What was your excuse?

[drysdale demon 4,837]

1 hour ago, forever demons said:

Started wearing a dees jumper since i was 2 saw great success during 1950s and early 60s then spent decades standing in pouring rain etc watching thrashing after thrashing.When at the G we owned bay 19,joined Redlegs in the 70s now in my 70s still pay membership would kill to go a game but my health cant handle it getting a walker in and around is not easy.So careful what you post there are a lot loyal supporters who cant be seen,enjoy youth and health it doesnt last forever

Was that the redlegs supporters group you joined?

[FearTheBeard 1,223]

So many people here are just being difficult for the sake of being difficult.

Nobody cares if you live in Canberra/Wodonga/Wollongong/Mars or if your wife is giving birth etc - You people are not the ones who are expected to make up the crowd and are just being flippant.

Pretty sure the OP is aiming their post at the people who live in Melbourne, who are not going through momentous life occasions and are able to jump on the train and barrack for the team (ie 90% of our fanbase).

Saturday nights are bad of crowds, the team isn't going to win a flag and a lot of us are sick of the coach. That is not an excuse to not get minimum of 20,000 people to a game.

[leave it to deever 17,517]

57 minutes ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Drinks prices, alcoholic only, are steep due to the cost of alcohol licences. Plus restaurants have a practice of 300% margin on drinks, I'd guess 75% of their profits come from drinks alone.

Thanks ElDiablo14.

So it comes back to licence fees to the Government.

I should have known😃

[Young Blood 2,634]

Put aside the obvious reasonable reasons people missed the game.

I do think cost plays a huge factor. I feel so privileged to have gone to every MCG game for the past 20 years. I'm an MCC member and finding it harder and harder each year to budget for this but I'll continue to find a way (sold a bunch of records at the starts of the year to help pay for this season).

That aside I'm sure the OP is asking the question to the fair weather supporters. Against Freo was the most hopeless performance against a simply elite team, something we haven't seen for quite a while, we didn't have a chance with how poorly we played and how incredibly they played. I can understand the hesitancy wondering if a similar performance was instore on Saturday night. But the difference in this current team is you won't see that sort of game two weeks in a row. This teams responds well to bad losses these days.

We've had an up and down season with plenty of negatives and positives but come along for the ride and barrack the club we all love so much.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,939]

I have a feeling we'll be having the same discussion after the Port game in 2 weeks.

[titan_uranus 25,044]

Well, here we are again.

I probably don't need to post on this topic after mouthing off in the aftermath of the North game. But I will anyway.

Going to games is expensive at the best of times, significantly more so when you have children. There are, unfortunately, too many Melbourne fans (and indeed, fans of all 18 clubs) who simply can't go because they can't afford it.

Similarly, there are sadly those of us who can't go due to health reasons.

Then there are those who can't go because they live too far away, whether that's in the regions, interstate or overseas. And there are those who can't go due to personal commitments, or because they have kids and night games are near-impossible, or because they have something else on, etc.

And it's completely fair to note that with train lines down, the ability for some to get to the game was borderline non-existent.

So let's ease off on broad-based "what's your excuse" style posting.

And focus instead on the real issue: the disappointingly, and embarrassingly, high proportion of MFC "supporters" who are able to go, but don't, because they want to "send a message" to the club about how we play, or similar.

You're killing this club from the inside.

If you choose not to go because you don't like how we play, or you're still upset about us being belted in the first quarter of last year's QF, or you don't like Petty playing forward, etc., don't then post on here about how disappointed you are in player effort which appears to wax and wane. If you can't make the effort to go, you don't get to attack the players on effort. (Presumably some will say "well they're paid to perform every week" - if it were that simple, there would be no home ground advantage against travelling clubs, because the vocal home crowd wouldn't impact performance. We know that isn't how it works. Players aren't robots.)

And don't complain when our fixture in 2025 is littered with timeslots you don't like, or a lack of prime time games from which we can make money.

And then don't complain when Roffey and Pert can't get stellar sponsorship deals.

And don't complain about us continuing to sell a game each year to the NT.

And don't complain when eventually the AFL starts moving some of our home games to Marvel to allow for Carlton, Essendon and Hawthorn to get more access to the MCG. Our history isn't going to override your lack of current day investment in the club.

Whilst this particular game and timeslot was never going to pull a massive crowd (MCG games in winter should be in the day unless they are between Victorian clubs), when we're in finals contention against a fellow finals contender and have 65,000 members, we shouldn't be sub-20,000 to any game.

If you can go, but don't, you're not "smart". You're ruining it for the rest of us, and particularly for those of us who can't go.

[FearTheBeard 1,223]

19 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I have a feeling we'll be having the same discussion after the Port game in 2 weeks.

Yes and a lot of us were lamenting that these two games were given Saturday nights for channel 7 purposes rather than Saturday 2:10pm or Sunday 1:10pm for crowd purposes because we knew this was going to happen.

Pies in round 24 could also be sub 40k if both sides have nothing to play for.

[Demon4Life 603]

My parents will go to just about every home game held during the day but only attend night games if it's a final. I much prefer day games too, and although i still go to the night matches I'm almost relieved when we are out of it by 3 quarter time so I can get home at a reasonable hour. I love the club but attending games is not at the top of my priority list.

[Queanbeyan Demon 6,869]

On 28/07/2024 at 14:38, Smokey said:

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

 

Me too @Smokey. the cost of getting to and fro from Melbourne is beyond a man of modest means in QBN. There's no way my rangy would get there and back without a tow truck being involved.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,939]

I reckon the club might lobby for some Sunday 1:10 games next year, purely from a crowd rather than TV exposure point of view.

It's the most family friendly timeslot and you can be home before dinner and prepare yourself for the working and school week ahead.

44,000 against the Dogs and 32,000 against West Coast which incidentally was our second biggest crowd at the MCG against WCE suggests that the MCC faithful are responsive to this 1:10pm timeslot. Compare that to the paltry mid-high 20K we got to both North Melbourne Saturday night games in 2023 and 2024.

Saturday 4:40pm games are also becoming the next big thing. 

[Rab D Nesbitt 8,496]

I don't think I'll ever get my head around this discussion. In the UK, thanks to 14 years of Tory rule there's now a food bank in every town and city. Despite that, just last week my football team took 7,000 fans down to Birmingham on the Wednesday and a similar number to Berlin on the Saturday for two pre-season practice matches. It's estimated that 250,000 of our good citizens (that's 5% of our population) travelled to Germany for the Euros to support the worst performing team at the tournament.  

I think that sport participation rates here are really high, not so much to spectate. 

Edited July 29 by Rab D Nesbitt

[IWAP 170]

OP complains about other people being fair-weather but only joins Demonland in 2021....

[Jack Vineys Anger Manager 403]

44k v dogs, mainly dees fans.
43k v hawks, make up game for Alice Springs. 50/50
51k v cats, mostly dees fans.
43k v lions, mostly dees fans.
37k v saints, all dees fans.
28k v roos, 70/30 dees fans.
32k v eagles, all dees fans.
52k v ess, 60/40 ess fans.
16k v GWS. All dees fans.

Our home crowds have been ok. Considering we only have 60k members. We are down 8k on average from last year.

The club does not draw well against GWS. We should play them in Alice Springs every year.

[Superunknown 4,223]

23 hours ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

I have a season ticket that gives me access to priority level one finals tickets but I wouldn't be against our ticket allocation being weighted towards season ticket holders of any level that have attended the most home & away games. It should at least count for something I think. Perhaps a minimum threshold of 7 out of 10 home games to qualify? Just a thought. 

Seems rather inequitous to interstate supporters, no?

[dazzledavey36 55,359]

6 hours ago, FearTheBeard said:

So many people here are just being difficult for the sake of being difficult.

Nobody cares if you live in Canberra/Wodonga/Wollongong/Mars or if your wife is giving birth etc - You people are not the ones who are expected to make up the crowd and are just being flippant.

Pretty sure the OP is aiming their post at the people who live in Melbourne, who are not going through momentous life occasions and are able to jump on the train and barrack for the team (ie 90% of our fanbase).

Saturday nights are bad of crowds, the team isn't going to win a flag and a lot of us are sick of the coach. That is not an excuse to not get minimum of 20,000 people to a game.

Isn't Mars and Broadmedows the same place?

[Smokey 4,389]

3 hours ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Me too @Smokey. the cost of getting to and fro from Melbourne is beyond a man of modest means in QBN. There's no way my rangy would get there and back without a tow truck being involved.

I know, we watched a game at Eastlakes together a few years ago remember? 

I’m just down the road from you in Bungendore 

[DubDee 26,121]

I dont understand how fans numbers aren’t factored into this discussion 

Pies and Tigers etc have 3-4 times the amount of fans we have. In the 90’s and 2000’s I rarely if ever saw a kid or bloke wearing a demons jumper. I’d say 1 MFC jumper for every 100 collingwood jumper

So while the membership numbers aren’t as stark, our fan base isn’t even close. If you take these proportions into account we have good turnouts. Our die hards are better than most at attending Through dark dark decades

Good news is, since 2018 i’ve seen so many kids and teenagers with Dees gear on. we will improve from here. We are repairing the damage done with our recent success and star players

[Engorged Onion 10,223]

2 hours ago, IWAP said:

OP complains about other people being fair-weather but only joins Demonland in 2021....

Fair go, I only stumbled across Demonland in 2017/18 - had no idea this sort of space existed on the inter web - I was too far ensconced in pornhub and cat videos 

Edited July 29 by Engorged Onion

[Dingo 1,126]

On 28/07/2024 at 01:50, Bowserpower said:

16k on a Sat night is embarrassing

Where were the GWS supporters?

on the tram l met 2 Bombers supporters who flew down from Newcastle, to see their team lose to St Kilda.

[Bowserpower 166]

1 hour ago, DubDee said:

I dont understand how fans numbers aren’t factored into this discussion 

Pies and Tigers etc have 3-4 times the amount of fans we have. In the 90’s and 2000’s I rarely if ever saw a kid or bloke wearing a demons jumper. I’d say 1 MFC jumper for every 100 collingwood jumper

So while the membership numbers aren’t as stark, our fan base isn’t even close. If you take these proportions into account we have good turnouts. Our die hards are better than most at attending Through dark dark decades

Good news is, since 2018 i’ve seen so many kids and teenagers with Dees gear on. we will improve from here. We are repairing the damage done with our recent success and star players

Doesn't excuse 16,000 in a prime slot. Not even a quarter of the member base. That's just embarrassing, if it were Richmond a quarter of theirs would be 25,000 and I'm pretty sure they would get much better than that to a game like this.

[layzie 34,012]

1 hour ago, Engorged Onion said:

Fair go, I only stumbled across Demonland in 2017/18 - had no idea this sort of space existed on the inter web - I was too far ensconced in pornhub and cat videos 

I always feel like you've been here longer. 

[Deebymistake 783]

7 minutes ago, Bowserpower said:

Doesn't excuse 16,000 in a prime slot. Not even a quarter of the member base. That's just embarrassing, if it were Richmond a quarter of theirs would be 25,000 and I'm pretty sure they would get much better than that to a game like this.

Read fra_p's post on page 2 of this thread.  According to it, Richmond drew 20,000 to a DAY game on Saturday a few weeks ago.  Still embarrassed? 

[Demonstone 22,820]

12 minutes ago, Bowserpower said:

Doesn't excuse 16,000 in a prime slot. Not even a quarter of the member base. That's just embarrassing, if it were Richmond a quarter of theirs would be 25,000 and I'm pretty sure they would get much better than that to a game like this.

Richmond played GWS at the MCG two weeks ago.  The crowd was 19,040.

edit:  snap @Deebymistake

Edited July 29 by Demonstone

[DubDee 26,121]

13 minutes ago, Bowserpower said:

Doesn't excuse 16,000 in a prime slot. Not even a quarter of the member base. That's just embarrassing, if it were Richmond a quarter of theirs would be 25,000 and I'm pretty sure they would get much better than that to a game like this.

so by that measure we have a much better turn out than Tigers fans. 

thanks for the support

[The heart beats true 18,145]

2 hours ago, Engorged Onion said:

I was too far ensconced in pornhub and cat videos 

As separate things though, right?