Comments from Parkin about No.s @ game today

[osaka mick]

I was gutted to hear David Parkin (who I respect greatly as a caller and legend of the game) comment about the difference between supporters and members. "Members sign up, and supporters go each week", to bring the club money, I guess.

What annoyed me, is that Ive committed to a club, even though I know 100% I will not get to a game this year... Ive even tried to get a guarentee for one game (guess which one!!!) but cant get it...

I think D. Parkin was a little off the ball on this. I think he should understand peoples situations and that many clubs have a lot of support that is unrewarded (in the sense that we dont get regular benefits like others who at least get something for what they pay for). I mean after all, how many people are paying for nothing... ( in some sense...)

I also remember a while back when a few celebrities joined several clubs, as a show of support. These people are all in the media, so probably arent counted on the numbers of attendees Brereton and Warne were the two I can recall...)

 

[Ghostwriter]

The Fox commetry was appalling today, I only watched the last quarter and a half but they continually called the players the wrong names, its hard to watch when the so called paid professionals stuff up constantly, I wouldn't worry what Parkin says anymore.

 

[osaka mick]

The Fox commetry was appalling today, I only watched the last quarter and a half but they continually called the players the wrong names, its hard to watch when the so called paid professionals stuff up constantly, I wouldn't worry what Parkin says anymore.

Cheers Jozeph.

maybe Ill ignore the couple of guys that called tonight. Schwarz is seriously overrating himself...

 

[Zvim]

Anyone who thought we would go from getting 15k vs Melbourne to 30k+ in the space of one pre-season is not in full touch with reality.

Every club has a lot of supporters, even a club like ours has well over a quarter of a million estimated supporters in Melbourne. A lot that don't strongly follow football are prepared to dip in to buy a membership and help the club out. It is a huge ask to expect all of those to show up. It was never going to happen. It takes time to convert those people to football followers.

I think we had about 20k today and demons about 4k, getting about 2/3rd of the members show is about reasonable for a low interest game. If the Demons weren't a rabble we may have got to 30k.

Seriously, the club should have got the game against the Eagles moved to Melbourne because Eagles have more supporters in Melbourne than Melbourne does and they come out to games.

 

[Mr Reliable]

As we walked back to the car after the game two guests at a wedding and a guy on a bike asked us the score and were very pleased we won. I can understand the wedding guests not being there, but the guy on the bike???

The real cause of the low crowd though was the lack of Melbourne supporters. We outnumbered them 3:1.

 

[shinboner magic]

I really think someone has bought a heap of memberships as our crowd figures aint going up and we were out numbered the 1st 3 weeks by quite a few.

 

[Boozeroo]

I live Interstate and would love to get to every game, but it's just not possible.

I think that NMFC has a high (and dedicated) interstate membership base, and it a rough call to say that there are bogus/charity memberships that mean we have low game attendances.

 

[chris86]

Yeah I live interstate, I've only ever been to one NMFC game, but I'll still pay up every year. I know a few other mates in similar positions. Parkin was way off.

 

[NICK_ROOBOY83]

I really think someone has bought a heap of memberships as our crowd figures aint going up and we were out numbered the 1st 3 weeks by quite a few.

Don't think thats the problem here mate. Where not Hawthorn, you know.

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Anyone who thought we would go from getting 15k vs Melbourne to 30k+ in the space of one pre-season is not in full touch with reality.

Every club has a lot of supporters, even a club like ours has well over a quarter of a million estimated supporters in Melbourne. A lot that don't strongly follow football are prepared to dip in to buy a membership and help the club out. It is a huge ask to expect all of those to show up. It was never going to happen. It takes time to convert those people to football followers.

I think we had about 20k today and demons about 4k, getting about 2/3rd of the members show is about reasonable for a low interest game. If the Demons weren't a rabble we may have got to 30k.

Seriously, the club should have got the game against the Eagles moved to Melbourne because Eagles have more supporters in Melbourne than Melbourne does and they come out to games.

We got 30K to the Melbourne game at the MCG last year, and should have at least repeated that with our momentum this year. We claimed the dip to 19K in the Docklands game last year was just Melbourne not showing up, and overlooke that only 18K of us bothered to come when we were flying towards the finals. Yesterday they would have been about 9-10K of the crowd and half the noise - we would have been 14K, the same old diehards who came twice last year, came to the Port game in 06, watched us play Freo in the rain at the MCG a few years ago. Our supporters are our problem and there are no excuses for it. We need to get crowd numbers up, not justify very disappointing turnouts.

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Oh, and Parkin is wrong too. It's great people buy memberships even if they can't come to games - those people are not the problem. There are enough members and supporters in Melbourne who can get to games who could keep this club healthy if they chose to.

 

[Androo]

I get my membership every year, try and get over for 1-2 games a year. I can't do anymore, i'm not that good a swimmer.

So pull your head in Parko

 

[ROORAGE]

I live Interstate and would love to get to every game, but it's just not possible.

I think that NMFC has a high (and dedicated) interstate membership base, and it a rough call to say that there are bogus/charity memberships that mean we have low game attendances.

Agreed. I would be interested in knowing the proportion of members who live interstate. My suspicion is we would rank quite highly in terms of interstate support. I'm sure if all interstate members joined with our Melbourne based brothers and sisters (I know this is nigh on impossible) a sea of blue and white would result and this fluff about crowd attendance would evaporate.

Also- why is the fact that Melbourne is a poorly supported team contantly overlooked?

 

[jschwag]

Not sure how many live interstate, but I was told (more than once) today that Hoppers Crossing has over 1000 North Melbourne Members.