- Aug 24, 2008
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- AFL Club
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- #751
Last 30 years. So back to 1994.
Div 2 Flags 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2023
Since 1994:
Div 2 – 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999-2000, 2002, 2018-2023. = 12 Years
Div 1 – 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003-2017, 2024.= 19 Years
Your comments about ‘gifted’ facilities is close to moronic. Volunteers at Clubs work hard with local and state to get funding for improvements and Eltham clearly has worked hard on getting that. I can assure you nothing is ever gifted, why would they be gifted? Shows your lack of understanding how Clubs work with local and state governments or your belief is conspiracy theories.
There clearly has been decisions along the way that have meant they have spent time in Div 2, however leading in a Div 1 Prelim with injuries hurting and falling to eventual premiers they did get close in 2015, relegated in 2-17 with 5 wins by % which you have to agree is stiff and with the biggest representatives in AFL by a local club in last 15 years you would think that’s better than say they stick around and play local footy?
They have some genuine guns and many other players playing at other clubs. This happens, we all see players go from one to another, some for $$, some for different opportunity, some for just the hell of it. Nothing wrong with that, every club would have players elsewhere. Would it be great if they were still at Eltham, sure, but people move on. Clubs can try and keep them but that always happens.
I am a proud Eltham supporter but also just a local footy supporter, I can assure those that never experience a Premiership in Div 1, those won in Div 2 or 3 are celebrated are remembered just as much, what do you think at 11pm people put their beer down and think, oh this is just a Div 2 GF, let’s not celebrate too much. You can only play and win where you are, if that’s not Div 1 that’s fine, despite how big your juniors are.
Eltham, like many Clubs maybe don’t have the cash injections to pay players, putting a lot into what you say was ‘gifted’ made more overall sense than overpaying. When you consider a Club like Monty have not won a GF since 1979, so 45 years. Let’s be generous and say they have only spent $100,000 on players over that time (remember the salary cap used to be $200,000 once) so basic math tells me they have spent probably well over $5 million on just player payments to never experience winning a GF. Yes, they have stayed in Div 1 and it’s a great achievement but paying all that never to win something and seeing generations miss a chance at a flag as they seemed to have to pay a lot of blow-ins just to stay in Div 1 is a decision those who made it at the time where confident it would win a flag but it hasn’t, and continues not to. The fact that this year I think they are spending less than past few and now in a GF shows maybe $$ and overpriced blowins is not what its all about.
Who cares they have a big juniors, Eltham had similar juniors to Mont, SM and DC. In Yarra League I am sure Heidelberg, St Marys and others have similar amounts.
This forum blows up when teams fail, no doubt people here are ready for Monty to lose again and the chokemorency crap will appear, it’s what the internet is for. However, if you are involved with a Club, you just do what you can and play where your told and celebrate the wins when you get them.
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be making Div1 finals and winning flags moving forward.
