VIC fans - merge, relocate or relegate?

[pablo668]

Seriously, why does this keep coming up as a talking point?

 

[Johnny Bananas]

The last time a club merged their fans have to do exactly that - fly to another part of the country to see them play

And you think the AFL is going to abandon the country's third biggest city in such an event? Not bloody likely.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Seriously, why does this keep coming up as a talking point?

Because I wanted to know which option people consider the least worst. That's why.

 

[PJays]

This is pretty easy

I'd rather be a South fan who'd kept same colours and name and still plays in Melbourne 4 or 5 times a year, rather than creating some new entity with no history that doesn't really appease anyone.

(Having said that, I go to the footy 3 or 4 times a season. If I went every week I might have a different view, and be willing to sacrifice identity for the opportunity to keep going weekly, and try to learn to love a merged team)

But as I posted tonight in the St Kilda debt thread, I don't think this'll happen. Where would anyone get relocated to? Tassie I'm very doubtful, for reasons given in other thread. Other states have 2 teams already.

 

[Underarm]

Because they're the only ones discussed as potentially needing to do any of the options above. No other part of the country is so crowded with AFL clubs.


Merge. I enjoy being able to go to AFL games without needing to fly anywhere.

Relocate would be my preference. I'm going to have less interest so seeing them only 6-7 times a year would probably suit.

 

[B4Bear]

One thread is to do with St Kilda's debt levels, one is to do with a review of the competition and one is to do with small clubs paying off Docklands Stadium. Absolutely none of them are specifically answering the question I had, and none of them have a poll to get a quick answer from people on which they see as the least worst option. So none of them were good places for this to be posted. Again, if you have issues with people discussing topics in football forums, try moving onto something else.


You said it, not me. If you want to moan about how your club is castigated by others, I'm sure there are more suitable threads for it, because that's the not the topic of this one.

And yet before the end of the first page here we are.

You may not be a troll, but the bait you put out out sure did attract them.

 

[Roylion]

Coburg-Fitzroy alliance was the closest thing we've seen to a 'drop down' and they drew easily the biggest crowds in the VFL during their brief time in the comp.

And that was a sponsorship of the Coburg Lions by the Fitzroy Football Club, three years after Fitzroy was removed from the AFL. I went along to Coburg's games quite a lot during 1999-2000.

 

[megadeth86]

Just from the few people who've answered so far, the merge is on zero %.
To think that the merger was Ross Oakleys number one aim right through the 1990s. Shows how out of touch his administration was.

The VFL/AFL should never have been given that much power. I support the old club-presidents-in-control model which gets me some hate on here.

 

[megadeth86]

Victorian fans - suppose your club had to either merge with another Victorian team, relocate to a different state or get sent down to the VFL, which would be the least worst option in your opinion? Which two factors do you value most between an undiluted club identity, being able to go to games every week or seeing your club play at the highest level?

You forgot one option: Two divisions of the AFL with promotion and relegation (which I would prefer instead of any one of your options).

 

[AFLOnline]

Relocate. I’d follow the Saints wherever they go

I’d fear that if we get relegated, we wouldn’t get the membership base or the revenue to keep us alive

 

[JayJ20]

Relocation. I'd still support the Tasmanian Bombers as a relocated side because the history, colours and achievements are still intact. Still the same club, just in a different place.

A merger kills off the club so that would be the last thing I'd like. To simplify the difference, I consider South Melbourne to be in the competition. I don't consider Fitzroy or the Bears to be in the competition.

 

[Roylion]

I don't consider Fitzroy or the Bears to be in the competition.

The Brisbane Lions are merely a rebranded Brisbane Bears. Same club. Formed 1986. First year of competition 1987.

 

[nick1408]

And you think the AFL is going to abandon the country's third biggest city in such an event? Not bloody likely.

About as likely as the AFL moving a club out of either the AFL or Melbourne I would have thought.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

About as likely as the AFL moving a club out of either the AFL or Melbourne I would have thought.

Relocation out of Melbourne has happened before, and no other city has more than two teams. I don't think it's likely or desirable, but it is possible.

 

[JayJ20]

The Brisbane Lions are merely a rebranded Brisbane Bears. Same club. Formed 1986. First year of competition 1987.

I don’t see it that way, though it really doesn’t matter considering the Bears don’t really have much of a history.

 

[hilly]

Seriously, why does this keep coming up as a talking point?

Gratification. It's odd.

On SM-G950F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Roylion]

I don’t see it that way, though it really doesn’t matter considering the Bears don’t really have much of a history.

The Brisbane Bears and the Brisbane Lions are the same club. In the same way the Hawthorn Mayblooms and the Hawthorn Hawks or the Footscray Football Club and the Western Bulldogs, or the South Melbourne Swans and the Sydney Swans are the same clubs.

That is the legal situation confirmed in the Supreme Court of Victoria at the height of the Brisbane Lions vs. Fitzroy Football Club legal stoush of 2010.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Relocate. I’d follow the Saints wherever they go

I’d fear that if we get relegated, we wouldn’t get the membership base or the revenue to keep us alive

Relegation to a lower level competition is a fate worse than death. Look at the traditional SANFL/WAFL clubs who used to be heavyweights of Australian Football. They still exist and still play in the same comp but due to the VFL/AFL becoming the behemoth it has they're just shells of their former selves, it's sad.

 

[beema limapep]

If any Melbourne club had to relocate to Tassie but kept there colours, jersey, mascot and players, and got to see them play in Melb 8 times a year, i reckon the new club would retain a large chunk of support. Maybe even 70-80% of current fans.

 

[Roylion]

Relegation to a lower level competition is a fate worse than death.

Is it? "Worse than death"? The very same Fitzroy Football Club that used to play in the AFL play today in a lower competition at their original ground, in the same jumper and representing the same city suburb in Victorian football that they were created to do. Their history continues from 1883. 138 years old this year.

 

[Roylion]

got to see them play in Melb 8 times a year

Based on the Sydney / Brisbane experience I doubt this would happen.

 

[beema limapep]

Based on the Sydney / Brisbane experience I doubt this would happen.

Both usually have 6 or 7 games in Melbourne each season.

11 games at home.
4 games away (Bris,Syd,Perth,Adel)
7 games away (vic)

Its not that hard to change one of the games from interstate or dare I say it - home.

 

[Roylion]

How many games out of 22 are scheduled in Melbourne for these two clubs this year?

Five Melbourne games for the Brisbane Lions in 2021.

Carlton Round 6
North Melbourne Round 14
Richmond Round 18
Hawthorn Round 19
Collingwood Round 22

Melbourne (Victorian) games for the Brisbane Lions
2005 - 5
2006 - 5 (6 including Geelong)
2007 - 5 (6 including Geelong)
2008 - 5 (6 including Geelong)
2009 - 7 (8 including Geelong)
2010 - 5 (6 including Geelong)
2011 - 5 (6 including Geelong)
2012 - 6
2013 - 4 (5 including Geelong)
2014 - 5 (6 including Geelong)
2015 - 5 (6 including Geelong)
2016 - 6 (7 including Geelong)
2017 - 6
2018 - 5 (6 including Geelong)
2019 - 5 (6 including Ballarat)

 

[Rob R]

Relocate to a new market.

Merger is just a takeover by the stronger club and relegation will just make the team permanently non competitive as any team that makes it bag up from the lower grade wont be able to compete for good players and staff.

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[beema limapep]

Five Melbourne games for the Brisbane Lions in 2021.

Carlton Round 6
North Melbourne Round 14
Richmond Round 18
Hawthorn Round 19
Collingwood Round 22

Plus Bulldogs in Ballarat and Geelong in Geelong. But i acknowledge thats not Melbourne.