St Kilda-Gold Coast Proposal - The Age

[saintsRrising]

http://www.southportsharks.com.au/

and Nick if you click on the link and look under memberships

http://www.southportsharks.com.au/membership.asp
you will find that the $5 Memberships are decribed as having the following benifits:





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Increase your chances of winning by nominating a new member to receive another ticket in the draw. Entries close March 31st, 2008. Drawn April 4th, 2008. *Terms & Conditions apply.

Being a member of the Gold Coast's Favourite Club has many benefits -

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You will note that entry to football games is way way down the list and not even hightlighted!!!

[n1ck]

You just dont get it do you?

Your head is so filled up with shredded ruck stat sheets of paper that you dont actually read and understand anything at all.

The Tasmania venture is completely different. It didnt benefit us on the field at all, whereas this can, if done right.

Not only would it bring in a consistent source of income over the term of the deal, it would also be good for the team in that our interstate AWAY GAME travel would be limited, and capped at a certain number of matches.

That CERTAINLY benefits the club, unless you think playing in Perth and Adelaide twice, as well as Sydney and Brisbane, is the way to go.

Then add on the option of playing back to back matches there, Thats over a week of being settled in the one place, it gets two of our travels over in the one go, and the club and its players get valuable exposure. This is great for St.Kilda given the Riewoldt, Gilbert and Armitage factors.



"I couldn't care whether it was FFS, Butterss, Forrest Gump, Mr Bean, Gomer Pyle, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, The Two Ronnies, The Three Stooges or Monty Python's Flying Cicus"

You also said any of them could have done a better job than Grant Thomas.
You were wrong. So dont lie.
If any of them could do it, then surely Ross Lyon would win a premiership in '07.
Isnt that what you said to me? You were so full of excitement about Lyon, you could JUST FEEL THE PREMIERSHIP!
If I recall we were standing on the turf at Moorabbin when you said that.
"We're going to win the flag this season, I guarantee."
Wrong.

How funny it was when Ross Lyon preceded to play the same players you lambasted Thomas for playing, and you all of a sudden changed your tune.

Your credibility on pretty much every topic diminishes by the day.

[saintsRrising]

I agree, that most likely the membership gains would be temporary. However i think you underestimate the emotional impact footy has on people... once you've chosen a team, most people stay with that team. Its the reason there arent as many Freo members as there are WCE, and same with Port and Adelaide.

Well perhaps...


But if WCE had up and decamped to the GC after 3 years.........and freo was the ONLY club in Perth I think that Freo would now havea lot bigger membership.


As for PA....and the Crows...well there is a special history of hatred there and even if the Crows folded I think many many South Australians could NEVER bring themselves to support PA...they hate PA more than Victorians

There are many supporters and members of Victorian clubs in WA and SA.

True....but there was also many many decades of when their were just VFL teams and people in SA and WA would follow a Vic team as the VFL was the premier compettotion with many interstate players in it.


Now some may fall in love with the sainst fora life long addiction....but I would expect that many would not as they would know in advance that the saints was just a holiday flig with their real Club coming into being.

As for Sydney... when was the last time we didnt play them in Sydney?

Swans v Saints is usually a decent game, and is a good drawcard to the NSWelshmen for some reason.

True..I was just paintinga worse case scenario....and if the deal was for 3 years...then quite likey one year would not includea NSW game.

[noddy]

Can someone please tell me WHEN was the last time StKilda played twice at AAMI stadium in a home and away season? Hasn't been done for a very long time. And I dont mean a finals game

[bozza1980]

crazy idea.......as i said before if you whore yourself around you eventually get flowered....the afl would try to do us over same as they have put the squeeze on the roos......

The protection from this should be the AFL's intention to create a team from scratch.

Obviously believing everything the AFL says is a dangerous business.

But if I'm not mistaken they have claimed they will set up a new club on the Gold Coast if the Roos reject their offer.

This would mean that we should have no fear and a definitive end date to our Gold Coast co-habitation.

i believe that if we push ahead with this...and the roos deal falls over...then before the afl set up another interstate team from scratch they would aply a blow torch to our private parts...anyone who thinks that that is something that would never happen doesn't know the afl.......lie down with dogs you get fleas mate........as certain as death and taxes.......

I can understand your distrust of the AFL.

Collingwood have gone to the AFL with a similar proposal to ours, if we pulled out and the Pies pursued it would the AFL put pressure on Collingwood to relocate??

[redwhite&blackblood]

Ask the reserved seat holders and Social Club members..noty to mention corporate dining etc..

A "transferred" home game IS NOT THE SAME THING!!!!!

I will want a refund on my reserved seat if we move any games to the Coast this year. My reserved seat cost $180 for the 11 games ($16.36 a game) I presume that if we move games North this year i will get a refund from the club on my reserved seat that i have already paid for and will not be able to use.

[riccardo]

Ask the reserved seat holders and Social Club members..noty to mention corporate dining etc..

A "transferred" home game IS NOT THE SAME THING!!!!!

I will want a refund on my reserved seat if we move any games to the Coast this year. My reserved seat cost $180 for the 11 games ($16.36 a game) I presume that if we move games North this year i will get a refund from the club on my reserved seat that i have already paid for and will not be able to use.

Its not happening this year - we've only offered to do it from 2009.

[sunsaint]

http://www.southportsharks.com.au/

and Nick if you click on the link and look under memberships

http://www.southportsharks.com.au/membership.asp
you will find that the $5 Memberships are decribed as having the following benifits:
<big snip>

You get all that for a lousy $5 from a pissy little regional aussie rules club
Im joining up
how much does $5 get you at StKilda?

[RoseInOz]

Well I am highly in favour of it. LOL
I live in Maryborough, Qld. 2 and a half hours out of Brisbane. I pay my $100 membership and usually only get to see the Saints play once in a season, twice next year if they play the Kangaroos at Carrara.
I am on a pension , and can't afford to travel to Melbourne to use any of my tickets for those games.
This grandmother would be delighted to see them play more on the Gold Coast.

[redwhite&blackblood]

Ask the reserved seat holders and Social Club members..noty to mention corporate dining etc..

A "transferred" home game IS NOT THE SAME THING!!!!!

I will want a refund on my reserved seat if we move any games to the Coast this year. My reserved seat cost $180 for the 11 games ($16.36 a game) I presume that if we move games North this year i will get a refund from the club on my reserved seat that i have already paid for and will not be able to use.

Its not happening this year - we've only offered to do it from 2009.

Yeah but we are dealing with the AFL who have more self interest than Nathan Buckley. If the Roos don't take the offer then the AFL will go out of their way to screw them. The AFL have already hinted at a redrawn fixture for next year if the Roos stay in Melb. Since we and the Pies have made offers for 2009 i can see the AFL redrawing the Fixture giving us and the Pies 2 games each in GC in 2008 just to screw the Roos.

[saintsRrising]

http://www.southportsharks.com.au/

and Nick if you click on the link and look under memberships

http://www.southportsharks.com.au/membership.asp
you will find that the $5 Memberships are decribed as having the following benifits:
<big snip>

You get all that for a lousy $5 from a pissy little regional aussie rules club
Im joining up
how much does $5 get you at StKilda?

true

though my point was that many of the members it has are not at all concerned by actuallt watching the football......and so there havinga big membership would not mean that hordes would rush to join the saints.


But yes the $5 is a great deal.......but is mainly just an in as they hope they can skin some $$$ off you on the pokies....

[stinger]

[
I can understand your distrust of the AFL.

Collingwood have gone to the AFL with a similar proposal to ours, if we pulled out and the Pies pursued it would the AFL put pressure on Collingwood to relocate??

of course not...we are not collingwood......but you can generally say thank god for that......

[sunsaint]

Heaps of stuff here to chew on but there is only upside to this.
Firstly the people that are crying foul now, will be the same people howling if the pies get the gig and the dosh instead of us, they want the brand exposure on TV more so than anyone else so why should we give it to the filth?

Secondly Tassie failed for a number of reasons. While the money was good, our guys did not take to playing in the cold after the lovely warm protected TD. Tassie fans did not take to us like they did the Hawks. And to top it off most of our games down there ended in controversy that required a QC to decide the winner, or we lost plain and simple.

Thirdly Yes the TD is our home ground but it does not have the quirks of outside arenas, and so does not strike the fear factor in the visitors. (flat surface, no pockets of death, no wind, no rain) We have only broken better than even in the last couple of years and now have a good record there, what was our win ratio in say 2000?
The players heat factor at TD is good training for the games at the GC and the gabba.

Fourthly Westaway was obviously impressed with the StKilda supporter group when he went to QLD. He had two public meetings and it must have made an impression about the base numbers already there. Add to that the potential numbers at the GC, he must have seen some potential in it.

And finally did I mention the money. Seriously everyone here is crying out for a GF win. Its why we gave the RB and Thomas camp a go, its why we gave SFF a go. So now there is a plan put on the table that will involve less travel, Why wouldnt this be a plus for our on field performance???
So yes a few supporters "might" get a few less games in their sacred cosy TD seats (although this is pure speculation on their part at this stage)
So it is these people that are the main detractors to this plan, so I ask them, how many games are you willing to trade off for more money tipped into the club, a better chance of winning a few more games and then a GF?

[Saint Bev]

A few weeks ago when collingwood put the idea to the AFL I thought it was a pretty smart move. Personally I think Gold Coasters would accept a Melb club more than a manufactured club. I especially like the idea of back to back games. I would just hope there would be no pressure for a permanent move from the AFL.

[sunsaint]

http://www.southportsharks.com.au/

and Nick if you click on the link and look under memberships

http://www.southportsharks.com.au/membership.asp
you will find that the $5 Memberships are decribed as having the following benifits:
<big snip>

You get all that for a lousy $5 from a pissy little regional aussie rules club
Im joining up
how much does $5 get you at StKilda?

true

though my point was that many of the members it has are not at all concerned by actuallt watching the football......and so there havinga big membership would not mean that hordes would rush to join the saints.


But yes the $5 is a great deal.......but is mainly just an in as they hope they can skin some $$$ off you on the pokies....

Yeah I noticed the Linton Rd pokies werent an issue in the Moorabbin debacle
But this is not an argument about the southport sharks, it just proves the potential of the area, IF the Saints are smart

[sasaint]

A few weeks ago when collingwood put the idea to the AFL I thought it was a pretty smart move. Personally I think Gold Coasters would accept a Melb club more than a manufactured club. I especially like the idea of back to back games. I would just hope there would be no pressure for a permanent move from the AFL.

I agree!! Sign me up. Gold Coast bandwagon member #1.

[Armoooo]

When I read that Collingwood had made the proposal I was really hoping that we would put in a bid, because there was simply no way that Collingwood's offer would ever get through, I was hoping we would be able to find a medium ground like this, however I still doubt it will go through due to other club's outbidding us etc.

[Winmarvellous]

As a West Australian Saints supporter, I have major issues with this. Not only will I, not get to see the Saints over here at least once a year, half of us members can only get into one game a year. Unless they work a deal with West Coast or the dockers which guarantees entry to AT LEAST one fixture a year, they will lose a lot of interstate support IMHO. Hell, my brother requested a ticket to both games last year and got shafted. I hope QLD is better than your WA supporters, or we may just become that, as opposed to MEMBERS

[saintspremiers]

To all you nuff nuffs as barks4eva would call you.....

You seem to be saying that when we played in Tassie we had up to 8 games interstate....PLEASE tell me what year, and I'm only talking H&A games.

most years during the Tassie deal we played 5 or 6 games interstate in total, one year it was 7 games but that was due to umpire gate/GT pissing off Dimwit and a late change with extra games added interstate!

Don't let facts get in the way of your gold coast dream!

[bigred]

1M + per home game guaranteed and I'd accept it.

I hate how we always get shafted on the interstate schedule.

[RBnW]

To all you nuff nuffs as barks4eva would call you.....

You seem to be saying that when we played in Tassie we had up to 8 games interstate....PLEASE tell me what year, and I'm only talking H&A games.

most years during the Tassie deal we played 5 or 6 games interstate in total, one year it was 7 games but that was due to umpire gate/GT pissing off Dimwit and a late change with extra games added interstate!

Don't let facts get in the way of your gold coast dream!

5 or 6 in total with how many at Subi?.....2 thats how many, this about getting less games at Subi, the hardest place to win at, and getting 2 trips done and dusted in a week...and getting about $500,000 for the club....are these not the facts that were reported.......
This lot are not Waldron, Butteress and Thomas who sold off our games to Tassie, then decided it wasn't good for us because the coach didn't want to play in Tassie any more....my read is if we don't get one less game in Subi we wont be going anywhere......
Have you ever been to Subi...if you have then you will know you would rather play anyone anywhere else than play the Eagles of Freeo there, you travel half way around the world, get flogged, travel home and get flogged the next week from someone you souldn't get flogged from cause you are stuffed....lets get to the GC for a game or 2 and get paid, get the points and get home...and win the next week as well......

[super dooper]

I am totally against this proposal, it is simply not realistic to expect other interstate sides to play home games against us in the Gold Coast when in recent past it has shown to be almost a free 4 pointer for them with us travelling there.

Clubs such as port, freo, wce, bris dominate us each year over there as they they know we are vulnerable travelling to thse venues. So why would they play a home game against us at a venue we could potentially become accustomed to?? I can see us playing more "home" and than away games at the GC if we move.

Tasmanie anyone??? - we all know this cost us top 4 in 06.

I want home games IN MELBOURNE against the likes of freo, port, sydney, wce and brisbane as our stats show we have reasonable records against these sides IN MELBOURNE.

WCE - won 3 of last 5 at TD against them, while losing 5 of last 6 in perth
Freo - won 4 of 5 games in melbourne (only played them 5 times in melb), only beaten them twice in perth!!
Port - won 1 of 6 in adelaide against them
Syd - have only lost once in 5 games at dome to them, lost 7 of last 8 in sydney.

Tell me would sydney, freo, wce or freo want to play us in there home game away from home??

We pay for 11 reserved seat home matches, and i make it to my seat each week and look forward to going there each week because of the view i get on the wing 2nd level. Call me selfish, but i will not accept entrance to an away game.

We need to play 11 home games at the dome and make it a fortress, and make teams dreading to play us there, like we are apearing to do by making this proposal.

[n1ck]

How many times do people need to post that its not other teams home games that we would play on the GC, its OUR home games.

The fact that we play less games in the other cities, comes down to the fact that we would play more AWAY games in melbourne, against victorian clubs, as our interstate matches would be capped at a maximum of 6 per year.


no such inference of an interstate club playing a home game against us on the GC.

[RBnW]

How many times do people need to post that its not other teams home games that we would play on the GC, its OUR home games.

The fact that we play less games in the other cities, comes down to the fact that we would play more AWAY games in melbourne, against victorian clubs, as our interstate matches would be capped at a maximum of 6 per year.


no such inference of an interstate club playing a home game against us on the GC.

n1ck you're right...it is that simple it wont be the Weagles at the GC it just means we wont be going there to play them at Subi....its not the Tassie deal we all need to say after me " it's not the Tassie deal it's one less travel to perth" repeat, repeat, repeat.....
maybe sooper dooper is really Waldron........

[saintsRrising]

I must admit that after thinking about it over the course of the day...that I am warming to it.

The key is of course the 6 game IS cap....which means that while in theory you are sacrificing Home games....that you effectively do not lose any Melbourne Games.

Would the AFL grant such a deal?.....that is the question.


WA supporter group loses 1 game per year.

However Tiger now flying as a LCC along with Jetsrar allows more fans to fly more often at a reasonable cost......and even though GC is not my idea of a holiday destination...it is for many......and so with airfare costs now at an all time low....and cheap accommodation bountiful on the GC........the saints playing two lots of back to back games allowing saints fans from around Australia to fly in for a week of holidays and 2 games of footy could be real winner and add appreciably to local attendance.