ACT, NT may lose matches

[Scraggers]

ACT, NT may lose matches

Caroline Wilson
March 8, 2009

THE AFL's national footprint is in danger of being reduced, with games in Canberra and Darwin no certainty to be fixtured beyond 2009, and at least one travelling Victorian team signalling its intention to pull out of selling home games.

The AFL has not yet started talks with the Northern Territory or the Australian Capital Territory governments, with both agreements expiring at the end of 2009. The Western Bulldogs, fixtured to play a home game in each territory this year, have told the AFL they plan on doing so for the last time.

Bulldogs chief executive Campbell Rose signalled his club's intention with AFL boss Andrew Demetriou when Demetriou toured the Bulldogs' new training facility three days ago.

Rose reiterated his push to play 11 home games in Melbourne beyond 2009 at a subsequent meeting on Friday with Demetriou's No. 2 Gillon McLachlan.

It is understood the AFL gave the Bulldogs no assurance, but Demetriou said he would endeavour to give the club an indication of the AFL's future intentions as soon as possible.

"We ideally want to continue fixturing a game in every state and territory in Australia," Demetriou said. "As soon as we have a firm idea of where we're headed next year, I have given them (the Bulldogs) an assurance to make them aware of our plans."

The Bulldogs have been travelling interstate to play home games since the start of this decade in a bid to improve their financial position, which has been further eroded by a poor stadium return from the recently renamed Etihad Stadium.

Although the Bulldogs' average home attendance at Docklands went from 11,000 in 2002 to 33,000 last year, the club's annual return from the stadium in that time went from an annual $240,000 to $380,000.

This season the club will play in Canberra and Darwin and, according to Rose, will net around $500,000 in total from the two games. The AFL has conceded the challenging financial situation posed by the agreement and is fighting Docklands for a new deal for its home club. It is also waging a separate battle with the MCG.

■The Western Bulldogs' community festival and family day gets under way at the Whitten Oval from 10.30am today.

[Drunken Bum]

ACT, NT may lose matches

Although the Bulldogs' average home attendance at Docklands went from 11,000 in 2002 to 33,000 last year, the club's annual return from the stadium in that time went from an annual $240,000 to $380,000.

That cant be right can it? 11k?? That is a ridiculously poor average

[The Coon Dog]

That cant be right can it? 11k?? That is a ridiculously poor average

Spot on DB. Here's the figures for our 8 home games at Telstra Dome in 2002.

1 v Adelaide - 18,475
4 v Brisbane - 23,928
5 v Melbourne - 30,789
7 v Collingwood - 34,400
12 v St.Kilda - 29,453
14 v Essendon - 44,864
17 v North Melbourne - 31,576
21 v Carlton - 22,938


Average home crowd attendance in 2002 at Telstra Dome was 29,552.

Interestingly we played West Coast & Fremantle at Optus Oval that year & drew a total of 22,000; hence Caro's 11,000 average methinks.

All the stats

[Sedat]

Spot on DB. Here's the figures for our 8 home games at Telstra Dome in 2002.

1 v Adelaide - 18,475
4 v Brisbane - 23,928
5 v Melbourne - 30,789
7 v Collingwood - 34,400
12 v St.Kilda - 29,453
14 v Essendon - 44,864
17 v North Melbourne - 31,576
21 v Carlton - 22,938


Average home crowd attendance in 2002 at Telstra Dome was 29,552.

Interestingly we played West Coast & Fremantle at Optus Oval that year & drew a total of 22,000; hence Caro's 11,000 average methinks.

All the stats

I'll bet that was an honest oversight by Caro. The fact that it made us look like we are sitting in the street with a cup in our hand was just a coincidence

[LostDoggy]

I'm amazed that Caro has been able to divide 22,000 by 2. That makes me want to overlook her inability to read and thus see that "Optus Oval" are not the same words as "Telstra Dome".

Shame on her gardener though for not picking it up when ghostwriting for her as she dictated. Maybe he was too busy dividing 22,000 by 2 for her. Or fitting her words into a semblence of grammatical order.

Caro is a true-blue inspiration to all of us -- she proves that an inability to read or write (or string two sentences together, or have any shred of integrity) is no hindrance to becoming a hard hitting, rough and tumble sports journalist.

What a flippin' joke. Does anyone think we'll even get a retraction, or an apology?

[azabob]

I'm amazed that Caro has been able to divide 22,000 by 2. That makes me want to overlook her inability to read and thus see that "Optus Oval" are not the same words as "Telstra Dome".

Shame on her gardener though for not picking it up when ghostwriting for her as she dictated. Maybe he was too busy dividing 22,000 by 2 for her. Or fitting her words into a semblence of grammatical order.

Caro is a true-blue inspiration to all of us -- she proves that an inability to read or write (or string two sentences together, or have any shred of integrity) is no hindrance to becoming a hard hitting, rough and tumble sports journalist.

What a flippin' joke. Does anyone think we'll even get a retraction, or an apology?

Im not sure what your issue is. Caroline Wilson was not having a go at the Bulldogs she was merely pointing out that we are getting a raw deal money wise.
Either way the point was our home crowds in 2002,2003, 2004 were extremely poor. You cannot get away from that fact. We were a joke on the field and a joke off it. That is not Caroline Wilson's fault.
If anything I think the criticisim Caroline Wilson receives on this forum in unwarranted, and when she does do a possitve peice on the bulldogs certain crictics are no where to be read.

[azabob]

I'll bet that was an honest oversight by Caro. The fact that it made us look like we are sitting in the street with a cup in our hand was just a coincidence

I wouldn't be suprised that in 2002-2005 we were not far off needing to repeat the efforts of 1989.

[Sedat]

Im not sure what your issue is. Caroline Wilson was not having a go at the Bulldogs she was merely pointing out that we are getting a raw deal money wise.
Either way the point was our home crowds in 2002,2003, 2004 were extremely poor. You cannot get away from that fact. We were a joke on the field and a joke off it. That is not Caroline Wilson's fault.
If anything I think the criticisim Caroline Wilson receives on this forum in unwarranted, and when she does do a possitve peice on the bulldogs certain crictics are no where to be read.

30,000 average attendence is not "extremely poor", and it certainly isn't 11,000. She has a nasty habit of gratuitous embellishment to make her poorly constructed points. It isn't too much for readers to ask for some factual evidence from journos to support their arguments.

[LostDoggy]

Im not sure what your issue is. Caroline Wilson was not having a go at the Bulldogs she was merely pointing out that we are getting a raw deal money wise.
Either way the point was our home crowds in 2002,2003, 2004 were extremely poor. You cannot get away from that fact. We were a joke on the field and a joke off it. That is not Caroline Wilson's fault.
If anything I think the criticisim Caroline Wilson receives on this forum in unwarranted, and when she does do a possitve peice on the bulldogs certain crictics are no where to be read.

I'm not having a go at Caro for being anti-Bulldog (I never noticed it until some WOOF posters pointed it out). I'm having a go at her at being a piss-poor hack of a journalist.

Her piece on Port today is nothing short of disgraceful, not to mention completely inaccurate. She claims that things are so bad at Port this year that they've gone cap-in-hand to the AFL and asked to be placed on the emergency funding list, and named North, Melbourne and the Dogs as the 'only' clubs on the special assistance fund.

The thing is, Caro, Port has been on the special assistance list for the last EIGHT (count them) years, and in reality EIGHT (count them) clubs are receiving some portion of the special assistance fund (mostly for inequities arising from stadium deals).

I don't write for newspapers for a living but even I knew that. If you were getting paid to write the 'news' (and we're supposed to be paying to read it) I would sure as heck expect you to get your facts straight. I mean, what the hell else is she so busy doing that she can't do a basic fact-check before submitting a 100 word piece that wouldn't pass Year 7 English?

Caro is a controversy gossip junkie hack, never happier when leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. Some of the stuff in her piece makes Mark Williams and Dominic Cassissi's relationship almost untenable, and I actually heard what Mark Williams say originally about Cassissi's captaincy, which had nothing in it to suggest the 'angle' she's insinuating.

[azabob]

I'm not having a go at Caro for being anti-Bulldog (I never noticed it until some WOOF posters pointed it out). I'm having a go at her at being a piss-poor hack of a journalist.

Her piece on Port today is nothing short of disgraceful, not to mention completely inaccurate. She claims that things are so bad at Port this year that they've gone cap-in-hand to the AFL and asked to be placed on the emergency funding list, and named North, Melbourne and the Dogs as the 'only' clubs on the special assistance fund.

The thing is, Caro, Port has been on the special assistance list for the last EIGHT (count them) years, and in reality EIGHT (count them) clubs are receiving some portion of the special assistance fund (mostly for inequities arising from stadium deals).

I don't write for newspapers for a living but even I knew that. If you were getting paid to write the 'news' (and we're supposed to be paying to read it) I would sure as heck expect you to get your facts straight. I mean, what the hell else is she so busy doing that she can't do a basic fact-check before submitting a 100 word piece that wouldn't pass Year 7 English?

Caro is a controversy gossip junkie hack, never happier when leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. Some of the stuff in her piece makes Mark Williams and Dominic Cassissi's relationship almost untenable, and I actually heard what Mark Williams say originally about Cassissi's captaincy, which had nothing in it to suggest the 'angle' she's insinuating.

I guess we will have to agree to diagree. I quite enjoy reading her articles. The thing I dont understand is if you cant stand her that much why do you read her articles? I cant stand the Herald Sun or SEN/MMM/3AW or the footy show therefore I dont read, listen or watch them.

[LostDoggy]

Firstly, her article is printed in The Age, not on some blog that one can safely ignore. It is in the interest of intellectual integrity if one is going to comment on the game and its culture (as we all do here on this forum, and some of us do professionally - there are journalists on WOOF) to be well-informed of what is published as 'news', especially since there is a good chance that most football people would have read it. Surely we can't be commenting on articles we haven't read.

Also, if Caro writes spurious articles about the Dogs in a mainstream publication such as The Age, it is in my interest as a financial stakeholder in the Dogs and a long-time member and supporter of the organisation to be fully informed of her comments, especially if they have the potential to seriously damage my club.

We do not have the luxury of ignorance in a dog-eat-dog environment replete with hidden agendas and sharpened knives.