Fans of many clubs around the world would die for what we have. Something perhaps our community can better understand is the ongoing struggle of Dinamo Zagreb fans. A club that has been hijacked by one family for their own financial benefit, and there is almost nothing any of the members can do about it. Something that at our club would not have lasted, because the members hold the power.
How many A-league fans would like to have what we have? I bet there is a fair number of them that would pay any price to own a share of their club. To be able to put their hand up and have their say on what goes on at the club. To decide who should run their club. But they can't. There isn't one person that can walk up to an A-league club, buy a membership of the shelf, and with that own a share of the club and be eligible to vote at general meetings.
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For as little as $60 a year, you can own your share of the club. The same share as every other member in the club. You can put your hand up and be heard. You can have your say on the future of the club. You can decide who will run the club. The club is in our hands. So why aren't we jumping at it?
With talk of promotion and relegation increasing each day, the chance to return to the top fight and once again be crowned the best in Australia get's closer and closer. If and when that time comes, it is important for the club to be in a strong position, and one of the greatest measures of a club's strength is it's number of members.
Don't allow our club to die a slow death. Don't wait until it is too late. Stand up, buy a membership, own a part of Australian football history, and most of all be proud to call this club your own. Because that is ultimately what it is!
Please let us not start doing what those idiots at South are doing by actually believing we might return to the top flight. The integrity of the blog is at stake.
ReplyDeleteThe question on why membership numbers are low is answered in the first paragraph, because interest is genuinely that low.
I don't think harping on about memberships is the way to go, our parents never did this. Game attendance should be spruiked, not membership.
Firstly there is nothing in the post that says anything about returning to the top flight. Nor is there anything that even implies that.
DeleteIn terms of memberships, the point is to get people who do attend to buy memberships because many regular attendees no longer do so. You know what you call such a strategy, common sense.
And if you actually got off your arse and went to AGM's you would understand why memberships are important to the club as it stands in 2016. Outside of that, I can't fathom how any reasonably intelligent human being doesn't understand the concept behind the benefit and importance that there is for a 'MEMBER BASED CLUB' to have people actually purchasing memberships. That's once again called common sense. Its particularly important for small clubs such an the Knights where the year to year survival is such an immense grind. But then again you are the same guy that on a previous blog post stated he only attends an occasional match and is content for the club to die, so your comments really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
South fan here. Can I just say we (us and the football community) need strong clubs like the Knights so I hope you guys exceed your membership and sponsership targets this year. Secondly just because our board sprouts a lot of huff and puff it doesn't necessarily reflect the broader views of the majority of the South fan base. Yes we'd like to see our club play in the top flight but I and many do not want to become a soulless franchise. A lot of us would probably prefer a second division to dip our toes into and I wish our board would look into the business case for that with representatives from other clubs. Just because the same pro a league people hog the social media, doesn't mean we are all supporting that rhetoric.
ReplyDelete"With talk of promotion and relegation increasing each day, the chance to return to the top fight and once again be crowned the best in Australia get's closer and closer."
ReplyDeleteHow is this not implying returning to the top flight? In fact, it's an outright direct statement moreso than implication.
I'm not anti-membership, I just place more importance on attendance figures than memberships, especially considering we get all the gate takings. The odd-game attender is better than the no-game attender and such fringe elements are important for paying the bills. Even back in the glory days I would assume that the membership percentage amongst the 3000 would've been pretty low. You can't force someone to be out of pocket who won't attend each game, nor can you make one care about facts n figures of an AGM.
I am content for the club to die a peaceful death because the club - and community in general - has not upheld the values, standards and culture of the generation who created it. Death before change.
How would you know what is important to paying bills? You are speculating with zero basis, like I said go to an AGM and see what is actually happening. At the moment all you are doing is making unfounded claims.
DeleteMemberships should be a topic of discussion and it should be something which the club should be pushing and marketing. And really you don't see the connection between that and getting attendances up? Getting people to be passionate, excited and invested in the club, you don't see how that correlates? Hey but according to you we shouldn't be "harping on about memberships". Are you kidding me man.
Please outline how the club has not upheld values and standards.
I'm not vehemently anti-membership enough to debate it any further, I've bought memberships and attented AGM's many times.
ReplyDeleteMembership and marketing drives introduce modern standards contradictory to the old world values on which our club identified itself in the past. These modern standards are filled with little partial and subtle indecencies that are entirely subconscious to our generation and accepted as standard. I prefer our oldies 'come to the game' approach. And with that I've also touched upon the values n standards argument. This is a fraction of a bigger pie, too much to get into. If the blog upkeeps, we can discuss these things amongst better subjects than memberships.
Hold on memberships is contradictory to the clubs values? Please explain how memberships are contradictory to a MEMBER BASED CLUB? The club was founded as a member based club, that's the heart and soul of the clubs structure. The oldies you keep talking about are the ones that set up the club with that membership structure. So what on earth are you talking about calling it a modern standard? Wtf.
DeleteAnd in terms of marketing the club has always advertised its memberships to the Croatian community, that was happening day one. Encouraging Croats to join through word of mouth in its earliest days to pushing it via our own local Croatian media once that was established. Saying otherwise is complete bullshit. I even have mainstream Australian soccer magazines from the heart of the 90s where the club took full page adverts for memberships. So how's that fit into your narrative?
Saying you've attended AGMs in the past is irrelevant, this is 2016 the only relevant AGM will always be the most recent one. So your claims about what the club needs or doesn't need is not based on any facts or knowledge.
the "oldies" approach lead to some of the biggest issues that we have as a community. They knew how to whinge and complain because they paid entry but when it came to standing up and being counted as someone the club can rely on for assistance, the cry was always "platio sam ulaznicu i to je dosta".
DeleteUnfortunately its not. Everytime you walk into the social club and you notice that 270 odd names iirc that stood up and had the clubs back when it decided to purchase our home, there's the benefit of membership. Otherwise we would be floating on the breeze being nomads hoping that our name/history wont lead in the local council revoking a lease aggrement.
If we are talking about old world values, doesn't the idea of membership imply the sense of community. That you are officially a part of some ideal? Perfect example that one should use when it comes to Croatian nogomet is the membership drive that Nas Hajduk has driven the last number of years.
uplatio clanarinu za hajduk, croacija melbourne i croacija geelong na isti dan.
ReplyDeletekakav lip osicaj.
poz.
I think you'll find the oldies 'come to the game' approach was coupled with a voting rights (currently $60) membership.
ReplyDeleteFuck valuing the opinion of someone who wants the club to die.
ReplyDeleteBeen a member of Melbourne Croatia since the 1996/1997 season. Last of the diehards as I see the numbers dwindle with each passing season.
ReplyDeleteMemberships are just as important as attendance, if not more important.
ReplyDeleteAsses on seats is one thing but the old saying goes that there is strength in numbers - 'numbers' being members and 'strength' being the ability to have their own say in a one member one vote club.
Game day provides a good atmosphere as is, but memberships spike interest in the general punter also; resulting in higher attendance numbers anyway.
More money for the club means being able to provide more things for Knights Stadium patrons, so how does NOT getting a membership make any sense? $12 general entry per game is not paying the bills man.. Blood sweat and tears of the many who devote their time to the club keeps it alive. That's the special part of our club. So as a supporter of MKFC, wouldn't you want to make it easier on those who already devote so much time and effort?
If only there was a way we could help them out and also benefit as supporters?!
Oh yeah that's right .. It's called membership.
Sign up Knights fans, it's a no-brainer.
I love this club, and I'll be a member for the rest of my days - that's a community, that's a team.
South fan here. I think to build membership you need to build community. I love going to South games because I feel welcomed and have gotten to know people there plus I love the local atmosphere and feel much more a part of that club than the A-League club I have a membership for. The easiest and most effective ways YOU the fan can do to grow the community at your club are:
ReplyDelete1. go to games (obviously)
2. bring friends to matches - the quicker this becomes routine the quicker they'll become true fans themselves.
3. Be welcoming of new fans. Leave bias at the gate and don't make new dawners scared or uncomfortable at matches. Don't laugh at this point, it might get you to roll your eyes but I've seen this at some South games from a couple of fans first hand and it instantly turns interested people off the club.
What can the club do?
1. Build a community that's more than football. How? kids activities, business networking, separate ladies, youth and fundraising committees and of course:
2. Food. The best way to bring people together off the pitch, you have a social club - make the most of it by making it welcoming, comfortable and enjoyable!!
Manny
Would it be worthwhile using Viduka in a membership video you can post on YouTube/facebook/twitter?
ReplyDeleteI assume he is still a supporter and member of the club
Zavicaju, ajmo se svi ubit kad je tako tmurno i da nam je propast ocigledna, kao zajednica, kao klub i kao ljudi. U jebote koji bi taj sprovod bio
ReplyDeleteWay out of proportion... re-read my comments again. My disagreement lay in over-spruiking and 'membership drives', rather than the actual framework of the club being membership-based.
ReplyDeleteNisam ja jedini koji spominje zatvaranje kluba, mnogi nasi navijaci starije generacije isto kazu ako nemoze dalje nek se ne muci. Svejedno im je, a mladarija sanja neki romanticizam koji ne znaci nista.
Good to see my comments have sparked some interest in the blog.
Pozdrav svima.
Also, how about some debate about the absurdity of us being potential top flight material?
ReplyDelete