T
The Real Facts
Guest
From Greg Baum in The Age today:-
Against Collingwood last Sunday, the Kangaroos were noticeably and uncharacteristically lacklustre. Pagan said it was the club's worst loss for years. Doubtless, it was partly a rhetorical flourish, meant to sting his team into action, but it contained a seed of truth.
Crowds and gate receipts are down, membership stagnant and finances holding at best. The Sydney fling hasn't worked; crowds for its first three ``home'' games at the SCG were as poor as 6000 and the last, this Saturday, has been abandoned. The coach's office is still a portable. The Roos' efforts to raise more funds by making one deal with a bookmaker and another to sell their guernsey for a day, laudable in principle, have cost the club a little of its dignity. The death of Casey, in so many ways the spirit and inspiration of the club, must have had a draining effect on morale. The pall is still apparent.
Decline is so much more critical for North than for other clubs. Wayne Jackson said at The Age's Vision 21 conference last week that it was not that the AFL was hounding any one club out of the competition, but that economically, nine could not continue to survive in Melbourne. The Roos are in the perverse position of standing to lose everything if they don't continue to win.
See ya and dont forget to turn off the ligths when you go.
Against Collingwood last Sunday, the Kangaroos were noticeably and uncharacteristically lacklustre. Pagan said it was the club's worst loss for years. Doubtless, it was partly a rhetorical flourish, meant to sting his team into action, but it contained a seed of truth.
Crowds and gate receipts are down, membership stagnant and finances holding at best. The Sydney fling hasn't worked; crowds for its first three ``home'' games at the SCG were as poor as 6000 and the last, this Saturday, has been abandoned. The coach's office is still a portable. The Roos' efforts to raise more funds by making one deal with a bookmaker and another to sell their guernsey for a day, laudable in principle, have cost the club a little of its dignity. The death of Casey, in so many ways the spirit and inspiration of the club, must have had a draining effect on morale. The pall is still apparent.
Decline is so much more critical for North than for other clubs. Wayne Jackson said at The Age's Vision 21 conference last week that it was not that the AFL was hounding any one club out of the competition, but that economically, nine could not continue to survive in Melbourne. The Roos are in the perverse position of standing to lose everything if they don't continue to win.
See ya and dont forget to turn off the ligths when you go.