_M_16_
Premiership Player
- Nov 26, 2009
- 3,248
- 3,990
- AFL Club
- Western Bulldogs
- Other Teams
- Liv FC, LA Rams, Pitt Pen, Michigan
Did anyone else read Damien Barrett’s article on North Melbourne on the AFL app today? It doesn’t paint a pretty picture for them. I know there are some on here that just hate North, not me necessarily. We have similar histories and supporter bases and working class roots. If I barracked for them I’d be worried. Can 9 teams survive in Melbourne? Are we creating a better niche in the market in the Western suburbs as compared to them in the crowded Northern suburbs (Essendon, Carlton and even Collingwood up that corridor)? Could they go to Tassie permanently? Is that a better option than merging with a Melbourne based club, staying home but only have half you culture? Or even a quarter if it was a ‘big club’? If they fall are we next? Can Australian rules football afford to lose any historic clubs, even the so-called smaller ones that have hundreds of thousands of rusted on fans who support through good and bad times?
Are we next? North and Saints would be the first in line to go before we do to be honest. We have done very well off the field in recent years to strengthen the club. I have always believed the league will grow to, and should cap itself at 20 teams, keep two in each of the main states. A third team in WA and SA, both football first states and all their current teams have large supporter bases. And eventually a team in Tasmania, but that would have to be at the expense of a current Melbourne team, and repeat again if they throw a team into NT or Canberra. It would be better for Melbourne teams if there was a team or two less. Will be a question of whether fans will go towards the smaller teams, or just jump onto the bandwagons of the larger clubs. May not happen all in our lifetimes, but teams will always come and go in sports, even big ones can sometimes sink.
North and Saints both have similar membership numbers to us, but both have been plagued by debt and poor management decisions in recent times.