VFL Almost closed by corporate regulator 1986

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Yeah, the good old days, it might be hard to believe for people under 35 that this competition and other Victorian football leagues were under major financial stress during the 1980s, Ross Oakley is often dismissed, particularly by Footscray fans as the antichrist and we can regret how the Fitzroy side was dismantled in the mid 1990s when on paper they had the makings of a strong side but overall those hard decisions helped to save the competition, expanding it to include interstate sides.

People have romantic views on what the game was like in the mid 1980s but the standard of many games were poor, the ground conditions were often poor and whilst having suburban footy on a Saturday was great but the game needed to change and thankfully it did.
 

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Interesting story. I wish they had let Richmond win games to get the fans in. I guess that shows how deep they thoguht the Tiger Army was at the time. Guess it still is when you average so many to games yet only show improvemnt, not success
 
ioppolo said:
But but!! The 80s were the greatest era ever!
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In my opinion it was but that was just as a footy watcher. The footy was great.
But it was an era where the public and media did not intrude into the players and clubs lives as they do now but thats the price of professional sport.
I had no idea of my clubs financial position and neither did I care at the time.
 
ioppolo said:
But but!! The 80s were the greatest era ever!
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There was still some bloody good footy played in the 80's. As a kid growing up at the time, I have some fantastic memories of going to the footy in that decade.
 
'there was even a view if the VFL could just get Richmond to win more games the crowds would come back'

Lol, who would have thought 30 years on they have the same problem.

Anyway, this is old news. VFL would never have folded, public would never have allowed it, would have just been re-organised somehow. Maybe if West Coast and Brisbane didn't help out then a proper reorg would have been done and we would have a more even spread of teams today with maybe only 6 or 7 Vic teams?

One problem was they didn't charge enough to get in, it really was the people's game back then.
Just looked at my 1991 GF ticket (couldn't find anything earlier) and even 5 years after the 1986 mess it still only cost $23.50 (student) to get a good seat. If you apply a 3% inflation figure that would work out to about $50 today. I remember paying $20 for a standing room ticket off a scalper in 1989 (was an Adult ticket, but scalper gave me a student discount).
 

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Yeah, this is pretty common knowledge.

What annoys me about, for example, Oakley's Phoenix Rises book was how he uses it as a reason to justify stymieing an entire club from the league. They were desperate times financially for many clubs- nationalisation did 'save the game', so to speak. But some of the means used to justify the ends don't wash with me.
 
Roby said:
Saved is a strong word to use, probably the incorrect word.

Do you honestly think that the competition would've dissolved so easily? :rolleyes:.
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Of course the comp would not of died but certainly a few clubs would no longer be in it. We will never know what would of happened but spending certainly would of been put on the back burner at most clubs and being solvent would of become a priority.
The Eagles and Bears were not wanted at the time but were certainly needed.
 
ioppolo said:
But but!! The 80s were the greatest era ever!
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Some of it was good, the days of dominate forwards like Dunstall and Locket, going to Moorabbin to see Locket kick a bag despite the ground being a mud heap was to a certain point wonderful and there were some great rivalries but the game was bring driven into the ground not just at the VFL level but across the board, many small clubs died during this period.
 
Doss said:
Yeah, this is pretty common knowledge.

What annoys me about, for example, Oakley's Phoenix Rises book was how he uses it as a reason to justify stymieing an entire club from the league. They were desperate times financially for many clubs- nationalisation did 'save the game', so to speak. But some of the means used to justify the ends don't wash with me.
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Things might have been better if the major footy codes had got together and worked out how to bring all the big clubs into a national comp, on Fitzroy, their fans were robbed, not just of their side but in the mid 1990s they had a good group of kids that went on to be stars elsewhere.

If people think Essendon's last few years were bad, I would think that the last years for Fitzroy fans might have been worst.
 
Bombermania said:
Things might have been better if the major footy codes had got together and worked out how to bring all the big clubs into a national comp, on Fitzroy, their fans were robbed, not just of their side but in the mid 1990s they had a good group of kids that went on to be stars elsewhere.

If people think Essendon's last few years were bad, I would think that the last years for Fitzroy fans might have been worst.
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It is only the majority of Victorians who think this would of been a bad idea. Having said that the WAFL did not want any of their clubs breaking ranks but a complete new set up with relegation and promotion would have been an option.
Anyway all ancient history now.
 
The 747 said:
If the purpose of this thread is for poor Victorians to thank Indian Pacific for saving our game, OP might be waiting a while.
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Don't think that's the purpose mate, its no different to any other thread quoting the news as reported and being discussed.
Where ever the money came from 8 million was a huge help out to the VFL and it clearly saved many clubs from going possibly out of business at that level.
 
greatwhiteshark said:
It is only the majority of Victorians who think this would of been a bad idea. Having said that the WAFL did not want any of their clubs breaking ranks but a complete new set up with relegation and promotion would have been an option.
Anyway all ancient history now.
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Yeah, the egos did get in the way, we saw the SANFL were also not keen to see their clubs break away. Its an historical what if.
 

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VFL Almost closed by corporate regulator 1986

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