Overcoming Tribal Bias

[Ghost Dog]

Recently I'm reading the book The Art of Thinking Clearly, by Rolf Dobelli.
One section in it contends with tribal bias. How are we or have we been, as a club, swayed by o( or overcome ) tribal bias to make poor or good decisions?

It's fairly easy to see this from the outside ( eg: Essendon and Hird for one. Carlton must really love seeing Waite and Betts tear it up at other clubs. )

But what about our own club? Football is a passionate pastime for fans, and a serious business for those in it.
What are some instances where tribal bias caused us to make poor decisions in the past? Or on the other hand, some instances where bias was overlooked to make a good choice? ( Bevo with Matt Boyd for example ).

On the negative side, We seem to have had problems with saying goodbye to stars in the right manner and right timeframe.
( Cross, West, others ). One could argue the mantra of 'get a tall forward' has plagued us for years, until we are convinced it's the only way to advance.

Anyway, will open this up and see if any of the members have something to say about it. Just musing.

[ledge]

Haha asking all of us with tribal bias:-)
Seriously though we need to look from the outside and distance our mind from being attached
As a young person no way could I do it but as I have got older I found myself looking at the club as someone who supports another club.
I see us still with a culture problem, as in we haven't got the arrogant successful team mantra yet.
Peter Gordon has done a huge job changing it and making us believe and becoming more professional.
The last 3 years we have been the most successful club by a mile.
AFL, 2 VFL and a women's flag.
We have also wiped debt and are not really recognised outside the club as being such a success.
Our old culture still haunts us even though it probably hardly exists now.
On list management, I believe we do a lot better than most.
Just look at Melbourne , Carlton, Essendon,GC as a few examples of a struggling list management system for many years.

[Twodogs]

Speaking of the tribe I was listening to Terry Wallace the other day on SEN and he said that bulldog supporters still view him as a blackhat in Bulldog history after our messy break up. I think that's a real shame that Plough thinks that because he is one of the people most responsible for turning the club around, especially the old image (that still makes an appearence but is less and less pronounced as time goes on) of Footscray just being happy to be making up the numbers and getting an invite to play with the big boys.

As I said the break up was messy but we were really good for one another for such a long time, and we've both moved on to do pretty well for ourselves. As far as I'm concerned Terry is forgiven.

[I'm Not Bitter Anymore!]

Winning the Premiership allowed me to drop all of my bitterness (which started in 1969 when Bissett got reported ruling him ineligible for the Brownlow) so I have no bad feelings towards Plough anymore either

[bornadog]

Winning the Premiership allowed me to drop all of my bitterness (which started in 1969 when Bissett got reported ruling him ineligible for the Brownlow) so I have no bad feelings towards Plough anymore either

Bisset, West and Grant should all have a brownlow around their neck - but hey I will forget one day

[ledge]

Speaking of the tribe I was listening to Terry Wallace the other day on SEN and he said that bulldog supporters still view him as a blackhat in Bulldog history after our messy break up. I think that's a real shame that Plough thinks that because he is one of the people most responsible for turning the club around, especially the old image (that still makes an appearence but is less and less pronounced as time goes on) of Footscray just being happy to be making up the numbers and getting an invite to play with the big boys.

As I said the break up was messy but we were really good for one another for such a long time, and we've both moved on to do pretty well for ourselves. As far as I'm concerned Terry is forgiven.

That's very strange from Terry I had a conversation with him a few years ago about it and told him that I thought supporters had forgiven him and invited him to come to a VFL game ( happened to be the day his son was umpiring the game ) he rolled up and watched in the crowd with which many supporters introduced themselves and welcomed him back.
I actually had a chat to him and he introduced his wife to me and I thought it had made him overcome those thoughts.
He is a life member of our club so the club definitely recognised his contribution over the years and let's face if he gave the club one of the most famous speeches ever. "I will spew up "

[Twodogs]

That's very strange from Terry I had a conversation with him a few years ago about it and told him that I thought supporters had forgiven him and invited him to come to a VFL game ( happened to be the day his son was umpiring the game ) he rolled up and watched in the crowd with which many supporters introduced themselves and welcomed him back.
I actually had a chat to him and he introduced his wife to me and I thought it had made him overcome those thoughts.
He is a life member of our club so the club definitely recognised his contribution over the years and let's face if he gave the club one of the most famous speeches ever. "I will spew up "

I reckon I spoke to him that day too. I walked past him and said "hello Plough" and he grabbed my arm (I'm a friend of a friend) pointed to the crowd and said "how lomg has this been going on?" I said "about 130 years, I'm suprised you've forgotten" (I just can't help myself sometimes) he laughed and said that it was great to see.

[HOSE B ROMERO]

As far as i was concerned, Terry had enough credits in the bank, so his leaving didn't really bother me. Even if the execution could have been better. I think he was at the club for 13 or so years and was probably ready to move on. The list wasn't in great shape.

From memory, Terry won the b&f in his first 2 years at the club whereas many other champions who change clubs are just happy to go through the motions and collect the pay packet. He then was assistant coach, reserves coach. His tenure as number 1 provided me with my greatest period of joy following the club.

Terry's biggest downfall in my opinion was when he ran out in his final season as a player wearing a Footscray headband.

https://twitter.com/thelistmanager/s...82500245733376

[Twodogs]

That headband thing was a shocker. The club must have bought a job lot because I reckon Simon Beasley wore one for a couple of games despite the fact he had a receding hairline. He had more chance of getting his opponents hair in his face!