2nd Sydney Team?

[blxx]

the murmurs have started and i can hear the cogs in everyones brains turning as everyone reads this post. On the news this arvo its was bandied around that a new venue in Sydney which is being built could be the new home for a 2nd Sydney AFL team.

Now i know its all rumours and such and we could all just sit back and swagger and giggle tut tut but we cant completely ignore these feelers that the AFL puts out every now and again.

That is why it is so important for us to start to get it right, both on and off the field. Its is even more important now to become a force again so that we dont become the next team on the chopping block ala Fitzroy.

They wont touch Carlton, Collingwood or Essondon but i think every other team in melbourne is fair game including us. I know theyre only feeling it out at the moment but we all know what the AFL's agenda is and having 7 teams in Melbourne aint one of them.

discuss.

 

[Darth_Tiger]

i reckon if we dont have success in the next five years (and that means playing finals two years in a row at least) we will be headed north or to extinction. the vibe i get is that alot of tiger supporters have had enough. i am afraid its now or never for richmond.

 

[madtiger2005]

and u call yourself a richmond supporter darth?

 

[CJH]

Blxx, you may well be more right than you know!

Now, before I say this, let me make it clear that I want my club to be successful in it's own right training out of Punt Road - our spiritual home - and playing out of Melbourne at the 'G and at the Telstra Dome.

I do not want us to move whatsoever.

Clear enough?

Then think about this. If I was a dispassionate bean counter from the AFL and had my logical, strategic thinking hat on, then this is what I'd be thinking:

On the surface, sending Richmond to Western Sydney doesn't make sense as they've got a big fan base and we wouldn't want to ******** that many people off.

But, if you looked at it another way - from the AFL's point of view - it may make sense to move us there.

There is no doubt that it would take a long period for a club to go there and make it viable. It will take probably 20 years of AFL support to subsidise the growth, in much the same way as it has for Brisbane and Sydney, before a club would be able to financially exist on it's own two feet.

The point to make here is that Richmond's huge supporter base may help the AFL make it viable. I would suggest that a lot of Richmond supporters would become disillusioned and drop off, but also many more have yellow and black running in their blood and would still love the club even if they played in Antarctica. There exists an opportunity to exploit the feral passion that they have for their club.

This means that if Richmond were in Sydney, the whole operation would be underpinned by large support from Melbourne as they became 'away' members. Perhaps an 'away' membership of around 15 - 20,000 would go a long way to supporting the venture in it's formative years.

If it was a club like the Kangaroos, Bulldogs or Demons that went there, this number would be effectively halved and may make it non-viable.

Also, in terms of marketing, the existing Rugby League team that is located in that area is the Wests Tigers. Something that is already in the psyche of the people that live in the region

 

[LC_15]

Absolute paranoia and BS.

Please, Richmond is not fitzroy and a few other weaker teams. Theres bigger targets on other teams before us.

 

[madtiger2005]

Sydney can barely even get a full house at the SCG and they have only looked like a powerful team for about 3 seasons out of the 22 seasons they have been in Syndey. West coast, Brisbane and Adelaide will nearly always play in front of a full house at home. The AFL have done their jobs with those 3 interstate teams, they all have won their back to back premierships and they are big things in their own state. Until Sydney win a premiership, their won't be another Sydney team. It's been a slow process in Sydney because it's a rugby state, but Brisbane were lucky enough to win premierships and now they are big over there.

Western Australia and South Australia were already footy states, so West coast and Adelaide were capable of big crowds even before major success, that's why those states were given a second team. Syndey are getting their in popularity in NSW, but I think a premiership will make them big the way the AFL wants them to be, But I think they would need to win 2 premierships to start a 2nd team their. Brisbane won 3 in a row and their has been no mention of another team in QLD.

 

[Bojangles17]

Blxx, you may well be more right than you know!


Then think about this. If I was a dispassionate bean counter from the AFL and had my logical, strategic thinking hat on, then this is what I'd be thinking:

On the surface, sending Richmond to Western Sydney doesn't make sense as they've got a big fan base and we wouldn't want to ******** that many people off.

you answered your own question , for that reason alone the afl would not wish to disenfranchise a legion of support, the rest of your drivel fails to make any sense

 

[IDGAF]

Sydney can barely even get a full house at the SCG

Yeah MT .....and they have only been able to get 70 - 80,000 at stadium Australia .

Think before you post , they regularly fill the SCG , especially when the wagon is in full swing

 

[SaveFeriss]

Traitors!!!

 

[IDGAF]

Relocate Richmond to Sydney ? Yeah right .

Do any of you peanuts remember the "Bond" era when he was going to pack us off to QLD when we weren`t worth two nobs of goat schit ?

Do any of you remember the reaction then ?

What makes you think it would any different now ?

Run correctly our club will become one of the "Big 4" once again . We have all the right ingredients and the AFL aren`t going to mess with that , rest assured .

All due respect to these clubs but it will be either Nth or the Bullies , that is a given .

And besides , i know about 30,000 odd punters that would line the Murray packing Uzi`s and whatever else we can get our hands on that would not let anything or anyone connected with the RFC over that river .

We would become the AFL`s Vietnam , that i promise .

Good attempt at philosophising boys and girls , good to stir up a bit of creative debate ...... top marks for trying ...... but go to bed and have a good nights sleep and re-think that one .

It has about as much chance of happening as Sally and Wayne organising Kelli and Anthony`s wedding anniversary celebrations

 

[SaveFeriss]

Well said IDGAF. I dont think too many remember Bond wanting to pack us off to Qld, and it was very close to happening, he even had Jack Dyer believing that the Club was dead without the move for awhile.

This thread shouldnt even be here IMO. It plants the seed in some peoples minds and gives them time to accept the idea.

I am here to say NO FU**ING WAY!

 

[jezza]

I think it will continue that any relocations will be weaker teams, if the AFL was to move a strong team like Richmond with a big supporter base, it would still have to pay a lot to support them in Sydney, and still be stuck supporting a few teams in Melbourne.

It's a lot more likely that a struggling team will be moved, or simply cut, it will stop the afl from having to double up on supporting struggling teams in Melbourne and a new/relocated team in Sydney.

I'm not sure yet which option would be better, to move an existing team to Sydney or to cut one team/merge two teams and establish a new franchise from scratch. Each option has it's pros and cons, but one thing is for sure a lot of supporters will be very upset.

I think the Gold Coast is in a much better position at the moment as they have an established team with a decent supporter base given where they are in a rapidly growing city. The afl will be in a very tough spot to fit in a second team in Sydney and a GC team in the future.

 

[oxx]

Like it or not (Richmond detractors) we are one of the Big 4 and realistically will remain a Vic club until the afl deides they only want 3 victorian teams.

Success will come,

 

[Darth_Tiger]

and u call yourself a richmond supporter darth?

just because i am not blind to possibilities i am not a tigers supporter? i am fearfull that with five or so more years of crap many 'supporters' would stop renewing thier memberships and stop going to games. this would have a devestating effect to our proud club. do you forget that we lost $2 M dollars last year? and that people stoped watching the games, we have lost our big 4 status in the eyes of the afl and are a laughing stock to the rest of the competition.
I for one would hate to see us relocate or to wink out of existance, and for the record i dont think it will happen because i see the club headed in the right direction. however if things fall in a heap and head the way they were last year, stop kidding yourselves that things would be ok because they would not. i was amazed to see something in tiger fans last year that i thought i would never see - appathy. and it is that i am afraid if we do not have success in the next 5 or so years will kill our great club. just because i am not blind to that does not make me a non richmond supporter.

 

[evo]

I just read your load of rubbish on the main board about Richmond relocating to West Sydney CJH.

You sir are a joke and a traitor in my view.

Have you no soul?

Have you no sense of our history?

I can't believe you are a moderator on a Richmond Tigers board and you're promoting this tripe.


Disgrace

 

[SaveFeriss]

Disgrace is being kind.

 

[CJH]

To be honest, I don't particularly like it myself. I would be absolutely gutted if it came to pass. But having had the thought, and acknowledged it's possibility, I had to speak up. At least none of us now have our heads in the sand.

You are aware, of course, that there were huge liquidity concerns on our club last year? That's why CC had to kick in with a guarantee of his own before the start of the season and that's why we had to break the gate sharing agreement with Collingwood at the 11th hour. When ******** like that is happening, it is only a matter of time before you are unable to meet your bills when they fall due and that you end up in receivership. Another financial result like last years and we would be in the hands of the receivers and with no real control over our destiny.

Darth Tiger asserts that we were apathetic last year. He is right. And with this blind acceptance that we will be OK, that we are one of the Big 4 and that our place is assured, then we are probably ignorant too.

Given our parlous financial state, we are very susceptable for relocation and the sooner we accept that it is possible, the sooner we can act to prevent it.

Time to return to the rage that defines us as Richmond rather than the apathy which is a cancer that can kill us.

 

[oxx]

CJH,

You say believing we are one of the top 4 is ignorant.?

Seems to me like you're being sucked in by the media and as such becoming of the same mindset.

All u offer is hypothetical crap,the type the media thrive on.

LMAOO@This little piece of drama.

 

[Punt_Road_Roar]

I just read your load of rubbish on the main board about Richmond relocating to West Sydney CJH.

You sir are a joke and a traitor in my view.

Have you no soul?

Have you no sense of our history?

I can't believe you are a moderator on a Richmond Tigers board and you're promoting this tripe.


Disgrace

is it because the pill is bitter to taste? It is for me !

If Richmond dont turn things around we will not survive another 20 years of mediocrity. No matter who it is that runs our books.

The thing Richmond does have in its favour is 25+ thousand members to build upon. Regarding the Big 4 how can one talk about us being a Big 4 club in our current state?, how can one think we are in the big 4 when we cant even get more than 30,000 members and over the past 20 years made more losses than profits !!!

The big 4 is ONLY a possibility if and only if we start winning games and playing finals in successive years.

It's now or never IMO. CJH never said we SHOULD relocate (unless I read it wrong), it was a mere thrown in the air question, one i cringed at when i read it LOL

GO TIGES!!!

 

[evo]

You don't particulalry like it CJH ?

You're the bloody one proposing it.

You remind me of those Melbourne members voting to merge with Hawthorn."Oh, we don't WANT to merge with Hawthorn but we have to"
Don Scott proved them wrong.Hawthorn are now most likely a top 4 Victorian club.
We have one 2m$ loss and you start propsing stuff like this CJH.
Good luck ,but you'll never get me voting Richmond out of exhistance.

I wish you were there Friday at the Family day CJH.

You could've got up in front of the 5 or 6000 people there and told them of your masterplan.

 

[evo]

If Richmond dont turn things around we will not survive another 20 years of mediocrity. No matter who it is that runs our books.

your probably right PRR but i can't really work out what you or CJH want me or other supporters to do about it.

Much as I'd like to I don't think Richmond would give me a game.What else does that leave.Just to pay my membership and go to games.

CJH is saying it's the supporters fault.It's not us running the club it's CC.

Send him your crappy idea CJH.But why post this crap here.And even worse on the main board.

 

[Punt_Road_Roar]

Teams that are in a worse position and need to be worried more about merging or relocation:


Melbourne - low members - no money

Bulldogs - low members - running on little resources

North - low members - running the club on minimum expenses




--------------------------------------------------------------


Teams that are just wasting its resources and need to be careful over the next 10 years.

Richmond - a solid membership (not great) - poorly managed over 20 years.

 

[Punt_Road_Roar]

your probably right PRR but i can't really work out what you or CJH want me or other supporters to do about it.

Much as I'd like to I don't think Richmond would give me a game.What else does that leave.Just to pay my membership and go to games.

CJH is saying it's the supporters fault.It's not us running the club it's CC.

Send him your crappy idea CJH.But why post this crap here.And even worse on the main board.

I think its more a case of just highlighting to all of us tigers supporters that we shouldnt be naive and think that we will always be around.

For example the talk of us being the Big 4 makes me cringe currently, there is no way at present we should even bring this word up let alone believe it.

But I see your point about why post this in the first place, it will only get our noses out of joint because its a dirty subject something we all fear deep down. I'm not sure the purpose of the post considering all of us here would have memberships.

I more disppointed that CJH posted this on the main board with 50,000 trolls.

 

[froars]

I do not want us to move whatsoever.

Clear enough?

Don't get stuck into CJH when he put the rider right at the beginning of his post that he didn't want this to happen.

Secondly, i think you're scenario sux, CJH lol

Thirdly, the more we talk about it, the more angrier ppl will get and hopefully they will do what supporters like Evo have absolutely no idea about doing ...

your probably right PRR but i can't really work out what you or CJH want me or other supporters to do about it.

... and that is to buy a membership and support the club.

 

[madtiger2005]

since when do sydney get over 40,000 at the SCG? Hardly ever. They usually get 25,000-30,000 at best. Hey IDGAF, think before you reply. They only get a big crowd at Telstra because they are playing Collingwood, but even then they don't sell the stadium out.