VFL GF @ Telstra Dome a joke!!!

[walhawk]

Randall, I had not heard that Essendon were going alone. That would be the end of Bendigo then. Shame as QE Oval is a great venue.
It is a miracal Nth Ballarat has survived with minimal community support. They have $$$ but it may have been better to have had a more representative regional team.
I agree the VFL will not survive. It is virtually an under 22 comp nowadays anyway.
But I'm not sure that it would be a bad thing for the old VFA clubs to go back to suburban comps. The EFL gets bigger crowds than the VFL anyway.
The VFL has some horrible allignments at present. Why isn't Coburb with Carlton or Essendon who have similat colours and location?
I loved the VFL when the alignments first kicked off. There used to be a real buzz at Box Hill.
The competition is so half baked - a bit like this post (I'm very tired).

 

[onslaught]

Anyone know roughly how many turned out last year?

About 9000 I think.

 

[finders]

Unfortunately, walhawk I think u are spot-on here. North Ballarat have a very small supporter base, and with the game being in Melbourne at night, most of those are unlikely to travel.

There will be extremely minimal North Melbourne fans there.

With the VFL "hoping" for 20-30,000, I cannot see any way on this Earth that the crowd will be anywhere near that.

With a crowd of around 8,000, in my opinion, you'd think the VFL will lose a mountain of money on this supposed showpiece event.

There's no other way to view this, other than a nail in the VFL's coffin, I think.

With Essendon now likely to join Geelong and Collingwood as a stand-alone VFL club next year, with the advantages now in place for AFL teams to field stand-alone sides, and the benefits regarding the ability to play players wherever they want them, etc., sadly I believe the AFL reserves will be reborn in the next 10 years or so.

The remaining VFL teams, such as Port Melbourne and Frankston, will probably simply go into the local leagues, such as the MPNFL, etc., and this will spell the end of over 130 years of history.

I simply cannot see any way for the VFL to survive. If the VFL could hang on for another 50 years, somehow, then I believe it could be reborn a bit, with seemingly less teams in Melbourne by then, the AFL could try and actually look after the VFL and stop all Sunday games in Melbourne, and give Sunday back to its rightful owner.

Having said this, I simply cannot see the VFL surviving long enough to see this happen. Maybe down the track, such a scenario would allow the VFL to be reborn, but I believe the VFL, in the meantime, will depart us. Sadly, in my eyes.

Well said and spot on IMHO!

Will be lucky to get 8000 to the Dome!

The current VFL? is a nothing bastardised competition with no soul or real basis for existence apart from propping up the worst run AFL clubs in Melbourne.
Most of the original VFA club supporters wont have bar of the current VFL and if you look at the pathetic crowds they now get compared to the VFA days the competiton is already dead in the water and just waiting to die.

 

[finders]

Anyone know roughly how many turned out last year?

About 8000.

 

[Minka Beaver]

Last year's crowd was 13,842.

In 2006 (with bad weather) it was about 8,700 (can't remember the precise number).

I think they'll get 12,000-15,000. High ticket prices for a state league event will make it very hard to attract the 15,000-20,000 that they could otherwise have attracted, as will the increasing likelihood that no competing club will have an alignment with an AFL Grand Finalist.

 

[Randall]

Randall, I had not heard that Essendon were going alone. That would be the end of Bendigo then. Shame as QE Oval is a great venue.
It is a miracal Nth Ballarat has survived with minimal community support. They have $$$ but it may have been better to have had a more representative regional team.
I agree the VFL will not survive. It is virtually an under 22 comp nowadays anyway.
But I'm not sure that it would be a bad thing for the old VFA clubs to go back to suburban comps. The EFL gets bigger crowds than the VFL anyway.
The VFL has some horrible allignments at present. Why isn't Coburb with Carlton or Essendon who have similat colours and location?
I loved the VFL when the alignments first kicked off. There used to be a real buzz at Box Hill.
The competition is so half baked - a bit like this post (I'm very tired).

I think u r again spot-on walhawk in that it'll probably be a pretty good thing for the Port Melbournes and Frankstons to go back into their local leagues. It'll get some real community passion and fire back at their games, like used to be the case back in the 1970s in the VFA.

The old VFA used to be just a bigger suburban competition, where people from neighboring suburbs would go to war with each other. There was genuine passion involved: genuine elation at victory, and genuine sadness at defeat. Now, there's none of that. When a team kicks a goal, most of the time u could hear a pin drop. That emotion has just gone, for the most part. With the AFL alignments, it's mostly AFL supporters simply there to cast an eye over their team's next generation.

Plus, as u rightfully mention walhawk, the crowds, not only at EFL, but all suburban and many country leagues would outstrip those at the VFL. Because it's genuine tribal war, one suburb against its neighbor, just like the old VFA. That's mostly been lost in the VFL now, with so many of the clubs leaving.

Brilliant point, also walhawk, about the Coburg situation. Coburg legend Phil Cleary is very worried about his beloved Coburg being shipped off to Craigieburn, and all semblance of the once-mighty Lions could be lost forever. He feels Coburg would have been much better off aligning with Essendon, which would have suited me perfectly, being an Essendon and Coburg man.

One thing just to watch out for in the next couple of years, I believe North Melbourne may ditch North Ballarat and align fully with Werribee. Not because the Roosters are in any way deficient or anything, just the tyranny of distance and the like. Like the Kangaroos coaching staff and administration basically get to every Werribee game that doesn't clash with Kangas games. I reckon they'd be lucky to get to more than a handful of the North Ballarat games, just the whole distance factor, etc. Besides, North Ballarat want nothing more than a partial alignment anyway, so going alone might not bother the Roosters too much at all. We'll wait and see, anyhow.

 

[walhawk]

Coburg was still getting a reasonable crowd around 2000 when they were alligned with Fitzroy.
Once they are shipped of to Cragieburn, there will be very little Coburg left.
The only alligmnet that will last is the Box Hill Hawks - same colours, similar demographics, history & location.
None of Casey, Box Hill, Bullants, Bendigo could survive on their own.
I would think within 5 years the 'VFL' will be: -
Collingwood
Essendon
Carlton
Geelong
Box Hill Hawks
Coburb/Craigieburn Tigers
Werribee (North)
Willi (Dogs)
Sandringham (Saints)
Casey (Dees)
Port Melbourne
Frankston

12 teams.
Goodbye Tassie, Bendigo, Nth Ballarat & Northern Bullants

Hopefully the history of Preston is maintained in the NFL and the Roosters will go back to dominating the Ballarat league.