Toast Ben D leaving Port...it’s confirmed. All the best Ben. You deserve it!

portly

Premiership Player
Apr 8, 2001
3,794
2,918
SA
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Yup, one of the best guys.

With Ben leaving I hope that the club knows what they are letting themselves in for.

The ONLY reason I have not inundated the club with anti-Hinkley etc texts over the last few years is because of BennyD. Because he responded so well to an earlier complaint about Hinkley's boring and try not to lose rather than trying to win game plan I promised I would only bitch once a year, and have kept to that.

But if he is leaving .......

Best wishes to you and yours Ben.
 
Jul 31, 2005
10,388
18,403
Canberra
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Yeah, of all the departures from Alberton we could deal with here on BF, we get the one single one we can't. It really has been a crap year :(.

Have dealt with Ben a few times and each time was astounded that I'm just one of 60,000 or so members (remember those days??) yet I get treated like I'm the only one. Best customer service ever. Wherever he finishes up better realise how lucky they are. All rhe best, Ben.
 
Ben was more like a personal concierge for me than a member services manager.

The amount of times he went the extra mile for us is phenomenal. He knew if REH contacted him on my behalf or my mates from Darwin it was ok. The time I had to throw my kid over a fence at the SCG at him for the guard of honour as I was running late, the times he snuck me through a back door to functions because I was late or forgotten my ticket. The times he called to see if there was anything we needed as we missed out on stuff as 1870 members living interstate.

And just a wonderful human being on top of it.

They say no one is irreplaceable in a job but Ben will test that theory.

Good luck Ben, you will be missed by me, my family and thousands of other members of the Port Adelaide family.
 
Oct 12, 2003
8,391
1,423
Drowning my sorrows on the end of some bar
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Other Teams
NUFC, Green Bay
Ben is one of the greatest humans going around. He will go out of his way to help port adelaide people at any opportunity. He is what it is to be a Port Adelaide person.

But good people get poached, it is a testament to the great job he has done at Port Adelaide. I would suggest this new role would allow him to get his weekends back a bit more time with family. But I think he will enjoy going back to the footy as a fan without the pressure of everything Else game day.

It is going to be a massive loss to the PAFC and us as supporters, but I wish him all the best in the future and I hope to see him at the footy and buy him a beer or two.
 
Leaving before the sh.... hits the fan smart move

Yeah. Big risk the new CEO sees that membership has dropped off 10k in 18 months and just blindly sacks the whole membership department. Might not be exactly why he's quit but I think it's a good move for him nonetheless.

I only met Ben once briefly but he seemed like a good guy and from all reports the type who went above and beyond to help people out or maybe just actually listen to the fans unlike most at the club. All the best for the future Ben.
 
Sorry to hear this news. Ben isn't just a membership manager he is a true supporter of, and ambassador for, the Port Adelaide Football Club.

Always has time for anyone that needs help or just wants to talk Port.

We will miss you Benny D.
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Huge loss. If every PAFC employee was a bit more like Ben we would be in a much, much better position. Very capable and a great human being. Big mistake by the club to let him go. He's the sort of employee that you need to keep and build your culture around. Hopefully it wasn't just about a bigger pay packet.
 
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Dealing with the groundswell of irate and complaining fans must have gotten to him in the end. Such a conscientious and passionate person it would have worn him down. I remember him saying his life goal and dream was to work for his beloved PAFC. . Glad he has found another,hopefully less soul destroying position elsewhere. He deserves it.
The stress to quit a job rarely comes from beneath, it is nearly always from above!
Nurses and teachers don't quit because of patients and students (for example).
 
Dealing with the groundswell of irate and complaining fans must have gotten to him in the end. Such a conscientious and passionate person it would have worn him down. I remember him saying his life goal and dream was to work for his beloved PAFC. . Glad he has found another,hopefully less soul destroying position elsewhere. He deserves it.

Spot on. Anyone who claims otherwise is in a state of delusion. Ben dealt with the members - he was our representative. He was the conduit through which the members communicated with the club. The people above him was us. It's Member Services, not Club Services.

Can you imagine reading through all the bullshit emails he would have to read through as part of his role? That would take a toll on the mental health of anybody if the toxic nature of the way people post on this forum is reflected in their correspondence with the club. And according to people on here, he personally responded to every single email. And imagine having to acknowledge the rantings of irrate fans and members when he probably desperately wanted to tell some of them to * off but couldn't because every member is important.

But no one considers this because all they care about is themselves.

You'll be sorely missed Ben, but at least you can now be on the other side of the fence and speak your mind.
 
Spot on. Anyone who claims otherwise is in a state of delusion. Ben dealt with the members - he was our representative. He was the conduit through which the members communicated with the club. The people above him was us. It's Member Services, not Club Services.

Can you imagine reading through all the bullshit emails he would have to read through as part of his role? That would take a toll on the mental health of anybody if the toxic nature of the way people post on this forum is reflected in their correspondence with the club. And according to people on here, he personally responded to every single email. And imagine having to acknowledge the rantings of irrate fans and members when he probably desperately wanted to tell some of them to fu** off but couldn't because every member is important.

But no one considers this because all they care about is themselves.

You'll be sorely missed Ben, but at least you can now be on the other side of the fence and speak your mind.

So this is the members/supporters fault as well?

Maybe the 36ers is Bens dream job i.e. a career choice and/or there was no where higher for him to go at Alberton.
 

Cheesey Mac

Team Captain
Mar 19, 2015
590
2,451
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Other Teams
Red Sox, Patriots
As someone who has routinely traveled to most of the away games for the past few years I've been lucky to have spoken to Ben at most of the functions at some length. He was always happy to stop and chat, and was one of the most genuine and humble people I've had the pleasure to meet.

As most have already said he will be a huge loss to the club.
 
PLOT TWIST: or he agrees with them but had to toe the party line.

Shut up mate.

Ben leaving, the s**t game plan, poor development of players, below average coaching and handballing at the feet of players is YOUR fault and YOURS alone.
 
I believe Ben is leaving because this new opportunity was too good to pass. Not because he's mad at the club or supporters. That happens, people move jobs. It would've been nice if the club had been able to create the conditions for him to stay, but might not have been possible. Big loss but we probably shouldn't read too much into it.
 
So this is the members/supporters fault as well?

Maybe the 36ers is Bens dream job i.e. a career choice and/or there was no where higher for him to go at Alberton.

Not all the members/supporters. Just the ones who choose to vent their frustration in a constant stream of emails to the club thinking that agitating for change is the way to speed it up. I've said it before - no one at the club is purposely acting against its interests. They just aren't.

It's the same thing with Keith Thomas - he's only considering leaving because of supporter unrest. When he chose to appoint Hinkley and then chose to extend him, he did so believing he was acting in the best interests of the club.

If and when Hinkley gets the sack or isn't extended at the end of the year...or even if he is extended...it will be a decision that is made in what people who care about the club believe is the best interests of the club to attain ultimate success.

PLOT TWIST: or he agrees with them but had to toe the party line.

That's possible too, but then why would he leave? In his role he could actually make a difference inside the club by letting people know what the members were saying. It would be very, very strange.
 
Nov 6, 2014
60,450
74,223
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
So this is the members/supporters fault as well?

Maybe the 36ers is Bens dream job i.e. a career choice and/or there was no where higher for him to go at Alberton.
Port was definitely his dream job, but the dream must have turned sour. He will say the right things publicly when he leaves because that’s the type of person he is, loyal to the club to the end.
 
That's possible too, but then why would he leave? In his role he could actually make a difference inside the club by letting people know what the members were saying. It would be very, very strange.

A promotion with less impact on his work-life balance, maybe.
 
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