payback's a bitch....so the roos discover...

[ctqs]

Surely, if the AFL was keen on promoting the game on the Gold Coast, then it'd allow the Kangaroos to continue to do that. It'd serve two purposes - the AFL gets the best type of publicity up there in the form of games played, while the Kangas get to boost their bank balance. Win-win.
But instead, the AFL has cracked the sads and has turned on the club, just like it did 20 years ago when Fitzroy refused to move. And we all know what happened there.
What I can't work out is why the change in attitude. For the past number of years, the league has said it could support all teams. Now it's saying that's not possible. What's changed?
I don't like the Kangaroos much but as a matter of principal, they've done their bit to help move the game forward - jumper sponsorships and Friday night football to name two. They even tried to take the game to Western Sydney. If they call for a little bit of support in return, then they should be entitled to it.
The AFL can get stuffed as far as I'm concerned.

[saintspremiers]

Did Demetriou get dropped from the Kangaroos side when they were about to play in a GF or something? Hard to believe he ever played football with them with his petulance he is displaying at the moment. Fancy not letting them play the 4th game there or have their community camp there. Smacks of "my bat, my ball, I'm going home!"

Demetriou is a dead set tool, we all know that, apart from himself it seems.

What a petulant fool.

He's a little cry baby isn't he??

And the Gillian bloke is a dead set liar, saying that he's not shafting the Roos.

Ric - I can see where you are coming from, but think of it this way perhaps - do the Roos deserve to be outright shafted by Demetriou just because they don't take up the league's offer?

Sure, us Saints fans may well look at the offer and say why don't they take it - as they are a club without a future in Melbourne - blind freddy can see that.

BUT - does that mean they deserve this sort of treatment?

The AFL had got some praise by quite a few on here re their management of the Roos, and now it seems they just want to have a sook and belt the crap out of a team on their knees.

FFS why don't they just revoke the Roos licence and be done with that, as that is what they really want to happen now, isn't it???

Here's the AFL's new moto:

"F*** History, Our way, The Highway, or HELL!!!"

[skeptic]

I think the point that Barks is making is that your response to Ricc is actually a direct attack on Ricc, rather than a genuine contribution to the debate.

The last line is certainly an attack on Ric but I do believe his POV is biased cos his club is not involved... the AFL is now trying to run the Roos into the ground, serves them right is quite harsh when u consider that he would have preferred the Saints to do what the Roos have done if it were us

I don't see how Barks is making the point ur claiming. The posts he has quoted was 1 of me criticising Roo's supporters and 1 of my attacking ric's criticism of the Roos club, attempting to show a hypocritical stance... which was garbage... their not the same thing at all

[bozza1980]

Ofcourse the AFL are going to react this way and the Kangaroos wouldn't have expected anything less.

The minute this "deal" was presented you knew that the AFL were going to do everything in their power to make it happen.

It shows that the Competitive Balance Fund wasn't set up to help clubs survive and thrive it was for the AFL to get their hands on the steering wheels of these clubs.

The Kangaroos, who have survived purely on the assistance granted them by the AFL, couldn't possibly have expected that the AFL would continue to grant them these assistances once their request was spurned.

I appreciate that I wouldn't be happy if this was our club we were talking about, I just can't understand the outrage now.

It has been clear for some time that this day would come, the CBF was never about keeping 10 teams in Melbourne it was about ensuring 8 games a week on television.

The AFL have proven again, that their is no such thing as a free lunch. Clubs that have budgeted on survivng on the CBF, should think again if they want to be kings of their own destiny and it's not just the Kangaroos, Paul Gardiner came out this week claiming that it was Melbourne's "right" to receive this handout.

I do hope that the Kangaroos have crunched their numbers properly or they are on course to becoming a car wreck of mamoth proportions.

[jonesy]

Slowly but surely stripping away the game's history and passion. It's even persuaded some of the games supporters who sit under the roof each saturday eating succhi which is on offer!!

Watered down fools.


Good on the Roo's for wanting to keep there identity. F#ck Dimwit and wanker followers

Cheesy cliche yet perfectly fitting~
"They may take our lives ,but they'll never take our freedom!"

[stinger]

what is now happening to the roos is the very reason i was horrified when the saints put their hand in the air. like a little school girl about to wet herself.............ooh ohh ohh ...me too.....we will play games on the gold coast to help you out....ffs

...as i said before if you lie down with dogs you get fleas......and probably rooted for your troubles as well.....we should stay well away from that crap...and fly under the radar.......

[Zed]

I'd be amazed if North's board hadn't well and truly expected this move by the AFL actually.

If the board didnt plan for this eventuality before they announced their decision to stay in Melbourne, then not only are they fools, they are doomed.

Interesting 24 months ahead for them. I wish them all the best with thier decision - but quite frankly I wont be screaming for the AFL to save them if it all turns to custard.

[stinger]

I'd be amazed if North's board hadn't well and truly expected this move by the AFL actually.

If the board didnt plan for this eventuality before they announced their decision to stay in Melbourne, then not only are they fools, they are doomed.

Interesting 24 months ahead for them. I wish them all the best with thier decision - but quite frankly I wont be screaming for the AFL to save them if it all turns to custard.

me either....whilst i think that when a club dies ..we all lose from it...but it is the survival of the fittest i'm afraid...rather them than us......

[St Fidelius]

me either....whilst i think that when a club dies ..we all lose from it...but it is the survival of the fittest i'm afraid...rather them than us......

I hear what you say mate, but really I am not in for this "them or us" attitude...

The AFL may introduce 1 or 2 other teams in any case..

[joffaboy]

I'd be amazed if North's board hadn't well and truly expected this move by the AFL actually.

If the board didnt plan for this eventuality before they announced their decision to stay in Melbourne, then not only are they fools, they are doomed.

Interesting 24 months ahead for them. I wish them all the best with thier decision - but quite frankly I wont be screaming for the AFL to save them if it all turns to custard.

me either....whilst i think that when a club dies ..we all lose from it...but it is the survival of the fittest i'm afraid...rather them than us......

Both very good points. stinger is correct, if the Kangaroos die, we all lose a little bit, and I too would rather them than us....but....

I agree with the North fans. The Kangaroos wouldn't really be the Kangaroos if they moved to the GC. Regardless what we say, a football club to tragics like all of us here are more than a commodity and a brand that can be shunted around and retain the emotional currency that has been built up over decades and generations.

The Roo fand have got the North Melbourne Football club, as they know it for the time being. If the worst possibe happens and the club falls over in two, three, four years, those fans had the club around the way they wanted, and the way their hearts demanded.

I know AFL is a business and it would be in the best intrests of the "brand" doe theNMFC to relocate, but the beauty of our little provincial game is the madness of the passion we all have for the game and our clubs. The tribalism is far greater than anything else in Australian sport and that is the essence of our game.

Long live the passionate, emotional, irrational AFL football fans that would rather see their club die on its feet than live on its knees as a Frankenstein incarnation among the barbarian non believers in the "populous" states.

And long live the North melbourne Football club and the remaining Victorian teams and the soul of the AFL, their supporters.

{end rant}

[n1ck]

Well said, JB.

[saint66au]

Once again, my opinion dosen't happen to fall into line, once again I'm villified for it.

This is becoming rather pathetic, its a wonder I stay around here at all when everything I say is ripped apart and I get looked at as if I'm a villain for speaking my mind, yet certain arrogant blowhards are allowed to run rampant and post long, rambling and insulting threads bitching at each other for no good reason.

Regardless, I will continue to state my opinion, no matter how unpopular it is or how much it upsets the wowsers and conformists on this site.

Too damn bad if you don't like it, you'kll have to learn to deal with the fact that nopt everyuone has the same opinion in this world.

This has been building up for a long time, glad I've finally said that, it needed to be said.

Sheesh Ric, can I have my soapbox back when you've finished with it??

If anything..its YOU who are towing the party line with your opinion on North..its those of us who want to give them a fighting chance that are going against the grain. Go back and read the thread again. No-ones denying you the right to your opinion, any more than they are within their rights to comment on it.

The point I'm trying to make is this. Twice in the time Ive been following St Kilda we have been in North's position ie: fighting for survival. We also didnt have the on-field success, AFL handouts or relocation option to fall back on. Plain and simple, we were facing extinction. Our memberships were laughable, we pulled FIVE thousand people to a game v Fitzroy at the Junction Oval one day and our debt was massive.

So what happened?

Yes we had the marvelous support of our creditors and players (well almost all of them) who took the now-famous small percentage of what were owed, but we fought. We scratched around, we rattled tins, held benefit concerts yada yada yada...and guess what?? We are still here. Ringing in our ears all this time were the words of one Ian Collins and his Carlton cohorts.."LET THEM ROT". No Saints fan who was alive back then has ever forgotten those words.

Now its North's turn to be fighting. Like us, they are rattling tins, holding concerts, schmoozing the corporates. Yet some on here seem to have short memories, opting, I reckon pretty hypocritically, for the "let them rot" cop out. Moving to the Gold Coast may not be extinction, but ask any Fitzroy fan, its pretty bloody close to it.

Look atround you. Somewhere you will see a North fan with fear in their eyes, wondering if the CLub they followed all their lives is soon to be no more. Remember the 80's folks? Its a pretty damn horrible feeling is'nt it??

Those who treat the other 15 Clubs with contempt (Oh OK excpet Collingwood and Carlton must really enjoy Intra-Club football

And Riccardo..mate..Ive sat within earshot of you more times than I care to recall..you have more Saints tatts than anyone I know...you'd take a bullet for Grammy and the rest of the team on Match days, but have a read of what you wrote. Its your choice of course to do as you wish should the Saints ever leave our state, but, you cant realllllly blame someone if they interpreted your words as being those of someone less than 100000% committed to the cause

/rant

[eppo67]

Spot on St. Bev. I moved to the Gold Coast 7 years ago from Metro Melb and love it and would never move back. However I still love coming down to Melbourne a couple of times a year and would never bag the place.

Brayshaw is a clown and his stupid comments about the Gold Coast show how clueless this yuppie is. 95% of Gold Coasters hardly ever go to Sufers Paradise and care less about it. It is really just like a tourist strip that everyone avoids.

What Brayshaw should be concerned about is the fact that the Gold Coast will be one of Australia's largest cities in a few years and SE Qld is the growth capital of Australia. All this and 100 Million and he has knocked it back to stay at that dump Arden Street. Lots of growth potential there.

NOT!!

What a goose. Fact they will not survive in Melbourne and now they have bitten off the hand with the Golden egg. Bye Bye Roos. Sad but that is what will happen just watch and see.

[Eastern]

Did Demetriou get dropped from the Kangaroos side when they were about to play in a GF or something? Hard to believe he ever played football with them with his petulance he is displaying at the moment. Fancy not letting them play the 4th game there or have their community camp there. Smacks of "my bat, my ball, I'm going home!"

Demetriou got sacked from the kangaroos by their then Chairman of Selectors; GRANT THOMAS !!

[helsy3]

Both very good points. stinger is correct, if the Kangaroos die, we all lose a little bit, and I too would rather them than us....but....

I agree with the North fans. The Kangaroos wouldn't really be the Kangaroos if they moved to the GC. Regardless what we say, a football club to tragics like all of us here are more than a commodity and a brand that can be shunted around and retain the emotional currency that has been built up over decades and generations.

The Roo fand have got the North Melbourne Football club, as they know it for the time being. If the worst possibe happens and the club falls over in two, three, four years, those fans had the club around the way they wanted, and the way their hearts demanded.

I know AFL is a business and it would be in the best intrests of the "brand" doe theNMFC to relocate, but the beauty of our little provincial game is the madness of the passion we all have for the game and our clubs. The tribalism is far greater than anything else in Australian sport and that is the essence of our game.

Long live the passionate, emotional, irrational AFL football fans that would rather see their club die on its feet than live on its knees as a Frankenstein incarnation among the barbarian non believers in the "populous" states.

And long live the North melbourne Football club and the remaining Victorian teams and the soul of the AFL, their supporters.

{end rant}

You da man!

How could we let our Club go - and let the Club ownership go to the AFL, the AFL appoint directors, the lot. What people don't realise is that the NMFC did not get a cent from the members that it signed through the Gold Coast packages or did it receive any of the gate takings from those matches played there - this all went straight to the AFL. Not quite the gold plate that AD made the deal out to be.....

In the words of the Oils (and Brayshaw) far better to die on your feet than to live on your knees. The clear choice was to lose the identity of the Club, or to stay in Melbourne and fight our hardest for the Club that we love. The members of the North Melbourne Football Club, both those that have been passionate and signed up for years, and those that have been complacent up til now thinking everything would be apples, all realise that this is the time that we HAVE to fight for what we love, and fight hard. And also as James Brayshaw has said, the best day will be when we can say to the League that we don't need their money anymore.

Long live North Melbourne

[Enrico_Misso]

Long live North Melbourne

Unfortunately, if there is one certainty in life these days,
it is that eventually the forces of economic rationalism will prevail.

- that is why we pay more for our commodities
- that is why our interest rates are impacted by idiots in the US who marketed sub-prime home loans
- that is why the voice on the end of that 1800 number is an Indian

- and that is why the number of teams in Melbourne will eventually drop from 10 to 9 to 8 to 7 to 6 to 5.

North can fight it, and I wish them luck.
But they are doomed like King Canute.
The tide of economic rationalism WILL drown them.
They can build up some sand walls that might survive a few more tidal cycles.
But eventually a king tide will wash them away.

The Kangaroo's choice ?
Go now under their own terms and with some dignity and some vague continuity and sense of identity.
Or remain "true" to their principles, but get obliterated like Fitzroy with nothing but memories and bitterness.
Difficult choice, and don't envy them having to make it.
A choice between your history and your principles.
But at least at this point in time it IS their choice !

And in the long term the lesson for us ?
We have to consolidate a spot as one of the big 4.
Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton and ... ?? StKilda.
Geelong are probably also safe because of their geography.

So that means we HAVE to keep ahead of, in order
- North (first to go - got them covered)
- Bulldogs (definitely next - got them covered)
- Melbourne (eventually the gunsight will be focused on them)
- Hawthorn (long term AFL target - earmarked for Tassie)
- Richmond (???)

So eventually it will be a choice between Richmond and StKilda for that last Victorian spot.
But beware the "merger" wildcard which could see us leapfrogged and come under the spotlight earlier than expected.

As JFK said
"the rising tide lifts all the boats".

[SaintDippa]

How much wasted time and effort is Dimscrewaroo really wasting with teh pipe dream 17th team. Will not happen. There will be suntanned roos by 2010, the strong arm way.

Speaking of which. Now is the time teams like Roos, Melb, Bulldogs (RMB)get together and Class Action the AFL citing unfavorable fixturing (in both timing and teams played) being a direct impact in revenues and hence viability in the competition. Bombers and Pies make $1M every year based on Anzac Day and 2 games each year. Demons play at the Dome where their fans will not go and Sunday afternoons another fan no-go. Roos and Dogs play at the Dome on conracs negotiated by the AFL and cannot live on the revenues.

Time to get serious RMB and slip into the courts to insist on Friday nights, a share of the ANZAC day profitering and conditions where they can remain a viable entity.

[4theluvoftheclub]

wonder if in 5 years , there will be 16 clubs... new gold coast licensee , western bulldogs go to Western Sydney, and the merged Melbourne Kangaroos...? 2 in WA, 2 in SA, 2 in Qld, 2 in NSW, and 8 in Melb?

[HarveysDeciple]

Joffaboy firstly, and then saint66au later on, superb posts!

Whilst we look outside a bit and think, gees do they want to survive?
It's not that simple. they want to survive as they are and I can completely respect that.
You want to barrack for the same team and good luck to them.