Certified Legendary Thread Roos lodge plans for massive Arden St upgrade

Jun 9, 2001
37,647
145,038
Fogarty Street
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North Melbourne
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St Johnstone
Yeah sounds like bard was a control freak

I see it more as a sign of insecurity, not wanting scrutinising eyes especially those emotionally linked to the place casting a critical eye over operations.

Better to block them out and avoid such uncomfortable moments.
 
Apr 24, 2013
81,024
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Arden Street Hill
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North Melbourne
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Yep, plus the active media and social media presence of David King, Corey McKernan and Troy Makepeace etc


The same people who were stating "WTF is going on down there" only months ago?

Youre kidding yourself if you think they're card carrying sycophants of the administration Frank.
 
The same people who were stating "WTF is going on down there" only months ago?

Youre kidding yourself if you think they're card carrying sycophants of the administration Frank.

I think you’ll find those three were not saying anything against the club.

i messaged King myself and he was like “it’s tough but we’re in the right direction”

Cory and Troyhave been rock solid

btw - asking what’s going on is reasonable considering the change but all have been staunch
 
There was definitely a dissociation between former players and the club in the recent past.

CCE4E9A8-9672-4B91-A7D5-02F4C74E974A.jpeg
 

DrZaius

GENERATIONAL
Mar 28, 2016
4,224
11,292
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norf
In my view we have been known for so long as the battlers and arguably have prided ourselves on it. I know I feel an enormous sense of pride that I can still go to the footy and watch North play. But I just don't think it has to be that way (ie, that we battle for our patch) anymore.

This 100%! I'm proud of how our club has always battled through adversity and always will be, but honestly the club and us members have enough chips on our shoulders for 20 lifetimes. Even if we were to become a relatively big club we wouldn't be in any danger of losing our identity, not when all of us are painfully aware of just how fickle the AFL landscape can be.
 

koshari

Brownlow Medallist
Mar 24, 2011
22,491
35,521
AFL Club
North Melbourne
I think you’ll find those three were not saying anything against the club.

i messaged King myself and he was like “it’s tough but we’re in the right direction”

Cory and Troyhave been rock solid

btw - asking what’s going on is reasonable considering the change but all have been staunch
Makey spoke very positively about brady to me even when the chips were down.
 
Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
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Essendon Lawn Bowls Club
I am not sure what all the cufuffle is, seeing us almost debt free should make us all happy but anyway...


You settle far too cheaply Ashley.

I want to see North 100% focused on AFL football and thriving.
 

Roogal

Club Legend
Dec 7, 2016
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You're under the impression that the Arden Street reserve exists to facilitate the culture, members & history of the NMFC, as it did for over 100 years, but that just isn't the case in 2020. It's very much an issue of secondary importance now, and a bunch of people moving in to the neighbourhood isn't going to rectify the situation, in fact, I can only see it diluting the football clubs position even further.

I take the opposite view that the further the Arden Street oval morphs in to the socio-political world, the harder it is going to be to retain for the NMFC.

FFS, we have had Councillors in the Moreland shire remove Australia Day celebrations because it was deemed "offensive" or "unrepresentative" of many people in that locale, and what is the NMFC in comparison to that?

Ultimately, the club has now been drawn in to a vortex where it has to appease local politics more & more in order to survive, or alternatively it will perish.

The club has been placed upon a perilous roller coaster. I will not play a financial role in facilitating its death.
I'm inclined to agree with you. Arden Street HQ these days is effectively an office block with 3 sets of changerooms and a gym next to an oval which I would bet that nobody in the community of North Melbourne is actually permitted to use, which makes a mockery of the whole "developing for community use" pitch that is often used as the prime argument to secure government funding. Of course ATM clubs hae discovered a new cash cow ... "AFLW". AFL clubs only have to put "women's changerooms" in a grant submission and that's a guaranteed $10 mil in the bank. They've all done it, not just North Melbourne. Yes much these dayis being driven by the new culture of wokeism (with Dan Andrews leading the charge on that front), but I don't think it's as detrimental to the club perhaps as you have suggested.

While we can't do anything about who governs the City of Melbourne at Council level, who governs Melbourne in pragmatic terms is of no interest to me and that is the decision of the residents and ratepayers of Melbourne to make. But we come back to our original point that the club as a private business enterprise should not be spending one cent of it's money, and it was wrong of the club to appeal to its members back in 2018 to donate some $2.5 million towards bricks and mortar for a Melbourne City Council property asset. One asks, isn't the Melbourne City Council already the richest in terms of its income, assets and cash reserves in Victoria?
 

Roogal

Club Legend
Dec 7, 2016
2,115
4,661
AFL Club
North Melbourne
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North Ballarat Roosters
And so - does it come down to:

a) you tailor your pitches for your club's development to whatever state or federal government is doing, using what governments want - increases in female participation in sport, commmunity hubs and sports facilities, bettering the community etc - and survive, prosper and advance

OR

b) keep doing what we're doing and get left behind, threatening the survival of the club?

I don't believe it is possible for us to do the second option and survive
I'm agreeing with you, the clubs are just doing or saying what they have to to get funding. At the end of the day one does question this new found largess of AFL clubs that suddenly they all have to have huge training facilities the size of small suburbs. If we consider Arden Street how many meeting rooms, multi-media suites, separate change facilities for the Senior team, the Reserves, and now for the women; separate medical treatment rooms, ASADA testing rooms, and umpire changeroom do they seriously need? But at least the latest upgrades a being funded by the tax-payer and not by club members as occured back in 2018.
 
Jun 7, 2019
5,138
17,624
AFL Club
North Melbourne
I'm inclined to agree with you. Arden Street HQ these days is effectively an office block with 3 sets of changerooms and a gym next to an oval which I would bet that nobody in the community of North Melbourne is actually permitted to use, which makes a mockery of the whole "developing for community use" pitch that is often used as the prime argument to secure government funding. Of course ATM clubs hae discovered a new cash cow ... "AFLW". AFL clubs only have to put "women's changerooms" in a grant submission and that's a guaranteed $10 mil in the bank. They've all done it, not just North Melbourne. Yes much these dayis being driven by the new culture of wokeism (with Dan Andrews leading the charge on that front), but I don't think it's as detrimental to the club perhaps as you have suggested.

While we can't do anything about who governs the City of Melbourne at Council level, who governs Melbourne in pragmatic terms is of no interest to me and that is the decision of the residents and ratepayers of Melbourne to make. But we come back to our original point that the club as a private business enterprise should not be spending one cent of it's money, and it was wrong of the club to appeal to its members back in 2018 to donate some $2.5 million towards bricks and mortar for a Melbourne City Council property asset. One asks, isn't the Melbourne City Council already the richest in terms of its income, assets and cash reserves in Victoria?
Have you been to Arden Street recently? Say, anytime in the last ten years? Now the lockdown is over, I imagine the English language classes for the newly arrived in the Flemington housing estate will get underway again. There'll probably be a kids basketball game to catch as well. Enjoy
 
I'm inclined to agree with you. Arden Street HQ these days is effectively an office block with 3 sets of changerooms and a gym next to an oval which I would bet that nobody in the community of North Melbourne is actually permitted to use, which makes a mockery of the whole "developing for community use" pitch that is often used as the prime argument to secure government funding. Of course ATM clubs hae discovered a new cash cow ... "AFLW". AFL clubs only have to put "women's changerooms" in a grant submission and that's a guaranteed $10 mil in the bank. They've all done it, not just North Melbourne. Yes much these dayis being driven by the new culture of wokeism (with Dan Andrews leading the charge on that front), but I don't think it's as detrimental to the club perhaps as you have suggested.

While we can't do anything about who governs the City of Melbourne at Council level, who governs Melbourne in pragmatic terms is of no interest to me and that is the decision of the residents and ratepayers of Melbourne to make. But we come back to our original point that the club as a private business enterprise should not be spending one cent of it's money, and it was wrong of the club to appeal to its members back in 2018 to donate some $2.5 million towards bricks and mortar for a Melbourne City Council property asset. One asks, isn't the Melbourne City Council already the richest in terms of its income, assets and cash reserves in Victoria?

I don’t agree with much of this Roogal and usually appreciate your posting.

as a regular to the club for training, pre-season and VFL matches the venue is more than an office block - it’s a series of football activity open to all to enjoy and interact with players snd staff alike. Families go on the ground at breaks to listen to coaches talk to players snd people sitting around having picnics on the grass snd bluestone walls.

The facility itself is open to the community to use , including the ground which is fully accessible when not being used by the club. The basketball court , gym, pool etc.

As for the club spending club money on the venue - of course they should!! That’s their business. The club has a very long term arrangement with the Council and should 100% be investing in as well as working with Government to develop the ground/ budiness / Club etc. That’s their job.
 
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