The latest club membership figures do not make for great reading for James Brayshaw and Co. It seems every year the same issues associate themselves with the proud North Melbourne Football Club.
They rejected the ‘golden ticket’ move from the AFL to relocate to the Gold Coast, where millions of dollars would have been thrown at them and the club would be financially assured with the AFL wanting to the Gold Coast move to succeed.
The board have committed themselves to North Melbourne and Victoria, doing away with selling games to Canberra, Sydney, and Gold Coast, or whoever gave a financial advantage to the failing club.
All this year, the club has been making noise about their new facilities, new coach Brad Scott, and their exciting new list. On-field has been around the mark for where most experts had them at the start of the year, and off field the board, true to their word, are exploring avenues in Victoria.
Even in the halcyon days of Carey, Archer, Simpson and Longmire, the Kangaroos never attracted massive crowds. They were forerunners to Friday night football, when the Krakouer brothers lit up our screens.
The fixture has not been kind financially to the club, with home games of West Coast, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide hardly drawing great crowds.
Where to now for North Melbourne?
The club (fully within their rights) has rejected the AFL’s proposal to relocate for a secure future, and now expect no favours from former player Andrew Demitriou.
They have the worst crowd numbers in the AFL, the lowest adult membership in the competition, and only one Friday night fixture … it does not paint a bright future for those who hold Arden Street close to their hearts.
What is the solution?
Clearly it’s not going to happen in the next few years. North Melbourne should look towards the next generation for their supporter base. With at least 20,000 empty seats at every game, North Melbourne play at why don’t they ‘bribe’ the next generation with free memberships to school children in their target areas.
How much would it cost the club to give away 5,000 junior memberships and maybe throw in a hat or a scarf?
Most of these memberships would probably go straight into the bin, and be seen as a failure. But if you could get a 5 percent success rate, you get 250 North Melbourne supporters for life.
The on-flow effect of this could have a great impact on membership numbers: not next year, not in five years, but in 10-15 years. The club is doing great things regarding off-field work, with clinics at local schools, and even handing out DVDs after home games.
Some great initiatives, but the club is mostly just rewarding current North supporters.
If the move doesn’t work for them, what have they lost? 5,000 pieces of plastic, a few scarves or hats?
Some would say that this would be a costly investment, but for a club that prides themselves on being at the forefront of innovation, this could be a move that takes the Kangaroo off the endangered list in AFL circles.
HK47
Roar Rookie
Love your attitude MC. No better way to combat prophets of doom than with hard facts, and good suggestions. With no more Gold Coast games what happens? Easy. Canberra, Darwin, Hobart and even Cairns/Townsville are good interstate choices, while playing maybe 2 or 3 games in rural Victoria against intersate sides may provide decent success. The AFL also needs Melbourne games to be against other melbourne teams. Carlton, Essendon, Richmond and Collingwood must be played at home each year. And Collingwood to change its bloody stripes! The Away team must change!
JamesP
Guest
Personally, I hope North survive...I really do. But you said it yourself...they have not bottomed out. What if they do? Can they afford to?
hardsy
Roar Pro
Hopefully the fixture for 2011 isnt as cruel for North as it is 2010. The talent of the 'kids' coming through is exceptional, and I think Brad Scott is the right man to take them forward. Etihad isn't a great ground for North Melbourne, but unfortuately the G is way too big. I like how North are exploring the Ballarat option, and if the AFL are to help them out a NAB cup game in Ballarat would be a way forward.
Joel
Guest
Talk over weaker Melbourne clubs needs to be put in context. North Melbourne only look weak in relation to other AFL clubs, compared to clubs in other sports they are a superpower. Their attendances also need to be compared to when they are traveling well and have a good draw, for example when they were doing well in the nineties they drew healthy home game averages around the 35k mark and last year averaged 28k which isn't bad for a struggling club. Also, I think too many people suffer from short termism. If historical growth trends in attendances continue for another 20 years we face the real prospect of some of the larger Melbourne clubs reaching ground capacity and introducing waiting lists for memberships. Less supported clubs like North Melbourne will benefit from this as it will be more likely they will capture new football supporters. Don't forget that the population of Melbourne itself is projected to grow anywhere between 1 to 4 million over the next 20 to 40 years. The AFL has been smart in guaranteeing the future of all the Melbourne clubs.
Michael C
Roar Guru
JamesP, if Melb are showing resilience to be at 30K members this year.......what with all their Number 1 and 2 draft picks and all, well, is it a good or bad thing that North are just a whisker below 30K members too??....having NOT bottomed out like Melbourne did, and currently sitting 9th with as young and inexperienced (or more so) side as either Richmond or Melbourne can trot out presently. Allow North another 2-3 years, settling into the new facilities that only opened earlier this year, and let's see if a young kid like Majak Daw can come through and spark a bit of Naitanui style 'excitement' around the place. You just never know, North might have an 'African' end at home games!!!
Redb
Roar Guru
Are you on drugs? Merger with Essendon - you've got to bee f%$&ing joking! :-)
JamesP
Guest
I agree with Kurt. if North couldn't make it it the 90's with Wayne Carey leading them to 2 premierships, then how on earth are they going to make it now. Melbourne have shown remarkable resilience to be at 30k members. YEs I know a lot of it has to do with the Jim Stynes factor, but once Melbourne start charging up the ladder, watch the Dees supporters come out of the woodwork. And I think the Bulldogs (the other traditionally struggling club), has got its finances in order and is close to 35k members. I think the AFL have got North on standby for a possible relocation to Tasmania (which would also preserve an even 18 team competition).
Beaver fever
Guest
How long have NM been dead man walking ?, seems forever, but they still seem to find a way to keep going, i imagine that will be the MO for a long time yet. Revamped Princess Park would be ideal for them, BTW they have a very big support base in WA.
Michael C
Roar Guru
Hang on - - the AFL in their lack of wisdom have scheduled 6 of our 11 home games at Docklands hosting interstate clubs. How many people with 5 or even 11 game memberships - - but, who have other commitments - - will pencil in Freo or Port as MUST attend games at the start of the year??? We've got a tad under 30,000 members. We just need to survive until 2025 when the AFL assumes ownership of Docklands and presumably 'home clubs' will get something nearer to Geelongs returns.......or,......should we play 3 home games a year at Skilled Stadium (as part of a justification to install lights down there??, and 2 games in Ballarat??.......this is the 'value' North could actually provide that a Collingwood or Carlton is too big for!!) btw - give us a decent game to host, and we got over 43,000 for a home game against Carlton. We even helped Richmond to near enough 43,000 in the cold and wet on Sunday arvo.......noting Richmond 'only' drew 42,600 in Rnd 2 v Melb and later hosting Hawthorn was sub 42,000. So, North hardly proved to be box office poison. For a Coll home game at the 'G, NM outdrew Melb by 2200 as well!!!, not bad with the MCC members and all. This is the home matches we've had so far this year: R3 WC - 18,394 R4 Syd - 23,646 R6 Melb - 26,763 (where were the travelling Dees fans??...that's right, they DON'T do Docklands....thanx AFL) R8 Adel - 16,479 R9 WBG - 30,794 R11 Bris - 19,100 R12 Carl - 43,732 R13 Port - 15,109 so, 5 of 8 so far have been interstaters and we've still got Freo to come. And, was 30K v WBG bad??,.....or was Rich Rnd 2 27,000 hosting WBG at the 'G bad??? Our overall home avg is 24,252. But, our 5 interstaters have only averaged around 18,500. The 3 'local' games have averaged 33,763. Perhaps if the AFL gave us a better mix, given there's 9 other Vic teams vs 6 inteerstaters - - so, it should be 3 local for every 2 interstater.......not a 3:5 ratio. Doesn't that tell you something is rotten in AFL fixture land???? We'll end at a 5:6 ration. 7:4 would be fairer, and those extra 2 interstate hostings will cost us about 30,000 people thru the turnstiles. North have entered this season with one of the youngest lists running around (along with Rich and Melb). We're doing okay - - the 'kids' on the paddock have us having a big chance at sneaking into the top 8 this week (should Carlton fall over in Subiaco and North get up over Essendon). Alas - a North v Essendon game should be an easy minimum 40,000, but, the Bombers are going so bad at the moment.....
pH
Guest
I think the Kangaroos emblem is too precious to the AFL to be lost. I reckon a merger with either Carlton, Essendon or the Bulldogs and likely to lose the "North Melbourne" name but the new merged club retains the "Kangaroos" nickname. Essendon Kangaroos (Red Kangaroo on Black background)? Carlton Kangaroos (and become Navy Blue and White)?? North-West Melbourne Kangaroos with red-white-blue guernsey?? This would free up a place for a new club from most deservedly Tassie, maybe WA, possibly with future population growth North Qld-Darwin, eventually even maybe NZ or PNG as particularly the latter will soon have more Australian Football players than NSW or Tas.
Kurt
Roar Pro
It saddens me to say this as I do respect the Kangas, but I think they're a dead man walking. Unlike Hawthorn, who probably had a pretty similar level of support back in the 70s and 80s, they've never been able to break out of their inner city straight jacket. The Hawks have managed to grab a big chunk of support in the sprawling eastern suburbs whilst North remain hemmed in by Essendon, the Dogs and Carlton. Should definitely have moved to the GC when they had the chance. Looks like we're now going to witness a slow and grinding death. It's a pity we don't have promotion/relegation as they would make an excellent second division club, playing out of a smallish boutique stadium in front of a few thousand each week.