The reason we love sport is the emotion it brings, it’s a real life soap opera, enormous joy together with the lowest of lows. The lowest of them all, is seeing your club get taken away after years of fighting to keep it alive.
The relocation drums were beating earlier this week with North Melbourne once again on the chopping block. Relocation was raised by Craig Hutchinson, host of Channel Nine’s Footy Classified, following a Friday night crowd against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium of 26,000.
In the AFL 26k is seen as a poor crowd, anywhere else in Australia and around the world, a 26k turnout to a sporting game would be seen as a success. Home crowds for the 2017 season sees North Melbourne just shy of 23,000, it’s below their 2016 average and in a country so hell bent on crowd figures this is seen as not good enough.
The Kangaroos boast 39,709 members, have recently renovated the Arden Street complex which is state of the art and 400k slashed off their current debt in 2016 shows they are seeing great growth. The club isn’t on its knees, not struggling on the financial front, so a call like this is quite staggering.
North Melbourne is not new to relocation talk, having already fought off a strong Gold Coast push by the AFL seven years ago. But to make a statement based on a low Friday night crowd figure, which is the catalyst, is knee jerking at its finest.
(AAP Image/Rob Blakers)
Any move by the Kangaroos would have a five year term anyway, with current deals running until 2021, as the Kangaroos and Hawthorn are both locked into playing home games each season in Tasmania.
Recently North Melbourne submitted a bid for an AFLW team in hope of being accepted as part of any expansion plans the AFL have for the competition, if successful, their AFLW team would be based out of Tasmania.
These positive steps of brand awareness, to securing financial and commercial support shouldn’t be taken as a signal of intent to leave their spiritual home, instead a club expanding its brand.
Any successful business should look to expand and gain competitive edge over its competitors, it’s why we see clubs selling games to Darwin, Cairns and Canberra.
The good of the game is a throwaway line, often used to defend these moves, what is not good for the game is alienating a large chunk of supporters who may never return to watching AFL football.
“Take the emotion out” Hutchinson said, you can’t, the league and clubs are built on emotion. It’s the investment of supporters which has seen clubs survive their darkest hours, telling supporters to leave out emotions is a slap in the face to every person who has invested in their football club.
My grandfather-in-law was a passionate Fitzroy supporter, he grew up in the area, frequently attended Brunswick Street Oval. Now he doesn’t support a football club, never attends matches and barely shows an interest in the game.
Emotion is why we have an AFL competition that we embrace, attend and have 24 hour talk back radio discussing the sport. Being so flippant shows a complete lack of understanding of what makes our game so great.
If the Kangaroos move to Tasmania you wouldn’t have to worry about “taking the emotion” out of the conversation, there will be something larger than that missing – people.
While a Tasmanian side might be exciting for the AFL competition, a piece of the league will be lost as many Shinboners much like the Roy Boys decide it’s time to walk away.
And that would be something to get emotional about.
Andrew Macdougall
Roar Pro
Interesting stats there, Cats. Melbourne needs a second stadium, or teams need to revert back to there home grounds, even though that might seem a big stretch. If North or any other team was pulling 28k to a game in a smaller boutique stadium crowd size wouldn't be an issue. Teams would be making money, stadium would look full and the media would be saying how great a crowd of 28-30k is. Much like the setup in Geelong. A lot of teams would be envious of Geelong, as a supporter of the Dogs living in the region, I know I am.
Republican
Guest
.......for crying out loud, not NZ!!!!!! They have diddly merit to be considered a base for growth for OUR Australian code and especially at the expedience of domestic options. As far as bums on seats go, I really don't see this is an AFL criteria anymore. The AFL are only interested in growth based on a television and this is why we will continue to see plastic entities parachuted into non footy demographics and owned by TV networks, i.e. GWS is.......
Republican
Guest
......I concur however the changing Australian cultural diaspora has also influenced a big shift in sporting loyalties and subsequent diversity of codes on offer.
Cat
Roar Guru
2017 (so far) average attendance: 34,340 (28 games so far this year at the MCG averaging 52,961) 1987 average attendance: 19,417 (32 games that year during H&A at the MCG averaged a paltry 21,592) BTW due to better safety restrictions the MCG holds less now than it did 30 years ago. Thirty years ago you also had Waverly Park that could hold 100k. No such massive second ground exists now. Melbourne Population: 1981: 2.8m 1991: 3.16m 2001: 3.37m 2010: 4.01m 2013: 4.35m Not even close to doubling in the last 30 years. But I am sure you are right, attendances haven't grown at all /sarcasm.
epochery
Guest
Herein lies the trouble with Australian sporting competitions. The overall object seems to be make as much money as possible, so find a place where a market doesnt exist and move in a team. This is following the American Sports models of franchise building. Unfortunately this does ot encourage loyalty among fans so they will migrate to whoever is popular or lose interest alltogether. While average crowds have grown since the AFL's conception, this is mostly due to teams like Collingwood,, Carlton and Hawthorn playing at bigger stadiums and boosted by support from Adelaide and Perth. In the days when all 12 teams in the VFL played at the same time, the crowds were not that much less despite limited capacities at Moorabin, Arden Street, Western Oval, Windy Hill, Victoria Park. The population in Melbourne has almost doubled in the last 30 years yet where is the growth in AFL crowds in Melbourne. The game has been taken away from the suburbs and from the fans, with money the primary object and with the way the game is being run, it is no suprise there is no real growth in the game. The VFL is a more attractive competition nowadays despite the highly manufactured even competition.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Anyone saying the Lions should be relocated without acknowledging the fact the Lions are the only team in Australia’s 3rd largest population centre is missing the point. Crowds are poor because the AFL’s product is poor.
Andrew Macdougall
Roar Pro
Emotion definitely is a big issue and unlike Hutchy shouldn't be cast aside. That's part of the issue and how much AFL has grown, when a crowd of 25-30k is no longer good enough. One wonders if North had a stadium like Geelong and it was a packed house whether the reaction would be the same? probably not. Would Tassie embrace North? would they embrace a team simply called the Kangaroos?
Andrew Macdougall
Roar Pro
Its quickly forgotten, Hamish. North are not in a dark time as they had been previously, I found the whole relocation talk quite bizarre and as I said in the piece, knee jerky. Crowds of 28-35k while on the TV might not look great, they are solid crowds under any other sporting code around the world and with a decent stadium deal very viable. Personally, don't see North going anywhere, they making great strides off the field.
Republican
Guest
.........but GWS are split across two cities while St Kilda recently indulged in a NZ hard sell as a Wellington entity as well as Melbourne?
Republican
Guest
.......& GWS the GC aren't subsidised? How many home grown players hail from these plastic demographics?
Nick Symonds
Guest
The Lions v Giants match (June 24th) only attracted 11,742 fans. Less than half the 26,000 for the Kangaroos v the Saints. If you're using poor crowds as a reason for relocation then maybe the Brisbane Lions should be relocated as well. Not to mention GWS Giants and the Gold Coast Suns. And the Saints, Bulldogs, and Demons aren't that strong either. Are there just too many teams in the AFL? Maybe add 6 more teams and then split them into 2 divisions with P/R like soccer, it seems to work for them. Then you could give Tasmania 2 teams. That's one way to solve the north-south divide. Hobart, Launceston, Canberra, Auckland, Sunshine Coast and Tropic Thunder (Darwin, Cairns and Townsville). Sunshine Coast won the Super Netball Grand Final and the whole community got behind them so I'm sure they'd support an AFL team as well. The Dockers and Power struggle a bit as they are so I wouldn't add third teams in those cities. It just dilutes the market.
Lidcombe Oval
Guest
Hard to start a team from Scratch though maybe more appropriate to sound out potential relocation candidates- They do have Kangaroos in Tasmania don't they??
Travis
Roar Pro
The emotion is a big issue and I do see that so much history will be lost if North Melbourne does re locate to Hobart, but the reason there was so much heart break with Fitzroy in the first place is because the identity of the club was completely lost as they were completely taken over by Brisbane and have nothing based in Melbourne. At leased if North does move to Tassie their identity will be kept, they won't be merging with anyone and will still get 9 games in Melbourne anyway to reconnect with fans. Last Fridays match was really poor, even if more fans had gamed into Etihad Stadium there still would of been little passion from the stands, as had been the case most weeks at Etihad. I don't see the huge loss in todays day and age. There are no such things as home grounds anymore anyway, whats the difference between going to play at a concrete stadium at Etihad or playing games in Tasmania. It can benefit North in so many ways economically with their membership numbers swelling to over 50K with so many Tasmania members signing up. Also if the AFL wants to truly "Nationalize the game" than they need have a team in Tasmania, what better way than evening things out by taking another team out of Victoria which is way to crowded and is effecting other clubs. Like Hutchy, when you consider all these things, it really is a no brainier for the Roos, the AFL and the future of our great game.
Hamish Hutton
Roar Rookie
I Agree im all for a team in Tasmania but i feel it has to be their own otherwise its most likely destined to fail. North Melbourne haven't lifted a cup of late but hey have a lot of proud history and its only taken a year (since they were 10-0) for everyone to shun them away.
GJ
Guest
Respect - yes. Envy - no
Mattician6x6
Guest
Didn't Tassie join the vfl comp in the 2000s but failed, if memory serves correct the failure to get behind vfl team negatively affected the afl view to base a side in tas
Dangertroy
Guest
Well at least you're honest about being uniformed, but your welfare comments certainly show your prejudice. I moved to Tasmania from Melbourne, having grown up in WA. In a Tasmania by choice. We've certainly got some issues in Tasmania, but to imply that we're a welfare state is completely off base. The reality is that businesses down here have more challenges than mainland businesses. We're a smaller population, so less customers. Shipping freight across bass straight costs as much as shipping from Australia to the rest of the world. It takes extra tine to get anything shipped here because it has to go through the mainland first. So yes, we do get an extra share of gst revenue that comes directly from the big 2 states. Most of the country does.its about equity, rather than welfare. I live in Launceston. While I'd love for Tasmania to have an afl team, I know it probably wouldn't mean any extra games in Launceston. We'd probably still get 4 games a year, but the Hawks will have to find somewhere else to prop them up. I personally wouldn't care if the team was based out of hobart, but I know that many in the Launceston would be upset, to say nothing of folks that live in devonport or burnie, or anywhere else in the state. Its almost 5 hours from burnie to hobart. That's probably the same distance as a Collingwood supporter who lives in mildura has to drive. It would make more sense for the team to be based out of hobart, it's certainly the more attractive place to live if you want to attract players drawn to a cosmopolitan lifestyle. If no one wanted to spend a winter in hobart, no one would live there, but people do. Winter temperatures aren't that much cooler than Melbourne, neither is rainfall substantially higher. If a Tasmania team were to happen, the state would support it. We are an afl loving state, this isn't like trying to ram an afl team down the throats of a rugby stronghold. Yes, there would be a lot of arguments here in the state about where the team should play more games, but that because people in Tasmania are passionate about footy. Don't look from afar and say we shouldn't have a team because we aren't united. At the end of the day, a Tasmania team isn't a priority because it's not a good business decision for the AFL. It's hard for them to grow their audience here, it's probably at saturation point already. If it we're just down to passion, we would have a side already, but it's not. It probably makes more sense for the league to relocate a Melbourne team than to create a new one. But I'd rather have a brand new team thanks.
Cat
Roar Guru
Your envy is showing
GJ
Guest
Geelong should move to Tasmania. The only inclusion to their existing strip would be a dark furry triangle on the front of their shorts ..
GJ
Guest
Yep .. go to Tasmania