Any reason why you didn't say "no worries, see you later" and let them go off to the beach, whilst you went to the family day?

_________________
I AM DISENFRANCHISED

Took the kids as i do every year. I don't know if it was a bigger crowd than they expected but it wasnt a well run event at all.
Lines for activities were horrendous.
I was in the line for fevs autograph with the kids. People were walking in from the side and getting photos without lining up. I pointed this out to the 2 people who were "managing things" and nothing was done. I got to 2nd in line and they whisked him away.
The line for the trampoline was a joke. I was lined up for 1 hour and left cos there was still probaby 45min to go. The problem was organisational. No-one was manageing the lines so people were walking up and talking to friends in line then basically joined them in line. There were 2 guys handmg the 4 trampolines whch meant delays as they suited the harnesses. Also given the long lines, they should have cut the time each kid was on the ride.

I'm going to send the club an email. I'll go back every year but there would be many people who would be put off esp if they paid to get in.

Crappest thing was, I was in line so long i missed El presidentes address and the presentations

Next year i'll be there 15 min before opening time

_________________
T E A M

I was hoping to attend but was tied up all arvo ( )

Anyone on here attend and if so, would you be able to give a quick summary of how the day went? Feedback on the radio was that there was a very decent turnout!

Thanks in advance

_________________
C'mon Blueboys!

I went and had a great time!

True Blue I'll give you a tip... PT there and buy a membership! Then you don't have to face any lines....

Its a shame when bombarded by fans popular players such as Murph and Gibbs seem to be so shy, or perhaps overwhelmed! Some other younger ones like Hampson and Anderson seemed to just slip into the role comfortably...

Anyways it was a fun day and King Richards shirt was HOT!

It was interesting to notice that at the autograph table Fev, Gibbs and Waitey were busier than our captain Lance!!!!!!
Fev was a gentleman.. i hate how the press vilify him.. hes so nice!


GO BLUES

Would certainly echo that comment; the company organsing most of the attractions (Active Attractions (sic)) certainly did not seem to have enough staff

Yeah I took my nephews had a great day. Got there at 11:00am took the kids on all the activities even managed to get a photo with Fev he was very approachable. It did help that we got there early after a couple of hours all queues where long.

Got there at opening and the young fella had a great day. Every player I approached was terrific and some of the younger guys very impressive. i speak highly of Smokin Joe and the Hampster. Joe gave his time freely and was articulate and forthcoming. Now i know a lot more about the Cazzes.

The activities were fun for the kids but could've probably done with a few more of them to spread the queues a bit.

I met Mrs Lance for a chat on the train and she was good to chat to and very proud of the mini lances - all three? As we trained it around the ground all the players would wave at us and i thought gee Carlton spirit is top notch. My young fella thought it was great to see. I then found out it was Mrs Lance they were waving at.

_________________
This might sound extreme in the context of alleged sexual assault, drunken violence and a drug trafficking charge...

And i thought it was only my wife having a whinge. She also thought it was badly organised. Players were good. Betts was most popular amongst the throng.

Perhaps they forecast a much lower crowd. I reckon there was more than 5000.

Also went there and had a great day, got all the players there to sign my little daughters jumper, all were very nice.


Any word on how many members signed up yesterday ?

_________________
Matty Kruzer you star!

Brad and Angelina look alikes perhaps

Regards Cazzesman

_________________
Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

try explaining that to my dad , anyway he promised he he'd take me to a few training sessions this year and that next time something like this is on we'd come before it started rather than 20 minutes after it started.

_________________
Last edited by true_blue3 on Mon Sep 26, 1981 5:07 pm; edited 92 times in total

Got there early Saw Scotland take off for a run about 10.30am Gates opened about 10.45am. Outside the ground they had membership tents and some volunteers handing out Carlton balloons to the kids. The Carlton Shop was packed with bouyant Blue supporters. Inside the arena they had a membership marquee, one main autograph booth with several players seated signing autographs Lance Kouta Lappin Waite Gibbs Beside that was a Bullants membership marquee with a couple of Bullants players plus volunteers and officials offering a discount for Blue supporters who also joined up as Bullant members. There was also a merchandise tent and an area where you could have your number imprinted (hot pressed) upon your jumper.

Had a large slide, an animal petting area, a stage with a magical act, and Digby Morrell and Hartford running some competitions for supporters, some oversize clowns on stilts and a couple of other entertainers walking through the crowd. There were also some takeaway food vans and a marquee tent with some tables and chairs set up on one wing.

All the players present and stationed around 3/4 of the ground about 20 metres or so apart. The queue for the main tent with Lance Kouta etc and for Fev was quite long but for most of the other players you could just walk up for a photo or autograph or chat. Fev was originally on the other side of the large slide and near him was Setanta, Hartlett, Thornton, Aisake Anderson, Teague. IIRC Stevens was there early but was gone by the time they did the presentations. Bower was down the end goals and near him was Jacobs, Grigg, Bentick, Cloke, Bannister, Young

IIRC all the players were called into the rooms about 12.45pm and then came out as a group for the presentation and lined up at the back of the main stage. The President was introduced and they made a presentation to him of a Mounted No 1 guernsey with President written across the top. They then introduced each of the new recruits and Digby interviewed one or two. As has been pointed out the microphone was not working very well and most of the speeches and introductions were hard to hear. After the recruits were introduced and given their jumpers by the President they all left the stage. Then Digby introduced the senior players and the coaching panel. After the introductions the players then took up their spots around the ground again for more auotgraphs etc.

Blood sugar coater.

_________________
Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

Nick Stevens was there. I arrived at 11 and he was there until at least 12 when I saw him again on the putt putt !

Guys,

Some numbers from yesterday.

5200 attended
Nearly 1000 memberships sold over the weekend ( including a few on Saturday night)
Excellent merchandise sales

We have just under 22,000 members.

Those that attended Sunday would agree there was a great feeling amongst the crowd, particularly when Richard was presented.

Thank you to all who attended with or without their families.

And yes, crowd was bigger than expected. We will be better prepared for next year.

Excellent news, Mark.

I'd love to see us hit 30K members.

Even 28/29 would be good.

_________________
Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

...

Can't say I saw him nor was he introduced when the coaching panel was introduced (I know, I know).

BUT....

I was right at the front....(right at the front! ) when they were introducing the caoching panel and Pagan was waiting in the wings. There was VERY good vibe from PAgan as they were introduced..especially when Ratts was introed!

Good vibe= as happily animated as I've ever seen him. (smiling, mouth open, moving arms... )

I'm not trying to read too much into this, but gee it seemed to be positive around the place

_________________
“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

I was there with the tribe! Little 3rd effort's birthday is coming up and he scored an early present, a brand new white change jumper. We then spent the better part of the rest of the family day chasing autographs.

I'd go along with the observations on queues and activities. We waited for the mini golf for ages and we gave up on the queues for both the player autographs tent and the Fevola queue.

In all though i was pretty impressed with the numbers there and with the accesibility of the players. We got Nick Stevens autograph early on. Had a funny incident getting Ryan Houlihan's autograph.

My little boy's name is also Ryan and he was kind of loitering about in front of Hoops waiting for an autograph\. Because little Ryan was a bit embarrased/scared etc he kept letting more forceful folks push in in front of him. Eventually i kind of lost my cool a bit and gave my son (young 9 year old Ryan) a bit of a spray along the lines of:

"Ryan would you stay in the line and stop letting other people push in, we've been waiting 20 bl00dy minutes here for an autograph!!"

To which Ryan Houlihan looked up and said sorry mate, could you maybe stay right here in front of me and I'll get to you next!!

I then had to go into the whole...oh sorry I didnt mean you, i was talking to my little son who is also called Ryan etc etc

He was pretty good about it and we got a great photo in the end.

_________________
"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

Thanks for the reports and info folks.

For info, the snow at Red Mountain was sensational!