Saints to play home game in NZ on ANZAC day

[The darkness]

The one thing that people do not realise is that red , white and black are the traditional Maori colors...

[loris]

The one thing that people do not realise is that red , white and black are the traditional Maori colors...

Well there we go then.......... something to build on eh?

[saintspremiers]

The one thing that people do not realise is that red , white and black are the traditional Maori colors...

Well there we go then.......... something to build on eh?

Time to bring back Stan Alves for the St Kilda was chant circa 1997??!

[Megamaguire]

AFL abandon the Saints to some medieval monetary rip off care of the current Dome owners and i am very pleased that we are looking to seriously shift our home games AWAY from the financial crash site that is the Dome. I love the venue but not the rip offs that go with it and threaten to further disadvantage the red, black and white!

I'm guessing that the afl have ignored all pleas from the Saints to get a decent cash return for playing at the Dome. The afl could buy the rights ahead of time and implement a more level playing field for teams that call the Dome Home- but they're not interested.
As well as NZ games we should keep pushing for more McG games going forward every year. The small print reg: this issue is survival. We need the money!

GO SAINTS!

[bergholt]

I'm guessing that the afl have ignored all pleas from the Saints to get a decent cash return for playing at the Dome.

there were massive equalisation payments agreed in the middle of last year for exactly this purpose.

[Megamaguire]

Bergholt pointed out
"there were massive equalisation payments agreed in the middle of last year for exactly this purpose"

Bergholt i hope your implication is more right than my own impression that the Saints are losing TOO much revenue with the contract we currently have with the stadium owners. Correct me if i'm wrong but i though the club continue to be mightily annoyed with this arrangement. I haven't heard that the club are satisfied with the equalisation payment strategy - maybe they are and things are not as grim as i believed?

If the financial cash -flow is not a problem then i'm relieved, thanks Mega.

[citywest]

This is fantastic news for the St Kilda Football club. This will put us right up there with Collingwood and Hawthorn if done properly.

Four games a year in New Zealand plus a NAB Cup game would be SAINTSATIONAL. We would be able to earn close to $3Million per year I would have thought. Not to mention the extra memberships generated, sponsorships, exposure!!!! Similar to the Hawthorn deal but better IMHO.

I would expect at least 10,000 kiwi members within 10 years. And this in turn will get a lot of Kiwi's in Australia on board as well. Not to mention that all Kiwis who migrate to Australia would also get on board with the Saints.

This is a WIN WIN for the club and definately will turn our club into a POWERHOUSE club on and off the field (especially off the field).

[dragit]

Four games a year in New Zealand plus a NAB Cup game would be SAINTSATIONAL.

turn it up…

…under the bridge lived a great ugly troll, with eyes as big as pewter plates and a nose as long as a rake handle.

[Con Gorozidis]

This is fantastic news for the St Kilda Football club. This will put us right up there with Collingwood and Hawthorn if done properly.

Four games a year in New Zealand plus a NAB Cup game would be SAINTSATIONAL. We would be able to earn close to $3Million per year I would have thought. Not to mention the extra memberships generated, sponsorships, exposure!!!! Similar to the Hawthorn deal but better IMHO.

I would expect at least 10,000 kiwi members within 10 years. And this in turn will get a lot of Kiwi's in Australia on board as well. Not to mention that all Kiwis who migrate to Australia would also get on board with the Saints.

This is a WIN WIN for the club and definately will turn our club into a POWERHOUSE club on and off the field (especially off the field).

wishful thinking. hawks had a captive audience in tassie. kiwis are very resistent to our game. maybe even hostile.

[No1_Saint]

There is a huge untapped talent base here in New Zealand that the club should access before anyone else.It is too large for the NRL and NZRU to fully absorb. The popular image of large Maori and Pacific Island men is not always the case. There is an entire generation of slim, athletic Maori boys perfect for the sport. A lot of them also do waka ama which is similar to dragon boat racing which gives great upper body strength. In addition to this there is an entire network of Maori language full immersion schools which are traditionally neglected by the large sporting bodies in New Zealand. An AFL push into these schools will give them direct access not only to the students but their families as well for supporters as these schools operate collaboratively with families. They tend to be high discipline schools working perfectly with the demands of the sport. If they were to connect with the right principals in the right area they could gain access for the sport into a nationwide network of players and supporters.

I know that the NZAFL visited a school in South Auckland late last year in the hopes of introducing the game in the school curriculum. This is a logical next step in developing a talent zone to draw from. If the AFL and the club show enough commitment with development and support to the young kids then their families and friends will show up to support them. I believe the strength of the game with the right marketing can make this work...but like pushing into Western Sydney and the Gold Coast, this needs a long term plan.

If the club treats this like the failed Tasmania project then this will be doomed to failure. People don't like to be treated as cash cows.

Well said. A good insight into why the club should be looking across the Tasman.

Too many people in sport today are unable to look beyond the short term... cricket will be on it's knees unless it starts to plan 20-30 years ahead.

In order to get a new generation involved in a sport you need them to be exposed to an elite level of competition. It is exceptionally smart for a club like St Kilda (that is middle of the road in terms of the size of it's business) to look in this direction.

From a current day member's point of view, a mid season trip to NZ would be a ripper! Cheap airfares and Wellington is a great city (& only an hour's flight from Queenstown!)

Thanks...there is a lot of reasons why it could work and then there is a lot for why it won't. I hope it is well thought out and resourced by the club and the AFL for a long term sustainable relationship. And as someone mentioned...yes the colours are tradtional Maori colours...might help with marketting altough it hasn't helped Counties Manukau too much (provicinal Rugby side).

[No1_Saint]

With the right sponsors, partners and opponants this could work well. I believe that this hinges on at leastt 5,000 fans split between the two teams to make the journey from Melbourne to Wellington...that is a huge undertaking in itself in terms of flights and accomodation. One big question is the club willing or able to maintain a membership/supporter base in New Zealand? What happens in the many rounds that the club is not present? Last year the pay tv provider didn't play any games live...they were all delayed till Monday midnight which was bloody ridiculous and it was only one game. The highlights package is not a reasonable time either. There were no finals played either and the pre season competition doesn't exist. This is one issue that needs to be addressed. The other is to ensure consistent, positive and wide spread media coverage for the club and the game.

Sorry....just some more thoughts. BTW....can't wait to be back in Melbourne for the season...woop woop.

[70s sainter]

The difference between n. Z and tassie is that tassie loves it's footy and is starved of afl. In N. Z it would be a novelty and have limited interest. In reply to picking up extra memberships over there , I would argue that you would lose even more over here. And the members here pay more. If they move four games away, people will walk.

[Con Gorozidis]

The difference between n. Z and tassie is that tassie loves it's footy and is starved of afl. In N. Z it would be a novelty and have limited interest. In reply to picking up extra memberships over there , I would argue that you would lose even more over here. And the members here pay more. If they move four games away, people will walk.

Agree. Kiwis that actually live in NZ would consider it the act of a traitor to support an AFL club. Its just how they are. Sorry to say.

[QuestionOfAccuracy]

One thing is for sure the club needs to utilize this more than they did with the Tasmanian arrangement.

[No1_Saint]

If this is to work, the only place it can work is in Wellington as they tend to support diverse sports more then any other city in NZ. What were the figures for the Ansett Cup match played when the stadium in Wellington first opened? Random fact: AFL was the first sport played in that stadium.

[bergholt]

Bergholt pointed out
"there were massive equalisation payments agreed in the middle of last year for exactly this purpose"

Bergholt i hope your implication is more right than my own impression that the Saints are losing TOO much revenue with the contract we currently have with the stadium owners. Correct me if i'm wrong but i though the club continue to be mightily annoyed with this arrangement. I haven't heard that the club are satisfied with the equalisation payment strategy - maybe they are and things are not as grim as i believed?

honestly no idea what the club thinks - i'm sure they always want more money - but the payments were designed to equalise stadium returns so i'm sure we're better off than we were before.

[citywest]

We must not die wondering. If we go to NZ then we play 4 games plus 1 NAB game per year. There is no use in playing just 1 games every 2 years.

[dragit]

We must not die wondering. If we go to NZ then we play 4 games plus 1 NAB game per year. There is no use in playing just 1 games every 2 years.

Hear, hear... In fact, let's not stop at 5, let us relocate and become the "Wellington saints".

[Austinnn]

For all those saying that the Kiwis are hostile to AFL, you may well be right, but that's not stopping AFL from getting 2 new teams going in Rugby League strongholds in QLD & NSW. It might take a decade or even a generation, but there will be Kiwis there who already like the game, those who dislike Rugby League and those interested in novelty.

I wouldn't have thought that a Rugby team would do well in Melbourne, but it seems like the Storm got a decent amount of love, even from AFL fans. We won't be able to just get by on the Kiwis alone, but we don't need to with already 40'000 paid-up supporters and many more latent fans in Aus.

The only negative for us is that it will push us closer to the North Melbourne situation, where other clubs are practically begging us to leave Victoria and the pressure is on us to prove our worth in that market, especially if the NZ foray takes off.

But for now, I think it's a great initiative, and as APS said, if we respect it more than our Tassie fling, we will profit in more ways than one.

[bergholt]

We must not die wondering. If we go to NZ then we play 4 games plus 1 NAB game per year. There is no use in playing just 1 games every 2 years.

4 games? i reckon that would pan out something like:

- first game - 17,000 including quite a few aussies who flew over
- second game - 8,000
- third game - 5,000
- fourth game - 900, but add the players and officials and that makes 1,000!

[samuraisaint]

Four games in N. Z would be selling our soul. I cant see that many saints supporters going over. It s not like ducking accross to tassie like 10 000 hawks supporters do, So why would the n.z govt pay our sponsorship . Plus the only ones that would go to the game would be a few ex pats, and I don't think there s that many living over there. Generally They come here, we don't live there. Therefore I assume we would be getting sponsored from the afl itself to promote the game . It would want to be at least 700 000 a game. As a supporter who loves going four games over there would suck. Finally players like Goddard would prob get sick of it and bail to a rich melbourne club that doesn't travel every sec week.

I think the NZ games would be factored into our traveling schedule for the year. As for good players leaving because of the travel, it hasn't really harmed West Coast or Sydney. I see your point though, but if it is a cash cow and it sets us up for the future I really am all for it. As long as we keep our colours, the name St. Kilda (and remember that was under a cloud in the mid 80s), don't merge (and that could have happened in the mid 90s) and have our base in Melbourne where we play most of our games, I am happy.

FWIW I don't think it is selling our soul. I would prefer to play a game in Wellington than Geelong (at least now, because they don't sell beer in cans at Kardinia Park anymore)

[Con Gorozidis]

For all those saying that the Kiwis are hostile to AFL, you may well be right, but that's not stopping AFL from getting 2 new teams going in Rugby League strongholds in QLD & NSW. It might take a decade or even a generation, but there will be Kiwis there who already like the game, those who dislike Rugby League and those interested in novelty.

I wouldn't have thought that a Rugby team would do well in Melbourne, but it seems like the Storm got a decent amount of love, even from AFL fans. We won't be able to just get by on the Kiwis alone, but we don't need to with already 40'000 paid-up supporters and many more latent fans in Aus.

The only negative for us is that it will push us closer to the North Melbourne situation, where other clubs are practically begging us to leave Victoria and the pressure is on us to prove our worth in that market, especially if the NZ foray takes off.

But for now, I think it's a great initiative, and as APS said, if we respect it more than our Tassie fling, we will profit in more ways than one.

having lived in NZ - i dont think people understand the depth of feeling kiwis living in nz have towards aussies. they actually mostly hate us.
and they dont even like rugby league - its the ABs (religion), then super rugby, then provincial rugby, then rugby league, then soccer. wed be so far down the pecking order its not funny. and we are talking about 200 years entrenched culture. gold coast is just chock full of expat vics - and western sydney has 2 million people and is chock full of new (first generation) immigrants who arent ingrained in anyting in particular- its these people the afl thinks it can still win over.
wed be really up against it in kiwiland im afraid. as much as i like the idea (id love an annual trip over to welli - would be awesome fun).

[dragit]

For all those saying that the Kiwis are hostile to AFL, you may well be right, but that's not stopping AFL from getting 2 new teams going in Rugby League strongholds in QLD & NSW. It might take a decade or even a generation, but there will be Kiwis there who already like the game, those who dislike Rugby League and those interested in novelty.

I wouldn't have thought that a Rugby team would do well in Melbourne, but it seems like the Storm got a decent amount of love, even from AFL fans. We won't be able to just get by on the Kiwis alone, but we don't need to with already 40'000 paid-up supporters and many more latent fans in Aus.

The only negative for us is that it will push us closer to the North Melbourne situation, where other clubs are practically begging us to leave Victoria and the pressure is on us to prove our worth in that market, especially if the NZ foray takes off.

But for now, I think it's a great initiative, and as APS said, if we respect it more than our Tassie fling, we will profit in more ways than one.

A couple of huge differences here though…
Wellington has under 500,000 people, Melbourne has over 4,000,000. Rugby was already very popular in this country, whereas 'Australian Rules Football' would have a minute following in NZ.

Can you imagine the Kiwis trying to introduce a game called New Zealand Rules (anything) here?

AFL has always been big around the gold coast area and NSW is surrounded by states that play it and has a population twice the size of NZ.

I'm pretty sure most of those 40,000 members would be dead against playing 4 of our home games in NZ, leaving only maybe 6-7 home games that we can go to. The only people who would think that moving 4-5 games over there
probably live too far away from Melbourne to get to many games or are trolls.

I'm all for us being paid handsomely to participate in an elaborate AFL marketing exercise once a year, no problem. I can also see the potential in attracting Kiwis to play the game - down the track. However moving 4-5 games a year there is an absolute no way for most people who like to go and watch their team play in the flesh.

[dragit]

b.t.w Hawthorn don't have 70,000 members because they play in Tassie, they have 70,000 members because they have recently won a flag and are pushing for another.

The dogs, dees, tigers and north have been selling their soul for interstate home games for just as long without any huge membership increase.

Nothing worse than watching us lose a 'home game' played in another state, on a ground that we have zero advantage on.

[asiu]

.u blokes say kiwi's /new zealanders ... i think white

.are we not talkn directly to the maori
... cmon lads , here's a game u can excell at and make great coin

.come and play with the red white n black.
.then their mob gets on board.

.isn't that the plan ?