Brizzy Blue wrote
Quote:
That little gem of research is not worth a crumpet. If you were to ask a cross section of Sydneysiders who they followed in the AFL, the standard answer would be the Swans even though most of them have never been to a game or have any interest in it.
One only needs to look at the crowds at interstate games when the Blues play there. I can tell you we almost outnumbered the Lions fans in round 13. In previous years even when the Lions were travelling well, we had a large proportion of crowd support. It is different in Perth and Adelaide with their huge Membership base. It is hard to get a ticket there.
Survey is just indicative of what people might consider their team, not necassarily what is their team. Nevertheless our numbers are still good, and we should use the scores to our advantage.
This is a national survey and if we still have in excess of 500,000 supporters nationally, then we should not find it as difficult as we have to attract a Corporate Sponsor(s) requiring a club with national support. There is a great pitch there for the taking, and I believe it wont be long, if the board get their act together.
Brizzy, how true. Our support in Brizzy well I just couldn't believe the phenomena, same goes with WA and SA, and when I use to live on the Gold Coast, every second supporter was a Carlton supporter. Just recently I was impressed by the number of Carlton jumpers worn at the Swans game in Sydney. Don't worry too much that there's a lack of support out there in terms of memberships, it refelects our darkest period in our history, on and off the field. We have a rich history, and these Carlton supporters surveyed are part of it, and feel strength in our history, if not our present situation. We still have cred in bragging rights. Whilst in our books 10 years is a long time between premierships, it's not as dark as it is for the Saints, Doggies, Tigers, Hawks, Demons, Magpies, Geelong and Freo.
I think that the darkest moments in our history are in the past, and we're riding the end of it now. We will improve, dollars are coming through the door. We only need for our board to promote the club in a positive light and attract major Corporate Sponsors to put the debt to bed. With on field success noone doubts that the surge of Carlton support will be stronger than ever, in the form of appreciation and celebration that we have closed the door on our darkest moment in 150 years.
The board should be using these figures to our advantage; all of them.