excuses every year for the figure not to improve

Shoot for the stars guys
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If you're so passionate about it then why don't you contact the club and send some letters? Clogging up some threads on here will do diddly squat.
 
Mattdougie said:
People see my comments as negative because well a lot are to be honest but I speak from a very different view point to most here.

Where a lot use the fact we have finished bottom 4 as an excuse why we are not breaking records I simply do not accept this as an excuse

NOW I understand it is and it does effect the tally but I want MY club to extend itself.

Use the record membership tally as a starting point regardless of ladder position and do everything possible to beat that.

Are the club doing that?? IMO no coz I still have several bulldog fans that arnt members and used to be and have not been contacted at all.

Yes I'm totality the result isn't bad but I'm sure we could find excuses every year for the figure not to improve

Shoot for the stars guys
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Agree with all of that, except that the failure of the club to sign up your ex-member mates may not be for want of trying. Sure they can try harder. We all can. But maybe they had reached the point of diminishing returns and it was no longer cost-effective to keep chasing them?
who_let_the_dogs_out said:
If you're so passionate about it then why don't you contact the club and send some letters? Clogging up some threads on here will do diddly squat.
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A bit harsh there, wltdo. We're all passionate and most of us are "clogging up the threads" with discussion. I can't see that the discussion hurts. That's what the threads are for.
 
who_let_the_dogs_out said:
If you're so passionate about it then why don't you contact the club and send some letters? Clogging up some threads on here will do diddly squat.
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In fact I not only contacted the club I have them the contact details for these people when I went in to but some merchandise in march and still no contact
 
Mattdougie said:
People see my comments as negative because well a lot are to be honest but I speak from a very different view point to most here.

Where a lot use the fact we have finished bottom 4 as an excuse why we are not breaking records I simply do not accept this as an excuse

NOW I understand it is and it does effect the tally but I want MY club to extend itself.

Use the record membership tally as a starting point regardless of ladder position and do everything possible to beat that.

Are the club doing that?? IMO no coz I still have several bulldog fans that arnt members and used to be and have not been contacted at all.

Yes I'm totality the result isn't bad but I'm sure we could find excuses every year for the figure not to improve

Shoot for the stars guys
Click to expand...

I think today must be 'Agree with MattDougie" Day for me.

I agree with him completely that the membership numbers this year are at best par. And we need to do better than simply par.

Obviously you can't ALWAYS increase numbers. After diving down the ladder like we did in 2011, for instance, you would have expected numbers to go down in 2012.

But this year was not one of those years. We were on a big high at the end of last year. We were being talked up as a team on the rise by many. We recruited Crameri - our first gun recruit since Barry Hall. That's the kind of guy you can sell memberships around. There was absolutely no reason we couldn't have lifted our membership numbers by 3 or 4,000 - or more (bearing in mind that membership numbers perennially trend up across the league). We certainly should have at the very least been well on-track for a record at the point we got done by West Coast (obviously that defeat would have taken the wind out of membership sales). But that was not the case - we were lagging behind record numbers well before then.

Just to remind you of the mindset at the time, look at the OP:

cleveland said:
With how bad our first 13-14 games were this year i'm very surprised we got to over 30,000. Last 4 weeks we have turned this around and are playing great footy and you could almost say we are talk of the town or atleast are getting a lot more positive talk.

All the bandwagoners will now start jumping back on as we push the top 8 next year and with the excellent work of the club in regards to the Heartland campaign as well as our new Vfl team Footscray we can push 40,000 members in my honest opinion.
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I don't think it's good enough to be satisfied with "Well, we went up by 5% from last year!" Last year we were a club with absolutely no hope until Round 18. We were a genuine bottom-dwelling team. This year started with significant hope, and while we have been inconsistent there has been considerably more sunshine. It would have been a disgrace for our membership numbers to not go up by a few per cent. I mean, look at those league numbers - we are neck-and-neck with St Kilda, who are also a minnow club and are in the middle of their darkest year for a decade and a half!

I'm not berating the club, I understand they have a lot on their plate right now. And I'm not all doom-and-gloom. I know things will hopefully turn around sharply over the next few years. But I maintain that this year was nothing to be proud of. It was simply adequate. And I fervently hope for more.
 
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