No Collingwood home games in Sydney !!!

[AlfAndrews]

Did anyone read Herald Sun, Friday 31 March, p116.

Read my lips, McGuire.

Collingwood is a Victorian club. We play our home matches in Melbourne, always.

I don't care how popular you perceive yourself as being, McGuire.
I don't care how well we're playing, how many games we've won or how popular we are all around Australia.
I don't care how much of a genius you were in getting Mick Malthouse to be our coach.

ABOVE ALL, I don't give a rat's backside how much extra money the Club will make by playing home matches in other states.

Read my lips, McGuire. If you move even ONE of our home matches to Sydney ... EVER ... you will be thrown out on your ear. AND THAT IS A PROMISE.

I don't care how much of a big celebrity charismatic TV star you are or how good your ratings are.
HANDS OFF OUR HOME GAMES. They belong to us. The supporters who've stuck by this Club through the last 5 miserable seasons when the Club couldn't scratch itself.

ALL COLLINGWOOD SUPPORTERS
Don't let this happen. Make sure Eddie McGuire and Brad Cooper (especially Brad Cooper) and the rest of the Board know that Collingwood fans will not allow their Club to be taken away from them. We're not South Melbourne. We're not Fitzroy. We're not North Melbourne. We're COLLINGWOOD. And COLLINGWOOD is a Victorian Club based in MELBOURNE, Victoria, Australia. Got it?

Do I need to make myself any clearer.

PLEASE DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN.

READ MY LIPS !!!


------------------
**floreat pica**

[Joel]

Here, Here!!! Please Eddie, you might be able to get some money out of it but you are sure to lose supporters done here if you do! Do all you like in promoting Collingwood up there but don't move our home games up there! I mean what is the point? We won't be moving up there!!!!!

------------------
CARN THE PIES!!!!!
Collingwood is all about togetherness. "We live or die as a side," Buckley said. "Everything we do now is as a team."

[Joel]

P.S. sorry about the grammer mistakes in my last post! i do it all the time (spose i type to fast)

[Neil Appleby]

Come on guys, don't be so quick to kick heads.
Now I haven't seen the story yet, but this time last year I suggested that this is exactly what we ought to be doing.
Be proactive, get live coverage as often as possible, develop our Sydney profile more....Christ we'd slaughter North's puny effort.
Then just maybe we could trade interstate
games in SA/WA for Sydney games.
Now it's probably not possible, but imagine playing 10-11 home games in Melbourne at the MCG and 8 at Homebush! Wow just think of the exposure, money, membership and sponsorship.
I really like the idea....but I'm not keen on home games being sacrificed UNLESS it leads to us being in a position of absolute power.
10 years ago most pie supporters hated the idea of leaving Vic Park now we all see the sense of that move AND the inevitability of it.
Think these issues over and then speak up loud and clear rather than knee jerking to every suggested change.
Do you really think Eddie would do anything to disadvantage Collingwood????
Think again guys.
Floreat Pica!

[AlfAndrews]

I am thinking about it, Neil ... I'm thinking ... I'm thinking

OK, I've thought about it.
And it's still a POX idea.

There are already one and a half Sydney clubs. That's enough for a city that's more interested in yacht racing than football. To hell with the Sydney market.

I've got no problem with playing away games against Sydney and the Kangaroos in Sydney.
But a home game is a HOME game. I already pay more than I can afford for membership. Why should I be forced to chose between losing one of the Home games that I've paid for or coughing up the bus fare to Sydney.

And stuff the TV. Why should I have to put up with Bruce McAvaney just to watch my Club.

You ask me whether I think Eddie would do anything to disadvantage Collingwood. If you mean the team or the Club then no. Of course he wouldn't.
But he has already proven that he's got no qualms about disadvantaging the supporters. He would rip us off as quick as look at us.

And what do you mean by trading interstate games in SA/WA. You can't expect the SA/WA clubs to give up the right to home games against us just so we can "develop our Sydney profile". And why the hell should they?

I've got no qualms about having Collingwood play away matches in other states. I've even travelled interstate to see them a few times. When I lived in Adelaide I made the trip to Melbourne 3 or 4 times a year to watch them.

We can play away games on the Moon if we have to, but a home game is a home game. This isn't just blind traditionalism. This is a case of sticking up for my bloody rights. I'm sick of yuppie scum like McGuire and Cooper making money-driven decisions that deprive me of my right to go to the bloody football.

If the people of Sydney really love Collingwood so much then let them move to Melbourne like I did. I've never regretted it.

This is no knee-jerk reaction. I've considered this possibility many times before.

What McGuire is suggesting is an act of sheer bastardry and I'm going to do whatever I can to stop it from happening.



------------------
**floreat pica**

[GeorgeQ]

I'm with you Alf, no home games should be shifted from Melbourne. I am a social club member only (no value at all now thanks to Eddie) and firmly believe that home games are the right of Melbourne based supporters where it is most likely that membership will come from.

It sounds like another millennium match idea to me. Eddie is starting to get like pigs arse Elliot, got to have his name in the paper. I'm pissed off with the idea and I live miles away in Canberra.

[Broadie]

Alf is spot on.

We should NOTbe playing home games in Sydney. Exactly what has brought this on for Eddie, I'm not sure.

Last year, when our attendances were dramatically down - thus gate receipts were down, you could look at financial moves like this. But all it takes to bring back the gate receipts for us is SUCCESS. The Carlton match attendance is the proof.

Besides which, our SCG and general interstate record is appalling: a likelihood of setting up failures on-field will result.

Do not make the mistake of splitting our club, Eddie. You will lose far more Melbourne members than you will gain in Sydney if you start moving our home games out of Melbourne.

[Clemo]

No is no ****ing way any HOME game should EVER be moved from Melbourne.

Except if they pay for everybody's airfare, accomodation, reserve seat and game enty......I being absolutely sarcastic.

The shit will hit the fan if there is an attempt to make it a reality.

------------------
Tony_Clemente@hotmail.com
www.netspace.net.au/~clemo

[Joel]

This is something we don't really need (at least at this point in time). This is something can split a club, although it couldn't at North becauuse there are not enough people there to split on this issue. By the way, Eddie isn't scum, he is a champion and the guy that rebuilt the club! However he needs to listen to the fans on this issue!

------------------
CARN THE PIES!!!!!
Collingwood is all about togetherness. "We live or die as a side," Buckley said. "Everything we do now is as a team."

[Magpie mick]

With the strength of our supporters in Victoria, why is Eddie considering home games in Sydney ? Most Sydneysiders could'nt give a rats about our club or our game for that matter.

[AlfAndrews]

I spoke to about half a dozen die-hard Collingwood fans at the Social Club today and not one of them supported the idea of moving a home game to Sydney.
And so far, with the exception of Neil Appleby, no one on this site has supported it either.

With all due respect to Neil, it's fair to say that moving a home game to Sydney would be an extremely unpopular move with Collingwood supporters.
It's very important that Eddie knows this. And I guess the only way he'll know is if we tell him, somehow.

So, hop to it everyone. Letters to newspapers. Talkback radio. Let's make a campaign of this. Don't let them slip it through unnoticed. WE CAN STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING !!!


------------------
**floreat pica**

[Joel]

Your right AlfAndrews! We have to write to the papers, email them whatever, just so that Eddie is aware of the feeling of "most" of the Collingwood faithful out there!

------------------
CARN THE PIES!!!!!
Collingwood is all about togetherness. "We live or die as a side," Buckley said. "Everything we do now is as a team."

[Greg J]

Oh my Peter Daicos (demigod)!

All I want to do is go and support my team. Compared to that desire, I do not give a toss about the rest of the league, or the country. I have always been of the opinion that there are only two types of people in this universe, those that are Collingwood barrackers and those that are not. I do not care about the people who are not. The universe should be organised to suit us, not them. Home games should be played at home. Until transport makes it as easy to get to Homebush, as it is for me to get to the NMG (New Magpie Ground, formerly the MCG) our home games have to stay at home. I can not rely on work to send me to Sydney everytime it is convenient for me (ie. when Collingwood plays there).

There is not 50,000 of the Magpie army in Sydney. Nor do I want to cultivate them there (one, not if they are going to use that as an excuse to transfer home games there, two, because they know Jack shit about the game and so will only be band wagon supporters [and I went to every game possible last year and joined for the first time] and will not turn up in the bad years, just look at the attempt to make Sydney a basketball town, it still has not worked)

There are 100,000 PLUS of the magpie army in Melbourne, left to our our devices I am sure we could fill the entire NMG (New Magpie Ground, formerly the MCG) for a Collingwood Vs Sydney grand final.

I've just spent an hour of my life on hold waiting to get some information from Colonial (Ticketmaster actually picked up the phone, but I rang Colonial?) about the game on Friday night. Only to be told that it would cost me about $8.35 to reserve the "free" seat I am entitled to (I'm an Adult 16 memeber and entitled to 5 away games), I was adviced against trying to wait until game night (even though they could not tell me how many seats where left), they also told me that even the general admission tickets are really reserved seats at Colonial [which I knew already]. Oh, they also tried to flog me an upgrade on my seat. All this hassle, while the NMG is empty on Friday night too!

I became a member because I was going to so meny games that it seemed worthwhile financially (and would ensure that I could go even if I was broke) and I was sick of spending upto $20 (AFL guest) to get in and knowing that the club got (hardly) nothing of it. I am all for the club maximising its revenue. I am not for the AFL maximising its revenue. The football pie is huge, it is easy to spend $50 to $100 on an outing to the football, but harldy any of it goes to the club. Eddie has to be about making our slice of the pie bigger, not increasing the size of the pie in the hope that some of it will trickle down to us.

The AFL has wasted so much money on long term deals that are supposed to be for the good of footy, but in the end only cost them money when they have to buy out the contract because of previous administrations short sightedness. They have made little inroads in maximising the dividend pool available for distribution. I am not interested in how much it has increased recently (all they have done is make things more expensive for us, they have not created much more money).

The AFL is being run to suit the special interests groups that make the most out of Footy and it is not the clubs, it is the TV, newspapers, Food and beverage companies and now people who run stadiums that are too small for our club to even play against it self (let alone other teams).

Sorry if I went of the point. But I am afraid that the AFL will eventualy force me away from watching the team I love play live. I rarely watch it on TV, except for blockbusters and whenever we play.

Oh well I am off to try and pick up a seat at an Ticketmaster agency. I just can't stand paying $8.35 for a free ticket, I'd rather pay $3.35 (skip the five dollar booking fee). The guy who I normally go with will be in Thailand so I was going to wait until I found someone else to go with (so we could sit together), but I can't afford the delay (only 5,500 seats left, it said on the official website, although that was passed on by the AFL).

Shit, I remember the ad that filmed me, on my way into Saturday nights game at the SCG asked me to say "THE FOOTY" in answer to their question "What do you like about Melbourne/Sydney?". I screamed "COLLINGWOOD" back at the camera instead. How can Eddie move a home game away from passion such as mine, wasn't it his passion, like that, that made him want to be our President in the first place. Do not sell us out Eddie, without full disclosure, else you will be hounded (generally I think Eddie McPie is taking us in the right direction, up the ladder of course).

[nikki]

I Agree no home games at sydney!! We are a victorian club not a sydney club it hardly makes it a home game if it is played in sydney does it!!
And while i am at it, why are we having home games at colonial our home is at the MCG not colonial, it just dosnt make any sense..
Dont destroy the best club in the league leave our home games in Melbourne!!
---------
GO THE MIGHTY PIES!!!

[carnthepies]

No home games in Sydney . . . .

quote:

---

Originally posted by AlfAndrews:
Did anyone read Herald Sun, Friday 31 March, p116.

. . . .

* floreat pica *

---

As a 20 year resident of the Harbour City, I would dearly love to see my team more often - but I agree - no home games.

But why not move the away game with North Melbourne or the Northern Kangaroos or whatever they are called now?

I'm sick of seeing the red-and-whites of South Melbourne.

PS
Alf, why do you sign off with "floreat pica"? I presume you think this is Latin for "Flourish the Magpie"? "pica pica" is the American black-billed magpie. The Australian Magpie has a white bill and the distinctive pied markings - it is the "gymnorhina tibicen". My schoolboy Latin tells me that "floreat" is singular. Is it just one magpie that you celebrate? A tiding of magpies would be "floreant".


In any language, Go the Mighty Pies!!!