A question doing the rounds in the sports world this week is whether under-performing professional footy players should have to front up to hostile fans and members at arranged fan forums. The simple answer, is no.
The more dramatic answer, no no no no no no no!
Honestly, Parramatta, what were you thinking? This is the worst idea since letting go of Andrew Ryan. The worst idea since reducing the capacity of your ground to appease a football club that folded 20min later.
The worst idea since Paul Cari…
See! See what you almost made me do! That’s how angry I am, Parramatta.
I don’t know what 17-year-old PR dude with skinny jeans and a doctorate in Facebook came up with the idea of a fan forum but it’s an absolute stinker of Hunter Mariners proportions. I know the New South Wales Waratahs tried one last year, but the only other thing the Eels and them share in common is overpaying Timana Tahu, and how did that one work out fellas?
On Tuesday the Eels decided to tack their forum on to the AGM, which in itself was a mistake. What numbskull board makes their AGM attractive to members? A company I used to work for purposely held theirs on Origin night every year, and were rewarded for their lateral thinking with an audience that could fit into one of those utes they drive old bastards around in on grand final day. Brilliant.
But no, Spanglo and his suits dragged the players away from their Tuesday night X-Box party, chucked ‘em in the suits that had been sitting in the back of the cupboard since Dally M’s and fed them to the lions.
And by lions, I mean lunatics that would make Tommy Raudonikus after twelve beers seem sensible. Every footy club has a couple of hundred froot-loops who would turn up to games if they were held at 3am in the morning with half-time entertainment provided by ex-footy players in drag. When teams are struggling and crowds fall, you obviously have a greater loony to sane ratio. Put them all in a dimly lit auditorium and you’ve got your fan forum.
Because honestly, who bar these type of fans would attend a forum? Isn’t it enough to see Ben Roberts fumble passes on the weekend without fumbling stupid questions from the public? Do they not get enough coach mumbling in the weekly post match press conference?
Nathan Hindmarsh is on the Footy Shoow/NRL on Fox/The Game plan every second night apologising for the Eels insipid displays, do they think it’s going to be more entertaining in person?
Unfortunately these fans think they’re doing the right thing by showing an interest in their club, but they’re only really setting themselves up for disappointment. Footy players don’t answer to Con the Cabbie or Nancy the newsagent, geez these blokes don’t even answer to their coach half the time.
Taking a peek behind the heavily hyped curtain of professional rugby league reveals that to the players, sport is their job, and a team their employer. The club they play a few seasons for will never mean as much to them as it does the rusted on fan, and hence footy players are best seen, occasionally obscene, and not heard.
So down with the fan forum and its hollow promises. If you really want to stick it to your under-performing show ponies there is a place to do it, a place where you can scream blue and gold murder for a new board without being politely removed from the premises by Cecil the security guard.
It’s at the game…with all the other weirdos.
(So, ahh, anyone want to admit to going to a fan forum before?)
Find Chris on Twitter: Vic_Arious@twitter.com
xaviercrane
Roar Rookie
Can Channel 9 have a fan forum where everyone gets to ask them why they are so rubbish?
peeeko
Roar Guru
depends on the ownership but if under membership model then they can vote out the administrators. the players are not directly answerable to fans, they are not owned or employed by fans. experts are put in place to do this job, really most fans have no idea how to run a football club
KSI
Guest
I thought it was their AGM??
Atawhai Drive
Guest
'Warpath' players . . . If only.
Pot Stirrer
Guest
I dont have a problem with it. I think these blokes are well paid and the coach and administrators recruit them and when they (players) dont perform the board and coach's heads end up on the chopping block. If for no other reason the players need to experiance first hand that they are getting paid like they are becuase the fans follow the club they are playing for and the teams performance should mean more to them than the fans. The way Parra are playing it comes across like they are not concerned becuase they will get paid anyway and theres always another club to go to.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Why are lifelong fans forced to "vote with their feet". Why can't they have a say in making the team better? It's not the fans fault that the team they love is playing like crap...
B.A Sports
Guest
Couldn't disagree more, with all due respect. Firstly I believe only the captain and the coach repsonded to questions, the other players simply got to observe what the fans thought of their performance. So rather than reading things in the paper which they can dismiss as journos making things up, they got to see it first hand. Supporters got a chance to remind players that their club means something to them not just for the next year or so, but it has meant something to them for 50 years, and they need to respect that. And finally Nathan Hindmarsh is arguably the best player the Eels have ever produced and no one can question his effort in every single match he has played. But he is always critical and dismissive of fans when they are negative. Its one thing he has never understood and he needs to understand that fans don't have to be blindly positive. Thats not the definition. I was flicking past the Footy Show last night and saw Greenberg walkign around the stadium before last Friday nights game saying the fans are our key stakeholders and the coach, the players, the Board and I report to them. He's right. As i wrote yesterday, Eels players are members of the club, they have always been told to go to the AGM (i know I used to go), they just were never all stood on stage to listen to why people were unhappy. Provided the Board had to do the same for their repsonsibility in the whole mess, I say no problem. And if you don't like it, find another job.
steve b
Guest
As B.A. Sports said yesterday in another article the players are expected to turn up to A.G.M meetings ,, however they dont normally get grilled by the fans .. According to a mate that was their some of the questions asked by fans were on the money and what all eels fans wanted to know about,, and some were just of the chart..The players are copping it from all sides without having to paraded in front of angry fans . The true eels fans have known for quite some time who is to blame for the mess their in at the moment and as i have said before on the roar the problems started way back before Ando was sacked and it has just been a domino effect from their. This was just another stunt put forward from an under performing management,,, Bentley,Spanglo, and cronies to try and justify their existence,, by useing the players as the problem. Their is no fix at Parra until the current suits and coach are gone,,, they are the real poblem at Parra and buck stops with them ,,,,poor recruting,,,,getting rid of top players ,,, sacking Ando ,,,paying way to much for players,,,,Kearneys decisions have been questionable to say the least and and and ....When the next election for the top jobs come around the members need to get the current crop of suits out of their and start from scratch...Because this is the only answer to the bloody laughing stock their at the moment. . And parading the players in front of the crowd just adds to another very poor decision ... GO PARRA !!!!
Roarsome
Guest
The fan forum is just a political tactic, the Gillard/Rudd used it well with 20/20 Summit. With different discussions happening in different parts of the forum and no minutes released, these fan forums allow organizing bodies to do what they want and how they want. All repercussions get the standard reply " An innovative idea discussed at the forum" They achieve nothing but allow the general population the belief they actually had some input. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Damien
Roar Guru
Not a big fan of the fan forum. In theory it sounds like a good idea but it's not a very effective tool if you are trying to improve the form of the team. It gives the appearance that the board it trying do something about the poor performances. If the board did it just so their fans can let off some steam thats their call but it will not result in turning around the teams form..
peeeko
Roar Guru
fans can vote with their feet and not go to games and buy memberships. as for the right to a fan forum thats up to the club to decide - ie the employer of the players. personally i think its a poor move
Johnno
Guest
Where are the fans rights. Why can't the fans abuse the players of the team they love and support, and finance and pay the players wages via memberships, merchandise, and paying tickets ot attend matches, and pay tv subscriptions. Some of these fans if they abandon there team these players would be out of a job. This populist opinion that i have is what the fans of rugby league the people's game have. Populist talk is what fans want, and they don't want the players to hide away and escape scrutiny , they want players to be on there levels like the good old days when players did full time jobs and worked alongside the fans monday to friday doing 9-5 rather than sitting on high now away form the fans under the veil of being pro athletes. Well rugby league is the people game and the players need to face scrutiny face up from fans in populist forums as the fans have populist agendas and that is the right to get as close to there heroes as possible as they contribute and support these players wages. rugby union did it last year with the waratahs and that got pretty heated. But the warpath players were very positive and respectful of the grilling they got from the fans. Becoz ultimately it is the fans who should come first and it is the players who should always come 2nd. They are there for the fans to win matches for them and serve them not the other way round. Fans 1st that is how populism works , and the way it should be ethically and morally, and the players come 2nd and that is that. Rubgy league is the people's game and the fans game and that is how it should be and stay forever.