What was your excuse?

[TeamPlayedFine39 8,361]

“Dad, will you watch the Boomers with me tonight?”

”Sorry son, dad needs to go to the footy by himself or he’ll get guilt-tripped on his internet fan forum.”

 

[Gorgoroth 12,667]

Well I don’t attend many games anymore, I live a fair drive away and the costs of going reaches a well over $100 with petrol and a drink and snack, much more if I actually eat dinner. But I am flying to Europe tomorrow so I’m avoiding people (more than normal) like they have the plague.

And now I get to avoid the rest of the season 😃

[The Taciturn Demon 340]

I go because I feel a sort of irrational obligation. I'm very lucky to be able to have such an indulgence... if you could call watching this team at this time an indulgence. 

I don't subscribe to the idea that sport is entertainment and we should talk about it as a "product" and refer to the way we play as a "brand". Actually, I find it offensive and embarrassing. But if you want to do that, you're living by the corporate sword and will die by it as well.

Yes, weather, the economy, the opposition all played a part. But we are no longer enjoyable to watch. If we're a "product", we're not a particularly good one at the moment.  

[deegirl 1,493]

14 minutes ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

I go because I feel a sort of irrational obligation. I'm very lucky to be able to have such an indulgence... if you could call watching this team at this time an indulgence. 

I don't subscribe to the idea that sport is entertainment and we should talk about it as a "product" and refer to the way we play as a "brand". Actually, I find it offensive and embarrassing. But if you want to do that, you're living by the corporate sword and will die by it as well.

Yes, weather, the economy, the opposition all played a part. But we are no longer enjoyable to watch. If we're a "product", we're not a particularly good one at the moment.  

Same here, there are times when watching them feels like an obligation death spiral 😂

[Dingo 1,007]

I have a reserved Premium seat - with my mate- and it was 90 % empty.

GEEZ it was cold.Lasted till 1/2 way into the last 1/4.

Missed the comeback.

[Demonsterative 3,015]

I didn’t want to go 😬😳

[leave it to deever 17,442]

I'm in Northern Wollongong.

The cost of flying or petrol to drive is just too much these days.

I actually enquired about a sleeper on a train but this was  over 400 bucks.

A train fgs. In Europe 400 bucks for train travel would give you seven laps of the whole continent.

I get the economy of scale and what have you but travel between Sydney and Melbourne is not a small market.

5 million in both cities. Would it really be that hard to have a relatively fast rail service between the two at a rate that doesn't require refinancing your house again

Australia is becoming not so lucky anymore .

Governments pay way too much to oseas consortiums to build infrastructure that is always above budgets.

And pollies spend way too much $ on travel oseas on so called fact finding missions about the environment when they could do it all by zoom and help out the planet by not burning so much bloody jet fuel.

Flying is the real environment killer. That and over population.

But I digress. Where were we?

Footy. Um yes just too costly for istate supporters.

 

Edited July 28 by leave it to deever

[Oxdee 243]

11 hours ago, Doug Reemer said:

16k at a Saturday Prime Time Home game.

I was there. If you weren’t whats your excuse? Want other clubs to respect us and stop saying we don’t turn up? Get off your [censored] and stick fat!

Agree. The crowd was abysmal. It’s as if dees supporters have already given up on the season. There was no crowd noise when we kicked a goal. 
wouldn’t surprise me that the players would have seen the attendance and also switched off. Hate to say it but dees fans are fair weather supporters 

[Demonsterative 3,015]

3 minutes ago, Oxdee said:

Agree. The crowd was abysmal. It’s as if dees supporters have already given up on the season. There was no crowd noise when we kicked a goal. 
wouldn’t surprise me that the players would have seen the attendance and also switched off. Hate to say it but dees fans are fair weather supporters 

To be fair Oxdee, the weather was not good…. 

[pitmaster 3,426]

11 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Look after yourself mate. Feel free to flick me a message anytime for a chat. 

(I didn’t go because I had severe diarrhoea)

I went, and suffered your condition after I watched the replay and saw the shove in the back on May that gave them their second last quarter goal. 

[leave it to deever 17,442]

11 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Look after yourself mate. Feel free to flick me a message anytime for a chat. 

(I didn’t go because I had severe diarrhoea)

Between that and your overstretched plums, I think it's time start looking after yourself.

Get well soon.

[buck_nekkid 5,818]

No excuses, I was there.  I was wearing 5 layers (5!) and it was still flipping cold.  At 4 pm it was [censored] down.  I don’t begrudge anyone who did not show up, it was god awful out there.  [censored] scheduling by the AFL - late July night at MCG between us and an interstate team ( who had about 30 people in their cheer squad) - 16 k, well done.

[Sydee 4,174]

I live interstate but having read the game day dribble and post game moaning I’m glad I didn’t have to sit amongst people who only support the team when they are winning 

It was always going to be a struggle this season given all the circumstances - some people have very unrealistic expectations 

[von 1,493]

Unfortunately for our club our members and supporters have far more complete and full lives than some clubs, who have prayed on the poor for decades. Sucking out whatever dole or pension money they have and indoctrinating them into their cult getting them to show up when any sane person wouldn’t bother because football is the sun to which their life revolves around. Our supporters are too intelligent and too interesting to expose themselves to a cold, wet night where the umpiring was mediocre at best and the league is being run by a bunch of George Orwell post truth, there are no rules we are the rules sit down and do what you’re told types. The afl doesn’t respect its supporters so why should we respect them. There’s many things that are far more enjoyable than sitting at the mcg in the cold and wet.

[Deestar9 1,548]

11 hours ago, Abyssal said:

I think your logic is sadly askew.

Didn’t GWS win the game with even less supporters present ?

And you know what you can do with your whimpy vomit emoji !

You choose to follow a team ..pay your membership if you can but that doesn’t guarantee you a win every week. Of course there’s genuine reasons supporters can’t attend but I bet for every 1 of those there’s probably at least 10 who are probably typing vitriol on their keyboards & ranting at coach & players rather than braving the cold/timeslot etc to attend. We had a coach who was in hospital most of the week and went back to hospital..players that are obviously not 100% (& I know not just our club) drag themselves to the game for us as supporters but there’s an awful element of “supporters”   (& I use the term lightly) on this forum who seem to take more delight in a loss rather than a win. That crowd size last night was unacceptable for a club with a membership over 60,000 

[rpfc 28,034]

16k.

Sam McClure is going to bring it up and he is right to.

We don’t want to watch our own team.

Probably should reflect on why that is.

[The heart beats true 17,734]

I took my mum and my nephew. I try to focus on the fact that football gives me a chance to connect with people.

It was great to see them, but if given the choice I’d have left them in the car park for a win.

[leave it to deever 17,442]

I think to be fair maybe if the club started winning more than more people would front up.

I feel sorry for all those that rocked up in the cold to see that half the players didn't.

It was another half hearted effort at times. We are so inconsistent. Not just week to week but it's now quarter to quarter.

Our fwd line was horrible last night.

 

[Little Goffy 13,937]

Two separate points.

1. Winter saturday nights are a TV slot and attract poor crowds unless the AFL specifically sets up a 'blockbuster'.

2. Giant super-huge mega-awesome club of hardcore supporter terrific whoopdie-doo-daa, Richmond, got 19k against GWS at the 'G two weeks ago.

Shush.

 

 

[Dr. Gonzo 23,665]

1 hour ago, Little Goffy said:

Two separate points.

1. Winter saturday nights are a TV slot and attract poor crowds unless the AFL specifically sets up a 'blockbuster'.

2. Giant super-huge mega-awesome club of hardcore supporter terrific whoopdie-doo-daa, Richmond, got 19k against GWS at the 'G two weeks ago.

Shush.

 

 

To be fair though Richmond are dead last on the ladder, we were fighting for finals last night. How many would've turned up if we were 18th with two wins for the season? We had <10k against GWS at Docklands about 10 years back.

Edited July 28 by Dr. Gonzo

[640MD 3,304]

5 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

Well I don’t attend many games anymore, I live a fair drive away and the costs of going reaches a well over $100 with petrol and a drink and snack, much more if I actually eat dinner. But I am flying to Europe tomorrow so I’m avoiding people (more than normal) like they have the plague.

And now I get to avoid the rest of the season 😃

Similar 3 hour drive. Same expense.

also going to Italy in September  and they still have Covid over there,

and now I will avoid the rest of the season 

well I will try, hope we win next week but probably better if we do not . Look to 2025 

 

[Diamond_Jim 12,330]

12 hours ago, Chook said:

My excuse is a declining passion for AFL.

Season is around five games too long

From an attendance viewpoint too many night games in wintry conditions

Take over by TV will do this

[Fritta and Turner 4,166]

Don't go to night games, it was cold wet and I was in Geelong at a family function.

[Abyssal 434]

3 hours ago, Deestar9 said:

You choose to follow a team ..pay your membership if you can but that doesn’t guarantee you a win every week. Of course there’s genuine reasons supporters can’t attend but I bet for every 1 of those there’s probably at least 10 who are probably typing vitriol on their keyboards & ranting at coach & players rather than braving the cold/timeslot etc to attend. We had a coach who was in hospital most of the week and went back to hospital..players that are obviously not 100% (& I know not just our club) drag themselves to the game for us as supporters but there’s an awful element of “supporters”   (& I use the term lightly) on this forum who seem to take more delight in a loss rather than a win. That crowd size last night was unacceptable for a club with a membership over 60,000 

- No doubt a disappointing crowd.  
- I don’t think it’s been mentioned but we did play GWS who would have had very few supporters who attended. What do you think the 16,000 would equate to if it was a melbourne based club ?   
- Your “bet” of 1 to 10 is just a wild guess, you have no way of knowing.   
- What’s your point about Goodwin being at the match but not more supporters ?  
- “Players drag themselves to the game”, wow I’m completely lost for words on that one, wild.  ( Is that like the vast majority of  wage earners who drag themselves off to work every day?  )
-You have no idea why I or anybody else didn’t attend last night. Therefore your insinuation comparing attendance with loyalty is completely baseless.     
- I suggest the focus for last night’s disappointing crowd be put back on to the AFL and the MFC instead of blaming individual supporters.
 

 

[Smokey 4,345]

I live in Canberra. Is that sufficient reason, your highness?