Kangaroos say no to Gold Coast

[Psyber]

A historic day when the Kangaroos reject the prospect of becoming the Gold Coast Kangaroos in favour of their likely future as the North Melbourne Major Mitchell Hopping Mice in the VFL competition.

[Somebody has to go - Melbourne can't sustain so many teams.]

[Andy #24]

A historic day when the Kangaroos reject the prospect of becoming the Gold Coast Kangaroos in favour of their likely future as the North Melbourne Major Mitchell Hopping Mice in the VFL competition.

[Somebody has to go - Melbourne can't sustain so many teams.]

Courageous but correct decision by the board. By moving to the Gold Coast they would have remained the same coporate entity but ceased to be the real Kangaroos. Abandoning Arden street would have been abandoning everything that Nth Melb ever stood for to become a marketing tool of the AFL. At least now their club has a chance to survive.

[Sojourner]

A historic day when the Kangaroos reject the prospect of becoming the Gold Coast Kangaroos in favour of their likely future as the North Melbourne Major Mitchell Hopping Mice in the VFL competition.

[Somebody has to go - Melbourne can't sustain so many teams.]

I agree with you that Melbourne cannot sustain so many sides, yet I have a feeling that the Kangaroos may well be able to get themselves into a position where they only have to outlast one other Melbourne based club to survive.

North Melbourne have the advantage of having had a high amount of success out of the Melbourne based sides and it results in sponsorship dollars to the club which keeps it going. Yes they get welfare from the AFL, yet so do other clubs as well, so it is not just them.

I am not convinced that placing a vic based club in the Gold Coast is going to work anyway. A side made from the local league admistrated by Southport is a better chance of success as at least the state can connect with it. A moved side would be far better off in Tassie.

The AFL should introduce a 17th side then cut all welfare payments to clubs then let market forces decide which club drops out of the AFL. If a side really cant afford to be in the big leauge, dropping back to the VFL at least keeps the club alive rather than all their history being cancelled out.

[Aerie]

The AFL should introduce a 17th side then cut all welfare payments to clubs then let market forces decide which club drops out of the AFL. If a side really cant afford to be in the big leauge, dropping back to the VFL at least keeps the club alive rather than all their history being cancelled out.

Or maybe the clubs should rally together and f*** the AFL (read current administration) off and form a new competition and see whether people follow football clubs or AFL.

[am Bays]

A historic day when the Kangaroos reject the prospect of becoming the Gold Coast Kangaroos in favour of their likely future as the North Melbourne Major Mitchell Hopping Mice in the VFL competition.

[Somebody has to go - Melbourne can't sustain so many teams.]

Courageous but correct decision by the board. By moving to the Gold Coast they would have remained the same coporate entity but ceased to be the real Kangaroos. Abandoning Arden street would have been abandoning everything that Nth Melb ever stood for to become a marketing tool of the AFL. At least now their club has a chance to survive.

Easy to type as non-North Melbourne supporter.....

but in 10 years time North Melbourne will go the way of the Dodo and University unless it merges with the new Gold Coast team or relocates on its own at the end of next year or 2009 when the survival plan fails to keep up with the increasing costs of running an AFL franchise (*winks* in Dutchy's direction).

This plan of Brayshaws is about getting NMFC competitive in a financial sense to 2007 levels. However when the costs of running an AFL club ( ) reach $50 mill in 5 years time the Kangeroos will be struggling on $35-40 Mill and falling further behind as the AFL pump less money into them as they have 17 teams (8 games guaranteed for TV as per their contractural arrangements) make no mistake the AFL wont sit by and make teh same mistake with the Gold Coast as it did in Canberra in the mid 80s a 17th Gold Coast team is a monty.

As i said with 8 games guaranteed a week watch the AFL step back and reduce the competitive balance fund to the Melbourne base clubs as it lets survival of the fittest determine who will survive.

[am Bays]

The AFL should introduce a 17th side then cut all welfare payments to clubs then let market forces decide which club drops out of the AFL. If a side really cant afford to be in the big leauge, dropping back to the VFL at least keeps the club alive rather than all their history being cancelled out.

Or maybe the clubs should rally together and f*** the AFL (read current administration) off and form a new competition and see whether people follow football clubs or AFL.

Can't AFL own the names, colours, mascots etc of all the 16 clubs. So a rival competition can't have the Carlton blues in Navy and White, Collingwood Magpies in black and white, Adelaide Crows in NAvy red and yellow.....

[MW]

I like the way they are going to be officially "North Melbourne" again...even though thats what we all called them still anyway

[Andy #24]

[

but in 10 years time North Melbourne will go the way of the Dodo and University unless it merges with the new Gold Coast team or relocates on its own at the end of next year or 2009 when the survival plan fails to keep up with the increasing costs of running an AFL franchise (*winks* in Dutchy's direction).

At what point does it cease to be Nth Melb. Clubs raison d'etre are the members and people that support them. You can move the players and give them new clubrooms, but you can't pick up the supportes and people who made the club what it is and plonk them on the Gold Coast.

It's just the AFL trading the soul of the game for $ once again.

[Dutchy]

As i said with 8 games guaranteed a week watch the AFL step back and reduce the competitive balance fund to the Melbourne base clubs as it lets survival of the fittest determine who will survive.

Does anyone here actually understand the CBF? alright get rid of it BUT let us play Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond & Carlton all twice a year like they all get the advantage of doing EVERY year - then flows through to gate receipts, the CBF gives us a monetary rewards for not having these advantages of the draw....

The AFL WILL NOT bring in a 17th team, will clubs want a bye? NO....wil clubs want to give up players to make up the new list? NO...do the AFL and clubs want to weaken quality of the current product? NO....its the biggest bluff ever...the AFL making a club 134 years old make a decision within 3 weeks of getting a formal offer was a absolute joke and disgrace

What this has done is made all Roos fans know how close things are and Im expecting it to be a watershed moment for the club to get its arse into gear....to be honest off the field we have been a joke since the great late Ron Casey left the board...we now have some quality on the board and bring on 2008...

[am Bays]

Phew that worked, okay given the original thread was way off track (Lional ritchie concerts vs gold coast) I've split teh threads. Argue away on the North melbourne footy lub thumbing its nose at teh AFL....

[Psyber]

...but in 10 years time North Melbourne will go the way of the Dodo and University unless it merges with the new Gold Coast team or relocates on its own at the end of next year or 2009 when the survival plan fails to keep up with the increasing costs of running an AFL franchise (*winks* in Dutchy's direction).

At what point does it cease to be Nth Melb. Clubs raison d'etre are the members and people that support them. You can move the players and give them new clubrooms, but you can't pick up the supportes and people who made the club what it is and plonk them on the Gold Coast.

It's just the AFL trading the soul of the game for $ once again.

You are right Andy, but they started that when they set out to create a Melbourne based and Melbourne controlled AFL - they effectively shot themselves in the foot by creating an allegedly national competition with far too many teams in Melbourne to remain viable.

A National AFL with two teams based in each capital and maybe 4 in Melbourne may have been viable, and the SANFL, WAFL, and VFL may not have been gutted, but of course every Melbourne team wanted to be in the big league and now they are suffering for their shortsightedness.

[Hondo]

I hope James Brayshaw isn't letting the emotion get in the way of sensible decision making. Or in the way of personal ambition to become the next Eddie Maguire now that he looks like being in charge after all this is over.

He has actually left the door open (cleverly to give him credit) in terms of positioning the Board so that if a Gold Coast Stadium deal is worked out we may not have heard the last of it. I think what we may have is a delaying tactic especially when you consider they always wanted another year to think about it anyway. 2010 is still 2 years away after all.

AD seems to be a overly-comfortable with the decision (compared to his comments 3 weeks ago) so I wonder if Brayshaw has managed to keep both sides happy for the time being.

You heard it here first

[am Bays]

As i said with 8 games guaranteed a week watch the AFL step back and reduce the competitive balance fund to the Melbourne base clubs as it lets survival of the fittest determine who will survive.

Does anyone here actually understand the CBF? alright get rid of it BUT let us play Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond & Carlton all twice a year like they all get the advantage of doing EVERY year - then flows through to gate receipts, the CBF gives us a monetary rewards for not having these advantages of the draw....

Yes I am aware of why the CBF fund is in place. Your reason is perfectly correct but it also exists is to ensure 8 games a week for TV. The AFL can not afford to have one of its current clubs to fall over ATM.

Hence why to increase market sare and the long term development of teh code (as it did in 1986) it wants a team on teh gold coast, it will happen. Like in 1986 the VFL/AFL preference is for a Melbourne club to relocate. Fitzroy said no it struggled for another 10 years with income streams significantly below that of the other clubs and then did what the AFL wanted it to do 10 years earlier.

It is no con to have a 17th team on the Gold Coast, the AFL don't want to be left behind in a market (SE QLD) that within 10 years will have the same population as Melbourne itself. The AFL have a very good track record of getting what they want with respect to the location of their franchises, and they want one on the Gold Coast. Within five yars they'll have one.

For your sake as a Passionate NMFC fan I would like your club to survive but football economics (and lets face facts modern professional sport is run on economics not passion) dictate it will not survive in its current form in the AFL.

What is your annual T/O Dutchy??? $35 Mill like Hawthorn and Collingwood??? With the 10 million investiment fund you would be lucky to get another $2 Mill return on it in a year (to go into revenue). A new major sponsor will be lucky to kick in an additional $1/2 mill on top of what Primus did. You already calim North Melbourne have the highest %age of member:supporter ratio (I dips me lid to you) so the potential for income growth there is limited compared to other clubs.

Your one saving opportunity is that Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs don't read the signs and you go past them in the finacial desperation stakes

[Aerie]

Good posts hondo and psyber. Agree with you both. My brain says stiff bickies to the Melbourne clubs and yes, there needs to be less of them for the benefit of a national competition. Look what the SANFL had to go through. My heart says what the NMFC are going through is unfair and I hope they can fight and stay alive and prosper in a national competition and show the true values of a club can still hold sway in the corporate sporting world.

I hope the Kangaroos win this fight.

[Hondo]

Relevant quotes from Eddie Brayshaw:

“We are happy to play football there, but we aren’t happy to play permanently there … and especially when there wasn’t a stadium deal.

“The majority of the board members thinking today was why would you hand your keys over and allow the club to be taken over by someone else when you are just going to be on subsidies for as long as we can see unless this stadium deal is done.”

[Psyber]

Good posts hondo and psyber. Agree with you both. My brain says stiff bickies to the Melbourne clubs and yes, there needs to be less of them for the benefit of a national competition. Look what the SANFL had to go through. My heart says what the NMFC are going through is unfair and I hope they can fight and stay alive and prosper in a national competition and show the true values of a club can still hold sway in the corporate sporting world.

I hope the Kangaroos win this fight.

Fair enough, but who goes instead? I really don't think there are enough good players nationally to sustain the standard with 16 teams let alone more. Already some teams are demonstrably undermanned.

[Aerie]

Good posts hondo and psyber. Agree with you both. My brain says stiff bickies to the Melbourne clubs and yes, there needs to be less of them for the benefit of a national competition. Look what the SANFL had to go through. My heart says what the NMFC are going through is unfair and I hope they can fight and stay alive and prosper in a national competition and show the true values of a club can still hold sway in the corporate sporting world.

I hope the Kangaroos win this fight.

Fair enough, but who goes instead? I really don't think there are enough good players nationally to sustain the standard with 16 teams let alone more. Already some teams are demonstrably undermanned.

It's a tough one. I think 14 teams and 26 rounds with one home and one away match would be ideal. I'd like to see a Tasmanian team. I don't really care for a 2nd Qld or 2nd Sydney or 3rd Perth team any time soon. That would mean 3 Vic teams wouldn't exist as they do now. Looking at the big picture it's easy - but on a case by case basis it's way too hard! How could I look the North Melbourne Footy Club (or any other traditional club) in the eye and say it's time to go.

The A-League is the perfect example of how to start up a national sporting competition without taking into account existing clubs. Or the Premier League is an example of how to do it nation wide with traditional clubs. Neither of those methods would have worked with Aussie Rules Footy though.

The answer probably lies in the clubs who don't meet a certain criteria be given the choice of going to the VFL, relocation or merger. But set that criteria and allow a few years for each club to reach it.

[Andy #24]

I hope James Brayshaw isn't letting the emotion get in the way of sensible decision making. Or in the way of personal ambition to become the next Eddie Maguire now that he looks like being in charge after all this is over.

He has actually left the door open (cleverly to give him credit) in terms of positioning the Board so that if a Gold Coast Stadium deal is worked out we may not have heard the last of it. I think what we may have is a delaying tactic especially when you consider they always wanted another year to think about it anyway. 2010 is still 2 years away after all.

AD seems to be a overly-comfortable with the decision (compared to his comments 3 weeks ago) so I wonder if Brayshaw has managed to keep both sides happy for the time being.

You heard it here first

Yeah, the quote on sports tonight was that they weren't going to go to the GC without a home there. Might have been out of context, but is Brayshaw sitting in the middle of the road to get support from the board or will the new board be made up of people who want the club to stay put?

[Dutchy]

AFL are already behind the new franchises set up for League and NBL on the Gold Coast this year, bith have been very successful....looks like A-League might move in next year, come 2010 they will be even more entrenched in the market so whats the rush?

IMO AFL can see an opportunity to become the No. 1 code in Qld

[Rushby Hinds]

A historic day when the Kangaroos reject the prospect of becoming the Gold Coast Kangaroos in favour of their likely future as the North Melbourne Major Mitchell Hopping Mice in the VFL competition.

[Somebody has to go - Melbourne can't sustain so many teams.]

Courageous but correct decision by the board. By moving to the Gold Coast they would have remained the same coporate entity but ceased to be the real Kangaroos. Abandoning Arden street would have been abandoning everything that Nth Melb ever stood for to become a marketing tool of the AFL. At least now their club has a chance to survive.

I believe the board has erred big time on this, quite possibly negligent in their duties as directors. I wonder if Brayshaw etc voted with their brains or their hearts.

Much more to running a footy club then just footy.

Sorry Dutchy, but I fear the Roos have probably missed a decades worth of free kicks right in front of goals.


No one else they can blame when the club has folded in 5 years time.