"we're a big club" - supporter obsession

[joe444]

Ok, so now Derwayne is taking calls from Essendon supporters demanding to be called "a big club".

Precisely what is the obsession, and what is the benefit?

PS. I reckon any mid-range club with sustained success over two decades can become "big". I personally couldn't give a stuff.

 

[Aura]

Our recent two decades of success do not automatically place us in the same category as Essendon If anything, we are more akin to Manchester City or Chelsea in the AFL landscape, while Essendon (plus Carlton and Collingwood) remains the league’s equivalent of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. Take your pick.

 

[The Terrible Thinker]

7th Big Club. But sure, a big club!

 

[Richmond Flats]

Richmond, Collingwood and West Coast are the AFL juggernauts.

Carlton and Essendon in the tier below them.

 

[joe444]

(I'm gonna let this thread spin out to see if the responses unwittingly prove my point)
But just as the words "cotton" "advantage" and "land" trigger Geelong supporters, I suspect telling an Essendon supporter "You're not a big club" would cause a meltdown.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Ok, so now Derwayne is taking calls from Essendon supporters demanding to be called "a big club".

Precisely what is the obsession, and what is the benefit?

PS. I reckon any mid-range club with sustained success over two decades can become "big". I personally couldn't give a stuff.

Essendon were one of the powerhouse clubs but 20 years of being dog shit have pushed us down a rung or two.

If we are ever successful again it will be like a powder keg, however unlikely that is.

it's just bragging rights, doesn't mean much, i think.

 

[Im New]

Richmond, Collingwood and West Coast are the AFL juggernauts.

Carlton and Essendon in the tier below them.

Remember last year when Fox Sports decided Richmond is so crap that they cancelled the Big Four and annointed a Big Three instead?

 

[PhatBoy]

I’ve never once understood why the hell it matters.

The two best bands I’ve ever seen live are arguably the biggest stadium act in history (U2), and Jebediah, playing 3 gigs to about 800 people at a uni bar.

My favourite cricket side is a few specks in the Atlantic Ocean. My favourite NRL side is the (equal) oldest in the competition and the richest and third most successful and has always had a decent albeit not necessarily huge fan base.

My afl club has traditionally been right in the middle of the pack in terms of support and finance up until the last decade or so.

I’ve never understood why being part of something with a huge group of people makes it ‘better’

 

[Richmond Flats]

Remember last year when Fox Sports decided Richmond is so crap that they cancelled the Big Four and annointed a Big Three instead?


View attachment 2255389

Carlton, Essendon and Collingwood are the big three.

Richmond are the big one.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Big clubs get a few advantages.
Players have more chance to use their profile and build a brand. Whether that be media roles where the top half dozen or so are in demand and at best the top one from a small club, or businesses they start and get free publicity every second week during broadcasts to a lot more people than being hidden away on Fox. That is in addition to AFL sanctioned third party deals, which are likely to be considerably more available to big club players.
In effect, the "outside football" earning potential is like a small salary cap advantage - at least for certain personality types - through a potential higher profile for the same on-field output. It can help make them destination clubs.

And being a top ten big club player seems to grant certain advantages with the MRO and Tribunal, that are otherwise only available to Brownlow contenders.

 

[Fadge]

Richmond, Collingwood and West Coast are the AFL juggernauts.

Carlton and Essendon in the tier below them.

You're 66% right...

 

[TruRoo]

It's all part of the dick measuring contest which perpetuates sports fandom.

We are all words on a screen talking about blokes being paid thousands of dollars for clubs we love often just because we chose to do so as a child. We just want to be better than the next guy.

If there was any sort of measure I could use to make me feel good about North I'll take it.


(It's been a ****ing shit decade)

 

[Coach_Required]

West Coast is the biggest club

Collingwood next

We were the first club to break 100k membership though and backed it up for a number of years. If that doesn't make us a big club, then I'm not sure what does.

 

[kickazz]

Why would you want to follow a 'big' club anyway?

My mate is AFL member of Carlton and for some big games at the G it's a stress for him to get a ticket.

Another mate goes for North and can turn up ten minutes before the bounce, scan in, grab a prime seat and enjoy.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Richmond, Collingwood and West Coast are the AFL juggernauts.

Carlton and Essendon in the tier below them.

It's just depends on their performances. Put the Bombers and the Blues in the top 8 continually for an extended period and the Tigers and Pies in the bottom 8 for an extended period and the numbers will be reversed.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

I’ve never once understood why the hell it matters.

The two best bands I’ve ever seen live are arguably the biggest stadium act in history (U2), and Jebediah, playing 3 gigs to about 800 people at a uni bar.

My favourite cricket side is a few specks in the Atlantic Ocean. My favourite NRL side is the (equal) oldest in the competition and the richest and third most successful and has always had a decent albeit not necessarily huge fan base.

My afl club has traditionally been right in the middle of the pack in terms of support and finance up until the last decade or so.

I’ve never understood why being part of something with a huge group of people makes it ‘better’

The AFL encourage this type of rubbish, they continually sprout the line of we have to have these clubs names in lights otherwise the comp would fall over.
Thats why the fans go on about it, our fans over here love saying how much money we have. Yet that money is useless to us as we can't use it.

It's all a load of rubbish as you said. means nothing

 

[bzparkes]

Why would you want to follow a 'big' club anyway?

My mate is AFL member of Carlton and for some big games at the G it's a stress for him to get a ticket.

Another mate goes for North and can turn up ten minutes before the bounce, scan in, grab a prime seat and enjoy.

Watching North and 'enjoy' haven't exactly gone hand in hand for quite some time...

 

[iameviljez]

Ok, so now Derwayne is taking calls from Essendon supporters demanding to be called "a big club".

Precisely what is the obsession, and what is the benefit?

PS. I reckon any mid-range club with sustained success over two decades can become "big". I personally couldn't give a stuff.

The obsession is partially because three of the four Big Clubs did not deal well with the era of equalisation, and played it like it was still the 1970s - and paid the price.

Carlton decided the salary cap wasn't for them, kept limiting themselves to big name coaches and are still paying the price.

Essendon struggled to let go of their messiah in Sheedy, appointed their next messiah in Hird despite a complete lack of experience, and as a result, played far too loose with a supplements program and still hasn't recovered.

Richmond just kept eating their own for years till they finally got the right guy, recruited well, showed some faith and reaped rewards.

Even Collingwood torpedoed their early 2010s by falling into the myth of their own saviour and pushed Malthouse out the door, though they have been continuously excellent throughout the 2000s.

 

[Jugada]

I would think it’s pretty clearly Collingwood number one and then Carlton number two and then probably a little gap back to the likes of Essendon, Richmond and West Coast

 

[TruRoo]

Another mate goes for North and can turn up ten minutes before the bounce, scan in, grab a prime seat and enjoy.

Not only that, go early enough and you can easily get a pic for the kids with the players during their early warm up, or have a quick chat.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Why would you want to follow a 'big' club anyway?

My mate is AFL member of Carlton and for some big games at the G it's a stress for him to get a ticket.

Another mate goes for North and can turn up ten minutes before the bounce, scan in, grab a prime seat and enjoy.

I guess an argument is that if you're a "big club" you're more likely to get free to air TV and not be subject to 4.40pm games Sunday night at Ethihaad

 

[Cam Payne]

Does this mean they get to wear pullups?

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Why would you want to follow a 'big' club anyway?

My mate is AFL member of Carlton and for some big games at the G it's a stress for him to get a ticket.

Another mate goes for North and can turn up ten minutes before the bounce, scan in, grab a prime seat and enjoy.

What sort of masochist is he? Oh, that sort.
There's really not much to enjoy.

 

[kickazz]

What sort of masochist is he? Oh, that sort.
There's really not much to enjoy.

TBF he told me this benefit many years ago....

 

[randyzany]

I’ve never once understood why the hell it matters.

The two best bands I’ve ever seen live are arguably the biggest stadium act in history (U2), and Jebediah, playing 3 gigs to about 800 people at a uni bar.

My favourite cricket side is a few specks in the Atlantic Ocean. My favourite NRL side is the (equal) oldest in the competition and the richest and third most successful and has always had a decent albeit not necessarily huge fan base.

My afl club has traditionally been right in the middle of the pack in terms of support and finance up until the last decade or so.

I’ve never understood why being part of something with a huge group of people makes it ‘better’

A feeling of superiority by association, that's all there is to it. Similarly to nationalism whereby certain people feel justified in believing they are superior to other people for being born in a wealthier 'better' country than those born in other less wealthy/developed nations in the world.

Occasionally there are threads asking which other club will a poster support if for whatever reason the current club they supported ceased to be in the AFL.

Unsurprisingly several Hawthorn fans are utterly befuddled and bemused why they wouldn't automatically pick Hawthorn, become glory hunters like themselves, who've had a dream run of success for various reasons that have had nothing to do with their administration for the past couple of decades.

Such has having the good fortune of being gifted zones that belonged to other clubs that were brimming and bursting at the seams with more top tier talent than your average zone while conveniently ignoring pre 1960s Hawthorn evidenced by how much they fell off after the draft was introduced in the 80s once the players they picked up from the zones all retired.

Only becoming relevant again after unashamedly tanking for priority picks for several years in the mid 2000s. Whereas I've always had a soft spot for the underdog and would pick St Kilda.

Personally I think it's kind of lame to have feelings of superiority simply for being part of a country and/or choosing a club/etc... that is by some certain measures 'successful' rather than rely on having a sense of pride derived from your own personal achievements.

These are the kind of 'faulty' people who go on about how many flags 'their' club has won in the past decades, how many members their club has and therefore bigger and more important than others it is, and/or how much wealthier and better their country is to others in the world.

The average footy supporter has had very little to do with the success of a club other than attend games and pay for memberships and posters who indulge in this behaviour never fail to amuse me.

Anytime I've brought up Geelong's success is to push back on narratives that are thinly disguised cheap shots for example, whenever Richmond fans claim they 'owned' Geelong between 2017 and 2020 and exorcised the demons of having their arse cheeks clapped by Geelong since the mid 1980s to mid 2010s.

Conveniently not taking into consideration that clubs that have periods of success are denied the best young players in the country and eventually become bottom feeders in the subsequent years, which is exactly what happened to Hawthorn after 2015.

Yet Geelong was able to stay relevant and go against that trend without needing to rely on Top 10 draft picks. Had Geelong being a spoon bottom feeder they would have avoided losing finals in September to any team in those years and in the mind of the average simple Richmond supporter that would have been fare more admirable and respectable than what Geelong was able to achieve.