I do agree with you Locotus, have cancelled mine. It is not my club anymore, it is a travesty, just a place for AFL yes men. Sickened and ■■■■■■ off. Note some are on Twitter saying that they have spoken to, or had it word of mouth from various committee/ club people that all was amiable and they now know James was fine with the decision. CRAP !!
Of course James would be fine with the decision, once he was persuaded over a number of months after three years of hounding that it would be in the best interests of the club and the players. In other words you keep hounding someone until finally worn down they come around to your way of thinking.
Its like a combination of prisoners of war and the stockholm syndrome.
I do agree with you Locotus, have cancelled mine. It is not my club anymore, it is a travesty, just a place for AFL yes men. Sickened and ■■■■■■ off. Note some are on Twitter saying that they have spoken to, or had it word of mouth from various committee/ club people that all was amiable and they now know James was fine with the decision. CRAP !!
Everybody should continue putting in their membership money to the club. The less reliant we are on AFL money, the more independence we have from them.
I admire your optimism bomber001 - and I really wish it was the case in reality - but surely the last few years have proved beyond a shadow of doubt that all clubs, including Essendon, are the AFL’s “■■■■■■■”, regardless of where members money is spent. I’m still of the opinion that the board’s delivery this week of James Hird’s head on a stick - despite I may add the overwhelming support for James amongst the players and fans - was more about appeasing the AFL bigwigs than anything else…and please don’t tell me that it was James’s decision. I saw the post match presser and his chat from the rooms after the Crows game…he was pushed.
As for the debate about who should be their next coach…don’t waste your breath. Gill and co will be working that out as we speak and will inform the club in due course, after a few leaks to the Fairfax media.
The utter lack of any moral compass by the AFL and the Essendon board is the reason I cannot be a member any more, at least until hopefully one day the game is wrenched from the hands of these utter shysters.
I wish I could view it as just about footy because I can rationalise that; that’s why I stayed a member when Sheeds was shown the door and through the whole Matty Knights debacle. I totally respect all those of you who have determined to stick with the club but, for me, this has become a matter of principle way beyond the confines of footy. To continue as a member of the Essendon Footy Club, for me, would be to turn a blind eye to the shameful mistreatment and lack of support shown to a man who chose to stand up for what is right and support his mates against an AFL instigated media witch-hunt the likes of which hasn’t been seen in Australia since the Lindy Chamberlain affair.
…now I await the chorus of people telling me to get lost.
Agree Loctus.
I said on Tuesday that our family would be cancelling our memberships however I haven’t done so yet. The reason is that we are still angry and don’t want to make a decision whilst in this frame of mind. I will contact the club and remove us from the advantage program so our membership and extra donation doesn’t automatically renew. We will make a decision later in the year when hopefully we have a different demeanour towards the club and Little. I am sure there will be more information about what went down in the next few months.
Apart from our absolute hate for the AFL executive and commissioners we are filthy about the way the club (read Little) has played us along during the last three years. Stick with us, stay united, donate to the flight plan and we will get through this they said. Everyone said yes, just don’t bow to the AFL and media pressure. The Cult of Hird is not so much about the man, most coaches leave in tears, but more about the symbolism.
Little has played the AFL cards all the way through this saga. He’s part of the boys club and was always going to throw the hand grenade and run. I just hope the club can recover from this and that the conspirators at the AFL get a big dose of karma.
Anyway, rant over. Apologies to any of the ‘Rolo and the Anti-Hirders’ I may have sniped over the last few days.
TV figures are still going OK b_g.
Attendance figures are miles down.
Everybody should continue putting in their membership money to the club. The less reliant we are on AFL money, the more independence we have from them.
Where are your figures taken from?
We are down, but I’m not if it can be considered ‘miles down’ in comparison to other teams.
Talking league wide.
Average crowds hovered around 34-37k in the late 200s.
Around 32-33k now (almost 10% off).
And that’s heavily affected by the SA crowds going from ~30k to 45k since moving to Adelaide oval.
Vic crowds 42-44k in the late 200s, and 37-38k now (almost 15% off)
QLD crowds from the mid-high 20k to average 15k now
NSW from the 30ks to low 20k now.
WA basically stable.
That’s because they are so busy with extraneous issues that they too their eye off the ball.
However I also wonder if the AFL really cares about the crowd, apart from for forms sake. I think they would be perfectly happy to have the TV companies colour the crowd in, add an appropriate sound track and pretend.
They have always been far more interested in media than any other thing, including football.
TV figures are still going OK b_g.
Attendance figures are miles down.
Everybody should continue putting in their membership money to the club. The less reliant we are on AFL money, the more independence we have from them.
Where are your figures taken from?
We are down, but I’m not if it can be considered ‘miles down’ in comparison to other teams.
Talking league wide.
Average crowds hovered around 34-37k in the late 200s.
Around 32-33k now (almost 10% off).
And that’s heavily affected by the SA crowds going from ~30k to 45k since moving to Adelaide oval.
Vic crowds 42-44k in the late 200s, and 37-38k now (almost 15% off)
QLD crowds from the mid-high 20k to average 15k now
NSW from the 30ks to low 20k now.
WA basically stable.
I don't care if Kate and Paul used to be the king and queen of England. They either acted in an underhanded manner to get elected on the board or refused to stand by their word when push came to shove.
or became enlightened on certain facts that only a Board can know.
Bullcrap. If you run for election on a specific platform - and that was we support James Hird as coach - forget any other stuff because that was what they were elected on - then their only position now is to stand down because they were not true to their word and what they represented.
To not hear from them since just shows that they didnt act on behalf of the people that elected them.
Seriously? Do you really expect them to come back to blitz so they can be abused over again? What if the vote was 7 - 2 or what if in fact it really was what James wanted? If you want to speak to them, get to the VFL game on Sunday. I hear they attend every week.
They were all over the place when they wanted votes. Now that they have failed their voters they won’t come near the place claiming that justified criticism = personal abuse.
Seems like the usual well worn political spin to avoid justifying their selling out to their new found Board Buddies and coterie colleagues.
Everybody should continue putting in their membership money to the club. The less reliant we are on AFL money, the more independence we have from them.
I admire your optimism bomber001 - and I really wish it was the case in reality - but surely the last few years have proved beyond a shadow of doubt that all clubs, including Essendon, are the AFL’s “■■■■■■■”, regardless of where members money is spent. I’m still of the opinion that the board’s delivery this week of James Hird’s head on a stick - despite I may add the overwhelming support for James amongst the players and fans - was more about appeasing the AFL bigwigs than anything else…and please don’t tell me that it was James’s decision. I saw the post match presser and his chat from the rooms after the Crows game…he was pushed.
As for the debate about who should be their next coach…don’t waste your breath. Gill and co will be working that out as we speak and will inform the club in due course, after a few leaks to the Fairfax media.
The utter lack of any moral compass by the AFL and the Essendon board is the reason I cannot be a member any more, at least until hopefully one day the game is wrenched from the hands of these utter shysters.
I wish I could view it as just about footy because I can rationalise that; that’s why I stayed a member when Sheeds was shown the door and through the whole Matty Knights debacle. I totally respect all those of you who have determined to stick with the club but, for me, this has become a matter of principle way beyond the confines of footy. To continue as a member of the Essendon Footy Club, for me, would be to turn a blind eye to the shameful mistreatment and lack of support shown to a man who chose to stand up for what is right and support his mates against an AFL instigated media witch-hunt the likes of which hasn’t been seen in Australia since the Lindy Chamberlain affair.
…now I await the chorus of people telling me to get lost.
Understand how you feel, but to be honest I was much closer to spitting the dummy back in 2013 when James was suspended and the team cut from the finals.
I am angry with club and the players, but numb after all the saga crap. Reckon it has gone as expected and many of us are too exhausted to react.
I will go to the Collingwood and Richmond games and hope we play OK, but have little enthusiasm.
My goodness, there's a few of us unable to sleep. Locutus, that was brilliant. I wish I could have written it. I guess eventually I'll be able to turn down the sadness and anger in my mind, then I'll sleep again.
My goodness, there’s a few of us unable to sleep. Locutus, that was brilliant. I wish I could have written it. I guess eventually I’ll be able to turn down the sadness and anger in my mind, then I’ll sleep again.
Everybody should continue putting in their membership money to the club. The less reliant we are on AFL money, the more independence we have from them.
I admire your optimism bomber001 - and I really wish it was the case in reality - but surely the last few years have proved beyond a shadow of doubt that all clubs, including Essendon, are the AFL’s “■■■■■■■”, regardless of where members money is spent. I’m still of the opinion that the board’s delivery this week of James Hird’s head on a stick - despite I may add the overwhelming support for James amongst the players and fans - was more about appeasing the AFL bigwigs than anything else…and please don’t tell me that it was James’s decision. I saw the post match presser and his chat from the rooms after the Crows game…he was pushed.
As for the debate about who should be their next coach…don’t waste your breath. Gill and co will be working that out as we speak and will inform the club in due course, after a few leaks to the Fairfax media.
The utter lack of any moral compass by the AFL and the Essendon board is the reason I cannot be a member any more, at least until hopefully one day the game is wrenched from the hands of these utter shysters.
I wish I could view it as just about footy because I can rationalise that; that’s why I stayed a member when Sheeds was shown the door and through the whole Matty Knights debacle. I totally respect all those of you who have determined to stick with the club but, for me, this has become a matter of principle way beyond the confines of footy. To continue as a member of the Essendon Footy Club, for me, would be to turn a blind eye to the shameful mistreatment and lack of support shown to a man who chose to stand up for what is right and support his mates against an AFL instigated media witch-hunt the likes of which hasn’t been seen in Australia since the Lindy Chamberlain affair.
…now I await the chorus of people telling me to get lost.
I’d say it would be pretty hard for anyone to tell you to get lost when you’ve simply established the facts.
Everybody should continue putting in their membership money to the club. The less reliant we are on AFL money, the more independence we have from them.
I admire your optimism bomber001 - and I really wish it was the case in reality - but surely the last few years have proved beyond a shadow of doubt that all clubs, including Essendon, are the AFL’s “■■■■■■■”, regardless of where members money is spent. I’m still of the opinion that the board’s delivery this week of James Hird’s head on a stick - despite I may add the overwhelming support for James amongst the players and fans - was more about appeasing the AFL bigwigs than anything else…and please don’t tell me that it was James’s decision. I saw the post match presser and his chat from the rooms after the Crows game…he was pushed.
As for the debate about who should be their next coach…don’t waste your breath. Gill and co will be working that out as we speak and will inform the club in due course, after a few leaks to the Fairfax media.
The utter lack of any moral compass by the AFL and the Essendon board is the reason I cannot be a member any more, at least until hopefully one day the game is wrenched from the hands of these utter shysters.
I wish I could view it as just about footy because I can rationalise that; that’s why I stayed a member when Sheeds was shown the door and through the whole Matty Knights debacle. I totally respect all those of you who have determined to stick with the club but, for me, this has become a matter of principle way beyond the confines of footy. To continue as a member of the Essendon Footy Club, for me, would be to turn a blind eye to the shameful mistreatment and lack of support shown to a man who chose to stand up for what is right and support his mates against an AFL instigated media witch-hunt the likes of which hasn’t been seen in Australia since the Lindy Chamberlain affair.
…now I await the chorus of people telling me to get lost.
All this talk of James needing clear air, and it would be better for the club if he wasn't there. If the board had stood up to the media over the past few years then we would have had clear air. The board allowing the media with hunt and doing absolutely NOTHING about it is why we have the result we do.
I have been on about the board for the past three years but I thought with at least 4 new members they may have realised that their strategy was not working.
It just makes me angry becasue none of this needed to happen.
■■■■ weak effort all round, the new mantra is EFC save our precious brand, long live our precious brand, bend over, touch your toes, speak kindly of us don't touch your nose, look like you are in repose, above all else save our brand. Nothing else is important.
Absolutely disgraceful. Like most here, I am gutted.
This is the darkest day in EFC history.
But take a moment to think what we can do.
Edit: redacted
If you feel aggrieved at all the ■■■■ that has been served up over the last three years to this club and one of its biggest champions , don’t just be another keyboard warrior but do something to take the fight to those AFL b@stards.
Suggest something people can do to make a difference. Like sign board - we back the players not the club's actions.
Club is fractured, that much seems clear. Even as a mere supporter on blitz, I see the guys on here that have credit with inside sources-are providing differing views/outcomes on the same situation.
Afl finals success requires all oars in the water, rowing in the same direction. We have some broken, some rowing forward, some back peddling.
And consequently, the boat (club) is sinking.
It has a great whopping hole in its side. Ring the AFL and apply a band aid.