By Redb -
November 14th 2009 @ 2:38am
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Are Carlton tanking with their membership drive?

Chris Judd of Carlton leaves the field after a loss in the AFL 2nd Elimination Final between the Brisbane Lions and the Carlton Blues at the Gabba. Slattery Images
Carlton Blues have unveiled their 2010 membership campaign titled Can You Smell What The Blues Are Cooking. Accompanying the membership drive is an illustration of four top Carlton players above a large pot filled with a Bomber and a Magpie.
This campaign follows on from their highly embarrassing, They Know We’re Coming, 2009 slogan, to which Essendon on the very next day after beating the Blues replied with an advertisement in the Herald Sun simply stating in bold, We Were Waiting.
This all confirms fans’ suspicions that Carlton can’t motivate their own members but are highly successful at improving Essendon and Collingwood membership numbers.
Thanks Blues. Tanking with membership as well?
Of course, it’s all good fun and interesting that clubs are ramping up their membership messages. In the past it was all “Be Proud, Passionate and Paid up!”
Essendon naturally does not need to stoop to such pitiful slobber, our campaign is simple.
”This is Essendon,” nothing more needs to be said! “This is our Battle Armour.”
Put Paddy Ryder out front and they will come. We let the players on the field do the talking, including cooking Carlton by 10 goals last time we met at the MCG in front of 83,000 fans. Half of which went home highly embarrassed, again.
The membership mantra at Essendon?
“There is the loyalty and spirit, anchored on a tradition built over more than 100 years of league football. It means family and friends sharing a common faith. It means excitement. And, most of all, it means success. As a player, it also means hard work and commitment to a jumper we wear with pride. There is a bond that we share as players – we share the same sense of community with you, our members.”
So while Carlton cooks up a stir and little else, other clubs will simply get on with cooking the Blues.
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LK said | November 14th 2009 @ 6:04am | Report comment
This membership campaign could be fit the “any publicity is good publicity” theory. And by bagging it, Redb, you have given it a kick along. Carlton could hardly build their campaign around Fev (or trading him), or Nick Stevens or the last quarter fade out against the Lions.
Redb said | November 15th 2009 @ 6:00am | Report comment
not to worry I managed a fair plug for the best club in Australia – Essendon!
Firestarter Bob said | November 14th 2009 @ 8:15am | Report comment
What is “tanking”? Does it mean deceptive conduct or cheating or something?
K B said | November 14th 2009 @ 10:38am | Report comment
Yes It’s called Cheating — like Pratt with his price fixing escapes in the ‘Paper Industry’ — the Blues have done it for 3 consecutive seasons — now we will see it perfected on the Gold Coast for as long as the GC grooky club plays there…
~~~~~~~~
KB
bever fever said | November 14th 2009 @ 12:44pm | Report comment
If i was you i would enjoy your GC soccer club while you can….
BTW our Australian football code will be on the coast for a very long time … looking forward to many more GC boys playing our game.
K B said | November 14th 2009 @ 3:39pm | Report comment
Show me proof that Tom Wills coined the term Football before the ‘English Football Schools’ — nah your code is Marn Grooky not Football, not that there is anthing wrong with that…
btw I would be more worried about the Perth Glory FC if I were you
now hot on the tail of Freo…
~~~~~~~
KB
bever fever said | November 14th 2009 @ 5:42pm | Report comment
Show me proof ….ha ha what a comedian … Carlton, St Kilda, Geelong and Nth Melbourne were playing football before soccer/english football clubs Manchester united and Chelsea were even born, in Chelsea ’s case about 40 years.
bever fever said | November 14th 2009 @ 5:57pm | Report comment
Just a comparison … Carlton FC (Not the oldest australian football club) was founded in 1864, Chelsea football club in London was founded in 1905…..who was playing football first ?.
Kb you should really start back on your pills, you really are a silly old man.
Dave1 said | November 14th 2009 @ 5:57pm | Report comment
Tom Wills called it football in 1859
http://www.mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/files/mdhs/images/Melbourne_football_club_rules_1859.preview.jpg
BigAl said | November 14th 2009 @ 8:00pm | Report comment
KB . . . I see after Shasan gave you a thorough towelling on the other blog ( re NZ WC Bid) you skullked off from there to continue your usual dribble here !
Don’t you feel that you’re just embarressing yourself ?
bever fever said | November 14th 2009 @ 8:25pm | Report comment
Who cares , you just go on and on and on about this, it is really petty.
A horse is a horse is a horse.
English, American, Australian, Irish, Canadian etc etc all have their own forms/codes of football.
Its the same with you and Docklands stadium ownership, its like dealing with little kids, get past it.
K B said | November 14th 2009 @ 8:41pm | Report comment
Bever, you go on and on about this on football threads — I hardly post on a Marn Grooky thread so just letting you guys know how annoying it is for us as well as it is for you…
btw Marn Grooky is kinda cool — its the AFL zealots that need to pay attention
bever fever said | November 14th 2009 @ 8:56pm | Report comment
No i dont go on and on about this on other threads.
Every chance you get you take pot shots at aussie rules or GC17
And as for hardly posting on Australian football threads, if only that were true, this thread got 2 posts before you started.
K B said | November 14th 2009 @ 9:10pm | Report comment
Bever, do you really want to do a count back on how many times you post negative posts on football, on a football thread, in comparison to what I post on a Grooky thread… geeeez and you don’t even live on the Gold Coast…. It’s not your state tax money that’s being wasted…
Pippinu said | November 14th 2009 @ 11:29pm | Report comment
KB
It’s a free country.
You can continue watching soccer with the other 2,000 who wish to do so on the Gold Coast.
About 15,000 will end up watching the Gold Coast Football Club when it joins the AFL.
It’s a free country – no problems.
Freud of Football said | November 15th 2009 @ 7:04pm | Report comment
Settle this once and for all.
*Football (soccer) – Can score a goal with any part of your body except your hands/arm
*Rugby (both codes) (sometimes known as football or footy) – Have to run the ball over a line and kicking is only a secondary objective
*NFL (American football, the word football is used inside America) – Kicking the ball through the sticks is again a secondary objective
Now:
AFL (Football or footy) – a goal can only be scored with the use of the lower leg or foot
Gaelic Football – a goal – that is under the crossbar – can only be scored with the foot
There is no point going on about who used the word when, words change their meanings over time and become interchangeable, AFL is a relatively new term but is very commonly used for example but if you had of said it 30 years ago it would have had no meaning.
But the aim of the game is scoring and winning and only in Gaelic and Aussie Rules is scoring goals A) The main objective and B) Done with the foot.
bever fever said | November 14th 2009 @ 10:27am | Report comment
Its hard work getting 40thou members every year, gotta come up with something.
Wonder if the Pratt family will still be sponsoring the blues.
Redb said | November 15th 2009 @ 5:58am | Report comment
hard work for Carlton maybe. Even with Sensai Judd they couldnt do much better than several other clubs in the AFL membership wise.
gazz said | November 14th 2009 @ 2:01pm | Report comment
“any publicity is good publicity”, but does this apply when trying to get people to commit to signing up for a membership? i wouldnt really think so. its not really a compulsive decision for most of us, and there needs to be more attachment than that.
Redb said | November 15th 2009 @ 5:55am | Report comment
That’s right, Carlton using a wooden spoon to stir that pot I wonder ?
bever fever said | November 14th 2009 @ 9:19pm | Report comment
Yep a countback would be great … off you go then, can you be trusted though.
At least 5 on this thread out of 17.
BTW good to see taxes going to a sport than can actually pull a crowd and will open up the whole stadium, better still a community owned club.
Shahsan really has towelled you up KB.
bever fever said | November 14th 2009 @ 9:47pm | Report comment
Shahsan really has towelled you up KB.
Going on your last post it appears that now rugby league is also football.
Is that it … or are their some other football codes that are also called football.
BTW its now 6 soon to be 7
Pippinu said | November 14th 2009 @ 11:33pm | Report comment
Most Australians are very proud that Australian Football is older than soccer, and that pretty much all the well known Australian football clubs are older than pretty much every single soccer club in the World.
Be proud KB – don’t deny Australian history!
bever fever said | November 15th 2009 @ 10:22am | Report comment
So have i got this right, rugby league and soccer are football but thats about it, and rugby league gets in because its from the pure English family of football.
But Rugby Union, American football , Gaelic or Australian football are not football codes.
tifosi said | November 15th 2009 @ 11:05am | Report comment
man, can one article on the roar at least stay on topic.
This is about carlton not about which football was invented first etc
Sometimes I wonder !!
B.C. said | November 15th 2009 @ 6:45pm | Report comment
Yep, I’ve got to agree, I frequently read these posts but rarely respond. It is laughable how often Aussie Rules posts get attacked by pro rugby league and soccer trolls. It really casts a poor light on supporters of those codes.
Freud of Football said | November 15th 2009 @ 7:05pm | Report comment
The Titans don’t play “football” KB.
Robbos said | November 15th 2009 @ 7:58pm | Report comment
Yes they do!!!!
bever fever said | November 15th 2009 @ 9:31pm | Report comment
I am more than happy to call all these codes football, in fact they all call themselves football, but everyone depending on where they are born or where they live interchange the names rugby, league, soccer , AFL with the word football to suit.
The way KB goes on about this is nothing short of disgraceful and pathetic, i really feel sorry for people that have to work in aged care.
Dave1 said | November 16th 2009 @ 9:16am | Report comment
I saw a bloke score a goal with his hip in the soccer on the weekend
Freud
In Gaelic football goals dont have to be scored with the foot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football#Scoring
“…..A goal can only be scored by kicking the ball into the net, you cannot fist pass the ball into the net. However, a player can strike the ball into the net with a closed fist if the ball was played to him by another player or came in contact with the post/crossbar/ground prior to connection……….”
Michael C said | November 16th 2009 @ 9:25am | Report comment
we saw that in the International Rules, that you couldn’t just hand ball a goal, but, it could be ‘forced’ or ‘rushed’ from the contest,
to my mind, a very unsatisfying way of ’scoring’ a goal.
And so, it is back to Australian Football………the only code of football that requires the ATTACKING team to KICK a goal to regiser a major score.
Zac Zavos said | November 16th 2009 @ 9:18am | Report comment
Guys – a reminder that it’s not appropriate to hijack a thread with a baiting comment (as KB has done above).
Please report the comment as soon as it appears and we’ll delete it, and moderate the commenter.
BigAl said | November 16th 2009 @ 11:41am | Report comment
Zac . . .Actually, I always find KB’s comments good for a bit of a laugh ! – I wouldn’t delete – too much like ‘Big Brother’
. . . as per George Orwell that is, not Ch. 10
Michael C said | November 16th 2009 @ 11:50am | Report comment
sadly BigAl, whilst KB used to be okay (for a laugh) like that – he’s overstepped the line and become like a broken record.
It’s one thing to ‘hijack’ a week old thread when the topic of discussion has moved on (often to new articles) – - – but, in this case – - – far from that!!
Perhaps it was just that there was a HAL-less weekend????
BigAl said | November 16th 2009 @ 12:44pm | Report comment
MC . . . if KB’s ( or anyones) posts annoy, ignore them, and certainly don’t respond to them ! – it’s quite easy to do.
I think I might just shut up now, as I think I’m hijacking …
bever fever said | November 16th 2009 @ 6:48pm | Report comment
Well it got me fired up, but clearly you are right and i should ignore them.
Redb said | November 16th 2009 @ 1:36pm | Report comment
BigAl,
I dont mind KB either from time to time but this rant about ‘football’ was off topic not to say very boring.
More importantly it is taking away any mometnum from building further antipathy towards Carlton.
KB always said he liked Carlton maybe it was his strategy.
Redb
AndyRoo said | November 16th 2009 @ 1:50pm | Report comment
He was a bit angry in the football threads too. The HAL is back this week which should calm him down.
Michael C said | November 16th 2009 @ 9:22am | Report comment
I reckon Carlton are brave to include ‘Premiership cup’ iconology into the graphic of their 2010 promo……afterall, they’ve lost Fev, and Stevo, and cut Cameron CLoke………….ah……hang on, they MIGHT be worth a small flutter after all!!!!
Redb said | November 16th 2009 @ 10:22am | Report comment
MC,
Brave or delusional?
They’ll need a mighty big wooden spoon to stir that pot
Redb
WA said | November 16th 2009 @ 6:44pm | Report comment
I agree that the Blues graphic is in a strange style but nothing wrong with baiting the opposition, as RedB has done here (are the Blues paying you a retainer?). At least the Blues have a genuine superstar on their poster. I couldn’t recognise the main players on the Bombers poster. Publicity fail.
Redb said | November 17th 2009 @ 7:13am | Report comment
WA,
We play as a team and dont rely on a superstars to get fans excited.
The bloke in front is Paddy Ryder, maybe not a household name but keen footy followers will know him soon enough.
Go Dons!
Redb
bever fever said | November 17th 2009 @ 8:57am | Report comment
He will be home to WA soon enough, who next will you plunder from our state.
Redb said | November 17th 2009 @ 9:03am | Report comment
Sending back McPhee. Fair is fair
bever fever said | November 17th 2009 @ 6:48pm | Report comment
Was a blow in anyway, but we will take him.
Dont mind him as a player…. whats the problem …..money issues at the Dons ?.
Redb said | November 18th 2009 @ 7:01am | Report comment
Bever,
Apparently he wanted 3 years, the Dons only wanted to offer 2 years. Reportedly there is some residual displeasure about the way Matty Lloyd left the club (only offered 1 year no assurance wont spend it in the VFL).
Mc Phee is a great contested mark, one of the best, BUT his decision making on the ground is appalling. Dumb footballer.
Backs are under increasing pressure from forwards (frontal pressure) these days and under pressure dumb disposal decisions will cost even more goals.
Not losing sleep over losing him.
Off topic, but Freo seem too often to be taking career half over players in that 2nd tier of quality bracket.
Redb
Redb said | November 17th 2009 @ 12:28pm | Report comment
Collingwood’s effort.
http://mm.afl.com.au/portals/0/images/collingwood-masthead.jpg
Not a bad job Pies.
Art Sapphire said | November 17th 2009 @ 12:38pm | Report comment
Met a Carlton mate on the weekend at the pub.
He was copping a ribbing from everyone in regards to the new Blues campaign.
His defense was that he could not defend crap and laughed along with us.
Redb said | November 17th 2009 @ 12:41pm | Report comment
Did you talk him into following a good team