bondiblue wrote:
We are a founding club.
Despite the poor showing on the weekend, against a hand picked super team, we are also a founding member of the mens, and the womens competition.
I'm grateful for that, and proud of our club.
In fact, with a bit of coaxing from me and my carlton mad boys we have been pleasantly surprised to see a few females (friends) change their allegiance to Carlton because they had a women's team and their team didn't. When asked what they liked apart from having a womens team they said they love the jumper.
I'm sure the women's team provides plenty of exposure of our brand and our emblem around the country and that's a great thing.
Sponsors love that sort of thing: exposure, that is.
Win or lose I am Carlton, the girls are Carlton, we are Carlton. I'm glad we are in everyone's face.
You've got to be in it the be relevant. Handing back the keys isn't an option, and I'm glad Collins didnt do it when he was running the joint.
I'm proud we have a womens team.
Gosh, in 2017, the opening round of the AFLW was at Princes park against Collingwood, with a sellout crowd reminded everyone of the power houses Carlton and Collingwood are, win or lose. The girls put us back on the public's radar, when the boys were not performing as well, and we won. In fact we won 3 in a row.
Its times like now that the club is made aware of another area we should be making improvements: that's all.
The women have put Carlton back on the map. That's worth plenty. After the night game we had last year, it made it clear the AFL needed Princes Park as it did before Docklands, and now they are footing the bill for new lights...and you will hear announcements on that soon. Why? because the women play there and its a ground with an inner city address that 10-20,000 footy fans would be willing to attend if it was a great spectacle. I'm so glad princes Park is back on the map and on TV, not just for my nostalgia, but for my kids and the whole Carlton Football Club Family.
No need to get all despondent, and turning on each other Richmond style, and despite getting use to losing over the last 17 years, we still don't like it, and from what I'm seeing, we are doing something about it.
The losing isn't going to continue forever. Like a poster said above, after 155 years, the losing is just a moment in time. Carlton lives on.
Both teams will do us proud in the next couple of years when we have reestablished ourselves as a power house of the competition, and of this country.
Don't get down on the girls. Carlton has changed its ways and moved with the times. Carlton is the domain for Men and Women and young Boys and Girls.
Our AFLW team just played against a team which have been handed on a platter all the advantages similar to the GWS. We weren't scoreless, and yes there we areas in their game and their training regime in need for a change. The girls will come back with that Carlton spirit. You know...the spirit that doesn't like losing. That's us.
Finally an intellectual response to my question.
As I don't work at the club and do not have accurate figures, I would still question the financial gain of having a womens team. As in most infant stages of any business I'm guessing there is quite a disproportion of expenses vs revenue. My concern is that if they are getting flogged week in week out than that disparity would become greater and at a cost to the mens team and overall debt. I've had a quick glance at our financial report and even though we made a 700k profit, it's still on a 61.6mil turnover which is just better than a 1% return. Banks can offer a better return than that.
However, I do agree that it was important for us to be a founding member and it's interesting and applaudable that you have converted some people. I really hope you're right about the branding and other associated marketing benefits as I totally understand the need for that, I just hope they are keeping their KPI's and stats, otherwise we are flying blind further into a hole.
You've sold me on some hope for the womens team and I'll back off the "handing the keys in" cliff. Let's just hope that the rest of their season is a success and there is not a negative effect on the mens team if the girls underperform.
Go the Blues.