Hi Ruffy,
Thanks for coming on. My questions have already been asked by others, particularly TrueBlueBrad.
I dare say you don't have time to go back and read this entire thread, but I wanted to draw your attention to some posts that I found interesting in the lead up to the AGM and election....
Stephen Moulton recently posted (see page 3 of this thread) the following-
Stephen M wrote:
...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.
Here is how some posters (ie. Carlton supporters) responded to Stephen's comments-
Robert Heatley wrote:
...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".
bluegirl72 wrote:
...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.
Blue Vain wrote:
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.
I wanted to bring these posts to your attention as a way of highlighting the growing frustration and disconnection many of us are feeling towards our football club and those that represent it. I have been a continuous member for 20+ years (including 4 years when I was living overseas and saw no games but kept my full membership going as a way to support the club) and I am seriously considering cancelling my (Captain's Club) membership in 2013.
Ruffy, I can't tell you how much I love the club and how desperately I want to see us become the on-field and off-field power in the AFL that we were in the VFL. But there are many like me who are walking away....and the club doesn't seem to care. In fact, the perception coming back from the club is that we are 'apathetic'. Well, if there is any apathy I would say it's from the club towards its members.
Apologies for the belated response to the various comments made after I posted about my views on membership and also the fact that there would not be a change to the Constitution to allow long distance members the right to vote. I have not been back on since apart from just before elections and have not had the opportunity to take in everything that has been said.
First, on the question of apathy, none of this is directed at the many thousands of people who have been members for many years or to those you have decided against re-signing for many different reasons, including disappointment with the Club's leadership/direction. I apologise if my comments were taken to be an excuse for disappointing membership numbers - that was not my intention. As a passing comment, I know many Carlton supporters who are not members and never have been. They will spend their money on many things but will not take up membership because they are simply "apathetic". Tell me you don't know a single Carlton supporter who is just like that (i.e. can't frankly be bothered to take out a membership) and I will withdraw my comment.
Our off field performance has significantly improved since I joined the Board in 2006. However, ,we are a long way short of where a great Club should be and I know that there are steps in place (Board renewal) that will ensure continue to improve. For example, there will always be complaints about membership but I, for one, believe our membership performance has significantly improved since Clinton Bown took over. He is aware that we need to continue to improve our performance in this area and I am confident he is the right man for the job. Half the battle has been improving the integrity of data held in the Club's systems.
Secondly, I was personally in favour of re-instating interstate/long distance member voting rights. As was indicated at the end of 2011, it was an oversight that this category of membership was overlooked when re-drafting the Constitution. My view was not shared by the majority of the sub committee when we reviewed the issue again shortly before I retired from the Board. I have confidence that with a renewed Board, this will be attended to in 2013 and I will take up the issue with the relevant decision makers during 2013.
In some of the quotes, it has been mentioned that being a board member is a thankless task. None of us seek praise. We have made mistakes and we have done some good things as well. None of Mark Harrison, Ari Suss or myself had to retire this year but we put up our hands to go in 2012 a year before because we did not want to prevent new blood (eg. Ryan Trainor and Craig Mathieson) from coming on Board. There will be a reduction in numbers. The addition of Sayer and Fahour provide even more renewal as CEOs of large corporates who can significantly help with the direction of the Club and are candidates for leadership of the Club along with other incumbent Board members. More long serving Board members will retire over the next couple of years and numbers will be reduced to around 9 which one of the targets in the Club's strategic plan.
I believe the Club will go from a good club to a great club over the next few years. We will continue to improve and hopefully have some significant success onfield noting our strategic plan was an aspiration of 2 flags within 5 years (which now means 2 flags in the next three seasons). I am extremely confident that Mick Malthouse will get 100% from the list we have - I hope that leads to Premiership success.
I know that many of you believe we have been arrogant as a Board over the years without proper regard and respect for the members. I am sorry if we appeared to be as it was never intended. Our performances over the last 10 years give us no right to be arrogant whatsoever.
I will enjoy watching the game with my family on 2013 as Captains Club member and hopefully will regain the passion I had before I became a director - you tend to get a little sterilised when involved at that level - and with any luck, enjoy watching the Club succeed both on and off the field.
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