Hawthorn membership package 2006.

Beckers

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Thread starter #1
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...5E2722,00.html

An article from the Australian claims that Fremantle are flying while Hawthorn only leads the Kangaroos in the membership race of 2006. Even Melbourne is ahead of us so far.

Snippets from the article include:

Membership for 2006 is already 32,000, which will almost certainly guarantee a record, set last year when the Dockers attracted 34,124 members.

In comparison, a number of Melbourne-based clubs are continuing to struggle to attract a membership base big enough to guarantee them long-term financial stability.

The Kangaroos have so far failed to sign on more than 10,000, Hawthorn has a little over 13,000, Melbourne has 14,000 (although this is slightly up on the corresponding time last year) and Richmond has 15,000.


As we have only 5 HOME games at the MCG this year, have the HFC made a huge mistake by not giving discounted memberships and in effect alienated their members.
I know people will say that there are another 2 games at TD, but I hate going there, especially on Friday nights when you have to battle the traffic in the city. This is also a common complaint of many of my south eastern suburb Hawk supporting mates. We are all debating if a membership is worth it for the first time in 9 years which is hard for us to even comprehend!
Surely there are others in the same financial boat so would like to debate this issue.

……and before some of you start, none of this do it for the club no matter what cr@p. I have bought a reserved seat social membership for the past 9 years (at around $300.00) and only attend 7 or 8 games a season, traveled to Tassie, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney and spent thousands to follow the Hawks. For the first time, I honestly feel let down by the club!:mad: .
 

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HAWKS HEROES

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#2
yes i hate friday nights cause i have to rush there after work then the thing i do not like is that they could have had a pack for 13 games, not including skill as that is a separate thing, for the die hards that go to all games but no they could not see the point in that so we have to buy two more tickets to go to these games i think it is a saints and a bombers game that happens to , not happy jan
 

Grendel

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#3
Don't think there's any doubt that there is anger/disappointment with how the club has (seemingly) taken for granted many past memberships and expected 'same again' for 06.

However, Hawthorn has had a history of 'late sign-up's' for membership. I know I'm one that doesn't and wont buy my membership prior to the first (in this case, 2nd) round of the season, i.e at the gate on the opening day.

Reading through here and hhq and various other footy sites, there's a real feeling of being taken for granted though coming through from the general supporter/member.

The club guru's really need to take this on board. Yea, we might wear a bit of harsh treatement but there's limits to everyones patience and one real bug-bear, the coronial.

Never met ONE Hawk fan that approves/likes the place. The board needs to wake up fast to that one and schedule as few as possible games there for beyond 06.

If not, a lot of the hard won ground over the past decade and good will that has been built up.. that'll be heading towards very thin ice indeed.
 

Gary Shadforth

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#4
Grendel said:
..... one real bug-bear, the coronial.

Never met ONE Hawk fan that approves/likes the place. The board needs to wake up fast to that one and schedule as few as possible games there for beyond 06.
Just reinforces the thoughts of thousands on the faux pas of the AFL in closing Waverley to get the cash to fund what will evolve as a white elephant. As well, the situation has placed a heavy annual membership promotion burden on our club ever since, imo, Gren.

We and the rest would have been better off had there been a continuation of home & away games out in the far south-east rather than have two stadiums on the fringes of the CBD.
 

Mighty Hawk

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#5
Im not going to vent over our 2006 membership package,
already said my piece.

Just wanted to say, that we spent half a day trying to figure out
if it was worth getting a membership this year.

WE HAVE NEVER NEVER EVER thought of that before.

We (our group) have been sick of coping it sweet by the club and
not getting any sort of value from our membership.

In 2006 we will probably see the 6 games at the G (1 is an away game)
and we have to decide if we want to go and see 5 games
at the Telstra DUMP. :rolleyes:

I really hate that place. It it the worst experience to have at a game
of footy, period.

We will bite the bullet and get our memberships at the usual time
of Family Day, but we will be letting the people at the club know on
that day, treat us this shabbily from next year and you have lost
us (probably for good)

I will still go to the game, but i will pay at the door. Its easier for
us and cheaper to do this now. (What a disgrace the AFL has become)


Mighty Hawk
 

MaccaHawk

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#6
Guys, as I live in the UK I'm missing the issue here (only been following the Hawks for a few years). I'm picking up a pretty disgruntled tone from these threads, and if you guys are this ticked off and debating the arguments against renewing membership then there is obviously something seriuously wrong going on.

Can anyone fill me in on what the issue has been with the way Hawks deal with their membership?

:confused:
 

Grendel

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#7
Basically Macca it's down to increased price, less 'home' games (by home, I mean MCG allocated and not Coronial allocated) and a general feeling of the club taking the supporters for granted.

It's a definite issue, it's clear just how strong some are feeling by posts/threads developing like this one and for where the current membership numbers stand as of this typing.
 

Hawkk

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#8
Doesn't really bother me, if we have a small membership next year so be it, I am signing up as I guess most of us will be. Just means that the club should look harder the next season; which I get the impression they will.
'
Grendal has a point, we always sign up more late then early.

I think our record pre Christmas sale is only 15k, yet our record total membership figure is 34 odd thousand.
 

Beckers

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Thread starter #9
MaccaHawk said:
Guys, as I live in the UK I'm missing the issue here (only been following the Hawks for a few years). I'm picking up a pretty disgruntled tone from these threads, and if you guys are this ticked off and debating the arguments against renewing membership then there is obviously something seriuously wrong going on.

Can anyone fill me in on what the issue has been with the way Hawks deal with their membership?

:confused:
Hi MaccaHawk,
The issue is that the Hawthorn faithful are feeling like they have been taken for granted. The same supporters elevated the clubs membership to over 30,000 members when the club was on the brink in 1996 (possible merger with Demons). 30k is a very high number for Hawthorn FC considering our medium sized supporter base and really set the bar for bigger Melbourne based clubs like Carlton, Richmond and even Collingwood. To put that into perspective, during the early 90’s, the Hawthorn membership was around the 12k to 15k mark so it was a huge increase. Many of those 30k members also don’t attend too many games but are buying memberships to help the club.

Now that the club is financially stable, over the last few seasons they have moved 1 or 2 home games interstate to Tasmania (Launceston). The club was compensated well for this by the Tassie government and it was a good road trip (sea trip really!) for fans. Members were compensated some what by free entry to 2 away games at the MCG. This was ok for basic members ($150 for last season), but if you had a reserved seat and social club membership (extra $100 dollars for reserved seat and $100 for social club), you missed out on a seat and the members bar for those 2 games.
Once again, fans were willing to overlook this to benefit the club as the Tasmanian deal was fantastic for the coffers!

The new issues in 2006 are partly due to the Commonwealth Games at the MCG and partly the club not compensating the members for the loss of the extra 2 games interstate. This is over and above the home games that have been moved to another ground that no one likes.
The MCG is not available for the first 5 or 6 weeks of the AFL season, so the club has scheduled a game on the Gold Coast (2000km away at Carrara in Queensland) against the Brisbane Lions, 1 more in Tassie in addition to the existing 2 in Tasmania. I will be going to Carrara but it is more a combination road trip and family visits rather than the football game.
Other home games (2 I think?) have been moved to the Telstra Dome (1 on a Friday night) which is hard to get to from the Eastern and South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne (which is where most Hawthorn supporters live), especially on a Friday night, as I have to cross the city after work and battle the traffic to make a 7.30 start. Not to mention the lack of parking at the ground.

As I work a rotating roster in Global support and cannot attend all games, it leaves me with the choice of 5 home MCG games at the price of $385.00 (I was sent the renewal last week) for the season which I cannot justify.

Hope this helps you understand why I have to seriously consider a year away from football or attend 2 or 3 home games at $20 a game. Hawthorn FC were always walking a tight rope by moving games interstate and it seems that the may have finally gone too far.

Still love the team:thumbsu: ....just not the current administration:thumbsdown:
 

carntheroos4eva

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#10
I am getting a country membership this year.

Should be great.

Beckers and anyone else who is disgruntled with the admin keep the faith fellas.
 

cs61

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#11
I'd be annoyed if I lived in Melbourne for sure, but Tassie gets 4 home games this year so I'm pretty stoked I can go watch them that many times.

Especially the Richmond game, be good to see two Melbourne clubs rather than seeing west coast and freo each year. So its good to see that Hawthorn's home away from home will get some added support from the state, which may increase membership and relationships with tassie.

However, Melbourne is the home of Hawthorn and the club have made some blues in the fixture, the home game against brisbane in qld for example, and I agree on Telsta Dome, I've been to three games there now and really wasn't nearly the same experience I get from watching at the MCG. Really artificial going there, and I wish we didn't play any games there at all to be honest.

Just to keep it in perspective a lot of tassie supporters get full memberships and can rarely see more than a couple of games a year, so I don't think people should back down from buying a membership this year who live in Melbourne, and hope that it is just a one off bad scheduling due to the commonwealth games and still buy a members package, the club needs it still and we need to have some faith in what they're doing.
 

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Grendel

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#12
Actually re the Tassie connection, I'm probably one of the few that would be willing to forgo a Vic home game to have three out of Tassie each season (providing two of the transferred games remain as they currently do where the membership gets you into the 'away' game).

But that Queensland thing (sorry Gary, Binxy) no. Not at all happy with that.

We've got a good connection/history with Tassie so to strengthen it could be a good thing. The Queensland move just smacks of selling for $$$ and seems to have the thinking behind it of "the members will wear it, it's just a burden but it's for the good of the club and they ALWAYS do what's good for the club".

What's best for the club is to maximise it's traditional support base. Primarily Victoria, then Tassie and put together a not-to-expensive inter-state and/or o'seas package for others.

One thing, if we were to have a poor season on-field, then 07 could be a very harsh bite-back on those that have put together the membership deal for 06. One thing to look foward to promising kids and keep faith, quite another if results remain similar to recent seasons.
 
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#13
One suggestion to consider for later this year... (and yes I have posted this b4)

When Hawthorn sends you an email about completing a survey sometime mid to late in the year - make sure you stress the importance of wanting to have your memberships as soon as possible. They know they have to deliver them every year, so really, there shouldn't be any reason for waiting until February, (almost 3 months later) to receive your membership. If the factory burns down and it's late one year, happy to accept that as a once off, but assuming there are no delays, I would like to receive my membership within at least a month of handing over my money.

I know that mine will be late becuase I purchased a reserve seat, but the ones who don't shouldn't have to wait that long. Those with reserve seats could still get their pack, and just get the card sent seperately.....?
 

Beckers

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Thread starter #14
cschreuder61 said:
and hope that it is just a one off bad scheduling due to the commonwealth games and still buy a members package, the club needs it still and we need to have some faith in what they're doing.
The club should have offered a 7 game (1/2 season) membership to counter this. That would be 5 at MCG and 2 at TD.
That would have been taken as a token apology and the club wearing some of the expense for the bad fixturing in 2006.
Instead they have just included 11 home games in the packages, increased prices and hoped the diehard supporters didn't notice or care that 3 were in Tassie and 1 on the Gold Coast. :thumbsdown:
 

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#15
Beckers said:
The club should have offered a 7 game (1/2 season) membership to counter this. That would be 5 at MCG and 2 at TD.
That would have been taken as a token apology and the club wearing some of the expense for the bad fixturing in 2006.
Instead they have just included 11 home games in the packages, increased prices and hoped the diehard supporters didn't notice or care that 3 were in Tassie and 1 on the Gold Coast. :thumbsdown:
Given that the Commonwealth Games are on at that time wouldn't you think some common sense would be the best thing to have here. That's why the MCG isn't being used. That's why the fixture seems to be dodgey in your eyes. Open your eyes beckers.
 

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#16
Membership is not the only area where supporters are opening their eyes to the direction the club is going. Merchandise sales are down, Sponsorship is down when every other club is increasing. Kennett himself is trying to find a shorts sponsor. The football department well and truly has the microscope on it this season - poor win/loss ratio and there will be a new coach and administration yet again. The CEO is under the pump to the extent he lost it with the media recently swearing at them several times (F*** this F*** that).
Kennett has an enourmous job in front of him. I wish him well and have supported the club with my membership again. If we drop off in members again this year the $4mil in the bank won't last long and despite all the chest beating about the training facilities at Waverley. We will not be able to afford the salaries of quality/experienced staff to take us to the top half of the ladder combined with best management practice and sustained financial success.

As a footnote: An example of the administration problems in the football department is yesterday's training session where a number of players were late, primarily because proper communication/organisation of the change of training venue did not happen.
 

carntheroos4eva

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#17
Fabulous said:
Membership is not the only area where supporters are opening their eyes to the direction the club is going. Merchandise sales are down, Sponsorship is down when every other club is increasing. Kennett himself is trying to find a shorts sponsor. The football department well and truly has the microscope on it this season - poor win/loss ratio and there will be a new coach and administration yet again. The CEO is under the pump to the extent he lost it with the media recently swearing at them several times (F*** this F*** that).
Kennett has an enourmous job in front of him. I wish him well and have supported the club with my membership again. If we drop off in members again this year the $4mil in the bank won't last long and despite all the chest beating about the training facilities at Waverley. We will not be able to afford the salaries of quality/experienced staff to take us to the top half of the ladder combined with best management practice and sustained financial success.

As a footnote: An example of the administration problems in the football department is yesterday's training session where a number of players were late, primarily because proper communication/organisation of the change of training venue did not happen.
Actually there wasn't an official training session yesterday. They were meeting for other reasons. Just like they will be for all of this week because they are going to be in Tassie.
Why bag the admin out when they are only doing their job ffs.
 

Beckers

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Thread starter #18
Grendel said:
One thing, if we were to have a poor season on-field, then 07 could be a very harsh bite-back on those that have put together the membership deal for 06.
I think that you will find 06 as a very harsh bite back. It's a shame but HFC will struggle to get over 25k members this season:(
 

Grendel

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#20
Yea, agree Beckers that it's going to be a bite this year. Not sure yet quite how harsh though.

What we probably need is some good early showings in the psc. A semi berth in that might give some wavering supporters/members the incentive to sign-up maybe.

That continues over to the 'real' stuff, get away to a couple of early wins (that first round showing could prove crucial) maybe have a few of the kids up and playing well.. get a groundswell of excitement going about the future.

Of course I'm talking in the hope of what will happen but looking on the positive, if we can get that sort of good vibe happening early, I reckon there's a chance we could get a late boost to the membership figure. Here's hoping anyways.
 

carntheroos4eva

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#21
Very well said Grendel.

We just need other hawks fans to realise that it's not worth arguing over certain things.

Face it if you don't get a membership you have to pay $20 to get in the gates to watch the game.
 

Hawkk

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#22
Grendel said:
Yea, agree Beckers that it's going to be a bite this year. Not sure yet quite how harsh though.

What we probably need is some good early showings in the psc. A semi berth in that might give some wavering supporters/members the incentive to sign-up maybe.

That continues over to the 'real' stuff, get away to a couple of early wins (that first round showing could prove crucial) maybe have a few of the kids up and playing well.. get a groundswell of excitement going about the future.

Of course I'm talking in the hope of what will happen but looking on the positive, if we can get that sort of good vibe happening early, I reckon there's a chance we could get a late boost to the membership figure. Here's hoping anyways.
Totally agree Grendal, although it isnt that bad on stats alone.

On the 27th of January last season we had around 15 700 members,
On the 2nd of February we had around 13 500 members.

Bad? Yes, but look at our on field results in 2005....

Pre Season Cup and practise games.

vs St.Kilda L
vs Geelong L
vs Richmond? L
vs Sydney? L

Normal season....

vs Sydney L
vs Richmond L
vs Essendon L
vs Brisbane W
vs Roos L
vs Carlton L
vs West Coast L
vs Melbourne W

So in the first 3 months of our membership campaign we won 2 games, that's a win loss record of less then 10%, hardly comprehensive!

Despite this we ended up with a membership of 30 000, yes down on recent years but strong nether the less.

Now look at this years draw;

vs Richmond in Melbourne it's a possible win
vs Adelaide/Port in Tassie, chance to sign up Hawthorn fans in Tasmania

vs Essendon/Melbourne/Brisbane/Western Bulldogs in Melbourne

(A semi final birth is a distinct possibility)

vs Fremantle @ Tassie W (possible 60/40)
vs Collingwood @ T dome W (possible 60/40)

vs Geelong L
vs Carlton @ T dome W (possible 60/40)
vs Essendon @ MCG W (possible 55/45)


(unfortunately it all goes down hill from here!)

There is a lot of potential to get off to a flyer next season, and alot of chances to sign up members from disgruntled fans.

I think its a shame we have had such a poor run with the draw because we could have built up sustantial membership next season; who knows we could have come close to the record! This has been the most publicity I have seen the club have in the off season for a number of years; we would have to be the most publiced club this off season, the best group of kids since our glory days, a popular president and the training ground in an area where we have lost alot of members.

It's worrying but it isn't panic stations yet.

What I have a problem with is this community camps thing, this year would have been the perfect oppurtunity to explore another region. Idealy the West Gippsland region, try to promote our new facilities and build on a traditional avenue for support and membership. Would have been a great oppurtunity to try and get those lapsed members back on board.
 

cs61

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#23
Start of the season is crucial. Couldn't agree more about winning early to get membership up. Also the club could probably do with the prize-money so it'll be interesting to see what AC does with team selection in the NAB cup.

I think we've got a pretty good start to both our fixture's, both pre-season and premiership, and if we can really start well we may scrape an acceptable amount of members this year.
 

Grendel

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#24
Good posts Hawkk and CS. Thanks for that run-down on early games Hawkk, very good perspective on what is facing us early, actually, it's almost kind of a positive, down to us to make the most of what looks, 'on paper', some winnable games. We manage to do it, it can only be a positive in ways not just attributable to the win/loss record.

Ditto CS on the prize-money on offer, to be honest, hadn't even really considered that aspect of it but you're right, a nice little boost to the coffers wouldn't hurt. Certainly didn't do Carlton any harm this time last year.

Gather a bit of momentum, get the excitement up, get some confidence happening. Yea, wouldn't mind seeing that happen at all.
 
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