As long as the sun keeps dawning on a new day there is hope. Well, that's what I keep telling myself. That there is something around the corner. It's happened before. 1987, 1998, 2004.

Different lists, different eras, but you get the point.

What was disappointing for me on the weekend was when my 12 yo daughter turned to me last night after the game and said, (first and only time I hope) , "dad, can we change teams."

That was a kick in the guts experiencing that first hand. Thankfully my wife was quick to jump in and tell her why we stay true.

Talk about deflating, but my wife was right! Only true supporters - no matter what club they barrack for, remain loyal to their club through good times and bad.

Some (few) will take the perceived easy way out, and what of the values they preach from there? How can you develop a true love or deep admiration for another team that you've hated/disliked/remained distant from prior? No matter what anyone says or disputes, you can't. You can try, but it's never the same.

Great post. I have said this previously but I actually lie to my daughter who is now 6. That may be worth considering but given Annie is starting to question some of my pronouncements, I suspect at 12 your daughter may present more of a challenge. Perhaps you could declare this year a time where the family goes back to basics I.e no internet, phone and newspapers and a little home schooling. On second thoughts, you may want to make it three years.

Great post. I have said this previously but I actually lie to my daughter who is now 6. That may be worth considering but given Annie is starting to question some of my pronouncements, I suspect at 12 your daughter may present more of a challenge. Perhaps you could declare this year a time where the family goes back to basics I.e no internet, phone and newspapers and a little home schooling. On second thoughts, you may want to make it three years.

Come on RTG. You're in education so should know how to deal with such issues. You beat your children black and blue if they do not show proper support for the red and blue.

Great post. I have said this previously but I actually lie to my daughter who is now 6. That may be worth considering but given Annie is starting to question some of my pronouncements, I suspect at 12 your daughter may present more of a challenge. Perhaps you could declare this year a time where the family goes back to basics I.e no internet, phone and newspapers and a little home schooling. On second thoughts, you may want to make it three years.

All I have kept saying for the last 6-7 years to her and her sister is, "they'll improve soon", to which they now reply of late, "when, how soon?", I say, "pretty soon, you just watch" - that's been wearing pretty thin for the last two years. They're hanging on though. It's the 5yo boy I'm a little more worried about to be honest. Now in prep and he's at that age where footy cards and footy discussion is discussed among his friends at near saturation levels. This is going to be close.....

I'm a third generation Demon, my sons are fourth and my grandsons fifth, changing allegiance never was, is or will be an option.

We will come good.

I'm a third generation Demon, my sons are fourth and my grandsons fifth, changing allegiance never was, is or will be an option.

We will come good.

Ill never change either, its a tough gig, but they will come good at some stage.

My mates 8 year old son wont wear a demons jumper on the school footy day because he gets picked on when he wears it. I dont know whether he will cntinue to follow the Dees but I think the impact of this sutained period of poor form will be felt for years to come.

My family is red and blue and that will never change but growing the membership outside of the traditional demons families is difficult when the team is rubbish.

How many of these woe is me threads are we gonna have on here about how hard it is to convince the next generation of supporters to follow the dees? Same sentiments come up after every game. I've even participated in them as well, being the father of an almost 6 year old who is taking a shine to the Hawks instead of the Dees. Enough is enough though, kids will support who they support, that's the way i look at it. If they want to be a glory hunting sheep, let them I say. The damage is already done by the last 7 years of dross, given at least another 3 years of the same, that's a whole generation of supporters effectively lost, the only way this club will survive is from the charity of the AFL. It makes me a little bit disheartened that a club not too disimilar to ours (i..e Richmond) have such a strong membership and they were in the doldrums for what seemed like an eternity, their supporters stuck fat, but ours don't seem to be made of the same stuff. I wonder why this is.

Ill never change either, its a tough gig, but they will come good at some stage.

The problem is the definition of "coming good". At this time I'd accept "coming good" to mean 6-8 wins in a year with some other close losses. But I don't want my team to actually believe that that is anywhere near "coming good". For them, it has to mean playing finals consistently. I wonder what our players, individually and collectively, believe "coming good" means?

Some (few) will take the perceived easy way out, and what of the values they preach from there? How can you develop a true love or deep admiration for another team that you've hated/disliked/remained distant from prior? No matter what anyone says or disputes, you can't. You can try, but it's never the same.

Indeed. My disillusionment has caused me to just hate the whole game. The day I stop supporting the MFC is the day I stop supporting the game altogether. I'm not there yet, but it is wearing more thin than I ever thought it could.

Off topic for a bit, but I even find this when watching new sports that I haven't taken an interest in before. I've watched a bit of NFL and a small amount of ice hockey before, and the biggest problem is for me is that I don't connect with *any* of the teams - the "you can't change teams" thing seems to apply in my brain even when I haven't picked an initial team yet.

Indeed. My disillusionment has caused me to just hate the whole game. The day I stop supporting the MFC is the day I stop supporting the game altogether. I'm not there yet, but it is wearing more thin than I ever thought it could.

Off topic for a bit, but I even find this when watching new sports that I haven't taken an interest in before. I've watched a bit of NFL and a small amount of ice hockey before, and the biggest problem is for me is that I don't connect with *any* of the teams - the "you can't change teams" thing seems to apply in my brain even when I haven't picked an initial team yet.

I find the same to a point, however I always find it easier to sympathise and connect to a point with the underdogs, or the struggling sides.

Probably because my brain has been wired that way after so long supporting the MFC.

All I have kept saying for the last 6-7 years to her and her sister is, "they'll improve soon", to which they now reply of late, "when, how soon?", I say, "pretty soon, you just watch" - that's been wearing pretty thin for the last two years. They're hanging on though. It's the 5yo boy I'm a little more worried about to be honest. Now in prep and he's at that age where footy cards and footy discussion is discussed among his friends at near saturation levels. This is going to be close.....

Pretty much the only thing I liked about Melbourne being poor as a kid was that I could get a complete set of cards for one worthless Daicos (etc) card. Those guys were still moaning about their one missing card years later. (Edit) By that stage, my card set was full of players and a team on the rise - minus a couple.

Edited April 8, 201411 yr by Trisul

Melbourne on the bottom of the ladder, losing to dog vomit teams, half the team injured, best players bailing at the end of the season, supporters preparing for life after the club is thrown out of the comp into oblivion, draft picks 1, 2 and 3 coming our way - welcome to Melbourne in April!

Off topic for a bit, but I even find this when watching new sports that I haven't taken an interest in before. I've watched a bit of NFL and a small amount of ice hockey before, and the biggest problem is for me is that I don't connect with *any* of the teams - the "you can't change teams" thing seems to apply in my brain even when I haven't picked an initial team yet.

I chose my US teams between grade 5 and year 8 for random reasons, none based on team success. I chose my NBA and NHL teams well but slipped up picking the Kansas City Chiefs. My advice: pick teams in cities you're likely to visit one day so you can get to games and build an emotional connection with the team and city, and try to avoid clubs with tortured histories and track records of mismanagement. You'll be back in sporting therapy otherwise.

One in all in. We follow our clubs leader Nathan Jones. He's been at the bottom of every pack since he started playing with us and we should all stick together. He never gives up and his example should be motivation for us all to never give up at all. Go Dees

All I have kept saying for the last 6-7 years to her and her sister is, "they'll improve soon", to which they now reply of late, "when, how soon?", I say, "pretty soon, you just watch" - that's been wearing pretty thin for the last two years. They're hanging on though. It's the 5yo boy I'm a little more worried about to be honest. Now in prep and he's at that age where footy cards and footy discussion is discussed among his friends at near saturation levels. This is going to be close.....

Well, It seems to me that the club has to market itself a lot harder to its youngest supporters a lot more than successful clubs who have a guaranteed following Melbourne players should personally contact kids and early teens on birthdays and special occasions as a matter of course, and I don't mean some computer generated crap. I am thinking about a telephone message or autographed card or merchandise say when Guernseys etc are purchased.

It requires a real effort by the club

Mydee I would put you in charge of the marketing department right now. You are spot on we do have to work a lot harder and smarter than other clubs but it can be done. Those ideas are brilliant.

One in all in. We follow our clubs leader Nathan Jones. He's been at the bottom of every pack since he started playing with us and we should all stick together. He never gives up and his example should be motivation for us all to never give up at all. Go Dees

Wow frosty, credit where credit is due, like most of us you post some interesting stuff, but i couldn't agree more with this

I chose my US teams between grade 5 and year 8 for random reasons, none based on team success. I chose my NBA and NHL teams well but slipped up picking the Kansas City Chiefs. My advice: pick teams in cities you're likely to visit one day so you can get to games and build an emotional connection with the team and city, and try to avoid clubs with tortured histories and track records of mismanagement. You'll be back in sporting therapy otherwise.

I picked my 'other' teams around a similar time to you, but I did it based upon teams that were competitive, but not the 'champions' of the time. But they had to have something that caught my eye or someone in the team that I loved watching.

NFL - Detroit Lions (Barry Sanders was just something special, and I loved the helmet )

NBA Portland Trailblazers (Clyde Drexler)

Premier League - Chelsea (Prior to Romanovich taking over not sure why I took a shine to them, but they counter balance the Dees for me at the moment in terms of success!!)

I have 4 kids under 10, 2 of each, girls support Sydney as their mother does. Boys support the Dees with me, My older son who is 10 is a member, but being in Tas we don't get to many games and so the pressure placed upon him by other kids in the school ground isn't perhaps as bad as things might be in Vic and other states over there. He also plays soccer rather than AFL.

The 3 year old ... lets just hope things turn around for him before he develops a focus on AFL.

I must confess I am starting to 'watch' the game on the net with the live score updates more and more.... which is a level of detachment that makes it less painful to watch.

Quite possibly the most depressing thread I've seen on the Internet (in a long time anyway)....

Edited April 9, 201411 yr by nrc73

I'm a third generation Demon, my sons are fourth and my grandsons fifth, changing allegiance never was, is or will be an option.

We will come good.

Thanks Sassy

My fiancé is a teacher at a primary school with around 700 students, at their Footy Day last year they had less than 10 Melbourne supporters.

There are kids up to the age of about 12 who wouldn't remember seeing Melbourne consistently win.

There's not a single MFC supporting kid in the program I coach at. It's just preps, grade 1s, 2s and 3s. But that says it all. A bunch of Hawthorn kids though. I'm convinced that's where tens of thousands of ex-MFC supporters have gone.

Thanks Sassy

Frosty ,

In light of the recent findings against the Hey Dad actor ,I think it would be in good taste for you to change your avatar.

My apologies if this is actually a picture of you and not him.

If it is you ,you should consider wearing a wig

Frosty ,

In light of the recent findings against the Hey Dad actor ,I think it would be in good taste for you to change your avatar.

My apologies if this is actually a picture of you and not him.

If it is you ,you should consider wearing a wig

Bahahahaha sorry Bahahaha....

I notice that MFC was the butt of a joke on ABC TV's Mad as Hell tonight. The link was the AFLs decision to not have scores or winners or losers or best players for the under 10's and that would be a God send for Demon supporters. Got a big laugh, ha, ha. God I am sick of it.

You guys just made me laugh a lot. I will see what I can do I'm not really good with working this thing but I will try to put up a different look.