Melb footy club stealing our ideas.....

Dogs' boss says Melbourne is copying their ideas
The Herald Sun
Mark Stevens | June 04, 2009

TENSIONS between the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne have boiled over, with claims the Demons are copying ideas hatched at Whitten Oval. The Bulldogs, already willing to fight for their turf in Darwin despite Melbourne's interest, were surprised on Friday to learn the Demons had joined forces with the Victorian Women's Football League.

"Leaders are always copied. The best form of flattery is someone takes your idea and claims it as theirs," Bulldogs chief executive Campbell Rose said.

Rose said the club had spent several years supporting the VWFL after president Debbie Lee knocked on his door in 2004 in search of a job in football.

But Rose said Lee was "poached" by the Demons late last year and he was disappointed to see an article in the Herald Sun on Friday spruiking a Melbourne-VWFL partnership.

"If they (Melbourne) think it's a massive coup or a game of one-upmanship, they've got it terribly wrong," Rose said.

"I am terribly disappointed in Debbie Lee. After five years of work in this area, I learnt of a new relationship with Melbourne via newspapers and a cryptic letter.

"I would have thought she could have picked up the phone and called."

The latest development comes almost five months after the Dogs beat the Demons to sign major sponsor Mission Foods.

There was angst at the time, but Melbourne chief executive Cameron Schwab last night denied the club had gone to the AFL to raise its concerns about the process.

But with the Dees now openly eyeing Darwin and joining with the women's league, Rose conceded he had wondered if there was lingering resentment because of the close call with Mission.

"There is not a skerrick of animosity or resentment towards Melbourne in any fashion from our president, myself or our club, however I've often wondered if those sentiments have been reciprocated," Rose said.

The Dogs won a deal worth $4.5 million over three years with Mission Foods and Melbourne was forced to keep searching, finally coming up with joint sponsors.

Melbourne last week confirmed it saw Darwin as a good fit for up to two home games, but the Dogs are willing to fight on that front if they have to.

Schwab strongly disputed the "copycat" claims.

"Our club admires what the Bulldogs have done to build their club," Schwab said.

"We've got a little saying we use, which is what we do is special, not unique.

"You learn a lot from other clubs. The special will be the application to our club."

Schwab said there was no connection between Mission, Darwin and the VWFL arrangement.

He said there was no lingering resentment over Mission.

"There's a lot of competition in our sport. We went a long way down the track with Mission and they made a choice -- we ended up with two fantastic sponsors," Schwab said.

Schwab also defended the partnership with the VWFL.

"We've formed a group called the Women of Melbourne and the initiative came through there," Schwab said.

"We have a board member, Karen Hayes, who chairs that group.

"Debbie Lee has been a real important figure in women's football and runs our community programs."

Schwab said Lee was recommended to the Demons and the club approached her to run the community programs in the City of Casey.

The Dogs had allowed the women footballers to train at Whitten Oval and used Lee to run their Spirit West community program.