Andrew Demetriou

[titan_uranus 25,020]

Urged all Melbourne supporters to go to Queens Birthday because, in his words, if it doesn't draw a crowd of at least 60,000-65,000, we may not be in Queens Birthday again. Said that the match is a fixture but the clubs who play in it are not 'set in stone' i.e. if Melbourne can't draw big enough crowds we won't be in it anymore and other clubs who would draw bigger crowds would get the spot.

[Mousey 47]

oh dear, well why dont we just get collingwood and essendon to play on every public holiday and every special day.

pathetic.

[Neita3000 37]

We'll get above 60,000. Think bout it the pies are flying they got something like 50,000 to their West Coast game last week. There will always be 15,000 of us and plus a further 10,000 of the fickle nature will jump on board seeing it's the QBday clash.

Last year it was a similiar position in terms of the team's position and we managed to pull in 75,000?

[Guest melbman]

Our attendances are down because of current poor form which won't last forever. So his thinking is that if we have a couple of poor seasons we lose the QB fixture??? What a crock

Would they give it back when we are doing well again?? Call me a bit negative but I sincerely doubt it

I liken the AFL in this regard to thieves waiting for nobody to be home so they can steal our assets

Why do something positive when you can perform a corporate raid when we're temporarily down!!!!

A truly truly arrogant thing to say from a man who is pissing off to the China opening ceremony instead of celebrating the 150th year since the first game of the competition that now pays his wages. Can we raid his assets when nobody's home?

Get this Demetriou and listen well. The Melbourne Football Club over the last One Hundred and Fifty Years, along with cricket, built the MCG. The fact that every other team that now calls the MCG home didn't build worthy grounds of their own for whatever reason does not give them first dibs on OUR HOME GROUND!

Get over yourself mate!

[AFI 3]

Yes, but last year we were coming off our first win of the season, and we weren't getting thumped almost every week.

We're in a much worse position then last year.

With that said, there's still no reason for people not to come and support the club.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Again, how the fudge do the AFL expect smaller clubs to grow and make money if the the big clubs always get the games that attract the biggest crowds?

I'm hating the AFL more and more.

It just seems that they are looking for short-term financial gain instead of long-term growth. The AFL themselves came out this year and stated that clubs with better facilities, finances etc are more likely to play finals. The AFL would also be away that according to the "Louis-Schmelling" paradox, games where the result is less predictable draw bigger crowds and TV audiences.

Therefore, if the AFL continue to favour the rich and ignore the poor then the competition will become oven more lob-sided. As a result, in the long-term the health of the sport will suffer.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

As is the case most QBW, whether we reach the 60,000 is often more dependent on the attendance of Magpies supporters than MFC supporters.

Collingwood are flying at the moment so they should get a good roll up.

[Hannabal 4]

Last year it was a similiar position in terms of the team's position and we managed to pull in 75,000?

Last year was 70,660.

I'd be surprised if it's not 70k+ again.

[tez 6]

Our attendances are down because of current poor form which won't last forever. So his thinking is that if we have a couple of poor seasons we lose the QB fixture??? What a crock

Our attendances are always down for some reason we do not support our club when we are going bad, look at the other teams in this town we are pretty much down the list always when drawing crowds and memberships well thats another great support we have, only goes up if we are going good and still not up with the bigger clubs partly due to MCC members and this is from the club we have around 40,000 people who barrack for Melbourne yet only about half are paid up in some shape or form so another 20,000 approx on our membership would hold us in a healthy place ???

No matter the outcome this Monday i will be there to enjoy the whole day

GO DEES

[Mousey 47]

someone on ology posted a very interesting stat-

Look at the dreamtime fixture between Richmond and Essendon compared to QB

2008

DT = 60,000

2007

DT = 61,000 QB = 70,000

2006

DT = 58,000 QB = 78,000

WTF is this blokes problem? is he that out of touch? Or does he just want to see the death of our club?

[Gouga 570]

2008

DT = 60,000

2007

DT = 61,000 QB = 70,000

2006

DT = 58,000 QB = 78,000

Crowd figures don't lie. Just another example of our club being an easy target.

[ChaserJ 5,096]

Our attendances are down because of current poor form which won't last forever. So his thinking is that if we have a couple of poor seasons we lose the QB fixture??? What a crock

Would they give it back when we are doing well again?? Call me a bit negative but I sincerely doubt it

I liken the AFL in this regard to thieves waiting for nobody to be home so they can steal our assets

Why do something positive when you can perform a corporate raid when we're temporarily down!!!!

A truly truly arrogant thing to say from a man who is pissing off to the China opening ceremony instead of celebrating the 150th year since the first game of the competition that now pays his wages. Can we raid his assets when nobody's home?

Get this Demetriou and listen well. The Melbourne Football Club over the last One Hundred and Fifty Years, along with cricket, built the MCG. The fact that every other team that now calls the MCG home didn't build worthy grounds of their own for whatever reason does not give them first dibs on OUR HOME GROUND!

Get over yourself mate!

Great post, mate. Can feel the passion through the monitor.

[Billy Baxter 0]

AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou says Melbourne could lose the blockbuster Queen's Birthday match if it draws a crowd of less than 60,000.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl...4-19742,00.html

Gotta love pricks like this guy who sinks the boots in when you are down!

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

someone on ology posted a very interesting stat-

Look at the dreamtime fixture between Richmond and Essendon compared to QB

2008

DT = 60,000

2007

DT = 61,000 QB = 70,000

2006

DT = 58,000 QB = 78,000

WTF is this blokes problem? is he that out of touch? Or does he just want to see the death of our club?

Neither DT team involved was Collingwood. If the Pies were involved I would add 20,000.

Consider the Anzac Day game where the crowds of the last 3 years have been around 90,000.

We should be considered lucky to get the prime fixture date given our crowd pulling ability and have Collingwood finance up to 80% of attendances.

MFC need to justify in crowd performance why it should have the game. Its not a given. Another factor where MFC need to perform on and off the ground.

[Gouga 570]

Neither DT team involved was Collingwood. If the Pies were involved I would add 20,000.

Consider the Anzac Day game where the crowds of the last 3 years have been around 90,000.

We should be considered lucky to get the prime fixture date given our crowd pulling ability and have Collingwood finance up to 80% of attendances.

MFC need to justify in crowd performance why it should have the game. Its not a given. Another factor where MFC need to perform on and off the ground.

That may be so but the fact that Demetriou will come out and sour what will be the cornerstone of our 150th celebrations is not good enough IMO. Behind closed doors yes. But I'm sick of the constant public criticism of this club coming from the peple that run the league.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

That may be so but the fact that Demetriou will come out and sour what will be the cornerstone of our 150th celebrations is not good enough IMO. Behind closed doors yes. But I'm sick of the constant public criticism of this club coming from the peple that run the league.

This has no impact on the cornerstone of our 150th celebrations. Its still on. Its actually a call to arms to the club and supporters that the QBW game is not a given if MFC fans dont turn out for it.

[The Emblem 1]

That may be so but the fact that Demetriou will come out and sour what will be the cornerstone of our 150th celebrations is not good enough IMO. Behind closed doors yes. But I'm sick of the constant public criticism of this club coming from the peple that run the league.

Damn right Gouga...it is an shocking time to come out with this sort of neegative statement.

And the way the league is heading AFL is going to become a 3 tier competition which will I think would ultimately become a dull, predictable and an ultimately unappetising product

[Spirit of the Demon 251]

Urged all Melbourne supporters to go to Queens Birthday because, in his words, if it doesn't draw a crowd of at least 60,000-65,000, we may not be in Queens Birthday again. Said that the match is a fixture but the clubs who play in it are not 'set in stone' i.e. if Melbourne can't draw big enough crowds we won't be in it anymore and other clubs who would draw bigger crowds would get the spot.

And I would urge this person and his lackey Anderson to attend our 150th anniversary celebration v Geelong later in the year instead of traipsing off to Beijing to celebrate some other sporting event.

[Jack7 528]

Demetriou loves putting the boots in doesn't he?

If the MFC was on the absolute brink,we'd have 40,000 + members

Give yourself another payrise Demetriou,you d$ckhead

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Demetriou loves putting the boots in doesn't he?

If the MFC was on the absolute brink,we'd have 40,000 + members

Give yourself another payrise Demetriou,you d$ckhead

Then why dont we have these member numbers when we are not on the brink and supporters repeatedly dont attend games?

[titan_uranus 25,020]

I think the issue behind all this is Demetriou looking at how to get the currently strong teams (Geelong, Bulldogs, Hawthorn) who don't have big matches into a blockbuster without having too many 'blockbusters' per year, and he sees QB as an opportunity to have, say, Hawthorn vs Collingwood, which this year in round 7 drew 76,048 without being a 'blockbuster'.

However I think this could do us a favour of sorts: getting people to turn up on Monday to prove him wrong. I guess it's possible that he came out and said this to purposely boost the crowd numbers on Monday.

[Jack7 528]

Then why dont we have these member numbers when we are not on the brink and supporters repeatedly dont attend games?

Because MFC have always been the Affluent club and rich people don't spend their cash,that's why they're rich.

Look at the Kangaroos,on the brink last year,30,000+ members this year,same with Bulldogs,Hawks within last 5 years.

In fact,Hawks had stuff all members 5 years ago,now they're flying!!!!

Kerry Stokes is our richest supporter,a Billionaire!!!!! He's probably not even a paid up member.

[Rogue 585]

Then why dont we have these member numbers when we are not on the brink and supporters repeatedly dont attend games?

The same reason the Roos didn't have 30,000 last year, I imagine.

That said, I think it's almost pointless to bring up the 'if we were on the absolute brink' argument unless it's in comparison to Roos figures this year, since every Club would get a bounce in members if they were 'on the absolute brink'.

Fwiw, we'd have 40,000+ if all the MFC supporting members took out a Dees membership, regardless of our other fans out there.

[Gouga 570]

This has no impact on the cornerstone of our 150th celebrations. Its still on. Its actually a call to arms to the club and supporters that the QBW game is not a given if MFC fans dont turn out for it.

Totally disagree. Are you devoid of all passion Rhino?

Of course it has an impact. Once again our club has to endure another negative headline and more negative debate about whether we are even good enough to have our own scheduled game?

You say it is a call to arms, I say it is nothing more than a common threat. It is the AFL flexing their muscles and reminding us that as far as they're concerned we are irrelevant. It is school yard bully stuff, what you have we'll take away.

The AFL will never respect Melbourne because we don't have the support of a big 4 or interstate side which I think is pathetic. The AFL needs to get off its high horse and recognise us for who we are and what we stand for. We are the oldest proudest football team in the world, our history is as long as the game itself. We have provided some of the games champions and developed the arena it is played in.

The fact we are not the powerhouse we once were is for many well discussed reasons, but we will never be irrelevant and should never be treated that way!

[MelbourneRedlegs 9]

Totally disagree. Are you devoid of all passion Rhino?

Of course it has an impact. Once again our club has to endure another negative headline and more negative debate about whether we are even good enough to have our own scheduled game?

You say it is a call to arms, I say it is nothing more than a common threat. It is the AFL flexing their muscles and reminding us that as far as they're concerned we are irrelevant. It is school yard bully stuff, what you have we'll take away.

The AFL will never respect Melbourne because we don't have the support of a big 4 or interstate side which I think is pathetic. The AFL needs to get off its high horse and recognise us for who we are and what we stand for. We are the oldest proudest football team in the world, our history is as long as the game itself. We have provided some of the games champions and developed the arena it is played in.

The fact we are not the powerhouse we once were is for many well discussed reasons, but we will never be irrelevant and should never be treated that way!

Exactly.