is supporting your club growing up superfluous ?

[fuchsia 37]

ARE SUPPORTERS THOUGHTS IRRELEVANT??

except for hand outs for cash to pay for the clubs and players designer lifestyle?

i cant beleive any heart felt supporter of any victorian team in ones formative years,growing up with your like minded and loving parents and family.

having heroes and and asperations to join or play for that same club.. would, given the opportunity, choose ( with the same offer)to go against years of heartfelt support .and side with "DEVIL" (no pun).

personally having supported melb from the age of 8 and having gone through the 70's and early 80's of pain, humiliation and having only scraps of excitements and happiness to feed on ,..idolising one "ROBERT FLOWER" ( as his loyalty and integrity of refusing the overtures and cash of carlton was an incredible influence on childs minds growing up )

and despising collingwood as i went to "victoria park" by myself and consistantly bullied by groups of coll. kid supporters( as COWARDS only travel in groups )

the the thought of having to play anywhere else would make me ill and depressed..

BUT GIVEN A CHOICE ?? ..

Then to be in a position to be given a choice.!! would be an incredible stoke of good fortune and an undeniable opportunity to help and fulfill a lifetime childhood dream..

SO TO BE CONSIDERING,??? let alone favouring another club,( and the worst possible one at that) of self serving pig ignorant group of troglodytes..

makes my mind boggle.!!!??? and contemptuous if true...of the whole system..

where is the loyalty and integrity of players today ??? or are they just cold hearted mercinary's

any similar thoughts would be greatfully appreciated.

[Beetle 4,312]

at the end of the day, football is a busines for these guys. This may be a strange comparison but imagine if you grew up drinking Coke all your life and you loved it more than anything else but had the opportunity to choose between working for Coke and Pepsi. Pepsi were offering you a better environment in which to work and a much better salary, where would you go?

Footballers only have a life span of around 15 years max these days so they need to look after themselves in the best way they can in that time. It's a sad state of affairs and I completely understand where you are coming from but they are the plain facts.

[Deetastic 0]

Calm down mate he has not chosen yet.

I truely feel that loyalty and integrity is not lost by all footballers and that one of those its not lost with is Chris Judd.

He is coming home to his family and friends........... and to play for the childhood team he loved. Your faith will be restored.......................... I hope!

[Demons 32 235]

I see where you are coming from but footy has changed. Me being the age I am I know of a few AFL prospects, new VFL players and current AFL players who have been family friends, friends of my brother, class mates, team mates.

And the reality is, most of these guys do not have football as a dream. More so something that they have realised they are good at and could make a career out of it.

Footy has become a career, and to a lesser extent a life full of women, partys and being what is Australias biggest celebrities. It may not be a pretty way going forward but it is how it is.

Sadly you will find 1 in 100 young fans who are as passionate about there club as I am and im sure all Demonland posters are. Young players do not hold that love for their team any longer, as they concentrate on their own careers they forget about the club they barracked for and move to live for the club they play for and that is it.

Also upsetting is the inevitable prospect of Free Agency where a player can go to any club when there contract expires as a free agent, not a trade. Which means whoever can throw the money at the player, he will 8 times out of 10 go there. Over time the AFL will become more and more similar to the NFL and NBA. As much as I want Chris Judd, the fact that he is interviewing other clubs is the very first step in this overall direction.

A direction that will see more players moving from team to team in search for the big bucks. Therefore making passion from fans slowly deteriate to a point where you don't care about the players emotionally, just a guy on your team.

[fuchsia 37]

I see where you are coming from but footy has changed. Me being the age I am I know of a few AFL prospects, new VFL players and current AFL players who have been family friends, friends of my brother, class mates, team mates.

A direction that will see more players moving from team to team in search for the big bucks. Therefore making passion from fans slowly deteriate to a point where you don't care about the players emotionally, just a guy on your team.

good post !! insightful!

except to say IF THE MONEY IS THE SAME????regardless of where he goes, or as he states is not an issue !!

do kids care about their parents (or grandmothers) wishes ???

and is it irrelevant to try and put a sparkle in your mothers eyes these days???or that just does not cross young minds of today.??

[Louie 39]

We need to package up Brent Moloney and Simon Buckley and send them over the Judd's place and tell them how good it is to be playing for the team they grew up supporting.

[Demon Disciple 11,013]

We all know that Judd's dream was to one day play for the MFC. Here is that opportunity, and will be his only opportunity IMO. Is he gonna throw away his life's dream to go and play for the filth?

I mean, throwing away your dream to play for another club is one thing, but to throw away that dream for the Filth would be beyond contemplation. Surely he won't do it?

[Jaded No More 58,052]

Judd is not a kid anymore. He's a professional athlete who wants to play in front of big crowds, in state of the art surroundings.

It is our fault really. Overall our supporter base is pathetic. We can't get people to buy memberships, we can't even convince MCC members to fork out a few more dollars to help the club. And lets not mention how quickly our crowd numbers drop as soon as we've lost a couple of games.

We can't compete with big, rich, successful clubs... not yet.

Judd seems to have chosen the most comfortable option for himself. Hate him for it all you like, but he's only human. If you were in his shoes, you'd go for the best available club too, and we're not it!

[Guest unstable punt]

Judd is not a kid anymore. He's a professional athlete who wants to play in front of big crowds, in state of the art surroundings.

It is our fault really. Overall our supporter base is pathetic. We can't get people to buy memberships, we can't even convince MCC members to fork out a few more dollars to help the club. And lets not mention how quickly our crowd numbers drop as soon as we've lost a couple of games.

We can't compete with big, rich, successful clubs... not yet.

Judd seems to have chosen the most comfortable option for himself. Hate him for it all you like, but he's only human. If you were in his shoes, you'd go for the best available club too, and we're not it!

No I wouldn't, I would jump at the chance to play for the club I've supported since the day I was born, the club I dreamed of kicking the winning goal for when I was kid...geebus there is no way on this frickin' planet I would even contemplate playing for the scum. Obviously Judd isn't the man of integrity we thought he was.

[Rogue 585]

Judd is not a kid anymore. He's a professional athlete who wants to play in front of big crowds, in state of the art surroundings.

I think that supporters really easily lose sight of the fact that this is a player's job, and income. It's not just a dream, and great fun. It's also their livelihood. I'm not so much thinking of Judd here, as much as I am of comments from Godfrey a couple of years back (that he'd look for another Club if delisted), and Robertson's desire for a three year contract.

It is our fault really. Overall our supporter base is pathetic. We can't get people to buy memberships, we can't even convince MCC members to fork out a few more dollars to help the club. And lets not mention how quickly our crowd numbers drop as soon as we've lost a couple of games. We can't compete with big, rich, successful clubs... not yet.

Really, unless something miraculous happens I can't see Clubs really turning it around. The strong get stronger, because they can use their advantage to further widen the gap between them and the weaker teams. I'm not talking about on-field, because the draft means we have a fairly even competition, but in terms of membership and advertising, facilities and staffing, etc.

How do you turn it around? Anything you can do, the stronger Clubs should be able to do better. Really tough environment.

Judd seems to have chosen the most comfortable option for himself. Hate him for it all you like, but he's only human. If you were in his shoes, you'd go for the best available club too, and we're not it!

I wasn't aware it was over yet!

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

I wasn't aware it was over yet!

That's the thing.

Judd may choose Essendon for all that we know.

I think that some people are just bracing for the worst so if Judd does choose Collingwood, then they won't be so crushed as their expectations weren't too high in the first place.

[Rogue 585]

I think that some people are just bracing for the worst so if Judd does choose Collingwood, then they won't be so crushed as their expectations weren't too high in the first place.

Spoken like a true MFC supporter