Future direction

[kmartkid]

I am a new member of the Big Footy board and am interested in opinions from Kangaroos members.

I have been a member of the club since my return from the USA a few years ago. This year I signed up as a Vice President member with a view to serving on the board of the club.

Last week I stood with members at KP for the entire game (in bay 30 - 32) and attend every game in the members area (I am also a Pagans Patron Platinum member as is my family). My platform for the board will be that I am a regular supported of the club and have been for over 25 years. I rarely go to corporate functions at games and prefer to sit in the stands due to the atmosphere and the camerarderie of the crowd.

I want to know members suggestions for future club direction as I can do an "Mick Aylett" and totally revamp the club as I feel we are in the process of losing direction. We need goals and ideas to survive and these goals and ideas should come from the members, not just from the board of directors.

Ideas please

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"Through adversity to the stars"

 

[Malibu]

Jeeze KmartKid, I wish there were a few more of your type of supporters around the club with your $$$$ and your attitude.

I'll have to have a think about this one.

Anyway, welcome to BigFooty Roos!


From not a Vice-President, but a player sponsor!

 

[DEVO]

1. Quit Sydney.
2. Play more home games in Canberra.
3. Tell John Farnham to support the Bombers. All the w***ers seem to support them.
4. A better away strip. I like the current one, but it can still cause confusion when playing teams like Collingwood, Geelong and Carlton. Differnet Colours maybe the way to go (that should cause a stir).

That's all I can think of at the moment. By the way most of them are serious.

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Are We Not Men
We Are DEVO

 

[kmartkid]

DEVO,

1+2/ I agree - I think we should focus on Canberra, national team, nations capital. It is also close to the murray etc with a good potential supporter base. I think we should give sydney the flick.

3/ Haven't seen JF at any functions or meetings. As far as I am aware he has not joined the Vice Presidents

4/ I think there is a snowballs chance in hell of changing the colours particularly afte the liquorice allsorts effort last year



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"Through adversity to the stars"

 

[gocatsgo]

This is serious what I am about to say.

You need to market yourself in a different direction. Sydney is not going to work, Canberra is the better option, but I don't think they can sustain a team in the long term.

My suggestion is to concentrate on your own base here in Melbourne, and decide once and for all whether you want your home games at the MCG or Colonial.

I believe that you have about 25000 members, which is similar to most other Victorian clubs and something tells me, none of the struggling clubs will get a lot more unless they promote themselves in their home community.

For years North appear to be focusing on Interstate and seem to have forgotten about Melbourne. You have 25000 members because you have won flags whereas sides like Geelong have focussed locally and got 25000 members without the success.

Make the players more accessible to media. Denis Pagan seems to do all the work. And above all, get families excited about North Melbourne like Hawthorn has done by opening up the club to the supporters.

Go back to trading under North Melbourne, you don't need to be known as the Kangaroos, the players still sing for North Melbourne after the game, the cheerquad still barrack for North Melbourne, so why call yourself the Kangaroos, all that is, is a logo, nothing more.

To succeed, look at Hawthorn's model. Proud, Passionate and Paid up.

 

[Groucho]

Welcome kmartkid! Very pleased to meet a real live Vice Presidents Club Member!
I agree that Sydney is a disaster and should be flicked so that we can concentrate on playing 2 or 3 home games in Canberra as at least they guarantee a profit. I'd really like us to reclaim Friday night. If Essendon and Collingwood get ANZAC Day because they thought of it then we should at least have some acknowledgement for pioneering Fiday night. In the mid 90's against high profile teams these Friday night games were genuinely exciting and pulled big crowds,I seem to recall three successive times against Collingwood having crowds of 60,000+ and a classic Round 22 game for top spot against the Bulldogs in '98 drew 67000 so people will come if the product looks enticing. These games also provide invaluable exposure and I believe we deserve at least 6 per year at the MCG against quality opposition.

 

[Rooboy 96]

Groucho... well said...

DEVO... what colour should our away jumper be???

kmartkid... I have a limited understanding of the workings of the football club... but I do tend to agree with groucho... but I also understand... that what I want and what is financially possible are sometimes not the same thing... In the end I want to see is my Children's Children going to the football with me at the MCG or Colonial and getting the pleasure I have out of following the Kangaroos since I was too young too remember...

On a slightly different matter I am passionate about previledges for long serving continuous membership holders of our club... I believe that GF tickets should be guarantteed to members who have financially supported the club by buying a membership for a continuous 15 years... not just the past 8 when the club has been so successful on the football oval... this would also be beneficial for members to continue to renew their memberships...

 

[kmartkid]

Unfortunately Nths local community is mainly industrialised. The club is hemmed in by the bulldogs, essendon, melbourne and carlton. Geelong has the advantage in that, if needed, they have access to the entire western district.

That is why Nth need to look elsewhere without disenfranchising the melbourne support base. The home base will always be in melbourne but we need to market ourselves nationally and make use of the kangaroo symbol. I began following nth in the mid 70's because of the kangaroo after another overseas trip.

Wayne Carey has his own footy show for kids and David King is a regular presence on Rex Hunts Sunday morning footy show. Corey McKernan was on the channel nine sunday show last week.

My experience at the club has been that it is very open to supporters and families. My little boy (6 yo) has met the players on numerous occasions at family days and has never had a problem with autographs etc.

Canberra is a good place to get memberships. Simon Crean is a big supporter, Richard Farmer is on the board and Aussie Rules is actually played there. It is not too far from melbourne and for the future, is not too far from Wagga where our most marketable former played will eventually settle in 5 years time. Canberra is crying out for an AFL team (believe this because it is true) and the Kangaroos will be this team. The song does not need to change but, like the western bulldogs, the team name does. I will continue to think of the team as Nth Melbourne and so will the players but the name doesn't matter. For years the club was called the shinboners. The club will always be the Nth Melbourne football club.

Friday night games are great and yes, Nth did pioneer the idea but unfortunately everyone else wants them too. I dont know enough about the mechanics yet but when I do I will let you know what the club is doing to try and get more friday games.


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"Through adversity to the stars"

 

[kmartkid]

Rooboy 96

I too have a limited knowledge of how the club works but I am in the process of finding this out.

I agree with the privileges for GF tickets etc for long term financial members. I think that those who renew earliest should also have priority access to GF tickets. This would help satisfy long term members and members like me who regularly renew before December each year but have only become members recently, in my case due to living overseas before the internet became BIG.

We also must remember that the club also has to satisfy coterie members etc as they are big financial supporters of the club. Maybe a bonus points system for each year a member and level of membership to qualify for GF tickets. Remembering that Nth only gets about 12 - 14 k tickets at the GF anyway due to the AFL members, medallion club and MCC.

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"Through adversity to the stars"

 

[DEVO]

Originally posted by Rooboy 96:
DEVO... what colour should our away jumper be???

Maybe change the white to gold, or add gold into the current away uniform. It just needs to be brightened up so it stands out when playing clubs with similiar guernseys.
But I agree you, it will never happen, during the merger with Fitzroy, the two things I didn't want to see go were the Kangaroo's emblem, and the club colours. I saw being called Fitzroy as the lesser evil.

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Are We Not Men
We Are DEVO

[This message has been edited by DEVO (edited 27 April 2001).]

 

[Aussie_Roo]

Originally posted by kmartkid:


Canberra is a good place to get memberships. Simon Crean is a big supporter, Richard Farmer is on the board and Aussie Rules is actually played there. It is not too far from melbourne and for the future, is not too far from Wagga where our most marketable former played will eventually settle in 5 years time. Canberra is crying out for an AFL team (believe this because it is true) and the Kangaroos will be this team. The song does not need to change but, like the western bulldogs, the team name does. I will continue to think of the team as Nth Melbourne and so will the players but the name doesn't matter. For years the club was called the shinboners. The club will always be the Nth Melbourne football club.

Canberra is my preferred interstate option for us to increase our memberships etc. However, Canberrians need to feel that they belong to the club, like the rest of us do. For this to happen, I believe that it is essential that we embrace the change of name to the Kangaroos. In my opinion, the Marketing Department have failed to promote the name change to its supporters. A couple of ideas that I have are:

* The song has to change. Given that the majority of the public don't know the previous two verses - (but we know it well) leave the words 'North Melbourne' there. When we get to the 'Join in the chorus' verse, change 'North Melbourne' to 'Kangaroos' as it more common verse and well known. And yes the Western Bulldogs changed their song from 'Sons of the Scray' to the 'Sons of the West'

* The cheer squad to come up with a chant including the word 'Kangaroos'

Oh yeah and welcome aboard

cheers

 

[choppy]

Dissappear for a few days and the font has changed and a new Bigfooty member with some clout.
KmartKid

To remain successful we need to

1 - look after the Melbourne supporter base.
2 - focus on only one geographic area interstate

1 - Looking after the Melbourne supporter base.
* An 11 game membership ticket at a reasonable price.
* A defined day/night and venue either MCG or Coloniel for these 11 home games which would conists of 7 home games and 4 away games on an upgrade package. Like Friday nights used to be.
* Consider a Saturday night at the MCG. Why are there not any Saturday nights at the G.
*Put 11 North games there, one every second week, everyone knows that the Roos are in town on a Saturday night.
* Start it at 6.40 like they used to and not 7.40 so families can get out and get home at a reasonable time.

2 - Focus on one geographic area interstate
*Sydney is dead, it has to be Canberra.
Topic has allready been covered adequately elsewhere.

 

[Darky]

I don't think I'd raise any new points that others haven't raised before.
Probably the half-hearted push into Sydney, and the refusal to admit it has been a failure thus far, are the things I'm least happy with. That said, I do realise that our club must look outside of Melbourne for a greater supporter base, and I agree with the principle as a whole.
Canberra is probably a better option, although I'm not entirely convinced that a population of 300,000-odd is enough to sustain an AFL team in what is believed to be an Aussie Rules market, but a market which remains unproven at a large-scale commercial level.

 

[Rivaldo]

I'm also happy to see serious discussion like this. I agree with many of the comments so far. I will repeat some of the thoughts here and add my own.

1. Make Canberra our town. Why be a little player in two towns? If you have ever been to Sydney the locals think Swans and not AFL. Focus on Canberra for a long time. It will build slowly. Look at what has happened in Brisbane, another quasi Aussie Rules town. As we get bigger Canberra will support us. We will get a bigger stadium just like what happened with the GABBA. Besides, The Canberra Kangaroos has a nice ring to it.

2. Be consitent with games in Melbourne. x many games at the G, x many at Colonial. Be consistent with game times. Play night footy whenever posisble. Make one night North's night. Starting ealry is an excellent idea. Good for families and also for those without families who want to go out in the city afterwards.

3. Try to have our own blockbuster against one of the big four teams from Melbourne. The Good Friday Carlton game is a brilliant idea. Use the current Essendon rivalry to create an annual game against them as well. We have a huge long standing rivalry with The Bombers.


4. Have a new away jumper every year. Every football (soccer) team in Europe does it. It is only a matter of time before it happens in AFL. It is a good money making exercise and it is interesting to see what will appear each year. Use different colours on the away strip. If Man U can do it then we can. Be simple with the design. Some of the best soccer shirts have only one colour. Barcelona is in the top three biggest clubs in the world. Their original jumper of burgundy and navy blue is revered in Catalunya. It reflects the Barcelona fight against facism during the Spanish civil war. It's sacred. Yet their away jumper is all silver. Completely different colour, very simple, yet it looks brilliant. Contrast this with the disaster that is West Coast's jumper.

5. Use Dennis and Wayne more. Whenever there is a serious question about the future of football in Victoria, who do they go to for advice? Sheedy, Parkin etc. Dennis has been in this caper for 20 years. He is a legend of Victorian football but is not recognized this way. He has to be more open to the media. How can someone like Terry Wallace have a higher profile than Dennis? Get him out and about doing guest speeches, motivational talks etc. like Sheedy does.

6. Open up the club. If you are a true supporter the stuff that facinates you is the stuff that you do not see. The stories we hear like the one about Ron Joseph walking the boys into the centre of the 'G with the 75 Premiership Cup prior to the '96 Grannie. This is the stuff that makes us tingle. We want to know more about this. Film it, package it, show it too us.

7. Help the long-term members. The idea about Grand Final tickets for long time members is brilliant. In San Franciso, there is a 7 year waiting list for 49ers season tickets. Every seat is resevered for seasaon ticket holders, all 65,000 of them. When they make the Superbowl they get allocated about 10,000 tickets. They have a lottery to decide who gets in. The lottery is weighted by how many seats you have and how many years you have been a member. Simple. Look after your true members.

8. Have the players walk over to the supporters at the end of the game and thank them. Every soccer team in the world does it. The supporters love it.

9. Pick a venue for North supporters to congregate at after the game. Right after the game. Something next to the ground. Not just for social club supporters but for everyone. Have the players turn up. What happened with the Tennis Center after the 99 Grand Final was brilliant. Ovbiously it dooesn't have to be as big, but we all take off in different directions after a game at the 'G. If you had a venue to go to everyone would go.

10. Finally, tell us what you have planned. There is always this suspicion that we are going to move somewhere. Tell us what we'll be doing five years from now. North feel so temporary right now that if I was a 50-50 supporter I probably wouldn't "Hop on Board". Be consistent and open in all communications. Make us feel as though we are building to this future. Let us know how we can help other than just buying a membership ticket. I would volunteer to work for the club if I knew how. Use the brains and the commitement that is out there.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Sorry it was so long. Please throw out more ideas as I love to read this stuff.

 

[Rivaldo]

I'm on a roll now so I will throw out some more ideas.

11. Use Greg Miller. He is also an icon of the game. There is no reason why he shold not have the profile of an Elliot, a MacGuire or a Gutnick. While you are at it drag out the other North people who have done so much for the game in the last 30 years. Where is Allen Aylett? Where is Barassi? Does anyone associate Andrew Demetriou or Robbie Kerr with North? Show how much North has contributed. Promote our worth to the game.

12. Try Monday night footy again. Monday Night Football is an institution in the States. Everybody leaves work to be home in time for it. Pubs are full with people wathcing it on big screens. What else is there to do on a Monday? It will work in Oz. Make Monday North's night. Play all home games on a Monday. Nataional coverage of North every Monday. Friday is lost, make Monday ours.

13. Expand the program to sponsor clubs around Australia to an international level. There are now more Aussies living overseas than ever before. With the internet we can now get in touch with each other. 10 years ago footy was not played in the US. Now there are six leagues. Not teams, leagues. There are teams and clubs playing in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden. In Asia teams from Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia etc. travel to play each other every second week.

All these clubs want is a set of jumpers and few footballs to kick around and they'll proudly call themselves the Kangaroos. It's a cheap way to have the Kangaroos promoted. We need to milk the Kanagaroo symbol. I have lived overseas for nine years. Whenever I tell people I'm Australian the first thing that pops in their head is kangaroos (followed closely by Crocodile Dundee). My nickname in Spain is kangaroo. Whenever I tell people my football team is called the kangaroos they love it. I I show them the away jumper they want to buy one. I know I might sound a bit far fetched but I think it will pay off eventually. The growth of international footy compared to ten years ago is amazing. There is a market there and it will only get bigger. For the cost of a few jumpers and a few footys it's worth trying to corner it.

14. Give us an official forum to give the club feedback like this. Who will read this? How can I pass it on the the current administration?

 

[Vansrooboys]

Rivaldo, we do have an official forum at www.roos.com.au, the admin do read it as some of us have been contacted by them after a suss/nasty/crap/stupid post or to thank-you for your input. You can email them direct you just need to log in and have a look.

(Morning Sweetie......)

 

[kmartkid]

Thanks for all the feedback !

I am off to Adelaide today and will mention it to Greg Miller.

I get the sense that Sydney is dead and that Canberra will be more acceptable as an interstate venue. I agree that one interstate venue is all we need. We also need an 11 game melbourne package with an upgrade for all melbourne games and one for all 22 games.

I will need more time to digest all the posts and will send a summary by email to Greg.

I will be back online late Monday

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"Victoria amat curam" (Victory demands dedication)

 

[Daphne]

Do what Rivaldo says and you have got yourself a real club. And one other thing, when we win our next premiership (2001) after the game dont treat the supporters like they have some disease, let the players walk amongst them, especially on the Sunday after the game, parading them out on stage is ok but let them get amongst it.

 

[ptw]

Interesting article on AFL.com about the SACA offering North (in fact I think it was to buy your shares) to get North to play at Adelaide Oval. Now buying shares is crap, but this interstate thing seems to be revolving on winning over a geographical area.

Now North are never going to "win over" South Australia (except maybe buying North Adelaide FC ?) but they could take the SACA's cash and play home games against Port and Adelaide at the Oval on Friday nights.

Not trying to win over a community, or establish a foothold, just taking to dough. Then focus entirely on Melbourne.

Could do the same in WA but a bit further to drive. so I would prefer Adelaide if I were a North member.

ptw

 

[kmartkid]

Apparently we have been pushing for Friday night games but so does every other club, hence the mix. We will be pushing for Good Friday Night games each year against a team like Carlton etc.

The problem with Canberra is due to lack of major sponsorship opportunities. I will be delving into this further but the administration is aware of members frustration with Sydney.

After my experience in Adelaide on Saturday there is no way we will play anymore games there than necessary !

Originally posted by Groucho:
Welcome kmartkid! Very pleased to meet a real live Vice Presidents Club Member!
I agree that Sydney is a disaster and should be flicked so that we can concentrate on playing 2 or 3 home games in Canberra as at least they guarantee a profit. I'd really like us to reclaim Friday night. If Essendon and Collingwood get ANZAC Day because they thought of it then we should at least have some acknowledgement for pioneering Fiday night. In the mid 90's against high profile teams these Friday night games were genuinely exciting and pulled big crowds,I seem to recall three successive times against Collingwood having crowds of 60,000+ and a classic Round 22 game for top spot against the Bulldogs in '98 drew 67000 so people will come if the product looks enticing. These games also provide invaluable exposure and I believe we deserve at least 6 per year at the MCG against quality opposition.

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"Victoria amat curam" (Victory demands dedication)

 

[kmartkid]

I did mention this and supported it. We will have to wait and see but it is an EXCELLENT idea.

The club will survive as it is much more financial than 4 other victorian clubs and has a very loyal core of dedicated members. I want my grandchildren to see Nths future premiership teams as well !

Originally posted by Rooboy 96:
Groucho... well said...

DEVO... what colour should our away jumper be???

kmartkid... I have a limited understanding of the workings of the football club... but I do tend to agree with groucho... but I also understand... that what I want and what is financially possible are sometimes not the same thing... In the end I want to see is my Children's Children going to the football with me at the MCG or Colonial and getting the pleasure I have out of following the Kangaroos since I was too young too remember...

On a slightly different matter I am passionate about previledges for long serving continuous membership holders of our club... I believe that GF tickets should be guarantteed to members who have financially supported the club by buying a membership for a continuous 15 years... not just the past 8 when the club has been so successful on the football oval... this would also be beneficial for members to continue to renew their memberships...

------------------
"Victoria amat curam" (Victory demands dedication)

 

[kmartkid]

I thought about a number of options for membership.

A 7 home game ticket

An 11 game ticket for 7 melbourne home games and 4 interstate home games or melbourne away games.

The current 14 game upgrade

A 22 game ticket

As to the home venue - a combination of colonial and the MCG for the bigger games ie Essendon.

I will mention this to the membership department and see what can be done.

The survey last year was overwhelmingly in favour of Friday Night MCG games and unfortunately the AFL starts to decide the draw around July so it is too late to see if attitudes will change about colonial this year.

Originally posted by choppy:
Dissappear for a few days and the font has changed and a new Bigfooty member with some clout.
KmartKid

To remain successful we need to

1 - look after the Melbourne supporter base.
2 - focus on only one geographic area interstate

1 - Looking after the Melbourne supporter base.
* An 11 game membership ticket at a reasonable price.
* A defined day/night and venue either MCG or Coloniel for these 11 home games which would conists of 7 home games and 4 away games on an upgrade package. Like Friday nights used to be.
* Consider a Saturday night at the MCG. Why are there not any Saturday nights at the G.
*Put 11 North games there, one every second week, everyone knows that the Roos are in town on a Saturday night.
* Start it at 6.40 like they used to and not 7.40 so families can get out and get home at a reasonable time.

2 - Focus on one geographic area interstate
*Sydney is dead, it has to be Canberra.
Topic has allready been covered adequately elsewhere.

------------------
"Victoria amat curam" (Victory demands dedication)

 

[Rooboy 96]

Great to hear kmartkid...

 

[kmartkid]

Like you I would love to know all the plans for the club but it is very political between clubs at the moment and I think any ideas we have will be kept quiet.

I can say, however, that this club will not be relocating interstate and will continue to the North Melbourne Football club trading as the Kangaroos.

Call the clubs marketing department to volunteer your services. They will direct you to the area in which your services will be most valuable

10. Finally, tell us what you have planned. There is always this suspicion that we are going to move somewhere. Tell us what we'll be doing five years from now. North feel so temporary right now that if I was a 50-50 supporter I probably wouldn't "Hop on Board". Be consistent and open in all communications. Make us feel as though we are building to this future. Let us know how we can help other than just buying a membership ticket. I would volunteer to work for the club if I knew how. Use the brains and the commitement that is out there.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Sorry it was so long. Please throw out more ideas as I love to read this stuff.

[/B][/QUOTE]



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"Victoria amat curam" (Victory demands dedication)

 

[Darky]

I prefer the old days of as little as 5 years ago, where you had 11 and 22 game memberships, which were probbaly around 30% off the gate price of games.
These days membership is really confusing with too many different options available, heaps of special categories, and no saving on games. It hasn't deterred me from getting a membership (plus away game upgrade, plus Pagans Patrons), but I can't help but think it may have deterred some others.