Western Bulldogs and their partnership with Ballarat a success

Roogal

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Ground's looking a treat for this Sunday, picture taken earlier today:

FB_IMG_1552028635314.jpg
 
Why does anybody care about the crowds that attend JLT games regardless of the location? This place gets way too caught up in the minutiae sometimes. Sad!
Good question Norm.

For the pre season it is not really a club question more what is the AFL narrative for these games.

As there is no longer a cup or anything of value, what is wrong with going back to the roots of each club.

Games at the Whitten oval, princess park, Moorabin, punt road, windy hill, victoria park as well as kardinia etc, same for wafl grounds for the.West teams and.sanfl for the Sa teams.

Have a theme for these games.

I am against proper regular season games at Ballarat but a JLT game there at one at Whitten both at night would at least attract crowds.and interest in the pre season
 

Roogal

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The JLT Community Series is about 'the community' after all - taking the game out to its grass roots pre-season. AFL is absolutely struggling in regional Victoria and Tasmania. The declining birth rate, the exodus of young people from regional towns and communities to bigger centres such as Warrnambool, Devonport, Launceston, Shepparton, Burnie, Bendigo, and Ballarat means that many smaller football leagues across those states which once had strong feader leagues to the VFL are now weakened and struggling to stay afloat. Many leagues have been forced to amalgamate, while some towns litterally pour everything they have into their local team just to keep them going for the sake of keeping the community rallying together.

People in Melbourne don't see that and probably aren't aware of how dire the AFL's predicament is in regional Victoria and Tasmania. Couple this with the growing option of Soccer which is gaining great traction in major towns as a competitive option against Aussie Rules and suddenly conducting the JLT in regional areas takes on another dimension.

Consider that in Ballarat, Melbourne Victory have expressed a desire to play seasonal games at its modern regional soccer facility subject to it being further expanded to 10,000 capacity. The state government have committed a further seven million to building a second soccer hub at the Wendouree West recreation reserve where Mick Malthouse originally once played Aussie Rules as a child and into his teens.

The battle for hearts and minds for code supremacy in Ballarat and Western Victoria has begun in earnest, make no mistake!!! Shepparton with its large arabic community too has a first class soccer facility and training pitches.

When we consider that Wyndham has been targeted by the FFA as a soccer hub and that they now have the Soccer franchise along with a commitment to build a new Soccer stadium having studied the demographics of this area (primarily Indian, Vietnamese, Sudanese, Sri Lankan, etc.) it might be time to concede that the battle for Wyndham has been lost by the AFL, or perhaps AFL has reached its expansion potential for the area? It's only a thought and I have no stats to back those thoughts up either BTW. However, I can certainly vouch for what is going on in the regional areas beyond the tram tracks.

It's food for thought that we should all consider as the AFL H&A season is soon to commence.

Have a great weekend everyone, and I hope that many of you as possible can take the time to go to the game tomorrow and support the Dogs and AFL.
 
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May 13, 2012
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Footy still a pretty big part of the sporting landscape in and around Werribee. The Western suburbs were home to many NSL clubs over the journey, if I had a dollar for every time someone said that soccer was taking over....

Anyway, over the past couple of days, ruminating about having two JTL games, and it occurs to me that the very, very best part of it is taking games to areas that don't usually see AFL games (or see very few in the case of Ballarat and Canberra). If you're going to play a practice game, why not make it a special occasion for so many regional areas? And if someone is going to sponsor it, well, there's no downside as far as I can see.

Even re-badge it in the future as the JLT Community series.

Either way, you gotta play a couple of practice games minimum before the start of the season.

ps photo of Ballarat stadium above looks fantastic, another positive to taking AFL games to the regions is that it forces local councils to think about their sporting infrastructure
 
Footy still a pretty big part of the sporting landscape in and around Werribee. The Western suburbs were home to many NSL clubs over the journey, if I had a dollar for every time someone said that soccer was taking over....

Anyway, over the past couple of days, ruminating about having two JTL games, and it occurs to me that the very, very best part of it is taking games to areas that don't usually see AFL games (or see very few in the case of Ballarat and Canberra). If you're going to play a practice game, why not make it a special occasion for so many regional areas? And if someone is going to sponsor it, well, there's no downside as far as I can see.

Even re-badge it in the future as the JLT Community series.

Either way, you gotta play a couple of practice games minimum before the start of the season.

ps photo of Ballarat stadium above looks fantastic, another positive to taking AFL games to the regions is that it forces local councils to think about their sporting infrastructure
Love your avatar , was one of my favorite shows as a kid .
 

Roogal

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Footy still a pretty big part of the sporting landscape in and around Werribee. The Western suburbs were home to many NSL clubs over the journey, if I had a dollar for every time someone said that soccer was taking over....

Anyway, over the past couple of days, ruminating about having two JTL games, and it occurs to me that the very, very best part of it is taking games to areas that don't usually see AFL games (or see very few in the case of Ballarat and Canberra). If you're going to play a practice game, why not make it a special occasion for so many regional areas? And if someone is going to sponsor it, well, there's no downside as far as I can see.

Even re-badge it in the future as the JLT Community series.

Either way, you gotta play a couple of practice games minimum before the start of the season.

ps photo of Ballarat stadium above looks fantastic, another positive to taking AFL games to the regions is that it forces local councils to think about their sporting infrastructure
No doubt that Aussie rules still is quite strong in Werribee where there is a strong population base to support teams and a competition. But it too is no doubt under pressure from competing forces. Consider that Melbourne with a population of 400,000 in 1896 gave birth to the VFL competition which was the mother of the modern AFL. This might suggest that today the Werribee competition should be much stronger than what it actually is, considering that the wider Werribee/Hopers Crossing/Point Cook area today is as big as what Melbourne actually was at the time of Federation. But evidently the Werribee competition is nowhere near that strong, nor is any other 400,000 population basin across Victoria. So where did all of these potential players go?

They have defected … no other word for it, it is elsewhere. Young people nowadays alternatively play soccer, or they sit at home on their X-Boxes, they watch Netflix or are texting their mates endlessly. Speaking from a regional perspective, larger townships are still able to support Aussie Rules clubs and teams, but the smaller towns and communities aren't or can't where as they once could and did. That's the AFL's reality. That's why the Western Bulldogs Board chose Ballarat to expand to, Ballarat didn't choose them.

That's food for thought. The realities have changed considerably in 2019. Modern AFL is fully professional with players, coaches and staff all on professional salaries and contracts which cost millions per-annum for clubs. At the Second tier level (VFL) players are commanding between $1500-$4000 per game. The North Ballarat Football Club quoted in late 2017 that the cost of running a modern VFL team at several million per-annum. Then down at the regional and Metropolitan League (We are talking BFNL, GVFL, TAC Cup League etc.) level players are being paid up to $1000+ per game. Outside that sphere many senior players are pure voluntary or being paid to play what was once a recreational game.

Footy is a business. It costs money for player payments, councils and clubs to cover public liability regardless of whether you play the game in the city or the bush. The smaller clubs in the metropolitan area as well as the country rely heavily on volunteers who do everything from managing their books, to the Saint Johns Ambulance folks who patch up the players, the ladies auxiliaries who do everything else from running canteens to washing and cleaning the playing gear.

I agree with the concept of making JLT a special community event, which is why perhaps it should even be played at grounds which can support professional competition at the lowest level. In Ballarat, why not take the game to Learmonth, Bunninyong or Ararat; or perhaps in NSW to Jerrilderie in preference to Wagga Wagga? Perhaps consider Milanda in preference to Cairns or Townsville? All of these smaller townships are close to larger regional centres and have great grounds that are supported soley by community teams. That's where the heart of the game is and what the AFL must fight to keep.
 
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Mattdougie

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Hahahahaha the dogs “choose” Ballarat for the million dollars

We would have gone anywhere for that money let’s not pretend that isn’t the truth.

The western suburbs of Melbourne WHERE WE BELONG is the are we should be flooding but we are allowing Norf, the pies and A League to move on while we worry about a country town that will end up doing next to nothing for us and has so far proved that.

People with alterior motives can keep pushing this absolute dud deal but they do not have our clubs best interests in heart

The game tomorrow would be far better an get a better crowd at WO. I personally do not give a single shite about Ballarat coz I do not support the Ballarat Bulldogs
 
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Hahahahaha the dogs “choose” Ballarat for the million dollars

We would have gone anywhere for that money let’s not pretend that isn’t the truth.

The western suburbs of Melbourne WHERE WE BELONG is the are we should be flooding but we are allowing Norf, the pies and A League to move on while we worry about a country town that will end up doing next to nothing for us and has so far proved that.

People with alterior motives can keep pushing this absolute dud deal but they do not have our clubs best interests in heart

The game tomorrow would be far better an get a better crowd at WO. I personally do not give a single shite about Ballarat coz I do not support the Ballarat Bulldogs

still better getting your million dollars to go an hour down the Western Highway than go to Darwin or Cairns or wherever else the dogs have sold home games in the past
 

Mattdougie

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still better getting your million dollars to go an hour down the Western Highway than go to Darwin or Cairns or wherever else the dogs have sold home games in the past


No I don’t agree And most dog fans who do not bother to go seem to be on my side.

At least those places gave fans a small holiday in the sun. I went to Darwin and Cairns, I have zero interest in going to Ballarat
 
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Mattdougie

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More saints fans there today than dog fans

How good is this thing going ???

Add to that we can’t win at the hole of a joint and it’s nothing but positives
 
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Where did you get that from MD? Here's what Bont2Boyd posted just before the main game started:

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/jlt2-vs-saints.1213238/post-59806397
At one of the quarter breaks, the announcer asked each club's supporters to make some noise for their team and ours was definitely much louder too. Perhaps there were more Saints fans immediately below the commentary box, suspect that is the only way a commentator could have thought there were more Saints fans there today.
 

Mattdougie

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The absolutely disgraceful agenda pushing by individuals in here trying to feather their own nest is sickening. Shining behind concern for our club while trying to validate this idea under a guise of the dogs future is pathetic.

To even suggest that the battle for Wyndham has been lost to soccer due to Indians, Vietnamese and Sudanese is beyond laughable eeeing none of these nations are “soccer nations”.

We are wrong away from a goldmine is Point Cook and Wyndham to TRY and steal members don’t other clubs in a country town close enough to Melbourne for supporters to go and watch the teams they actually want too other than us and the interstate teams no one cares about.

How we as a club are not trying to get facilities built in the area for us to won it is beyond me.

We are in a deal now that cannot go anywhere. Does Ballarat eventually expect more games and if they do why would we even consider it? If the dogs end up playing more games in Balrat or will cost as many memberships as it MIGHT gain us. I and most dog fans have no interest driving to Ballarat even twice a year let alone more.

We tried it failed so let’s get back to Melbourne and stop wasting time on this garbage for a simple handout the AFL will give us regardless
 
May 13, 2012
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Well our crowds at Ballarat are pathetic so I’m guessing they do

You played the Suns there last season in front of 6,833, which is pretty poor, might have got 18k at Docklands.

In your premiership year, you played the Suns in Cairns and got 8,509.

Now that's a bigger crowd, but it still seems to me that the rewards are likely to be better partnering with Ballarat, one hour down the road from the Braybrook Hotel.

I seriously doubt more dogs fans are prepared to fly to Cairns for a home game than drive one hour down the highway.

Are you actually arguing that you'd prefer those two home games to remain with places like Cairns and Darwin?
 
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