Lots of positive sentiment in the views expressed on here about a move to Casey (either temporary, part-time or permanent).

I have taken a punt that MFC will relocate in some form to Casey, and purchased a membership on Sunday when I went to the G.

I hope I haven't bought in vain!

(And I appreciate the positive comments about my cause and crusade on here).

  Stylus said:

People keep saying we've done well with the Sandringham alliance, but I've never really believed it. How have we done well? Sure, they won premierships, but that does nothing for us. Some say it develops a wining culture with our younger players... again, that has not transferred to our own side.

Agreed but I feel this has more to do with a lack of strong coaching, lack of trading, & a poorly funded football department.

  casey scorp said:

Lots of positive sentiment in the views expressed on here about a move to Casey (either temporary, part-time or permanent).

I have taken a punt that MFC will relocate in some form to Casey, and purchased a membership on Sunday when I went to the G.

I hope I haven't bought in vain!

(And I appreciate the positive comments about my cause and crusade on here).

?What is your allegiance 'casey scorp', & how do you imagine that Melbourne could get our Red & Blue jumper used there & the Demons nickname adopted???

I'm all for this move in the future but the children of the area will form an allegiance to the Colours, Name & Song of the club they eventually relate to.

Strange to me to see such a great club like Melbourne which in reality up to the mid 1980s were the the MMC Football Club in its 150th year even remotely thinking of shifting to a shithole suburb 50 kms from the CBD like Cranbourne.

If you think the local bogan population all of a sudden is going to embrace the toffy MFC then you have a rude awakening coming.

  dee-luded said:

?What is your allegiance 'casey scorp', & how do you imagine that Melbourne could get our Red & Blue jumper used there & the Demons nickname adopted???

I'm all for this move in the future but the children of the area will form an allegiance to the Colours, Name & Song of the club they eventually relate to.

My allegiances are to another AFL club, and also to my local VFL club, the Casey Scorpions. The Scorpions colours are Red & Blue !! And the grandstand seats are Red & Blue.

I don't think you'll see the Demons nickname adopted though - I recall hearing about some discussions a few years ago when another AFL club suggested that they be called the Casey Kangaroos. End of discussions! But stranger things have happened. (Anyway I've seen comments on here about the Demon disappearing from MFC marketing!)

The MFC has a great song, and so has the Scorps. Like the name that might be problematic, but I really don't know how long the Scorps have had the current theme song.

  zebgrowler said:

Strange to me to see such a great club like Melbourne which in reality up to the mid 1980s were the the MMC Football Club in its 150th year even remotely thinking of shifting to a shithole suburb 50 kms from the CBD like Cranbourne.

If you think the local bogan population all of a sudden is going to embrace the toffy MFC then you have a rude awakening coming.

G'day 'zebgrowler', sorry if you feel angry &/or betrayed by this talk because I care about the Zebra's as well. When it comes down to it I love the DEES & the Zebra's but my first love is the Dees.

I'm concerned that melbournes supporter/membership numbers are stagnant & financially pressured by lack of willing sponsors because of a seeming lack of EXHIBITED passion by our followers translates into a lack of 'atmosphere' at Melbourne games, which in turn translates into inferior televised game scheduling, which translates into less sponsors willing to give BIG Dollars to us.

This is what I percieve to be behind a possible move to Casey, to (1 - have a permanent fixed adress.....(2 - Grow a new vibrant & young supporter base in a new community.......(3 - Recruit some new supporters who arenot too inhibited to jump up & down, scream & shout, & be totally one-eyed Red & Blue.......Feral.

We need this or we could endup going out of business...

A good discussion but a few points are missing imho.

Firstly, the Olympic Park precinct base is a necessity for several reasons.

1. MFC play home games at the G. State of the art facilities over the road would allow players to go straight from the ground for icing, ice baths, treatment and recovery straight after a game played there. This is much like Adelaide and Sydney, whom I have heard do recovery straight after a game and are known to keep players at the club for overnight for icing and treatment. I am sure a lot of other clubs based where they play would be doing the same. If the club fully located to Casey this would be impossible and leave us lagging further behind the opposition off the field.

2. It is likely that the new stadium would have facilities to cater for US too. So just like the players we can trot off accross the road for a drink in our own club rooms after a game.

3. The facilities could also be used for pre match and Grand Final day events among other things, that can help make the club a bit of money.

Secondly, moving to Casey COULD also have an alterior motive as well as all those mentioned above. It could quite possibly provide a location for the MFC RESERVES to play IF the AFL see fit to re-introduce them again in the future. I understand that they are currently doing an investigation into it. ie. costings, logistics etc.

Personally I like the idea of having both facilities. It gives us the luxury of being involved in an expanding market place while still being close to the home of football.

I guess the benefits to the club are this.

The facilities in the Olympic Park precinct will enable supporters and members to get and feel closer to the club enabling the club to build stronger bonds with its supporter base, whereas the facilities at Casey would enable the club to get closer to a huge number of potential members/supporters.

It seems like a win win to me.

Go Dees

  Mono said:

Hawthorn, for eg, have Box Hill- effectively a reserve team. BH plays who Hawthorn wants, and where they want. They got flogged by Sandy recently, but played some very young hawks. All the effort is for Hawthorn and their planning, not winning premierships for the VFL side.

Collingwood also run their own reserves side.

Interesting. I don't know if this is right, but taking your word for it, what does Box Hill gain? Why do they bend over backwards for Hawthorn?

How does the Box Hill/Hawthorn affiliation compare to other affiliations, and is there something to indicate that Casey will be anything like Box Hill (or at least, better than what we have)?

  Jarka said:

I think that this is a great move and if done correctly it presents a wonderful opportunity to build our supporter base. In fact I'd be more than happy if the club went even further and once the ground has been developed to play the odd home game there against the interstate clubs. If we handled it smartly (ie taking control of catering etc) then it could become a lucrative little home base. It would be a very brave move but one which I would support.

I agree, but I doubt it'll happen. One of the late-night shows on SEN was talking about the old grounds disappearing, and floated the idea of a boutique stadium at Casey Fields.

  dee-luded said:

I think this is the key, & it seems the preferred football model for reserve Afl players is best served playing within a AFL OPERATED, VFL team. Hence the possibility of two teams playing from within the Casey Fields precinct, the Casey Scorpions, (unless they move to Frankston), or the CASEY DEMONS playing @ Casey Fields on our own Ground which would be built to accomodate smaller AFL Games. I like this scenario.

Having our own team would be good. It'd also mean two VFL games p/wk in Casey, which would sate the AFL's appetite for matches every week in the big 'growth corridors'

Someone may be able to back me up but were Springvale once known as the Demons and sung 'It's a grand old flag' as their club song?

I know Springvale Districts are still the demons.

Could it be full circle as the Casey Demons?

  Brock Machine said:

Someone may be able to back me up but were Springvale once known as the Demons and sung 'It's a grand old flag' as their club song?

I know Springvale Districts are still the demons.

Could it be full circle as the Casey Demons?

Maybe you're thinking of Dandenong who were the Redlegs?

  Dalrot said:

Maybe you're thinking of Dandenong who were the Redlegs?

May have had to change due to Dandenong when moving from the Federal League to VFL?

Could the AFL and City of Casey build a new stadium for the low attracting games crowds, such as Melb V Freo, Gold Coast, West Sydney???

A boutique stadium in the fastest growing corridor might not be so out of the question??

  Go the Biff said:

I'd also love to see the club utilise some of our more presentable players & run "girls-only" footy clinics. They are more likely to switch allegiance than boys. Many of those girls one day become mums and mums are one of the key factors that determine who kids follow in the footy. Gotta think of the future !

very valid point

how many times i've been sat at the footy near groups of girls pining about how hot Robbo is, then wondering why Travis wasn't playing (against Carlton)

Not that it's the only reason girls go to the footy

I myself became a dee's supporter through my Mum's influence

Whilst Robbo had a great second half last week, i generally find him to be selfish and useless

He can't take marks in his hands out in front of him or stay on his feet longer than three seconds, so we may as well utilise his other skills namely attracting female supporters and signing them up

  Frank_Rugolo said:

Could the AFL and City of Casey build a new stadium for the low attracting games crowds, such as Melb V Freo, Gold Coast, West Sydney???

A boutique stadium in the fastest growing corridor might not be so out of the question??

Cheaper setup and running costs once built, it would also attract many local footy fans without an allegiance to either team

Casey has houses shooting up everywhere...no matter what your views on crannie are, there are impressionable babies being popped out everywhere

We need to get out there NOW and have them all signed up as members

Having a base in crannie would do lots to cancel out our ski slopes/mcc/toorak tractor driving toff's reputation

http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/demographics/article.asp?Item=30

thanks to demoniac for the link

It says there are 16,800 children aged 0-4

just imagine the possibilities

we'd have 45,000 members easy in five years

  Toad33 said:

A good discussion but a few points are missing imho.

Firstly, the Olympic Park precinct base is a necessity for several reasons.

1. MFC play home games at the G. State of the art facilities over the road would allow players to go straight from the ground for icing, ice baths, treatment and recovery straight after a game played there. This is much like Adelaide and Sydney, whom I have heard do recovery straight after a game and are known to keep players at the club for overnight for icing and treatment. I am sure a lot of other clubs based where they play would be doing the same. If the club fully located to Casey this would be impossible and leave us lagging further behind the opposition off the field.

2. It is likely that the new stadium would have facilities to cater for US too. So just like the players we can trot off accross the road for a drink in our own club rooms after a game.

3. The facilities could also be used for pre match and Grand Final day events among other things, that can help make the club a bit of money.

Secondly, moving to Casey COULD also have an alterior motive as well as all those mentioned above. It could quite possibly provide a location for the MFC RESERVES to play IF the AFL see fit to re-introduce them again in the future. I understand that they are currently doing an investigation into it. ie. costings, logistics etc.

Personally I like the idea of having both facilities. It gives us the luxury of being involved in an expanding market place while still being close to the home of football.

I guess the benefits to the club are this.

The facilities in the Olympic Park precinct will enable supporters and members to get and feel closer to the club enabling the club to build stronger bonds with its supporter base, whereas the facilities at Casey would enable the club to get closer to a huge number of potential members/supporters.

It seems like a win win to me.

Go Dees

If our past board hadnt passed up the opportunity to take the glasshouse ( lexuscentre) we wouldnt be discussing this!

  jez said:

we'd have 45,000 members easy in five years

that's just naive and stupid to think that we'd get that many members out of this... an extra 18,000 members in 5 years? you're kidding yourself...

i just have the feeling we over estimate the impact our presence in the area will have on memberships... as has already been pointed out, one's mother has an important influence on who you support... all these people moving out to cranbourne would already support a club, and their children are most likely going to support the same club...

we will influence some people to support the dees, but having a base at casey isn't going to create members out of thin air...

  casey scorp said:

Sounds like it's not over the line yet anyway, so you might still avoid having to visit Casey:

From the same article:

"Casey chief executive Mike Tyler last night refuted the claim by Demons chairman Paul Gardner that the move from the Junction Oval to Casey was a "done deal"."

Hope it works out though!

'casey scorp', speaking of lines, er, railway lines, are you a resident out there & if so do you know anything regarding any proposals of extending the railway lines & stations.. Does the 'Cranny' line have oneway track or is it a dual line to Dandenong. etc, etc...

  Mattress said:

If our past board hadnt passed up the opportunity to take the glasshouse ( lexuscentre) we wouldnt be discussing this!

I posed this question the other day - what was the announcement about the other week when Gardiner was trumpeting the Olympic Park oval redevelopment with athletics moving to Albert Park. This has absolutley NOTHING to do with Melbourne if it is going to be Collingwood's ground.

WTF was he on about??? The guy is a loose cannon

I love this about as much as I love the whole concept... great idea

"We hope to know sometime this week whether or not Casey is keen to negotiate with us," said McNamee,

No more [censored] about. Lets get this done if not then lets move on to something else. Macca seems like he is heading, no steaming into the right directions. It has taken us 20 odd years to get to here with no real base now he is putting some very smart balls into play. Heres hoping it works out

  Demon Jim said:

I posed this question the other day - what was the announcement about the other week when Gardiner was trumpeting the Olympic Park oval redevelopment with athletics moving to Albert Park. This has absolutley NOTHING to do with Melbourne if it is going to be Collingwood's ground.

WTF was he on about??? The guy is a loose cannon

Read through the articles carefully. Collingwood moving to that oval means we get the pristine one they are currently training on so is in fact a win for us.

Maybe not such a loose cannon after all hey ?

  vanlo said:

that's just naive and stupid to think that we'd get that many members out of this... an extra 18,000 members in 5 years? you're kidding yourself...

well yes i must be kidding myself...i genuinely though every single one of those 16,000 kids aged 0-4 would instantly sign up with us...how stupid do i feel

  vanlo said:

i just have the feeling we over estimate the impact our presence in the area will have on memberships... as has already been pointed out, one's mother has an important influence on who you support... all these people moving out to cranbourne would already support a club, and their children are most likely going to support the same club...

well if all people support a club and their children likely to follow then why do we bother ploughing any money into trying to get new members signed up

  vanlo said:

we will influence some people to support the dees, but having a base at casey isn't going to create members out of thin air...

if we are influencing people to support the dee's then creating members out of thin air is exactly what we are doing

  Cards13 said:

Macca seems like he is heading, no steaming into the right directions. It has taken us 20 odd years to get to here with no real base now he is putting some very smart balls into play. Heres hoping it works out

that's a fantastic pun...

  dee-luded said:

'casey scorp', speaking of lines, er, railway lines, are you a resident out there & if so do you know anything regarding any proposals of extending the railway lines & stations.. Does the 'Cranny' line have oneway track or is it a dual line to Dandenong. etc, etc...

I am a resident in Casey, and live about 10 minutes from Casey Fields.

The line from Dandenong to Cranbourne is a single track electrified line (but not oneway, or the trains would never get back to Melbourne ).

The track runs to Leongatha, and had a diesel service which was stopped in 1993.

Electrification of the suburban service from Dandenong to Cranbourne was completed in 1995.

I've heard a bit from time to time about rail extensions. In the 1999 election campaign the Labor Party promised to extend the electrification to Cranbourne East, and to build a railway station at Cranbourne East. It hasn't happened (and in fact has dropped of the Government's 2030 transport plan), although they put in a bus service instead (the bus stops 1km short of Casey Fields, but is likely to be extended in future). Hopefully they will still put in the Cranbourne East station to serve the developing 35,000 population of Cranbourne East that will move in over the next 10-15 years.

Prior to the 2002 election the Labor Party promised to reopen the line to Leongatha. This week that promise went up in smoke as well (quite appropriately I might add in this case), when it was masked by budget announcements of improved bus services to South Gippsland.

  casey scorp said:

I am a resident in Casey, and live about 10 minutes from Casey Fields.

The line from Dandenong to Cranbourne is a single track electrified line (but not oneway, or the trains would never get back to Melbourne ).

Thanks 'casey scorp'

The track runs to Leongatha, and had a diesel service which was stopped in 1993.

Electrification of the suburban service from Dandenong to Cranbourne was completed in 1995.

I am confused as to why we need bases in both places.

When we move into the new stadium we can train on Gosh's Paddock as Collingwood will take over the area vacated by the Athletics, so why would we still need Casey Fields?

Alternatively if Casey Fields is only going to be a summer base untill we move into the new stadium, why would we expect the Casey Council to hand over thousands in land to us?

What am I missing here?