To those that have not paid up (Chicago!)

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Why membership matters
Paul Gough
afl.com.au
5:06:43 PM Tue 25 March, 2003


The news that their club is in financial trouble yet again must have been a like a knife through the heart of Western Bulldogs fans this week.

This is the time of the year when optimism and excitement amongst AFL supporters should be at its peak, after all every team is level on points and no team has lost a game.


But while supporters of financially strong clubs such as Collingwood, Essendon, Adelaide and West Coast can look forward to 2003 – knowing they will have plenty more chances to see their side become successful even if they blow it this year - Bulldogs fans again face that awful, stomach-churning feeling of ‘will this be our last chance to see our side make the finals’.

As a former Fitzroy member this is something I have already lived through and I could not help but feel a real sense of sadness when I heard about the Bulldogs’ latest woes this week.

Like Fitzroy, this is not the first time the Bulldogs have faced financial problems but let’s hope it is the last and the club does not eventually go the way of Fitzroy.

The Lions in the end were so financially crippled an administrator was called in and the club was forced to merge with Brisbane without the club’s members even being given a vote.

What would make the current situation even more upsetting for loyal Bulldogs supporters is their team is still more than competitive on the field.

And while it’s easy for supporters of rival clubs who have never found themselves in the situation of former Fitzroy or current Bulldogs fans to say the club’s off-field problems should not affect on-field performance – the simple fact is it does.

After all for the players the game represents their livelihood and there is nothing that affects your job performance more than if you are not sure there is a long-term future at your place of employment.

The club’s supporters – who, unlike most players, have a life-long commitment to the club – feel the situation even more.

Bulldogs fans would not be human if they weren’t already living with the fear that if the club’s bottom line does not improve they will eventually be unable to afford to keep their most prized assets - players such as Nathan Brown, Luke Darcy, Chris Grant, Brad Johnson, Scott West and Rohan Smith – who would get a game with EVERY other AFL club.

The Bulldogs fans would be already be looking back on times such as the 1997 and 1998 preliminary finals and thinking ‘I hope that was not the last chance to see a Bulldogs premiership’.

This is what the feeling is like every time you hear your club is financially struggling – you can’t think about the long-term only the short-term and every missed opportunity from the past becomes all the more painful because there may not be many more chances to make amends.

Their current situation is similar to the one Fitzroy found itself in around 1992 and 1993 when the team was on the rise with Paul Roos and Richard Osborne still starring, Alastair Lynch fast becoming a champion and young players who would eventually become good AFL players such as Peter Caven just starting their careers.

At that time every game just seemed so important to Fitzroy fans, who almost had a collective sense those two seasons represented their last chance to see their side achieve success.

Eventually they were proved right and the club’s problems worsened as first Osborne left for Sydney, Lynch went to Brisbane (where he is still starring), Roos went to Sydney, where he is now senior coach while Caven went to Adelaide and played in two premierships.

And the inevitable happened to Fitzroy – the team became so uncompetitive that membership and crowds dwindled even further and as a result the club’s financial became so bad that when the end did come there was almost a sense of relief that the club had been put out of its misery.

That was until the last game the club ever played in Melbourne when the likes of Roos and Gary Pert were part of the pre-game motorcade saluting the club’s past champions.

It was then that the realisation you would never see your side win a premiership really hit home as you could not help but think if only the club had made more of chances such as 1983 and 1986 when the Royboys had been so close to the ultimate success.

The Bulldogs’ situation from here could either go two ways – the club can boost its membership and become a regular finalist and the club’s long-term future can become secure as we have seen with Hawthorn since 1996.

Or they can go like Fitzroy.

And for those Bulldogs supporters who can afford to become members but have chosen not to - if they need any further incentive to join their club then go and ask any Fitzroy person about their feelings at the MCG that day against Richmond in 1996.


Paul Gough is the senior writer of the AFL-Telstra Network. His views aren't necessarily those of the AFL or the clubs.
 

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mel 40

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#3
What an article if all bulldog supporters read that then it may make them think about becoming a member.Lets hope it does it.
I posted sumthing on the afl borad as well, so hopefully people read it and go and get a membership.
 
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#4
Great article by Pual Gough stating why membership is important hopefully doggies supporters who havent signed up read this article and pruchase their membership.
 
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#5
Well being a Doggies supporter i should become a member, but i can't. I live in Brisbane and im not going to by something i cant use. But i go to the Doggies games up here (not that they would get much money for that if any) but i do by alot of doggies murchandise and i fill that is good enough. The tag always says great choice your team will benafit from this purchase or something like that...... Is that acceptable for everyone??
 

Chops

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#6
Originally posted by Birssys_girl
Well being a Doggies supporter i should become a member, but i can't. I live in Brisbane and im not going to by something i cant use. But i go to the Doggies games up here (not that they would get much money for that if any) but i do by alot of doggies murchandise and i fill that is good enough. The tag always says great choice your team will benafit from this purchase or something like that...... Is that acceptable for everyone??
I understand that distance and cost may be a problem but people like C1, Dry Rot, Doc, and Curly don't live in Melbourne and I assume they are members.

Don't let the distance stop you Birssys_girl. Donating $126 for a membership the best thing the club could ask fron you. Assuming you may qualify for concession, its even cheaper.

Remember there is a difference between a barracker and a supporter.
 

Curly5

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#7
Originally posted by Birssys_girl
Well being a Doggies supporter i should become a member, but i can't. I live in Brisbane and im not going to by something i cant use. But i go to the Doggies games up here (not that they would get much money for that if any) but i do by alot of doggies murchandise and i fill that is good enough. The tag always says great choice your team will benafit from this purchase or something like that...... Is that acceptable for everyone??
Please join up, Birssy's Girl. Birssy would want you to. He would love you more. :)

Why not take out an Interstate Membership. It doesn't cost as much as a full membership. It works out to under $2 a week over 12 months. You would spend more than that on videos, movies or whatever other entertainment you take part in.

Isn't the Doggies' survival worth two bucks a week?
 
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#8
Great article. As I see it there is only one excuse for not having a membership and that is financial hardship.
I do not except this crap about not being able to go to enough games. Those days are over folks.
If you follow the dogs be it on TV,radio,newspapers,internet or going to the game, BUY A MEMBERSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
..............the ghost mem No.003286
 
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#10
I wont get to too many games from here either, but you can donate a membership to the club which will use it to take kids to the games.
This sounds like a great idea, better than wasting it away in your wallet.
May help breed support and more future members.
 

mel 40

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#11
Originally posted by Birssys_girl
Well being a Doggies supporter i should become a member, but i can't. I live in Brisbane and im not going to by something i cant use. But i go to the Doggies games up here (not that they would get much money for that if any) but i do by alot of doggies murchandise and i fill that is good enough. The tag always says great choice your team will benafit from this purchase or something like that...... Is that acceptable for everyone??

Hey dude, if you dont join i will tell birssy myself and he wont be happy. It may be your membership that saves his job. He may not get another go at another club.
Come on its only $77 for an interstate membership, surely you could get one for OUR birssy boy. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeee.
And no im not begging.lol.:D :D :D :D
 

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