..who have not signed up as yet...or existing members who have not renewed please do so prior to the cutoff date....whenever this is...It is not enough to say you support Carlton and not extend this support to being a member...I know our club has a very large supporter base which covers most states now and how we can still be under 40,000 members this year whilst teams like Collingwood (whose supporter base is largely unemployed
) and other Vic clubs are ahead of us is beyond my comprehension...My old man has been a member of the club since '52 after arriving into Australia in '48 by boat and working and living in Carlton he had no choice but to be a bluebagger...58 years later he is still that same loyal bluebagger...every year prior to January the old man and myself always goes down to the club and renew our memberships (he does mine now as well more recently as I work overseas now)...he does this religiously whether we are going well or whether we finish last...whether he supports the coach or whether he thinks the coach sucks...whether he agrees with tactics or whether he has his own views about a better way to do things...
Now to me (and I say this with as least amount of bias as possible) my old man is the model supporter...loyal through and through and puts his hand in his pocket every year and also during the times the club has been in financial strife and he isn't a business mogul just a simple man who has been an employee all his life...but a man who loves Carlton almost as much he does his family...
Still to this day when I sit down with him and he tells me stories of the old days I get goose bumps up and down my arms...the stories of the clubs 21 year drought from '47 to '68...the Barassi era....the '70 grand final (he remembers every single detail of that day..everything!!), the '72 shoot out, the '73 GF and he still goes off at Balme Fowler co for their tactics that day...the Jezza era...my first GF was with him in '79...I remember every detail of that day....everything...and it goes on.
In the more recent years as he has got older he doesn't attend matches as much as before in fact maybe only one or two a year now but make no mistake the passion remains...after every game each week he still gives me the customary phone call no matter where I am in the world to discuss the joys of the win or to dissect the tragedy of a loss...
Now given this background I just cannot fathom how one can support the club and not be a paid up member...I just do not get it...our club is on the way back now and on the cusp of something big....we have all toughed out the last decade of pain and want our club to be more professional both player and coaching staff wise...on field and off and we are getting there...but at such a time for our membership numbers to be dropping is absolutely disgraceful...no other word describes it better for me than disgraceful...the club also needs us to be there now more than ever....Carlton is not some two bit footy club that came into existence a few years back...this is a club with history a club that has given us nothing but joy in the month that counts the most...September.
The filth give their supporters nothing but heartache for decades and yet they have over 50,000 members...this is UNACCEPTABLE...we have over 11,000 members who have not renewed from last year...had they renewed we would be close to 50,000 by now...to you I say where are you? and why? and one more thing...renew today b4 tomorrow...no ifs no buts....if you want to be telling your kids in the future of how great a club we are you want to be telling these stories having lead by example...the example being that you were a member of the club NO MATTER WHAT!
