Booney wrote:tipper wrote:Booney wrote:Because of the AFL reserves inclusion people have been lost to the SANFL, will they return? Perhaps, perhaps not, perhaps an 8 team "pure" competition will mean more people walk away, who can tell?
who can tell? well, i would suggest that the "anti's" have a proven track record in predicting what will happen with the changes in the league. posters like wedgie, uk fan, lph etc etc, they argued against the introduction of the reserves sides, and so far they have been proven correct on every count. crowds have fallen, memberships have fallen, media interest (apart from that focused on the reserves sides) has fallen, the crows $50k hasnt been the financial saviour of the clubs, the crows arent getting crowds of 4k (with or without opposition support), even the maggies crowds have plummeted.....
maybe, just maybe, the passionate and loyal sanfl supporters actually can see what is best for their own league and can see through the bullshit spin put forth by the afl clubs and those sucking up to them. maybe this time they will also be correct that the removal of the reserves sides will help the league.
either way, surely any good business would see that this change has hurt the leagues health, and attempt to make changes to correct the damage. the experiment failed. surely its time to either excise the problem, or make other changes to reverse the slide. sticking to a bad decision is much worse than making the bad decision in the first place. people need to admit they were wrong, and fix the issue sooner rather than later.
Agreed, the damage may be irreparable and beyond repair.
yep, i doubt i would have the time anymore to come back as a regular. i now have a membership of another sport to occupy my time on weekends, one in which i actually compete, and i dare say a lot of the others that stopped coming with the introduction of the reserves would be in a similar boat. many would have moved on to other things.
still, admitting the experiment failed would be a good start. the league directors need to stand up, admit the stuff up, and openly begin discussing how to fix things. just that alone would make a difference to my mindset.
highly doubt the big wigs at North will do that though. they never make mistakes. it will take the leadership of the other clubs to show the way sadly. they told me at the "info night" that if the reserves sides ruined the league they would rather close the club than get rid of the cause. they are willing to ride this one into the ground