2021 Membership Thread

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Sep 27, 2005
14,524
21,756
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Other Teams
Footscray
40,000 or so members
40 or so players and senior coaches etc
100 days in the hub = just ten thank you signed notes a day each or perhaps a 5 minute phone call to say thanks?

It's not rocket surgery to give fans, the vast majority doing it tough, a bit of a boost and a thank you note or similar?

With 2021 looking like only 1/4 to a third of members getting access to any game at best, maintaining our supporter base as much as we can. should be a high priority.

Great post. The pampered life in the sun has obviously got to our key decision makers and they’ve completely lost sight of what things are like back home.

For a club that boasts that it‘s in touch with its supporters base, it’s completely tone deaf.

Other clubs have offered signed jumpers -and there will be plenty of our members who have lost their jobs and a simple reward, a thank you, a phone call to members from a player would have brightened people’s day more than they could imagine.

For me, it’s a concerning sign that the club has lost touch with its roots and drunk a bit much of its own bath water.
 
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Mantis Toboggan

Premiership Player
Mar 24, 2018
3,817
8,524
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
I'd say that the "flat fee of $10 ($5 for juniors) as part of a standard ticket booking process" will be charged each time you book a seat. So if you know you are going to attend all our Melbourne home games, you can book a seat for each game before the start of the season for a flat $10 fee. If you decide to go to another game outside of the ones you chose before the season (i.e. Ballarat, interstate, away game in melb), then you have to pay another $10 fee each time you go online to book....???
The email states that if you want to reserve a seat it will be $10 per game. It states that if you want to do every game (all 9) it will be $90.

What’s the deal if you don’t reserve a seat? I wouldn’t trust just rocking up and hoping for the best, particularly with demand likely outstripping supply.
 

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Doggy

Brownlow Medallist
May 20, 2006
14,740
12,061
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Once you pay $10 per seat per game to reserve a seat you are not paying far off what your normal membership is. It's hardly a saving, and is a rort.

We are basically paying to not attend again, and many will not do that given the current climate.

If numbers will be severely capped to a paltry 10,000, what is the point in buying a membership next year? To donate to the club again when many cannot afford to?
 
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Once you pay $10 per seat per game to reserve a seat you are not paying far off what your normal membership is. It's hardly a saving, and is a rort.

We are basically paying to not attend again, and many will not do that given the current climate.

If numbers will be severely capped to a poultry 10,000, what is the point in buying a membership next year? To donate to the club again when many cannot afford to?
Here's what a poultry 10,000 would look like at Marvel.
Not sure it would comply with social distancing restrictions but at least we'd be assured of a standing ovulation if we win.
1602547563574.png
 
The email states that if you want to reserve a seat it will be $10 per game. It states that if you want to do every game (all 9) it will be $90.

What’s the deal if you don’t reserve a seat? I wouldn’t trust just rocking up and hoping for the best, particularly with demand likely outstripping supply.

Well if you're right, that sucks
 
Pretty disappointing to be honest, especially since what they said in May...



We haven't or didn't hear anything on the last two. With crowds almost certainly to be restricted to around 10,000 for at least part of the season I see it very unlikely that we will be able to attend away games no matter who we play.

I wasn't expecting anything spectacular considering the circumstances but it seems as if there is no reward for loyalty which compared to what other clubs are doing is a bit stiff.

What are other clubs doing?
 
For everyone who has an allocated seat membership (like I do) they should operate an odds and evens or 1 in 3 system. This would maintain social distancing. For the games where you don't have your regular seat, you get a seat somewhere else.

I guess it's impossible to program this (LOL).

Just print a whole seasons tickets for members, with seat allocations on the ticket. If you want to do swaps, we have a mail service that delivers every other day. We pay their CEO a couple of million to buy flowers on her expense account. Think how that will boost the posties bag.

Or let's do it the Australian way, like the census debacle.
 
The fact that we are finding it hard to decipher what exactly are the offerings next year is an indictment on the 'gurus' who run the Membership department. The Membership contact number will be a very congested one going forward. If many of the world's medical experts are right, even if we get an effective vaccine, it could take until the end of next year for whole populations to be vaccinated, so who knows what the season will look like.
 

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The fact that we are finding it hard to decipher what exactly are the offerings next year is an indictment on the 'gurus' who run the Membership department. The Membership contact number will be a very congested one going forward. If many of the world's medical experts are right, even if we get an effective vaccine, it could take until the end of next year for whole populations to be vaccinated, so who knows what the season will look like.
I've sent a link for this thread to the membership department suggesting they have a read (if they haven't already) so they can understand how their messaging is being received and how much confusion it's causing. I hope they do read it.

(Hi there, membership people if you are. We do love you.)

It probably beats everybody ringing up individually.
 
I haven't got any emails. Where is all the info coming from?
I received an email. It was addressed to my wife :) We both have a membership but somehow she gets emails with her name but addressed to me. Whatever...
 

Glaeken Oracle

Club Legend
Dec 3, 2015
1,285
2,714
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
So 5 decades as a member, multiple reserved seats, social club memberships, threw a fair amount into the coffers in 89, donated the whole yearly outlay this year - and for what? They can’t even fulfill what they promised a few months ago (not exactly breaking the bank to keep the commitment), and a rip off for next year. Membership dept (and Bains and Gordon if they are involved in this decision) can just GAGF. I’m livid. I’ve got Essendon supporting mates - jumper signed by player of their choice for EVERY member, North offering discounts/freebies as well apparently. And we are, in net terms, worse off for 2021. You useless donkey ****ers.
 

Oliver G

Premium Platinum
May 14, 2009
3,368
8,597
Melbourne
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
So 5 decades as a member, multiple reserved seats, social club memberships, threw a fair amount into the coffers in 89, donated the whole yearly outlay this year - and for what? They can’t even fulfill what they promised a few months ago (not exactly breaking the bank to keep the commitment), and a rip off for next year. Membership dept (and Bains and Gordon if they are involved in this decision) can just GAGF. I’m livid. I’ve got Essendon supporting mates - jumper signed by player of their choice for EVERY member, North offering discounts/freebies as well apparently. And we are, in net terms, worse off for 2021. You useless donkey ****ers.

Couldn't have said it better.

What are other clubs doing?

Offering signed jumpers, discounts, things like that. Not saying we should do exactly that, it would just have been a nice gesture to actually reward loyalty and I would suspect that many members would've just said no thanks to whatever they offered and to put it back into the club.

What we have gotten so far is two extremely confusing emails that seemingly say that it doesn't matter if you been a member for 50 years or 1 year you are in the same boat, while essentially paying the same per game no matter what kind of membership you have.
 
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Mattdougie

Cancelled
10k Posts
Jun 29, 2013
19,344
19,584
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Ballarat is now an add on to the membership

lol couldn’t see that coming from a mile away, good luck getting more than 5000 there next year and I’m not sure Ballarat will be that happy with City people infecting their town.

At least the the 200 Ballarat members will get to see a game 😂😂😂😂
 
Dec 21, 2005
23,638
14,964
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Couldn't have said it better.



Offering signed jumpers, discounts, things like that. Not saying we should do exactly that, it would just have been a nice gesture to actually reward loyalty and I would suspect that many members would've just said no thanks to whatever they offered and to put it back into the club.

What we have gotten so far is two extremely confusing emails that seemingly say that it doesn't matter if you been a member for 50 years or 1 year you are in the same boat, while essentially paying the same per game no matter what kind of membership you have.
Just for the grass is greener perspective...

An Essendon supporter mate ($1000 membership) was told he would get a signed Essendon jumper, which was then downgraded to a jumper signed by a single player of choice. He chose Tippa, was then told it had to be one of 3 players. I cant remember the three... not because I have a bad memory, because I had to ask who they were, fringe at best.
 
I don't understand the logic of the $10 book a seat. Is this designed to put people off because they can't fulfill the seat request for all members?

Hypothetically, Marvel has 50,000 seats. Level 2 seems to be mainly for the elites. Level 1 for regular members, level 3 for GA. If all the members want a seat, it won't be possible with social distancing. If you miss out do you get a refund?
 

Timewillcome

Senior List
Feb 1, 2013
165
406
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Too early to speculate and I don't want to add to an already confusing communication from the club, but I had an AFL membership a while back which I no longer hold and the conditions were similar to what is being advised as well as having spoken to an Adelaide member in detail about how they went this year.

The main reason I don't have the AFL membership is the lack of access to Marvel seating ( 2000 odd seats on Level 1) as well as booking for each game which was a major PITA.

Booking fees add up as does the level of frustration when missing out on seating. It appears this is designed to limit access (as needed) but this was what interstate clubs did this year. It is likely wont be possible to attend each home game depending on restrictions as you will need to be logged on at a certain time / date to book, and once tickets are gone you miss out. If we only have 10K per game, that's one in four missing each game. Adelaide sold theirs based on level of membership, so lower category members may never have got to a game as they had access last to seating.

Not really a fan of this setup and I am seriously considering giving the season a miss next year, depending on what comes out over the next few weeks.

On a side note, comms from the club are really ordinary these days. Not sure why they cant provide this info to all members.
 
Too early to speculate and I don't want to add to an already confusing communication from the club, but I had an AFL membership a while back which I no longer hold and the conditions were similar to what is being advised as well as having spoken to an Adelaide member in detail about how they went this year.

The main reason I don't have the AFL membership is the lack of access to Marvel seating ( 2000 odd seats on Level 1) as well as booking for each game which was a major PITA.

Booking fees add up as does the level of frustration when missing out on seating. It appears this is designed to limit access (as needed) but this was what interstate clubs did this year. It is likely wont be possible to attend each home game depending on restrictions as you will need to be logged on at a certain time / date to book, and once tickets are gone you miss out. If we only have 10K per game, that's one in four missing each game. Adelaide sold theirs based on level of membership, so lower category members may never have got to a game as they had access last to seating.

Not really a fan of this setup and I am seriously considering giving the season a miss next year, depending on what comes out over the next few weeks.

On a side note, comms from the club are really ordinary these days. Not sure why they cant provide this info to all members.

If it's 1 in 4 that miss out, my suggestion was that the club print tickets for the games you have admission to. I don't want to log on while I'm working or even when I'm not working to reserve seats. The club are quick enough to mail out packs of raffle tickets every year to members, that's about the same amount of printing as seat tickets.

My wife would drop her membership tomorrow, she tends to go along with me but she's more realistic about the "value" proposition of attending games than I am.
 

Timewillcome

Senior List
Feb 1, 2013
165
406
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Not sure if I'm fussed about getting a 'reward' from the club or not, except a $20 merchandise voucher won't cover the price of anything at the bulldog shop (and you can buy the bulldog stuff online as well). I can understand why ppl might be peeved, but maybe feedback the club got was not to waste money on crap and give ppl the cheapest memberships they can.

Further to NBates above, this was part of the feedback survey so must have been a majority (or deemed worthwhile to change). I've got about 30 low quality scarfs now, don't need any more. This in my mind is a good change, lots wont use it, or spend more than $20. Good way to boost shop sales and reduce waste in the club and the community. There is a Bulldog shop at the games also so plenty of access to spend it when attending.
 

Dale4captain

Premiership Player
Sep 14, 2010
3,869
9,451
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Other Teams
Chicago Bulls
Just be mindful of the severe lack of resources and staff the club have at the moment and the way the department is being run effectively via zoom and email. AFLNSW aren’t even fully back into the proper final stages of the return to work protocol so Vic will be a long way behind that, therefor the club is running on fumes behind the scenes.

Just try and be as patient as possible and see what happens when some normality arrives.
 

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