Thanks DocSherrin, definitely want to hear your and other TC members thoughts. Want to stress that this is a personal initiative of mine to get more in touch with our members - hopefully this will help me serve Carlton better in whatever way I can.

PLEASE MAKE SURE WE DO NOT RECRUIT KYLE REIMERS!!!

Hi Raphael,

I am a member as is the rest of my family, however from the large number of ex-members that we seem to have I would have thought the club would be better served with their direct telemarketing efforts calling lapsed members and asking them to renew rather than calling existing members and asking them to buy a ticket in the $200 Club Raffle.

Under the new system, there is no longer a process of having to be "registered" to vote. The new membership application form provides the necessary consent in terms of liability in the event of a winding up (to $50) and once a person pays for their membership or agrees to do so by instalments, that person is a registered member and entitled to vote if they become at least an 11 game member. A direct debit arrangement has been in place for at least the last year so hopefully this will result in a greater number of automatic renewals. Otherwise, it has always been a mystery as to why our membership renewals are so far behind other clubs. Personally, i think there is a view that "all will be right" because we are a wealthy club with many wealthy benefactors - which is far from the case. For some reason, we seem to have many apathetic supporters who don't purchase memberships. I well accept that there are also aggrieved supporters who won't take out membership for principle reasons, such as is the case with some long distance supporters.

...it has always been a mystery as to why our membership renewals are so far behind other clubs. Personally, i think there is a view that "all will be right" because we are a wealthy club with many wealthy benefactors - which is far from the case. For some reason, we seem to have many apathetic supporters who don't purchase memberships. I well accept that there are also aggrieved supporters who won't take out membership for principle reasons, such as is the case with some long distance supporters.

...there is a perception that the club is all about the wealthy benefactors. I've been a member since I was 6 years old, I'm now 46. If I miss out on a seat at an Etihad sell out game or heaven forbid don't get a ticket to our next grand final, no one at Carlton will give a stuff. Right now Carlton is not the appealing proposition it once was - we are getting shown up for success principles by Geelong and Sydney (for crying out loud) I hate our supposed home ground, and I don't like the fact that we don't have a Carlton reserves team. I hate how we allow ourselves to be perceived in the media as tankers (the simple answer to that is to lock some of these journalists in a room and force them to watch all our games from 2002 to 2007 and see how crap we were from round 1 each season!) and how we lose the battle on 3rd party deals of which there are 80 odd, but we only hear about the Judd one. I want us to be professional but proud - defend us, promote us, but with better language and actions than "we are Carlton flower the rest".

...your post just affirms what many of us already think or know.
You guys are out of touch. You have no clue why we don't have more members, and worse, that old Carlton arrogance comes through in the way you blame 'apathetic supporters'. Really?
That's no way to talk to the life blood of the club now is it?
If people feel disenfranchised, and excluded, maybe it's because the club gives out the message that only wealthy benefactors are important. We're not apathetic. We follow the club despite its wretched attitude toward it's own members, it's crappy treatment of long term volunteers, and it's own staff.
We overlook the under performing and over serviced board room group, and a president who keeps telling us we've voted him in, when we haven't had a chance to vote for him until now.

You have a lot of work to do, if you want to really make everybody I AM CARLTON. Right now, that slogan is just a joke to many. We used to feel a part of this club. If you need the every day fans, and the Interstaters, then come down off your bloody high horses, get out of the Corporate boxes, and make the regular members feel like it's their club again. for real!!! geez.

Some supporters want to feel included and appreciated. Others are just happy to pay their 100 bucks and go along to the footy. Until we can tap into the requirements of all the supporters and attempt to cater to their requirements, we're behind the 8 ball.
You dont have to meet the expectations of everyone but its negligent not to know their expectations.

Firstly, the club needs to understand that the supporters are not "apathetic". That is an excuse for a board that has failed to put the machinations in place to connect with the latent supporters and convert them into members.
It appears to me that we have a philosophy of replacement instead of renewal. Too many lapsed members are not followed up. Too many lapsed corporate supporters are not followed up. The strength of some of our opponents is they value all their members and make them feel included.
They dont advertise training sessions to see the new coach and finish the session 10 minutes after the advertised time. They dont get security guards to throw members out of training sessions. They set targets and put initiatives in place to achieve them instead of hoping it will happen.
They understand that content supporters equal increased merchandise sales, increased membership and more than often, membership retention.

Our recent 50 thousand supporters goal is a perfect example. Swann made the grand announcement about reaching 50 thousand but what initiatives did we put in place to achieve it? Even on this site many supporters were saying "if we win games, the supporters will come". That's not a plan. That's not an initiative.
Did we follow up lapsed members with phone calls? Several lapsed members I know weren't contacted. You only need 1 supporter out of a couple of hundred to re-sign to make it worthwhile.

Personally, I've previously supported the club in many of their initiatives. Family room, Kouta club, Blue suits, corporate boxes, match day functions for 20-30 people. Especially in the dark years when no-one wanted to know us.
In the past couple of years I've stopped doing it because I'm disappointed with the direction of the club.
If it was my business and a client dropped his annual contribution from 20k+ to $1200.00 per year, I'd want to know why. I'd follow it up and find out how we can offer better service.
I'd be assessing my own performance instead of making excuses about apathy and benefactors. It doesnt happen.

I appreciate the efforts of everyone who has given time to the board. Its a thankless job that eats into the time of people who have families and businesses and have chosen to help the club instead. But that doesnt mean we should accept less than ideal performance. Our board is stale and tired. It needs a huge shake up and infusion of young, energetic people who want to make a difference.
Thats where the apathy exists IMO.

Don't worry, we were just being trolled.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/ ... fault.aspx

Oh...and who the !@#$%& let that Sherrin idiot back in...?

Welcome Ruffy.

The club continually states a goal to increase membership. I have not been a member for the last 3 years, I won't bore you with the reasons why. However, in that time I have fielded a grand sum of zero phone calls from CFC asking me to rejoin/why I lapsed, etc. Focusing on this area is surely an easy win for the club?

I thought he got life, with no parole