Ross Oakley - Go Forth and Multiply

[STFU Donnie]

My hatred of him is how he overrode the umpires and video review to rub out Chris Grant for a week.

But Chris Grant has himself conceded that the suspension was warranted.

 

[Underarm]

Fitzroy was the death the other Melbourne clubs needed to have. Thanks Ross.

 

[HawkMongrel]

Fitzroy was the death the other Melbourne clubs needed to have. Thanks Ross.

Would swap them for your mob in a heartbeat.

 

[MisterMarcus]

This is what he was trying to do, move the VFL to the AFL. There needed to be a big shake of how the AFL went forward.

Yes his moves did get up the noses of Fitzroy, Footscray, Hawks & Melbourne fans, but how do we judge the end result ?.

The AFL is thriving, a far bigger national product than it was 20+ years ago.

Would you not say that the Bullies & Hawks are "stronger" clubs due to the hurdles they faced and overcame ?.

Fitzroy fans feel he deliberately killed them off, by denying and closing off all avenues for them to turn things around from about the late 80s onwards.

I have no issue with Oakley encouraging clubs to explore options, providing incentives, getting the members to discuss/vote for mergers or relocations, etc. Fitzroy was a very different story.

 

[Rickee]

Oakley cops a lot of well deserved flack for trying to kill off several Melbourne based clubs, but without his vision and dedication, the competition may not even be around today. The inflated entry fees of West Coast and Brisbane kept some clubs afloat, as all but two of the 12 clubs were technically bankrupt in the early 1980s. Look at what happened with a similar situation in the VFA, a competition without the option of expansion, where 15 clubs left the competition between 1984 and 95, with the majority folding all together.

The merger strategy was clearly not the right way for the VFL, Ross the Boss effectively saved a lot of the VFL clubs and maybe the competition itself by making the decision to go national so he deserves some credit.

 

[Ant_]

But Chris Grant has himself conceded that the suspension was warranted.

Chris Grant such a humble guy, I'm sure he wouldn't have a bad word about anyone.

Doesn't change Ian Collins taking an executive decision to override the Umps and send it to Video Review. Then override the Video review and send it to the Tribunal. Just because he knew better.

 

[StillAtLarge]

Who'd the biggest ******* between Oakley & Ian Collins?

 

[Ant_]

Fitzroy fans feel he deliberately killed them off, by denying and closing off all avenues for them to turn things around from about the late 80s onwards.

I have no issue with Oakley encouraging clubs to explore options, providing incentives, getting the members to discuss/vote for mergers or relocations, etc. Fitzroy was a very different story.

It was the 90's where Fitzroy was killed off the by the AFL, and disallowed the more favourable merger option with North to the Brisbane take over.

The '89 Merger was very much a Fitzroy takeover of Footscray.

They would retain their colours, their name and ground at Princess Park.

I wouldn't have been surprised if it went ahead they'd have voted to drop the "bulldogs" moniker as well a few years in, much like how the Brisbane Lions have ditched the Fitzroy Lion in favour of that guy from Nickelback.

 

[Roysforever]

The AFL has actively supported Melbourne based clubs since the early 2000's.

Many have had multi-million dollars amounts given to them, through the AFL's then named "Competitive Balance Fund".

A selection of AFL grants to various clubs from the C.B.F reads as follows:
2002: Western Bulldogs - $1 million
2003: Western Bulldogs - $1 million, North Melbourne - $1 million
2004: Western Bulldogs - $1.5 million, North Melbourne - $1 million
2005: Melbourne $1.5 million + $1.5 million retrospectively, Western Bulldogs $1.5 million, North Melbourne $1 million.
2006: Carlton - $2.1 million
2007: Western Bulldogs $1.7 million, North Melbourne $1.4 million, Melbourne $1 million, Sydney Swans $0.7 million, Richmond $0.4 million, Hawthorn $0.25 million, Port Adelaide $0.25 million
2008: Melbourne - $250,000, Western Bulldogs $1.7 million, North Melbourne $1.4 million
2009: Melbourne - $1 million, Port Adelaide - $1 million

Totals 2002-2009
Western Bulldogs - $8.4 million
North Melbourne - $5.8 million
Melbourne - $5.25 million
Carlton - $2.1 million

Without those funds, the Western Bulldogs, and perhaps a couple of other clubs, wouldn't exist today as an independent entities in the AFL competition.

If only the Roys were given access to such funding and league policies aiding sustainability.

 

[Seedsfan]

Look I am not calling for any clubs to get cut but 10 sides in vic is probably to many. The comp would work better with 16 sides 8 in Vic 8 in the rest of Australia

 

[Roylion]

If only the Roys were given access to such funding and league policies aiding sustainability.

Dyson Hore-Lacy said that if Fitzroy could have secured an extra million dollars they wouldn't have sought a merger with North Melbourne, Brisbane or anyone else. Not many people understand that Fitzroy actually made an operating profit in 1993, 1994 and 1995.

 

[Adz]

Isn't he dead?

 

[Roylion]

The '89 Merger was very much a Fitzroy takeover of Footscray.

They would retain their colours, their name and ground at Princess Park.

Fitzroy didn't have to merge in 1989. They were approached by the VFL to do so and given the terms were so attractive to Fitzroy, the name kept, jumper virtually the same (see below), Fitzroy agreed. However the merger was so one-sided that there was considerable (and ultimately successful) resistance.

I would have thought that instead the 'Footscray Lions' playing out at the Whitten Oval, with maybe the above jumper, might have had a greater chance of being accepted by both sets of supporters in 1989.

 

[Roysforever]

Isn't he dead?

Anxious to graffiti his tombstone and dance on his grave as well???

 

[Roylion]

Isn't he dead?

Dyson Hore-Lacy?

No.

 

[Roysforever]

Dyson Hore-Lacy?

No.

Think he meant Oakley. I believe Oakley is President of a bowls club these days.

 

[Frank Gallagher]

I don't give a ****.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Didn't he work for Hawthorn?

 

[hutchy31]

Look I am not calling for any clubs to get cut but 10 sides in vic is probably to many. The comp would work better with 16 sides 8 in Vic 8 in the rest of Australia

Maybe. The issue is that these clubs are more than simply franchises, as in some of the US sports. Some of the older supporters I saw at and after the GF would have been denied this moment after decades of support, and that shouldn't sit well with anyone involved in footy if they genuinely care about the game and the communities it is inextricably linked to.

Bottom line is they won't reduce the size of the comp anytime soon - 9 matches a week means more broadcast dollars. If anything it'll be a third WA team and a Tas team that's next, bringing us to 20.

 

[Flandersss]

The AFL has actively supported Melbourne based clubs since the early 2000's.

Many have had multi-million dollars amounts given to them, through the AFL's then named "Competitive Balance Fund".

A selection of AFL grants to various clubs from the C.B.F reads as follows:
2002: Western Bulldogs - $1 million
2003: Western Bulldogs - $1 million, North Melbourne - $1 million
2004: Western Bulldogs - $1.5 million, North Melbourne - $1 million
2005: Melbourne $1.5 million + $1.5 million retrospectively, Western Bulldogs $1.5 million, North Melbourne $1 million.
2006: Carlton - $2.1 million
2007: Western Bulldogs $1.7 million, North Melbourne $1.4 million, Melbourne $1 million, Sydney Swans $0.7 million, Richmond $0.4 million, Hawthorn $0.25 million, Port Adelaide $0.25 million
2008: Melbourne - $250,000, Western Bulldogs $1.7 million, North Melbourne $1.4 million
2009: Melbourne - $1 million, Port Adelaide - $1 million

Totals 2002-2009
Western Bulldogs - $8.4 million
North Melbourne - $5.8 million
Melbourne - $5.25 million
Carlton - $2.1 million

Without those funds, the Western Bulldogs, and perhaps a couple of other clubs, wouldn't exist today as an independent entities in the AFL competition.

St Kilda?

 

[Royal Flash]

Think he meant Oakley. I believe Oakley is President of a bowls club these days.

Any truth to the rumour that he's undertaken a full restructure of the club for future sustainability by merging the C and D Division Womens Pennant sides, abolished the off season indoor carpet bowls, raised club beer prices to $2.50 a pot and outsourced the tea and lamingtons to a Chinese consortium?

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

St Kilda?

We got free pizza, fairy bread and cordial

 

[imadodgyumpire]

I remember seeing his daughter on TFS thinking she was hot.

 

[juice t]

My hatred of him is how he overrode the umpires and video review to rub out Chris Grant for a week.

I like how even John Elliott hates Collins

 

[HawkMongrel]

Think he meant Oakley. I believe Oakley is President of a bowls club these days.

Yeah, it was the Toorak Bowls club however under his leadership they've successfully rebranded themselves as the East Toorak, Kooyong, Camberwell & Prahran Dragon-Warrior-Lion-Knickerbockers.