We have lost our identity

[iwantmeseats]

The move to Seaford , while not the cause of our current state, is actually a small contributing factor. The scary thing is it has the potential to be a huge thorn in our side. Identity, for a club, and even moreso it's supporters is vital. Past administrations failed terribly in giving this fact the respect it deserves, and now there is no going back. As long as I had that affinity with Moorabbin I cared a lot more to be honest. What's the point of this post then? Dunno, just bleating really. It's not going to change and we just have e to get on with it I guess. Once you lose identity however, you can't get it back. That decision to move from Moorabbin was a horrid one and I fear we will pay dearly for it in the near future. I am of course aware of all the council hullabaloo at the time, but really that's all BS. We COULD have stayed if we really wanted to. A few less pokie machines, big bloody deal!

Seaford is a place with good facilities,apparently, in a non descript suburb with no soul what so ever that no supporter has any attachment to. All fans I know have no desire to go there and don't even know where it is

Moorabbin was our home, had memories, history and soul for all of us. That was trashed by a now long gone admin over a Petty dispute with the local council. Now I know a lot or you will bang on with why we could not have stayed there, but the clear fact is it was NOT impossible to do so. Archie the blow in CEO who I'm sure now couldn't give a rats arse, wielded the pen and consigned our most important asset to history.

People actually wonder why membership is down?

[Con Gorozidis]

You make some good points.
Its not one thing but a death by a thousand cuts.
Our brand and culture have been gradually eroded.
Seafood alone may not have mattered but really Fraser was clueless .
We could have have just said no pokies. No worries.
Built moorabin and put some pokies in later when the council changed. We had patience and were going to be around longer than one single councillor .
Massive failure

[Harvey To Hayes]

Aren't we redeveloping Moorabbin with a view to basing our standalone reserves team there?

[Bluthy]

Well AFL is a big business corporatersized sport now that is a bit soulless. A lot of the old ways are gone for good and bad. Is Hawthorns soul at Waverley? Is Collingwoods soul at the Lexus centre? If we can still have that link to Moorabbin with activities there that would give us continuation with our history and I agree that is important.

[Verdun66]

Good to debate this ....but.... People were saying this stuff in 1965 when we moved to Moorabbin. And Moorabbin was/is a nondescript suburb. Station was a fair walk away. Nothing there. Big thing then was to get away from the control of the Cricket Club and improve administrative prospects. Plus take advantage of the growing population of the South Eastern suburbs. And we played there.

Fast forward 50 years.....pretty much the same, except we now play in town at Docklands. By your argument we lost our identity in 1965.

On the Heaven and Hell video a few years ago old Harold Bray was going on about how we should never have left the Junction. He might have been right, but he sounded old and bitter.

[iwantmeseats]

Fair point Bluthy. I'm sad about the way AFL's culture is going, I never thought I could walk away from the game, I can know see that happening in the next couple of years. I shuddered when free agency came in, really shuddered. On the other hand I totally understand why the players wanted it.

But what do I know, at 40 I'm a dinosaur. I still love 70s 80s hard rock. You should see my neices faces when I play it.

Sad truth is for every potential deserter like me, 10 more come in. Just on the fact that is actually such a good game. So good that you can rip the heart and soul out of it and still have a viable product.

For the record, Waverley for Hawthorn was a incredibly smart move to expend their supporter base and profile. And it was their home ground for a period.

Collingwood, well...dose t really matter where they go or what they do.

[iwantmeseats]

Good to debate this ....but.... People were saying this stuff in 1965 when we moved to Moorabbin. And Moorabbin was/is a nondescript suburb. Station was a fair walk away. Nothing there. Big thing then was to get away from the control of the Cricket Club and improve administrative prospects. Plus take advantage of the growing population of the South Eastern suburbs. And we played there.

Fast forward 50 years.....pretty much the same, except we now play in town at Docklands. By your argument we lost our identity in 1965.

On the Heaven and Hell video a few years ago old Harold Bray was going on about how we should never have left the Junction. He might have been right, but he sounded old and bitter.

True at the time Verdun. We then gathered there together for nearly 50 years and supported our team through some incredibly tough times. We built it again. Then pissed it up against the wall like it was nothing, saints style.

[Verdun66]

I first saw the Saints at the Junction, although I was pretty young. Moorabbin was great for us, as we lived in Beaumaris. We'd go to training sometimes, and for matches myself and a mate got there just after the Ressies started. I loved Moorabbin.

But I still look wistfully at the Junction when I'm in Melbourne. That is my earliest memory of the Saints, which is I suppose where you are coming from with Moorabbin. Time moves on.

[iwantmeseats]

Totally with you Verdun. But did it have to , in respect to this? Your right though, I'm probably just being nostalgic. Bit I bet I'm not the only one that feels strongly about it. And feels a loss of identity enough to only to to games every so often now. That's after missing a handful of games in melbourne over decades.

[Verdun66]

Council, club finances etc etc. Complex situation and parts will be lost to history as many of the characters not involved now.

[SainterK]

Not if we really do tap in to be the peninsula club.

Get bayside corporates on board...

Least frankston put up a sign saying home of the saints.

I understand the alternative was better, but I refuse to concede the most has yet been made of what our lot is now.

Frankston is huge, tap into that....

Ask Dylan for some help, seriously, he grew up around there.

We should at least attempt to be the side that embraces its home, not sure the continual "there are no good cafes" will endear the club to the locals.

I reckon frankston has potential, let RWB be its jumper of choice.

Open up the doors saints, your reclusive and a little snobby....as ever

[BigMart]

Frankston Saints?

I like it....

Reserves play at Frankston Park.... We market from stk to Portsea...

Play every other game in Wellington?

[Verdun66]

I said ages ago that we should try to get a 20,000 seater built in partnership with the govt and interested parties in the area (Frankston..sure) to help the region develop. Got howled down big time.

Stranger things have happened!

[SainterK]

131k in frankston shire
150k in mornington pen shire


Who really "owns" that belt?

[skeptic]

the disappointing thing about all of this was that we took some initial positive steps when we committed

- Players presented down to Frankston
- Alliance with Sandy
- Moved family day to Seaford

You got a real sense that the club promoted itself as the bayside, SE suburbs club

Then
- Players started whinging about the travel
- NZ initiative come on
- All this talk about a standalone VFL club
- Talk of moving back to Moorabbin

Like in soooooo many other facets of our club, it seems as though we simply haven't committed to the idea. Not embraced it, and are not giving it everything we could and not getting everything out of it.

There's a lot of potential there.

I think we're really missing some leadership here

[BigMart]

Can we lose the unsuccessful tag which goes with our identity?!

[Con Gorozidis]

Lets just get a good a CEO and get the off field improved and the on field will follow.

We need a real stability and intelligence at president and CEO level.

Most of all dont panic!

BUT no more f*** ups! We cant afford anymore crap off field.

[avid]

This is a very strange debate here -- nuanced, respectful, many-sided ...
I personaly think it was a tragic mistake moving from Moorabbin (for the sake of a handful of poker machines!) and that, if we moved, that we didn't move back to the Junction, or Port Melbourne.
But I acknowledge so much else that others are saying here. Is MY idea of our 'identity' relevant to today's kids' sense of our identity? (It probably now has more to do with Nick Riewoldt as a figurehead than this training ground or that.)
For once I'm willing to listen, rather than argue
Please continue

[plugger66]

I still dont get the training at Seaford thing means losing our identity. No one watches training these days, well very few so why does it matter where you train? How come it has effected us but hawthorn have just got bigger and bigger since moving to Waverley. I think we are looking for excuses to falling down the ladder and losing members. I will go with the reason being the list isnt good enough so we are losing members not a person saying I wont join the Saints, they train in Seaford.

We play at Etihad.

[Majority]

I can understand where the OP is coming from.
But what about the current Premiers, others ask?

They played games at Glenferrie Oval from 1903 to 1973 & trained there until 2006.
I went there on at least two occasions to watch us play the Hawks.
It was a small muddy ground and the atmosphere was fantastic.
I miss the suburban grounds.

Hawthorn went back to Glenferrie Oval on Sunday to celebrate with fans.
They also went to Tasmania.
And if they have not already been back to Waverley, they will.
I have not heard, or read any statements about the HFC losing their identity.

When a club is near the bottom of the ladder, some fans look at things in a different light.

When you barrack for the ST.KFC you ride on the winding rocky road, not the 5 lane Highway.

[farquhar]

My anger with the decision is the lack of any consultation withe members. The board and executive made a major decision without consulting us as members. Now they are in place to make decisions, however, when it is such a large and identity-shaping decision the membership has to be involved. Secondly, the decision smacked of ego of Archie vs the councillor, should cooler heads have prevailed?

Now that the club is at Seaford, they should do everything to engage the community, from more family days, training events, make training something the local kids want to be at with autographs, interviews, skill clinics. We are a small club that needs to engage all fans otherwise the club will wither.

Finally, make events such as the Frankston train to the game real. Have it twice per season, all players on azn early train to game mixing with fans. Non-selected players on later train, interviews, autographs, etc. The club must seriously lift its efforts in engaging fans and has to look to break the mould and be original.

[Fluttz]

Well said Majority...........................................but I wonder if Hawthorn supporters in a similar forum to what we have are having the same discussions?

[Cairnsman]

Are we jumping at shadows? We should get a sponsor that manufactures anti depressants, it would be the best complimentary products in Australian sport.

[SemperFidelis]

Lets just get a good a CEO and get the off field improved and the on field will follow.

We need a real stability and intelligence at president and CEO level.

Most of all dont panic!

BUT no more f*** ups! We cant afford anymore crap off field.

+1.

The new CEO is critical. I sincerely hope we can afford to pay one. Because we need to right the financial ship and somehow find new sponsorship $$, membership revenue ... and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Seaford and Moorabbin can both work out, but we need the big bucks to start emerging for that to be anything other than a pipe dream.

There is a real soul at St Kilda. We saw it in round 23, on and off the field. We need a new strategy to harness it. Fast.

[oh when the]

They could start by putting a stk f c sign facing peninsula link
So thousands see it every day.