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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.
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.

