Supporter Groups Interstate

[Markfs]

I just had a look at the WA Magpies, or the Western Magpies internet site. It was or appears to be attached to the www.magpies.net server like a lot of collingwood-related sites.

The club, itself, recognises the WA magpies and the NSW equivalent on the official site. The WA magpies site went dormant late last year. The Sydney site still has Witts on the front page in a Collingwood jumper.

For interest sake, I looked at the Hawthorn official site and found this
http://www.hawthornfc.com.au/fans/fan-groups/supporter-groups

I checked the Brisbane Hawks facebook page and found recent Queensland-related posts.

I've made a few comments over the journey that the WA magpies or western magpies appears to be hobby-horse of a few people. The fact that the Collingwood FC puts these "supporter groups" at arm's length and doesnt appear to have an input into their internet sites, demonstrates a melbourne-centric view of the world.

I can't believe that we have a multi-million dollar media apparatus and we have such amateurish supporter groups in the various states around Australia.

Is anyone at the club interested in Collingwood supporters in WA? A few years ago, you could get a local membership that gave you a ticket to the game at Subi oval. Then you got access to a ballot for a ticket. Now the club just doesnt bother to put anything together for WA magpies supporters.

Has anyone at the car maker centre heard about the new stadium that they are building over in Perth? Do they think that it might provide an opportunity for meaningful local memberships in WA? Evidently, the club is just going to take it for granted that it will find enough supporters in WA to buy any tickets that it gets its hands on, and the rest of us can find other clubs to support.

I wish I had a buck - but not a buckley of course - for every time that i've heard that Collingwood is the biggest club in Australia.

They are still saying that after Hawthorn membership quietly surpassed the Pies, and lets not mention their premiership tally.

Evidently, Ed doesnt get to WA much. I know that the club has a strong focus on the western suburbs of Sydney, but the high number of home games at the MCG has evidently meant that it's just not cost-effective to promote the club in the back-blocks of the nation.

There's no doubt that Eddie played a large part in dragging the club into the 21st century, but I think it might be getting out-flanked by other clubs which are more willing to spread their wings geographically.

 

[didaksrightfoot]

Is anyone at the club interested in Collingwood supporters in WA? A few years ago, you could get a local membership that gave you a ticket to the game at Subi oval. Then you got access to a ballot for a ticket. Now the club just doesnt bother to put anything together for WA magpies supporters.

Has anyone at the car maker centre heard about the new stadium that they are building over in Perth? Do they think that it might provide an opportunity for meaningful local memberships in WA? Evidently, the club is just going to take it for granted that it will find enough supporters in WA to buy any tickets that it gets its hands on, and the rest of us can find other clubs to support.

Just on this particular topic:

They can't offer tickets because there aren't tickets. There's a reason you can get an "Interstate Membership" from Qld, NSW and SA but not WA.
They also can't say anything about that the new stadium because not even the WA Govt, WAFC, West Coast or Freo know how that is going to play out. I know each of the last couple of years when I got my digital/social club membership I asked this question of the membership dept and each year they basically said that they would try to negotiate for Collingwood tickets but nothing will be known for a long time, but they were happy to put a "note" next to my membership that I had asked the question and wanted to be informed once the club had an arrangement in place (for whatever that's worth, probably not much - but I wasn't expecting them to be able to do any more than that).

(I haven't yet renewed for 2017, so haven't asked yet this year).

The nature of footy tickets and memberships in this state is likely to change a lot over the next couple of years. Personally I think membership numbers for the Dockers and Eagles have been slightly inflated because of the necessity for "In the Wings" members due to lack of seats... basically if you gave up your seated membership, you were probably waiting 5+ years (if not longer) to get it again. If that scarcity factor is now gone, you might get a lot more people giving up on their membership, and you might suddenly have a lot more available seats (even in addition to the extra capacity)
And depending on the final deal re: seating - this could all change. (eg. if they do go ahead with the Government's plan for 15,000-odd seats to be general admission only) But until that's finalised, nothing can be garaunteed (and I'm sorry buddy, but an Interstate club, even if it is Collingwood, is well down the pecking order in terms of having a say in what happens with those deals)

 

[Markfs]

Just on this particular topic:

They can't offer tickets because there aren't tickets. There's a reason you can get an "Interstate Membership" from Qld, NSW and SA but not WA.
They also can't say anything about that the new stadium because not even the WA Govt, WAFC, West Coast or Freo know how that is going to play out. I know each of the last couple of years when I got my digital/social club membership I asked this question of the membership dept and each year they basically said that they would try to negotiate for Collingwood tickets but nothing will be known for a long time, but they were happy to put a "note" next to my membership that I had asked the question and wanted to be informed once the club had an arrangement in place (for whatever that's worth, probably not much - but I wasn't expecting them to be able to do any more than that).

(I haven't yet renewed for 2017, so haven't asked yet this year).

The nature of footy tickets and memberships in this state is likely to change a lot over the next couple of years. Personally I think membership numbers for the Dockers and Eagles have been slightly inflated because of the necessity for "In the Wings" members due to lack of seats... basically if you gave up your seated membership, you were probably waiting 5+ years (if not longer) to get it again. If that scarcity factor is now gone, you might get a lot more people giving up on their membership, and you might suddenly have a lot more available seats (even in addition to the extra capacity)
And depending on the final deal re: seating - this could all change. (eg. if they do go ahead with the Government's plan for 15,000-odd seats to be general admission only) But until that's finalised, nothing can be garaunteed (and I'm sorry buddy, but an Interstate club, even if it is Collingwood, is well down the pecking order in terms of having a say in what happens with those deals)

I agree that they havent got any say in the number of tickets available. That example was just one bit of what I am talking about. The lack of supporter groups in capital cities.... the websites that are out of date.... the lack of support for supporter websites from the collingwood media unit.....the general lack of interest in encouraging magpie supporters outside victoria.

I have a mate who is a saints supporter and he seems to be able to get tickets from the saints supporter group.... maybe they ask nicer

 

[Collingwood 4 eternity]

There are going to be a few thousand seats apparently, set aside at the new Perth Stadium when it opens next year, for travelling fans , wa supporters of the traveling team and even neutrals that might want to go to an AFL match in Perth.

And still accomodate the WCE and freo members.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

Should've just built a 75k stadium in the first place.

But nah the state government over there is more concerned about pushing a road to nowhere through our wetlands. ******* geniuses.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Re: WA members, I imagine that it'll depend how many WC/Freo membets turn up.to games.

If WC/Freo members are prepared to fill up a 60,000 seat stadium, can't really do much about that. But if only 20,000 WC/members bother to turn up to a game then it'll be a bit of a scandal if non-members can't get in.

I'd imagine it's a similar dilemma to our Ponsford members who had allocated seats. Many quite rightly felt entitled to their allocated seat because they paid their money and they turn up to games. But if there are members who are a no-show en mass, the stand looks empty and forlorn. And if there are non-members who are happy to pay to sit there, then that would seem reasonable too? Until the paying members get their nose out of joint because they turn up to their allocated seat and find themselves sitting next to a bunch of Carlton supporters out on a Bucks night.

Stadium seat management wouldn't be easy and I sympathise with those saying that they can't predict what will happen.

Although I would imagine that if you allocate seats for WA based opposition members (eg: Collingwood) they would surely have a very high seat utilisation. Paying members would want to take their 1 (or occasionally 2) opportunities to see their team play live each season.

 

[76woodenspooners]

The Sydney site still has Witts on the front page in a Collingwood jumper.

Sydney magpies recently changed to NSW magpies, maybe they changed their site?

I can tell you that NSW is still very much active, they do send out mailouts every week and they get a bunch of people turn up to a nominated pub to watch the games (even AFLW)

I've made a few comments over the journey that the WA magpies or western magpies appears to be hobby-horse of a few people. The fact that the Collingwood FC puts these "supporter groups" at arm's length and doesnt appear to have an input into their internet sites, demonstrates a melbourne-centric view of the world.

I've ranted like a madman over the journey about how the club is so incredibly melbourne centric and (IMHO) they need to have wider focus. I'm not ranting about this for my own particular benefit (I'm just a madman). As an interstate supporter I see it as a wonderful opportunity for the club. Fostering Collingwood's national brand would make them a more valuable sponsorship proposition. In their quest for a kazillion members that linked arm in arm will reach the moon and back, where does the club expect to find them ... in Melbourne? Really? Does the club know how to spell "saturated market"?

Sure, a lot of folks up here new to AFL in Sydney will see their choice as Swans or GWS. But some won't, and which team will they want to support? And what about out in the regional areas? Wagga is closer to Melbourne than it is to Sydney.

I can't believe that we have a multi-million dollar media apparatus and we have such amateurish supporter groups in the various states around Australia.

IMHO it's great that the club don't interfere in the supporter groups. It's a good thing that the supporter groups are run as a grass roots organisation and are independent. I know that you've spoken about governance issues with your group over there in WA in the past, but ...

... the beauty of the club not getting too involved in that stuff means that there is nothing stopping you from setting up your own WA supporters group, set yourself up with a constitution, and attract your own members. If you managed to attract a big bunch of members to your group then I'd assume that the club would love both WA supporter groups as if they were their own WA children.

Is anyone at the club interested in Collingwood supporters in WA?

Next week over in WA you're going to be getting a double header against Freo, our AFLW team play them first followed by the men's team playing. That's a pretty cool event for an interstate supporter to enjoy?

Has anyone at the car maker centre car importer centre heard about the new stadium that they are building over in Perth?

Fixed for you

I wish I had a buck - but not a buckley of course - for every time that i've heard that Collingwood is the biggest club in Australia.

You and me are happily skipping together to that tune.

I know that the club has a strong focus on the western suburbs of Sydney, ...

Huh??? Really??? Tell me more about this?

... but the high number of home games at the MCG has evidently meant that it's just not cost-effective to promote the club in the back-blocks of the nation.

I'd disagree with that.

The Collingwood supporter base are notoriously hard to please, but I'd reckon that if the club played two extra home games at the MCG (instead of Etihad) and one extra away game interstate, then 99.9% of the supporter base would be thoroughly tickle pink. The only thing the club could do that would be more universally popular would be to select Josh Daicos to play in the forward pocket.

There's no doubt that Eddie played a large part in dragging the club into the 21st century, but I think it might be getting out-flanked by other clubs which are more willing to spread their wings geographically.

Yeah, I agree with you about that one.

 

[Markfs]

remind me to vet my next post with my lawyers before i actually post it...

 

[Markfs]

i think the club should ensure that the supporter group is run professionally with the goals of the club in mind....

 

[76woodenspooners]

remind me to vet my next post with my lawyers before i actually post it...

You think I'm doing a poor job of vetting your posts?

 

[Markfs]

You think I'm doing a poor job of vetting your posts?

en contraire.... i wrote the original post as it comes into my head.... i might refer to NSW with a reference that i havent checked... so as i paint my portrait, i'm not doing a bit of realism, it's more like impressionism....the general gist is that i dont think the club is think enough about interstate and overseas

btw the only concession that i make to taking care when i post is that i read my post after i post it to see if the spelling is ok and it makes sense.....unless i'm at work, i dont usually vet the facts unless i'm posting from work on a slow friday

 

[76woodenspooners]

the general gist is that i dont think the club is think enough about interstate and overseas

I agree with this ...

... but what do you think the club can do to address it?

Particularly things that are cash flow neutral, and don't peeve off Victorian supporters?

 

[Markfs]

I agree with this ...

... but what do you think the club can do to address it?

Particularly things that are cash flow neutral, and don't peeve off Victorian supporters?

well i think they can organise supporter groups in mainland capitals and tasmania...... where they do not exist and where they do, ensure that they have some consistency with their websites