casey scorp

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/TheClub/Fund...96/default.aspx The Red and Blue Foundation holds a Deed of Trust, registered with the Australian Sports Foundation Ltd (ASF). The ASF was established by the Australian Government to assist the development of sport in Australia. Donations to the ASF are tax deductible and supporters simply name the Red and Blue Foundation as their preferred beneficiary. The Club is committed to raising $4 million for the fit-out of our new home, and the purchase of state-of-the-art training equipment. The Foundation has undertaken to raise $2,500,000 and the balance - $1,500,000 - has been provided by the Australian Football League. $2.5 million to be raised. Not yet raised, and certainly not yet put in!

How much money?

Very positive news. Sounds like a done deal. We'll make you welcome in Casey, so long as you're not in just for the short haul and then disappear back to Swan Street when the Rectangular Stadium is completed. You'd have to wonder what the benefit of being based at the Rectangular Stadium (even during the footy season) would be. Apart from convenience for the players (which would disipate over time when they make future residential locational decisions based on their training base), there are more advantages in being permanently located in the growth area MFC will be trying to cultivate.

I'm an avid footy supporter and I don't barrack for the Demons................I'm still here, haven't been struck by lightning or anything else since I said that. I go to my team's AFL matches every week, and I have also joined my local VFL club - the Casey Scorpions and go to the Scorps matches each week. While I will never renounce my AFL club loyalty, I will certainly take out a membership of the Demons if they move to Casey Fields and become Casey's AFL team. So will many people in the south-east. The sense of identity is greater in the outer suburbs which are more self-contained than the inner/middle suburbs which have great public transport, are close to each other and activities which are undertaken are spread across numerous suburbs. The sense of identity, and the support this would bring to a local AFL club, should not be underestimated. There are many posters on this forum that I have noticed are strongly supportive of the Casey Fields option. Keep up the support - it is MFC's lifeline to the future.

What happened this morning in particular (did I miss a cataclysmic event)?

Craigieburn

Fight? Fight like mad, but then run out of energy when the initial membership flurry recedes(that's what will happen to NMFC at Arden Street)? Or be a bit more strategic and plan for survival (and in fact growth) in the longer term by making some major changes eg location (ie Casey Fields)?

They are certainly separate issues; in fact there are three issues: a summer training base a fulltime relocation matches The last is obviously the most difficult to envisage and achieve, and would remain only a bluesky possibility for some time. However, I would say is it could only ever happen if there was an AFL club based there. I couldn't see the Council having the funds or inclination to fund a stadium - it would have to be primarily funded by the AFL and the State Government (like Skilled Stadium was). But it is exciting thinking about the possibilities! And not unrealistic.

Certainly a lot of time and emotional energy has been pumped into the Rectangular Stadium proposal. But I wonder how much money has been (by MFC). A relocation to Casey Fields as an admin & training base (and possibly a future boutique stadium for some small drawing fixtures) would still see the Demons as primarily MCG based for matches .

It doesn't matter who owns the Dome in 17 years time - it will still be more viable to run matches drawing small crowds at a boutique stadium. It would take at least 5 years for a boutique stadium to be built at Casey Fields; a large project like a stadium takes a considerable time to gain funding, design it and then build it. During that time of course the Demons would be able to penetrate the growth area to gain additional supporters. If a training base was established at Casey Fields for next summer, it would be the base for 2009 and possibly 2010 (the Rectangular Stafdium is currently scheduled for completion in late 2009 - do you know a major state project which has finished on time?). For a stadium to be even contempleted at Casey Fields there would have to be an AFL team based there. The 18 team comp commences in 2012, and there will be extra matches to be accomodated in Melbourne. Unless the Dome goes to a synthetic surface, there will be a limit to the number of games which can be played there. The crowd/costs comparison still works to the advantage of a new boutique stadium. There's all sorts of reasons which can make this project a reality and MFC a successful growth area based club. But it would take vision, commitment and energy to make it happen.

You should have caught the bus. It leaves Cranbourne Station after every train arrives, and takes you to within 700 metres of Casey Fields.

The Casey Fields option got coverage earlier in the week as well: Casey Fields - Summer training base for the Demons? http://demonland.ugbox.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=9155 and Casey Fields or Olympic Park ??? http://demonland.ugbox.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=9252 There is a lot of speculation, about different possibilities. A boutique stadium would complement a permanent move, but not a summer training base. Imagine a permanent move, and then getting games (small crowd games – eg against Freo, Western Sydney, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast) back at a “home ground”. Small 20,000-30,000 seat stadiums can work better financially (eg York Park in Launceston, Blue Tongue Stadium in Gosford or Skilled stadium in Geelong) than opening the MCG for small crowd games.

The different focus got a run on Footy Classified tonight. Gardner & Lyon comments (last week) were compared to the comments of McNamee about linking in with the elites etc.

Great!! The Casey Scorps have to play Sandy this coming weekend, and the Sandy team will presumably be chock-a-block full of Melbourne players dropped for poor performance this past weekend. And they'll be out to redeem themselves. Sunday afternoon, 2pm at the Beach Oval. See you there!

That’s right – that is the current proposal of MFC. Summer training base at Casey Fields, with admin at the Rectangular Stadium all the time and the football operations there during the football season. Indoor training facilities and admin facilities at the Rectangular Stadium. No access to playing field, which is the wrong shape anyway. Outdoor training at Gosch's Paddock, or at an oval Eddie McEverywhere wants to build in place of the Olympic Park aths track (ie between Lexus Centre and the Rectangular Stadium). I think the athletes have different ideas though, so it'll probably be Gosch's Paddock only. It is hardly ideal for the winter base either having the outdoor training surface a few hundred metres trot up Swan Street, and then having to share with the Magpies. Imagine the timing clash ahead of Melbourne v Collingwood games. Perhaps Casey Fields is a better permanent option than the Rectangular Stadium! When you consider all of the other advantages of being located in a growth corridor, I’m not too sure what the advantage of being based at the Rectangular Stadium is anyway. Being able to see the MCG is hardly worth paying all that rent for! Melbourne is not a powerhouse club, dripping in finance. It needs to re-establish itself in modest lodgings, and spend any spare cash on its football department – not on rent to be part of an ill-fitting soccer/rugby ground.

Hopefully that's right then. While I don't barrack for MFC (and I'm too old and set in my ways to change, although I have to admit to a bit of a soft spot for them), I live out this way and if an AFL club set up a base here I'm certain that it would get strong support. Get into the schools and grab the hearts and minds of kids (and then you can get "secondary sales" - their parents, because the kids will pester them to buy merchandise and take them to the footy). A little known fact (amongst anyone who doesn't take a keen interest in VFL matters anyway) is that when Springvale moved to Casey for the 2006 season and became the Casey Scorpions, within its first year it had the largest crowd figures on any of the mainland venues, and last year topped Tassie as well. The people of the south-east will embrace a team that will embrace it.

But will Paul McNamee be listening? From the Herald Sun: "INCOMING chief executive Paul McNamee believes Melbourne must embrace the perception it is an elitist AFL club and become a powerhouse in the city it shares a name with. McNamee will spearhead the Demons' push to become a big player in Melbourne's crowded sports market by using the nous he is famed for after spells as chief executive of the Australian tennis and golf opens and tournament director of the Hopman Cup. Excited by the challenge of running an AFL club, McNamee said Melbourne should not shy away from its image of an establishment club supported by bluebloods who favour skiing holidays and four-wheel drives. ........ McNamee said the Demons had to boost their membership to 30,000, and forge stronger partnerships with the AFL, Melbourne Cricket Club and City of Melbourne. " It seems he believes in a different focus! Nothing there about summer training or Casey.

Bit late now for the NAB Challenge match I know, but maybe if you're using public transport and visiting during summer training (or coming out to a match at the future boutique stadium in 10 years time when Melbourne plays Western Sydney): the bus meets every train and travels to within 800 metres of Casey Fields. It is a "claytons train", and was provided in lieu of a promise at the 1999 elections to extend the Cranbourne rail line and build a new station at Cranbourne East. It'll do for now. But it provides a good, reliable service for 20 hours a day.

Even though the exisiting facilities are top class for VFL footy, they would have to be upgraded for an AFL club. There would be access to a new $37 million aquatic centre being built by Casey Council 700 metres away. A great opportunity for a permanent summer base, and an opportunity to tap into a massive urban growth area. If handled properly, it just might be the commencment of the rejuvenation of the MFC.

I know a range of Melbourne supporters, and it might scare some of you to know that some of them come from Cranbourne/Narre Warren. The Brightonites might actually be scared of them if there was a revolution too, but they barrack for Melbourne nonetheless. Grab the opportunity to develop an association with Casey, or you might have to find another team to support within a decade. Hope to see you here.