Conspiracy Theory Footy conspiracies

[bkozican]

Footy is a business...Not far fetched to think the league has fixed games or has predetermined results coming into the finals to maximise profit

 

[Moody Blue]

OK this is a bit left field, but we know that match fixing occurs in some sports. It got me thinking of real or alleged footy conspiracies. Players, officials, journalists colluding to achieve dodgy outcomes. A couple of examples come to mind:

VFL/AFL officials conspired to get rid of Fitzroy - I believe Roylion is an expert on this matter

The issue of recreational drugs and testing - are high profile player strikes being covered up?

3000 members. Played everywhere and anywhere. Could not pay their bills and were not viable. No conspiracy, just cold hard numbers. They were in the same position that South Melbourne found itself in before they moved to Sydney. As painful as it was for South supporters, they have enjoyed a fair bit of success since. North Melbourne will be the next club to move, fold or merge as they do not have the members.

 

[Werewolf]

3000 members. Played everywhere and anywhere. Could not pay their bills and were not viable. No conspiracy, just cold hard numbers. They were in the same position that South Melbourne found itself in before they moved to Sydney. As painful as it was for South supporters, they have enjoyed a fair bit of success since.

Fair call. This was before my time as a footy fan (Fitzroy last made the finals just before I was born). I guess the writing was on the wall once the VFL decided to become the national competition. They had the foresight to move the Swans to Sydney, so it seems strange they went ahead with the Bears while keeping Fitzroy in Melbourne. A move in the 80's would've been far less painful than their eventual fate.

North Melbourne will be the next club to move, fold or merge as they do not have the members.

The AFL won't let that happen. Fold or merge that is. Move remains a slight possibility, if they resolve to include Tasmania.

 

[Moody Blue]

Fair call. This was before my time as a footy fan (Fitzroy last made the finals just before I was born). I guess the writing was on the wall once the VFL decided to become the national competition. They had the foresight to move the Swans to Sydney, so it seems strange they went ahead with the Bears while keeping Fitzroy in Melbourne. A move in the 80's would've been far less painful than their eventual fate.


The AFL won't let that happen. Fold or merge that is. Move remains a slight possibility, if they resolve to include Tasmania.

What Fitzroy supporters conveniently forget is that Fitzroy did a deal with the AFL to takeover the Doggies. it was to be called the Fitzroy/Bulldogs, playing out of Princes Park, wearing Fitzroy colors, with a Fitzroy Board and coach. It nearly got through until Irene Chatfield stepped up and woke up the Bulldogs supporters. I remember watching Ted Whitten just watching on and saying nothing. I would have thought he would have been the first one to lead the charge, alas media hype and reality about a person can sometimes vary significantly.

Whenever I hear Fitzroy supporters bleat about how unfair it was, I remember what they tried to do to the Doggies, and say good riddance to bad Lions.

With respect to North...they are the most logical to go to Tasmania. The AFL has been getting the population ready for it, like they did with Sydney. They will have some serious logistic issues because of the North/South divide in Tassie. GWS is another basket case. They have been more popular in Canberra than Western Sydney. How long before the AFL Clubs get fed up with the Suns and GWS hemorrhaging $$$$? The GWS have a reasonable team and they still can't get anyone to watch them. What will it be like in 5 years when they are at the bottom of the ladder trying to lure kids to Bankstown? At the end of the day all footy members are paying for it. Remember that next time you are paying $8.00 for a hot dog.

 

[Procrastinator35]

What Fitzroy supporters conveniently forget is that Fitzroy did a deal with the AFL to takeover the Doggies. it was to be called the Fitzroy/Bulldogs, playing out of Princes Park, wearing Fitzroy colors, with a Fitzroy Board and coach. It nearly got through until Irene Chatfield stepped up and woke up the Bulldogs supporters. I remember watching Ted Whitten just watching on and saying nothing. I would have thought he would have been the first one to lead the charge, alas media hype and reality about a person can sometimes vary significantly.

Whenever I hear Fitzroy supporters bleat about how unfair it was, I remember what they tried to do to the Doggies, and say good riddance to bad Lions.

With respect to North...they are the most logical to go to Tasmania. The AFL has been getting the population ready for it, like they did with Sydney. They will have some serious logistic issues because of the North/South divide in Tassie. GWS is another basket case. They have been more popular in Canberra than Western Sydney. How long before the AFL Clubs get fed up with the Suns and GWS hemorrhaging $$$$? The GWS have a reasonable team and they still can't get anyone to watch them. What will it be like in 5 years when they are at the bottom of the ladder trying to lure kids to Bankstown? At the end of the day all footy members are paying for it. Remember that next time you are paying $8.00 for a hot dog.

Who can ever forget those Doggie fan bumper-stickers of "Up yours Oakley" in a hurry.....Just saw one still hanging on to an old truck on the Hume last week.

GWS should always have been slated for Canberra....The AFL just got greedy in eyeing off the 2 million population in Western Sydney & imagining that they could fabricate a brand & supporter base to match that in Sydney.....There are far more expatriot Southern states peeps in Sydney proper, with far more money to spend on sport & luxuries....The West of Sydney is & has always been Rugby League heart-land....Bloody stupid idea from the beginning.

Tassie is too divided....I reckon the current set-up of North in Hobart & Hawks in Launy, is as good as it's going to get, until such time as it's economy develops significantly more & it's population exceeds 1 million people....Which is still a good 20 years off as yet, I'd venture.

 

[Moody Blue]

Footy is a business...Not far fetched to think the league has fixed games or has predetermined results coming into the finals to maximise profit

Rigged matches may work in soccer or Rugby league, but pretty hard to pull it off in AFL. With all of the acting and refs cheating in soccer you have to wonder how many games are legitimate. Just happened in a recent World Cup match between South Africa and Senegal. The perfect final round for the AFL is to have 4 teams playing off for the final spot. Occasionally happens.

 

[Roylion]

What Fitzroy supporters conveniently forget is that Fitzroy did a deal with the AFL to takeover the Doggies.

The Fitzroy board did a deal with the Footscray board.

The Dogs were insolvent, had accumulated a trading loss of $3.8 million between 1979 and 1989 and debts of $2 million and had breached the conditions of a overdraft of $400,000 from Westpac. The clubs directors were facing prosecution and an administrator was about to be appointed to the club.They were in far worse financial shape than Fitzroy were.

As a result Footscray had been seeking a merger for the previous seven months including talks with North Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda and in that time had made the most progress in merger talks with Fitzroy, with both boards of the clubs reaching an in principle agreement, The talks had almost finalsed by the end of September 1989.

With the merger talks reaching their final stages, Footscray CEO Dennis Galimberti went to the press the on Monday October 2nd with the news of the impeding merger, sparking a media storm. As a result, the VFL threatened to cancel Footscray's licence on the afternoon of Tuesday October 3rd 1989 and appoint an administrator, if the club did not agree to a merger with Fitzroy that afternoon. As the VFL saw it, the problem of Footscray's dire finances - now that it was public - needed to be addressed / resolved very quickly. The VFL feared the regulatory authorities becoming involved in Footscray's dire financial affairs as a result of the negative publicity. The club was insolvent and was continuing to trade illegally.

As Fitzroy was the only club willing to consider a merger with Footscray, the Fitzroy board were called in by the VFL to finish the negotiations with the Footscray board that afternoon.

Those final negotiations took about an hour and were the culmination of several months of earlier negotations. Naturally Fitzroy fought to have their club name and club colours retained in any new entity.

 

[Moody Blue]

The Fitzroy board did a deal with the Footscray board.

The Dogs were insolvent, had accumulated a trading loss of $3.8 million between 1979 and 1989 and debts of $2 million and had breached the conditions of a overdraft of $400,000 from Westpac. The clubs directors were facing prosecution and an administrator was about to be appointed to the club.They were in far worse financial shape than Fitzroy were.

As a result Footscray had been seeking a merger for the previous seven months including talks with North Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda and in that time had made the most progress in merger talks with Fitzroy, with both boards of the clubs reaching an in principle agreement, The talks had almost finalsed by the end of September 1989.

With the merger talks reaching their final stages, Footscray CEO Dennis Galimberti went to the press the on Monday October 2nd with the news of the impeding merger, sparking a media storm. As a result, the VFL threatened to cancel Footscray's licence on the afternoon of Tuesday October 3rd 1989 and appoint an administrator, if the club did not agree to a merger with Fitzroy that afternoon. As the VFL saw it, the problem of Footscray's dire finances - now that it was public - needed to be addressed / resolved very quickly. The VFL feared the regulatory authorities becoming involved in Footscray's dire financial affairs as a result of the negative publicity. The club was insolvent and was continuing to trade illegally.

As Fitzroy was the only club willing to consider a merger with Footscray, the Fitzroy board were called in by the VFL to finish the negotiations with the Footscray board that afternoon.

Those final negotiations took about an hour and were the culmination of several months of earlier negotations. Naturally Fitzroy fought to have their club name and club colours retained in any new entity.

This sounds almost as good as the Warren Commission report.

So why all the secrecy? Why not come out 6 months earlier and just say the club is in real trouble, and the supporters need to come or the club would fold?
Instead we have all this BS that Oakley was worried about the regulator, however if the merger had gone through the debts would have disappeared.
The Regulator knew this, and they knew the VFL was behind them. Oakley though he was running an Insurance company where he could strong arm everyone into doing what he wanted. Fitzroy saw an opportunity and tried to take them for everything, and crossed a line that once upon a time existed which was never kick someone when they are down.

Oakley was a snake, and Fitzroy aided and abetted him and in the end they got what they deserved. Make no mistake, Fitzroy's standing with AFL supporters took a terrible hit after their attempted takeover, and probably explains why no one gave two hoots when they folded.

 

[Roylion]

This sounds almost as good as the Warren Commission report.

I'm a Fitzroy Football Club shareholder and have been since 1986. It's fact. If you have any evidence to the contrary present it here.

So why all the secrecy? Why not come out 6 months earlier and just say the club is in real trouble, and the supporters need to come or the club would fold?

They did explain to their supporters that the club was heavily in debt, without saying just how desperate. The "Bulldogs Connections" fundraiser set up by the Dogs to reduce their debt had raised a paltry $30,000 in 1989.

I've already explained why the VFL or Footscray didn't want any merger talks to go public.

Instead we have all this BS that Oakley was worried about the regulator, however if the merger had gone through the debts would have disappeared.

That's why the merger needed to happen and quickly. I've already explained it, so I'm not going to go through it again. In 1989, Fitzroy didn't NEED to merge. That's why the Fitzroy board drove a hard bargain in 1989. North Melbourne did exactly the same in 1996. Would you like me to ask Leon Weigard again? I still see him periodically.

The Regulator knew this, and they knew the VFL was behind them. Oakley though he was running an Insurance company where he could strong arm everyone into doing what he wanted. Fitzroy saw an opportunity and tried to take them for everything,

Fitzroy drove a hard bargain...sure. The VFL approached them and asked them to conclude a merger quickly. Why wouldn't they try and preserve as much of their club identity as possible? That's why most merger talks between clubs in the 1980s and 1990s fell over. - one or other of the participants wanted too much. See North Mebourne in 1996.

and crossed a line that once upon a time existed which was never kick someone when they are down.

What crap. Ever heard of a guy called Allan McAllister?

Oakley was a snake, and Fitzroy aided and abetted him and in the end they got what they deserved. Make no mistake, Fitzroy's standing with AFL supporters took a terrible hit after their attempted takeover, and probably explains why no one gave two hoots when they folded.

They didn't 'fold'. The club was ejected from the AFL by having their licence withdrawn. The very same Club, complete with members, shareholders, commercial outlets such as the Fitzroy Shop, as well as restored football operations still exists to this day.

 

[simba_]

there are literally 0 football clubs competing in the AFL

South Melbourne - raped and turned into NSW VFL franchise
Brisbane/Fizroy - raped, merged, turned into QLD VFL franchise
West Coast - WA themed bird franchise
Adelaide Crows - SA themed bird franchise
Fremantle - second Perth franchise
GC - second QLD franchise
GWS - second NSW franchise
Port - SA themed AFL franchise

+ 10 VFL franchises

 

[The_torpedo]

Bump

The AFL covered up supplements programs at several other clubs to prevent an absolute crisis breaking out (remember Robbo writing in 2015 about 11 clubs being found to be running doping programs?)

qclash 1 was fixed

Carlton losing to the Swans & Saints in 95 to pay for the end of year trip

 

[Procrastinator35]

If that Round 2 game this year at the M.C.G - in which the umpires single-handily turned over a 5 goal lead to Hawthorn at 3 quarter time - wasn't rigged, then I'll go hee.

The worst case of umpiring interference on behalf of the bookies/Gill - whom-ever - that I've ever seen.

As blatant as that Chelsea/Barcelona CL game at Stamford Bridge, some 12 years ago.

 

[footyfan1978]

Remove Waverley Park from landscape as it allow too many people to attend and we would rather have a smaller ground that we get more money out of footy goers by forcing most of them to pre-pay tickets as they cannot just turn up easily and find a seat without booking one through ticket agency. Hello Docklands, goodbye Wavereley. "Re-Educate" fans to pay through ticket agencies....and non-footy investors in Docklands and ticket agency partners are winners and can also jack price up easier too. Milk them for all they worth...

 

[Quivorir]

Cause marvel sells out every week and all.

 

[Werewolf]

If that Round 2 game this year at the M.C.G - in which the umpires single-handily turned over a 5 goal lead to Hawthorn at 3 quarter time - wasn't rigged, then I'll go hee.

The worst case of umpiring interference on behalf of the bookies/Gill - whom-ever - that I've ever seen.

As blatant as that Chelsea/Barcelona CL game at Stamford Bridge, some 12 years ago.

Admittedly a few lucky calls went our way in the last quarter - almost felt sorry for Sicily. But I think we'd have won anyway and it was mostly due to the Hawks bench and rotations being reduced after injuries. Are umpires even allowed to bet on the footy? Wouldn't have thought so

 

[CJApples87]

Admittedly a few lucky calls went our way in the last quarter - almost felt sorry for Sicily. But I think we'd have won anyway and it was mostly due to the Hawks bench and rotations being reduced after injuries. Are umpires even allowed to bet on the footy? Wouldn't have thought so

Any registered umpire at professional level is not allowed to bet on any form of football.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Any registered umpire at professional level is not allowed to bet on any form of football.

That doesn't mean they can't be bribed mate.