S
Shed
Guest
The Kangaroos (AKA North) deserve to be more successful off the field given the fantastic achievements of their football department, but despite their hard-earned success look in more strife as an entity than ever.
Part of this situation has been the club's failure to excite any kind of niche market out in 'supporter-land', let alone capture the imagination of a sizeable portion of the general footy population.
North Melbourne joined the AFL (then VFL) at the same time as Hawthorn and Footscray. Here lies the key comparison and the core of North’s problem.
Footscray has always targeted itself squarely at its working class roots, and has captured a solid and loyal market of working poor supporters. These people may have little money, but see football as the cornerstone of their life's entertainment, and continue to back up that ethic with a strong commitment to their club.
Importantly Footscray (now the Western Bulldogs) have resisted the urge to forsake that solid core by chasing other (on the surface more lucrative) markets, and the Dogs appear to have a much firmer footing overall than the Roos because of it.
Hawthorn also targeted a specific spectator niche and has remained reasonably true to it as well. The middle/upper middle class family heart of Hawthorn has served the club well, particularly when it looked in serious trouble a few years ago. This may have been part of the reason the Official Hawthorn Cheer Squad ejected the sleazy, anti-family elements that had infested it after the 80s (this bunch of practicing guttersnipes later formed the ‘Rebel Hawthorn Cheersquad’).
North, on the other hand seems to have attempted to re-invent itself every other year and whatever were its roots have been long forgotten.
Early on it was a working class suburban club, then became the ‘Corporate/shareholders club’, then Sydney’s other team, and now a kind of country/NSW hybrid. Each change has further diluted what club character North once had.
Truth be known, in terms of character and identity, North is the ‘Carey club’ and nothing else now.
Even the partial ownership by Carlton is part of the problem, even though on the surface Carlton have effectively given the Kangaroos an interest-free loan. Just as Carlton are now more popular in North Melbourne (the suburb) than the Roos, the Carlton share of the Kangaroos is almost symbolic of North’s loss of identity, even if the ownership itself is of more financial benefit to the Kangaroos than it is and has been for Carlton.
The way I see it, the challenge for North, the Kangaroos, whoever, is to actually decide on what identity it wants, AND STICK TO IT, NO MATTER THE SHORT TO MEDIUM TERM PAIN. If North wants to become Sydney’s second team, it should move there outright. If it wants to do the same, but in Canberra, it should do it 100%. If it wants to stay in Melbourne, then play every game in Melbourne – and work to find a niche in Melbourne that is not owned by some other club.
At the moment, North are a club without a home or personality, and as such are a club without a future. Better off to just make a decision and stick to it, even if that puts the club in short-term jeopardy, because they are DEAD in the long term unless they can create a market niche somewhere.
And developing that market and cementing in peoples minds a club ‘personality’ will take at least 5-10 years.
South Melbourne bit the bullet, and survive as Sydney - Hawthorn bit the bullet, and have remained as Hawthorn.
North must make a decision now and make it fast, because the next 're-invention' will be its last.
**********
'Shed' is the one and only unregistered name used by a currently-registered Bigfooty member.
Part of this situation has been the club's failure to excite any kind of niche market out in 'supporter-land', let alone capture the imagination of a sizeable portion of the general footy population.
North Melbourne joined the AFL (then VFL) at the same time as Hawthorn and Footscray. Here lies the key comparison and the core of North’s problem.
Footscray has always targeted itself squarely at its working class roots, and has captured a solid and loyal market of working poor supporters. These people may have little money, but see football as the cornerstone of their life's entertainment, and continue to back up that ethic with a strong commitment to their club.
Importantly Footscray (now the Western Bulldogs) have resisted the urge to forsake that solid core by chasing other (on the surface more lucrative) markets, and the Dogs appear to have a much firmer footing overall than the Roos because of it.
Hawthorn also targeted a specific spectator niche and has remained reasonably true to it as well. The middle/upper middle class family heart of Hawthorn has served the club well, particularly when it looked in serious trouble a few years ago. This may have been part of the reason the Official Hawthorn Cheer Squad ejected the sleazy, anti-family elements that had infested it after the 80s (this bunch of practicing guttersnipes later formed the ‘Rebel Hawthorn Cheersquad’).
North, on the other hand seems to have attempted to re-invent itself every other year and whatever were its roots have been long forgotten.
Early on it was a working class suburban club, then became the ‘Corporate/shareholders club’, then Sydney’s other team, and now a kind of country/NSW hybrid. Each change has further diluted what club character North once had.
Truth be known, in terms of character and identity, North is the ‘Carey club’ and nothing else now.
Even the partial ownership by Carlton is part of the problem, even though on the surface Carlton have effectively given the Kangaroos an interest-free loan. Just as Carlton are now more popular in North Melbourne (the suburb) than the Roos, the Carlton share of the Kangaroos is almost symbolic of North’s loss of identity, even if the ownership itself is of more financial benefit to the Kangaroos than it is and has been for Carlton.
The way I see it, the challenge for North, the Kangaroos, whoever, is to actually decide on what identity it wants, AND STICK TO IT, NO MATTER THE SHORT TO MEDIUM TERM PAIN. If North wants to become Sydney’s second team, it should move there outright. If it wants to do the same, but in Canberra, it should do it 100%. If it wants to stay in Melbourne, then play every game in Melbourne – and work to find a niche in Melbourne that is not owned by some other club.
At the moment, North are a club without a home or personality, and as such are a club without a future. Better off to just make a decision and stick to it, even if that puts the club in short-term jeopardy, because they are DEAD in the long term unless they can create a market niche somewhere.
And developing that market and cementing in peoples minds a club ‘personality’ will take at least 5-10 years.
South Melbourne bit the bullet, and survive as Sydney - Hawthorn bit the bullet, and have remained as Hawthorn.
North must make a decision now and make it fast, because the next 're-invention' will be its last.
**********
'Shed' is the one and only unregistered name used by a currently-registered Bigfooty member.
