Original article can be found here:
http://www.crikey.com.au/business/aflmembers.html
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AFL members continue to get a raw deal
by Mr MOB
Disgruntled AFL Full Member
The AFL has slowly screwed their most loyal constituency, AFL Members, over the years but now they are beginning to fight for their rights as guest contributor Mr MOB explains.
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By and large, AFL members are just ordinary folk who love to watch their football live. However, unlike members of AFL Clubs, the MCC and other similar bodies, AFL Members have no voice or representation on its governing body, no voting rights, no AGM and no formal means of airing grievances.
Despite AFL Members being among the game's most dependable supporters - and despite paying our money up front each year in good faith - the AFL Commission has chosen to ride roughshod over its own members for years, consistently eroding benefits while continuing to increase the annual fee and other charges.
There are two levels of membership. After a waiting period as a Restricted Member - at one stage up to 15 years - Full membership is offered. The key difference between the two is access to the Grand Final. Until 1997, this was virtually guaranteed for Full Members on a walk-up basis, and Restricted Members had the chance of getting a ticket in a ballot.
[Until then there had only been one Grand Final where some Full Members missed out. The single exception was 1992 when the AFL sold guest passes, worried they wouldn't get a full house with an interstate side (West Coast) competing for the first time. Even then, it was only a few hundred who were turned away and the AFL - under CEO Ross Oakley - apologised profusely for what he called an "error of judgement".]
In 1997, Wayne Jackson became CEO of the Australian Football League and since then has constantly cut away Members' entitlements, especially access to the Grand Final. In fact, the Full Member of 2001 has about the same rights and conditions that a Restricted Member had in 1998, despite paying hundreds of dollars more for the privilege.
Other areas of concern to members that have occurred during Jackson's reign include:
· introducing booking fees over and above the annual subscription for finals and "blockbuster" games
· closing Waverley (purpose-built with VFL Membership), yet giving AFL members an incredibly raw deal over seating at Colonial Stadium
· lowering the Junior Membership subscription age from 7 to 4
· drastically reducing eligibility for absentee membership
· reducing access to VFL (reserves) games: in 2000 it was free access to all games; in 2001, only home games of the reserve side affiliated with your nominated club
· sending out renewal letters in November, requiring full payment in less than four weeks. Once they used to have a competition to entice you to pay early, but now they demand our cash up front ($16 million) although members don't get any real benefit, ie going to a football match, until almost March
· And, most telling of all, last year without any fanfare or explanation the AFL Members Reserve was subtly renamed the "AFL Reserve".
[The one sop the AFL has offered is increasing the number of games a member can attend from 24 to 30 a season. But, according to the AFL's own statistics the average member attends only 10 games a year. So there probably aren't too many of us overwhelmed by this largely empty gesture, which costs the AFL effectively nothing.]
The last straw for many AFL Members was when, in an attempt to make the flagging $5000 a year Medallion Club at Colonial Stadium more attractive, it was decided to grant "priority Grand Final access" to Medallion Club members - in the AFL Members Reserve. (Pathetic isn't it that the best way to market premium memberships at "the world's most technically advanced stadium" is to include a match played at some other ground...)
In one fell swoop, up to 5000 seats in the Members Reserve disappeared to ordinary Full Members, many of whom had had to wait for up to 15 years on the restricted list to receive this privilege.
Last year, despite Wayne Jackson assuring members that he was confident the "vast majority" wanting to reserve a Grand Final seat would be able to do so, thousands of AFL Full Members queued and missed out.
The last thing the AFL needs is more television footage of disgruntled football fans, so this year there is a new telephone Ticket Ballot system. Although the telephone ballot might deflect some bad PR for the AFL, it does nothing to address members' grievances about Grand Final entry.
Rather than assure me of entry to the Grand Final, the hefty premium I must pay to be a Full Member ($136 more than Restricted) now entitles me to take my chances in a ballot. $136 is a lot of money for a glorified raffle ticket. And in the event I'm successful, I'm obliged to pay a FURTHER $29 to 'reserve' the seat the AFL balloting system has already allocated to me.
The new "Ticket Ballot Guide" uses the ambiguous phrase "available AFL Members Grand Final Tickets", but nowhere does it state the actual number of tickets that will be available to AFL Members on Grand Final Day.
There are 24,000 seats in the AFL Members Reserve but we have not been told how many of these are actually available to Full Members for the 2001 Grand Final. (It was bad enough in 1998, when I fluked great seats on the wing. Apart from North losing to bloody Adelaide, my day was marred by the fact we were in a small knot of mixed supporters surrounded by dozens of A-list freeloaders who weren't particularly interested in the game. I don't think the well-lubricated members of the Oarsome Foursome were used to having "Sit down ********" shouted at them by irate Crows fans each time they got up during play to stagger off for more corporate hospitality.)
Last year, it appears that only 16,000 seats were available to members, the rest going to VIPs, sponsors, the clubs, an ever-increasing number of corporate packages and of course 5000 Medallion Club chardonnay sippers.
Because the AFL doesn't give a number, for all we know this year it could be that only 10,000, 2,000 or even 500 seats are actually available to ordinary Full Members. There are 32,000 of us, plus another 16,000 on the restricted list.
AFL Members are getting used to spin and doublespeak in communications from Wayne Jackson and his corporate minions on this issue. One pearler was in this year's initial AFL members newsletter, where Wayne said: "In conclusion, please be aware the AFL understands, and appreciates the value of you, the AFL Members, and is keenly aware of maintaining AS A MINIMUM (my emphasis) Member's benefits".
The cover letter that came with the Ticket Guide was no exception. Shaun Welch, the AFL's new Membership Manager assures us, rather disingenuously, "At the AFL, we are mindful of the high value our Member's (sic) place on having access to apply for the Grand Final".
I think if the AFL took the trouble to ask its Full Members, Shaun would find that we in fact place a high value on having ACCESS TO the Grand Final, not ACCESS TO APPLY FOR tickets, with no guaranteed chance of getting them.
The irony is, long ago the AFL (in its VFL days) happily used Members as a bargaining chip in its tussle with the MCG over building the new Southern Stand, threatening to move the Grand Final to Waverley if they were not better looked after. At the time they stressed that a survey of their members found that "the ability to attend finals matches is of paramount importance ... It appears to be the driving force behind their continuing membership of the AFL".
These days, while the AFL is often accused of not giving a damn about the common fan, it's clear it now stoops to treat its own Members with similar contempt.
Because we have no one batting for us at the AFL, I guess we have to rely on the Membership Manager to air the very genuine concerns of Members at the Commission level and seek redress [*]. Either that, or next time the AFL wants to shaft us I suggest Shaun Welch just be up front about it rather than hiding behind the anodyne statements we find in his letter like "available tickets", "access to apply" and "absolutely committed".
[*] Unfortunately, the Fraud Squad has been called in to investigate Shaun Welch's predecessor, who was abruptly terminated after massive financial irregularities were discovered late last year. It seems that rather than having the members' needs at the forefront, she is alleged to have had our money on the tables down at Crown.
(source: http://www.afl.com.au/news/story_224385.htm)
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Irwin Hirsh, Michael Agrotis and the other participants in the AFL Members Yahoo e-group for many of the facts and figures used in this article http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aflmembers
MrMOB has been an AFL Member (Kangaroos Club Support) since 1993. He attended the 1996 and 1998 Grand Finals as a Restricted Member (overseas in '97), but missed out on a ticket in 1999 despite his Full Membership status (couldn't go in 2000 because his wife was due to give birth). You can check out the Footy Scrapbook he made for his dad, a former No.12 for the Shinboners, at: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~mrmob/dobfootycard.html
http://www.crikey.com.au/business/aflmembers.html
**********
AFL members continue to get a raw deal
by Mr MOB
Disgruntled AFL Full Member
The AFL has slowly screwed their most loyal constituency, AFL Members, over the years but now they are beginning to fight for their rights as guest contributor Mr MOB explains.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By and large, AFL members are just ordinary folk who love to watch their football live. However, unlike members of AFL Clubs, the MCC and other similar bodies, AFL Members have no voice or representation on its governing body, no voting rights, no AGM and no formal means of airing grievances.
Despite AFL Members being among the game's most dependable supporters - and despite paying our money up front each year in good faith - the AFL Commission has chosen to ride roughshod over its own members for years, consistently eroding benefits while continuing to increase the annual fee and other charges.
There are two levels of membership. After a waiting period as a Restricted Member - at one stage up to 15 years - Full membership is offered. The key difference between the two is access to the Grand Final. Until 1997, this was virtually guaranteed for Full Members on a walk-up basis, and Restricted Members had the chance of getting a ticket in a ballot.
[Until then there had only been one Grand Final where some Full Members missed out. The single exception was 1992 when the AFL sold guest passes, worried they wouldn't get a full house with an interstate side (West Coast) competing for the first time. Even then, it was only a few hundred who were turned away and the AFL - under CEO Ross Oakley - apologised profusely for what he called an "error of judgement".]
In 1997, Wayne Jackson became CEO of the Australian Football League and since then has constantly cut away Members' entitlements, especially access to the Grand Final. In fact, the Full Member of 2001 has about the same rights and conditions that a Restricted Member had in 1998, despite paying hundreds of dollars more for the privilege.
Other areas of concern to members that have occurred during Jackson's reign include:
· introducing booking fees over and above the annual subscription for finals and "blockbuster" games
· closing Waverley (purpose-built with VFL Membership), yet giving AFL members an incredibly raw deal over seating at Colonial Stadium
· lowering the Junior Membership subscription age from 7 to 4
· drastically reducing eligibility for absentee membership
· reducing access to VFL (reserves) games: in 2000 it was free access to all games; in 2001, only home games of the reserve side affiliated with your nominated club
· sending out renewal letters in November, requiring full payment in less than four weeks. Once they used to have a competition to entice you to pay early, but now they demand our cash up front ($16 million) although members don't get any real benefit, ie going to a football match, until almost March
· And, most telling of all, last year without any fanfare or explanation the AFL Members Reserve was subtly renamed the "AFL Reserve".
[The one sop the AFL has offered is increasing the number of games a member can attend from 24 to 30 a season. But, according to the AFL's own statistics the average member attends only 10 games a year. So there probably aren't too many of us overwhelmed by this largely empty gesture, which costs the AFL effectively nothing.]
The last straw for many AFL Members was when, in an attempt to make the flagging $5000 a year Medallion Club at Colonial Stadium more attractive, it was decided to grant "priority Grand Final access" to Medallion Club members - in the AFL Members Reserve. (Pathetic isn't it that the best way to market premium memberships at "the world's most technically advanced stadium" is to include a match played at some other ground...)
In one fell swoop, up to 5000 seats in the Members Reserve disappeared to ordinary Full Members, many of whom had had to wait for up to 15 years on the restricted list to receive this privilege.
Last year, despite Wayne Jackson assuring members that he was confident the "vast majority" wanting to reserve a Grand Final seat would be able to do so, thousands of AFL Full Members queued and missed out.
The last thing the AFL needs is more television footage of disgruntled football fans, so this year there is a new telephone Ticket Ballot system. Although the telephone ballot might deflect some bad PR for the AFL, it does nothing to address members' grievances about Grand Final entry.
Rather than assure me of entry to the Grand Final, the hefty premium I must pay to be a Full Member ($136 more than Restricted) now entitles me to take my chances in a ballot. $136 is a lot of money for a glorified raffle ticket. And in the event I'm successful, I'm obliged to pay a FURTHER $29 to 'reserve' the seat the AFL balloting system has already allocated to me.
The new "Ticket Ballot Guide" uses the ambiguous phrase "available AFL Members Grand Final Tickets", but nowhere does it state the actual number of tickets that will be available to AFL Members on Grand Final Day.
There are 24,000 seats in the AFL Members Reserve but we have not been told how many of these are actually available to Full Members for the 2001 Grand Final. (It was bad enough in 1998, when I fluked great seats on the wing. Apart from North losing to bloody Adelaide, my day was marred by the fact we were in a small knot of mixed supporters surrounded by dozens of A-list freeloaders who weren't particularly interested in the game. I don't think the well-lubricated members of the Oarsome Foursome were used to having "Sit down ********" shouted at them by irate Crows fans each time they got up during play to stagger off for more corporate hospitality.)
Last year, it appears that only 16,000 seats were available to members, the rest going to VIPs, sponsors, the clubs, an ever-increasing number of corporate packages and of course 5000 Medallion Club chardonnay sippers.
Because the AFL doesn't give a number, for all we know this year it could be that only 10,000, 2,000 or even 500 seats are actually available to ordinary Full Members. There are 32,000 of us, plus another 16,000 on the restricted list.
AFL Members are getting used to spin and doublespeak in communications from Wayne Jackson and his corporate minions on this issue. One pearler was in this year's initial AFL members newsletter, where Wayne said: "In conclusion, please be aware the AFL understands, and appreciates the value of you, the AFL Members, and is keenly aware of maintaining AS A MINIMUM (my emphasis) Member's benefits".
The cover letter that came with the Ticket Guide was no exception. Shaun Welch, the AFL's new Membership Manager assures us, rather disingenuously, "At the AFL, we are mindful of the high value our Member's (sic) place on having access to apply for the Grand Final".
I think if the AFL took the trouble to ask its Full Members, Shaun would find that we in fact place a high value on having ACCESS TO the Grand Final, not ACCESS TO APPLY FOR tickets, with no guaranteed chance of getting them.
The irony is, long ago the AFL (in its VFL days) happily used Members as a bargaining chip in its tussle with the MCG over building the new Southern Stand, threatening to move the Grand Final to Waverley if they were not better looked after. At the time they stressed that a survey of their members found that "the ability to attend finals matches is of paramount importance ... It appears to be the driving force behind their continuing membership of the AFL".
These days, while the AFL is often accused of not giving a damn about the common fan, it's clear it now stoops to treat its own Members with similar contempt.
Because we have no one batting for us at the AFL, I guess we have to rely on the Membership Manager to air the very genuine concerns of Members at the Commission level and seek redress [*]. Either that, or next time the AFL wants to shaft us I suggest Shaun Welch just be up front about it rather than hiding behind the anodyne statements we find in his letter like "available tickets", "access to apply" and "absolutely committed".
[*] Unfortunately, the Fraud Squad has been called in to investigate Shaun Welch's predecessor, who was abruptly terminated after massive financial irregularities were discovered late last year. It seems that rather than having the members' needs at the forefront, she is alleged to have had our money on the tables down at Crown.
(source: http://www.afl.com.au/news/story_224385.htm)
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Irwin Hirsh, Michael Agrotis and the other participants in the AFL Members Yahoo e-group for many of the facts and figures used in this article http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aflmembers
MrMOB has been an AFL Member (Kangaroos Club Support) since 1993. He attended the 1996 and 1998 Grand Finals as a Restricted Member (overseas in '97), but missed out on a ticket in 1999 despite his Full Membership status (couldn't go in 2000 because his wife was due to give birth). You can check out the Footy Scrapbook he made for his dad, a former No.12 for the Shinboners, at: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~mrmob/dobfootycard.html
