No. 31

The fruit giving tradition is common in other parts of Asia as well. Koreans love to gift pears, apples and strawberries. Mmm Korean pears ... 🤤

Should auld acquaintance be forgot ... ... whenever I hear the opening verse I think 'Keep your eye on the red and the blue!' ... maybe I have been on this forum for too long 😁 HNY to all and all the best for 2024 🍾🥂🎉😊

I switched from Kayo monthly subscription to an annual Kayo subscription via MFC Digital Membership. Activation email arrived 1 Dec ... all good 👍😊

How the set up at Caulfield might look and function will most definitely depend upon where the MFC ovals & facilities are located inside the racecourse precinct. If you want a mini stadium for AFLW/VFL then I would say Glen Huntly Oval on the southern side would be the best option as you could have stands and light towers (which do not impeed views from the existing racecourse stands) and then have a second practice oval inside the race track. Any cricket or football clubs displaced could get a new oval inside the track area. This would require some additional negotiations with City of Glen Eira because Glen Huntly Oval is separate to the race course trust AFAIK. Additionally, allowing access to Glen Eira Secondary College could probably trigger governmental funding if done the right way ... 🤔

LOL The Carlton Canine Crew barks a Merry Christmas back at you (I am dogsitting my sister-in-laws pooch over the festive season) 🐶🎅🥂😊 Wishing all here a Demonic Christmas/Hanukah/Festivus and all the best in 2024 🍾🥂

That will be a hard sell and doesn't fix the issue of a second oval. I would have thought a new facility somewhere at Yarra Bend Park would be a better bet for them ...

They definitely need a second oval. Gosch's Paddock could be a possibility if the Dees migrate to Caulfield.

https://www.richmondfc.com.au/club/punt-road-oval-redevelopment

Quite possibly, would be amusing 😄 Richmond are planning to have a major re-development of the Punt Road Oval which should see them have a great, modern facility. They will only be lacking a second oval and I could see them renting Gosch's Paddock Oval for the secondary oval if MFC were to move to Caulfield.

I often catch the Cranbourne & Pakenham Line trains and usually do Richmond to Carnegie in 13 minutes. You won't do Calufield Racecourse to MCG in 10 minutes but you will do Caulfield Station to Richmond Station in about 10 minutes. Actually, the Cranbourne & Pakenham Line trains will use the new Metro Tunnel scheduled to open late 2024 or early 2025 and will mean that Caulfield will become easily accessible to the the inner north and the western suburbs by public transport.

Its on youtube, worth watching for those that have not seen it. Clear and concise presentation.

^^ $40 million just for land acquisition and still would need an arrangement with Port Melbourne FC. Probably more complicated negotiations than with MRC and the Trust at Caulfield Racecourse 🤔

I know some are saying that a training facility is all about the players and coaching staff and I get the point and largely agree but it should also occasionally be a home of sorts for fans, when they have open training sessions, family days, maybe even Premiership celebrations. I went to the Carlton open training session at Princes Park on Saturday. Several thousand people there, it felt like a community gathering, young kids looking at the trophies, memorabilia, old jumper exhibitions etc (that has been done really well at Princes Park). If done properly it should be more than just a place where players train and yes the location is important. It should be a place that helps the fans connect to the club and its history. MFC should most definitely try to have a museum component, being in the rare position of being the founding club of the whole sport. If that can't attract some government funding I don't know what will.

Ardu is originally from Darwin but she has been living in Melbourne for over a decade.

A main oval with spectator facilities here, the Admin and indoor training areas on the parcel next door to Glen Huntly Oval. A second MFC Oval inside the race course track and the cricket club displaced from Glen Huntly Oval to another oval inside the race track perimeter. That way you could get an AFLW & VFL ground. Incorporate some facilities that Glen Eira college next door can use and you will see a governmental funding component. Anyways, that is how I would approach it.

Caulfield per se may not necessarily be 'Demon Heartland' but nearby areas like Malvern, Malvern East, Glen Iris, Ormond, McKinnon, Bentleigh, Murrumbeena etc most definitely are. If you were to pick which LGAs have a really strong concentration of MFC Members/Supporters I would say Stonnington and Glen Eira would be top of the list.

Haha, I will tone it down. I wish for a competitive and sporting football season in 2024, one where Collingwood doesn't make the top 4, Essendon goes another year without winning a final (or even making the top 8) and the Dees and Blues both go deep into September ...

LOL Leia, if you only knew the power of the dark side ... #Baggers_are_Flaggers_2024 😁

Caulfield is in the middle of nowhere? It is pretty much where the inner city meets inner suburbia in the South Eastern direction. It only happens to be in the vicinity of Caulfield Station which services 3 lines and will also have easy access to the new metro tunnel stations next year (Caulfield is one of the top 10 train stations in Melbourne by passenger numbers) and on a tram line (No. 3 tram). Road connection are very good there as well. If the potential MFC facility is located at the southern end of the Racecourse Precinct there will also be access to the new Glen Huntly station (Frankston Line) and the 67 tram from Melb Uni to Carnegie. It is located on the doorstop of Monash University Caulfield Campus and also new apartment developments such as Caulfield Village (with more developnents to come). Definitely scope for Demons proselytising amongst the foreign student cohort ...

The Demonland Lost Souls Club 😁 I am a Carlton supporter, checked out this forum and stayed after I saw numerous TISM references splattered around. Take that [insert balaclava clad emoji]. It is probably anathema to many, but I do have a 'second club' I support and it is MFC. I don't just keep an eye on their scores and catch a quarter or two here and there on tv. I catch almost every match on Kayo/C7 and even catch some live matches at the MCG (I had a 3 game membership for last season). I wasn't born into a footy family, my parents are migrants and they followed the Saints as the first suburb they lived in was St Kilda. Most of my extended family followed Richmond, St Kilda or North Melbourne. There was pressuure/bribery on little No. 31 to follow the Saints, Tigers or Kangas. I rebuffed all of these overtures and threw my lot in with Carlton (more on that later). In primary school in the 1980s I grew up in one of Melbourne's traditional recruiting zones in the South Eastern 'burbs and Melbourne footballers used to come to our footy clinics. I remember being excited that Robbie Flower came to one of our clinics and he taught me how to handball, afterwards I always kept an eye out for him in games. Ultimately that lead to me always having some sympathy for the Dees and I actively followed their rise in the late 80s and late 90s and was a fan of footballers like Stynes, Lyon, Schwarz, Farmer, Neitz, Yze, Leoncelli and Woewodin. As for Carlton, I declared them to be my club as I was born in Carlton (at the old Royal Women's Hospital) and my local junior club were the Ormond Blues. It certainly helped that the Blues were a powerhouse in the early 80s. As a child I found the Navy Blue with the White monogram to be so stylish and elegant and having been born in the 3053 postcode sealed it for a young No. 31. Had the Dees been a strong club in contention in the early 80s, I may well have barracked for them given the Demons footy clinic connections (and I thought the Demons nickname was pretty cool and that they were named after Melbourne rather than a suburb of Melbourne). PS - I did spend a number of years living in Newtown, Geelong (as an adult) and I could see Kardinia Park from my balcony so I would go and watch the Cats sometimes. I never really developed an attachment to the Cats like I did with the Demons though.

Finally some movement on the Caulfield front, hopefully this odd chatter about Royal Park and Melbourne University a few pages back can now be covered by a Glen Eira morning fog ... really, that part of inner Northern Melbourne is the domain of another club, what was coming next, a proposal to develop Princes Park?!? 😁 Now, Caulfield certainly can create some synergies for the MRC, the Trust administering the area inside the race track and Melbourne FC. There is clearly enough room there to develop a modern, fit for 21st century purposes training facility for the Demons and now the club is openly discussing it means that negotiations have progressed to a certain stage where the parties think it is doable.

... and voluntarily retired from politics, consequently relinquishing power ... very dictatorial.

Yeah, I couldn't really see Bob M, sinking beers with fans standing in the outer 😁

Yes, Carlton had decades long links to the Liberal Party. That was a dynamic probably more at board level rather than those drinking Carlton Draught tinnies on the outer at Princes Park though. Despite, the 'Blue Blood' historical connections at Princes Park, it did not stop the Gillard ALP Government splashing cash to upgrade facilities at Princes Park back in 2009 and the upgrades were named after the original 'Teal' himself, the late Don Chipp (who played a few games for Fitzroy in the VFL and was a passionate Carlton supporter). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-08-23/gillard-announces-45m-to-upgrade-princes-park/1400354 Football club support can and does cross party political lines, what is important is lobbying, constant lobbying. MFC members should be trying to lobby local politicians in Caulfield and nearby areas from all tiers of government - Local Government, State & Federal. The squeaky wheel gets the oil ...

Agreed that H. Reid will want out if WC Eagles are still garbage in a few years time. As for Carlton, after digging themselves out of a huge mid season hole and going on a powerful run deep into September, the self belief at Parc de Princes will be very high going into 2024. They have also culled a few weak links in the list and should have better depth in 2025. If the injury Gods are kind to the Blues they should do well in 2025 with players like Walsh, Cerra, Weitering, De Koning, McKay, Curnow and Motlop all capable to step up another notch.