What a great letter, from THE DOG'S BOLLOCKS!!

[CENTURION]

Bring in the NEXT GENERATION -- Slighlty Incoherent:

I was born into this club by a family who settled in Elizabeth from the ten pound pom era. To be honest, this club has been the only consistent thing in my life. On both sides of my family a lot of relatives have moved interstate and I’m now left with a very small family and CDFC which I also call my family. But from what I can see and hear is that many people have moved on, thus my other family becoming small. This is an issue for me because I don’t want CDFC to die off, I couldn’t help my family disappearing but I’ll be dammed if I lose this family. All this bollocks with the finances of PAFC club and our club flood lights has me worrying about our future.

I’d like to open a discussion about bringing in the next generation of supporters, yes the people who will come to every match, pay to get pissed and enjoy a good match supporting the team they love, who in turn loves them also. I’m 20 (the young generation of supporter?) so I believe I may have insight into minds of people my age.

The reason I know of this club is because I was born into it, but many of my friends however were not so lucky. They came from families outside of the SANFL and have only ever been exposed to the fast food franchise football known as AFL, which of course dominates the media. However, over the last couple of years there has been a dramatic drop in support in South Australia of our AFL teams. Struggling like their SANFL counterparts in the financial departments, I see this as an opportunity to bring in the next generation of supporters who are looking for a club that gives them a sense of well being.

I used to have interest in supporting a certain team from Adelaide in the AFL but once I got to an age of self consciousness I never felt like I had any sense of being in the club, you could pay thousands in membership baloney and still be outside of a red railing rope where all the players and exclusives had their shits and giggles after a game.

I feel I have a sense of being at CDFC and that I'm appreciated as a supporter, I don’t want this to ever change and I want more people to experience what I do every weekend (especially the finals).

I think we need bit more of a connection with Elizabeth and it's new generation. Our club needs more of a cosmetic presence in the area to draw attention to fact we actually exist at Elizabeth Oval. I've always liked the thought of having a statue of 2 bulldogs with a premiership cup or an iconic player marking the ball in the oasis of the Elizabeth Shopping Centre. I'm no genius but I hope others that read this can add more suggestions for the club to branch out to the next generation of Elizabethans and the surrounding suburbs in the north.

[PatowalongaPirate]

As silly as it sounds, your success may be a determining factor. The next generation of Dogs only seem to rock up on Grand Final day with great expectations, and who can blame them?! The challenge is to get these bandwagoners to sign on, to get to the ponderosa, to get to away games. I am not having a swipe here, sh*t I'm a Glenelg supporter! I want Central Districts around, I want them to wear knee high white socks again, I want to always feel the intimidation of crossing the city lines, I want to beat them for f%*k sake!

[85 WAS A GOOD YEAR]

I want to beat them for f%*k sake!

X2

[MightyEagles]

Make that x3

[Big Phil]

Make that x3

Nah, sorry MightyEagles, you've already beaten the Dogs in a GF, now don't be greedy and share it around

BTW - good post by DogsBollocks, a thought provoking piece and something that all clubs, no doubt, think about and consider.

[tigerpie]

I want to beat them for f%*k sake!

X2

x4.they are our new nemesis.they have taken that mantle from the magpies

[whufc]

SCHOOLS, SCHOOLS and SCHOOLS

that is the place it has to start, i worked at a youth center where we had after school care and before school care and lot of these kids came from a school where a Central premiership player was a teacher. The way the kids were so enthused about the Dogs and new where they were playing each week, were given tickets to go was marvellous, all you had to say was UDogs and straight away they new your were talking about Centrals.

Also having players do the clinics at schools has been a huge success. (i dont know what other clubs have done) but Central had Chad O'Sullivan and Trent Goodrem going to school on a daily basis promoting the club.

There isnt to many kids/teens in Elizabeth/Salisbury/Barossa dont know what your talking about if you say Centrals,

Hopefully these kids/teens will turn into the future members/supporters of the club.

[whufc]

To be honest though Centurian i think Central should be marketing to the 20-25 year old crowd.

The northern suburbs has a massive 20-25 year old population and they should be trying to capture this market.

These are the blokes who will spend money over the bars inside and outside of Grand Central, these are the same blokes who tend to not do anything by themselves, they will bring people with them.

These are the same blokes who if you get attached to the club are becoming the next lot of managers/full time workers etc etc who have money to spend. They are the next generation of player/club sponsors like yourself.

These are also the blokes that have mates who are starting to crack the league and play reserves football. They have the money to buy merchandise and most of all once you lock them in they will never leave to the AFL because of the affordability and mateships it brings.

I would love to see the club put on a concert after (prefferbly night) home games. Make it an over 18 event get these people regulary coming to Central/Grand Central. Turn it into a meeting place for people.

[CENTURION]

Well, I'm doing my bit, going there now for lunch with Big Moose, the club tattooist! See you there mebbe?

[whufc]

Well, I'm doing my bit, going there now for lunch with Big Moose, the club tattooist! See you there mebbe?

I have to see Moose shortly, another child coming very very soon means another tatoo i need to be done!

[LPH]

A very interesting letter.
I have to agree with the previous posts re: Born into success.

I would suggest that THIS is a contributing factor as to why PAFC can't get crowds in the GAYFL... too many 'supporters' aren't used to mediocrity & hence don't turn up to witness it.

The older generation of CDFC supporters DO know what it's like to under-perform.
Centrals couldn't win a finals game between '71 & 95 (cue Spelly).

As an old Torrens fan, I never saw my club win a final @ least Woodville Fans saw two wins in '86 (the best being the 1st Semi vs Port, no doubt).

It is a difficult problem for ALL SANFL Clubs.
My club's support could be considered 'Grand Dad's Army' - our average age is so high that we could call our upgraded clubrooms "Godds waiting room"

Playing Finals games @ Footy Park & applying 'AFL Crowd' rules to spectator areas (e.g. yellow lines for beer consumption as well as no standing areas) alienates many.

The SANFL's Cash Cow is slowly dieing - particularly due to things such as; live vs gate TV, over priced food & drink, top end focus on corporate 'supporters', a generation of 'entertainment junkies' going to the footy rather than the tribal, die-hards of yester-year.

These are very challenging times for ALL competitions outside the GAYFL - quite frankly, they (the GAYFL) are happy for WAFL & SANFL clubs/competitions to die off because THEY get even more of the Pie. They are only concerned with the TV money that they can drag in (GWS & GCS are only added to the comp, so we can have AFL on TV, Thursday thru Monday). For Dimetriou to suggest that they are concerned about 'grass roots footy' is laughable @ best.

I think the only way WE as supporters of Local Footy can make any sort of change is to vote with our feet, become members of our clubs & eat & drink @ local grounds before, during & after games. I think the SANFL has erred somewhat by increasing the amount of night games played...
Whilst there is an argument to suggest that this will help crowds, I would suggest it will hinder them because FAMILIES (i.e. the next generation) will be reluctant to turn up.

Great passionate letter. Would love to hear what the club's response was.

[mickey]

I want to beat them for f%*k sake!

X2

x4.they are our new nemesis.they have taken that mantle from the magpies

Given up trying to beat us in a gf ?

[Mythical Creature]

After reading this I have sent the link to the new Centrals marketing manager. Give him some ideas to start his new job with!

[Booney]

The next generation is fine, they will be bred by the current generation who live and breathe the 'Dogs.

The next 30 years looks after itself out there.

[tigerpie]

I want to beat them for f%*k sake!

X2

x4.they are our new nemesis.they have taken that mantle from the magpies

Given up trying to beat us in a gf ?

Be nice to see us both there in the big one....cant see it somehow

[topsywaldron]

I think we need bit more of a connection with Elizabeth.

Haven't we spent the last ten years having the Dogs 'special relationship' with the northern suburbs rammed down our throats ad infinitum?

[LPH]

I think we need bit more of a connection with Elizabeth.

Haven't we spent the last ten years having the Dogs 'special relationship' with the northern suburbs rammed down our throats ad infinitum?

[Big Phil]

After reading this I have sent the link to the new Centrals marketing manager. Give him some ideas to start his new job with!

Will be a tough gig being a marketing manager at an SANFL club in todays economic climate, particularly Central who are very dissapointed with the lack of membership increase and revenue despite on-field success.

Good luck to the fella who got the job, will certainly earn his money I reckon.

[Dogwatcher]

I think we need bit more of a connection with Elizabeth.

Haven't we spent the last ten years having the Dogs 'special relationship' with the northern suburbs rammed down our throats ad infinitum?

Doesn't mean it can't be improved upon.

[Trent Plucktrum]

If you can't maintain the crowds now how will you fair when the wheel finally turns and you start losing and that may still be another ten years from now but how big is your loyal supporters base compared with 10 years of bandwaggoners .All clubs suffer when success wanes so if you can't turn a profit now god help you when the on field glory ceases !!