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NorthPort's picture
NorthPort
Last seen: 1 week 2 days ago
Joined: 03/11/2003 - 00:00
VFL R16 - Port Melbourne v Werribee
Body: 

That bloody wind! 

It's season over for Port Melbourne after Werribee notched up another win and will remain Victoria's best chance for a standalone premiership. 

 

In what might be a reflection on Port's season, this game was played in front of the smallest crowd that I can recall. 

What was even more telling was that the crowd was a majority Werribee supporter base. I don't think that has ever happened at Port, being outnumbered by a another VFA/VFL club at home.

Maybe it was a reflection on the conditions, the likelihood of missing finals or the late start that kept people away... Even the social rooms were very sparsely attended. 

Port's women's side take on Collingwood tomorrow at another poorly fixtured start time of 11am.

I actually thought Port weren't too bad, but tend to go in and out of the game, and good passages of play are brought undone by skill or decision making errors. 

 

billythekid
Last seen: 3 months 3 weeks ago
Joined: 22/11/2004 - 00:00

It is a worry when a powerhouse club like Port is getting such a poor crowd and it also badly effects the takings on the day for food and refreshments! Sadly I see Port have also succumbed to having a food truck there as well now I hope they pay a decent fee to be there..

blackrocker's picture
blackrocker
Last seen: 1 week 17 hours ago
Joined: 16/05/2005 - 00:00

I planned to go to Port M today but the late start put me off. 

I have been to a few day games at Port and noticed the  crowd numbers were significantly fewer than previous years. Not good sign when the Port congregation start to loose the faith.

Not confident I will be  leaving TBO on Sunday with a win.

 

 

 

vfa
Last seen: 1 month 6 days ago
Joined: 13/03/2004 - 00:00

Port Melbourne were not too bad overall against werribee. They wasted the first quarter but were ok after quarter time. Werribee had just a bit more polish and slightly better moving the ball and more effective in front of goal when it mattered. Werribee are sitting in third spot with a great percentage of over 150. They have set themselves for a great chance come September. If they can somehow overtake either Brisbane or gold coast to get a home final I'd say they would almost be flag favourites. They have a massive chance regardless. Don't think any opposition is a hurdle for them. 

MegaA
Last seen: 2 days 10 hours ago
Joined: 12/10/2012 - 23:04

Port v Frankston 2019 was worse, hardly a soul. Aftermath had 2 tables of supporters. It's a topic that has generated a lot of interest on Facebook as fans seem concerned. I can't put my finger on it, the club communicates often, I think I got 5 emails from them during the week, prices are good $10 entry, dimies 4 for 3, beer $5, some agree but many don't in my thinking that it's down to our performance. 

I do strongly believe that the club isn't doing itself any favours by not having a ground announcer, a post match function and entertainment during breaks, what they did during the trades day should be standard. Not many functions like the days of old but who can blame them, understandably they are reluctant to organise when crowds are down. 

Some say personnel changes, I guess many were Gary and Sam fans and I loved their work but is it time to move on and is their perhaps more to the story than what we were told ? Who knows ? 

Not sure what the solution is other than contacting the non attendees / people who haven't resigned and getting a answer as to why they haven't resigned - perhaps theirs a common reason and perhaps better days are just around the corner, for our sake,  I hope so.

17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up

THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!

I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!

paul
Last seen: 1 month 3 weeks ago
Joined: 11/04/2006 - 00:00

The disruption caused by govt covid policies, followed by a lack of success, has created a disconnect between fans and the club. They were forced out of the habit of going regularly, then the club wasn't as successful because it lost it's continuity, now there aren't the same reasons to build back that connection.

The drop off has happened to a lot of footy clubs all around the place unfortunately. What Port needs is a good season that brings the excitement and gets the buzz back, but it is a bit of a chicken/egg sort of situation.

I also think Werribee winning the flag this year would be good for all stand alone clubs, because there's a perception out there amongst fans that they can't be competitive with AFL clubs because of the struggles the past couple of years reestablishing their programs.

NorthPort's picture
NorthPort
Last seen: 1 week 2 days ago
Joined: 03/11/2003 - 00:00

I just typed out a long post in reply to a few comments on here, but accidentally hit the back button and lost it all.. The second time you write it is never as good sad

I agree MegaA that some of the food this year has had ok pricing (the Dim Sims probably being the most notable).  However, things like Potato cakes, went from $1 to $2.50.. That's a pretty steep increase, even accounting for inflation.

I went to both the AFL on Friday night and VFL on Saturday (and Sunday) afternoons.

At Marvel stadium, chips and pies are $4.50, whereas at the food truck at Port, they were $8 for a serve of chips, that were bloody awful.  I realise that without volunteers to help keep costs down, it is very hard to remain price competitive.. However, one of the drawcards of going to the VFA/VFL was that it was a cheap family outing.  I feel like the scales have gone some way to tipping against the VFL on that front.  I agree that Beer is still one where the VFL comes out on top, but generally I feel that people are drinking less.

Paul, I agree that there is a disconnect between Port's supporters' and the club.  Yes some of that is the way that both Sam who did a great job in administration, along with Ayres departing the club.  Both came across as perhaps being more  approachable or engaging than current administration.  However, that could only be a perception, and the current admin team at the club are just as welcoming as ever, but the change is admin falsely creates that disconnect.

The club has done a few things very well.  Yes the 'Tradies Day' was a big success, but I would love to see more 'local club' style activities take place. such as:

  • $2 gate raffles (Signed jumpers etc)
  • Footy records (Not just a single piece of paper)
  • Ground announcer (Spot on MegaA)
  • Cheap match day functions (make money from extra raffles etc)  Eg $10, plus pay for drinks etc.  Try and pack the joint out)
  • Sausage sizzles, Pie eating comps (Or Dim Sims)
  • Regular jumping castles, face painting days etc.

Hopefully it is just a phase, but I feel like we aren't recruiting enough new supporters (particularly locals) to replace our ageing support base... Part of that might just be the overall game day experience.

 


* It's time to restore the VFA name.

MegaA
Last seen: 2 days 10 hours ago
Joined: 12/10/2012 - 23:04

Ive done that as well David, I remember once writing a borough classified on my phone, which always takes longer than p.c. well over a hour and lost it.

Very important topic as without crowds you have no club. Hard to attract sponsors and ask for $$$ when theirs a small following. Please sponsor us 20k but nobody will see your advertising. 

I think more can be done in terms of advertising the club, promotion in the local area, Werribee does it very well. Things like posters on bay St for upcoming games, free passes in letter box for residents during some winter games when crowds drop off (it's what got me to the baseball a few times) - I think I could drop off 500 in a week. In these hard economic times you could push it as a affordable day out, advertise it that way and be true to your word.

 

I feel the club does some great things followed by some apathetic attempts, tradies day - great day, gold membership - excellent value, then they fixture Coburg on a cold Friday night to a supporter base that is older and less likely to come, or $35 finger food functions without any drinks (a function that hardly anybody attends yet they keep persisting with). They need a series of off field successes to keep the momentum going. 

Having said all that , Ive been to several non port Melbourne games last couple of seasons and other than Frankston the crowd yesterday was bigger than the games I attended, I do realise though that were comparing ourselves to our standards and to our capabilities.

17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up

THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!

I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!

blackrocker's picture
blackrocker
Last seen: 1 week 17 hours ago
Joined: 16/05/2005 - 00:00

At TBO on Sunday there were more Casey/Melbourne supporters than Sandy.  Casey had 3 times as many people at the huddles than Sandy.  the AFL 2's have reasonable following.

billythekid
Last seen: 3 months 3 weeks ago
Joined: 22/11/2004 - 00:00

Covid does not seemed to affected the AFL crowds which are at record levels!

Maybe the product is just not good enough= the market will tell you what is really going on!

paul
Last seen: 1 month 3 weeks ago
Joined: 11/04/2006 - 00:00

Not at all. The AFL and local football are completely different beasts. Just look at the marketing budgets and media coverage.

billythekid
Last seen: 3 months 3 weeks ago
Joined: 22/11/2004 - 00:00

Sorry Mate, I have been to local junior matches watching my grandsons play and they even get more than most VFL matches do and they have NO marketing budget!

The so called VFL will always be at a huge disadvantage up against the might and appeal of the AFL but the VFA found a way to compete by being innovative bringing in things like no clearence agreement with the VFL, new teams, throwing the ball,16 men a side and Sunday footy etc!

Unfortunately the current VFL is what is it is a reserves comp for the benefit of AFL clubs and the public are not willing to waste thier time and pay for second - raters when they can have to best of Australian Football every week.

As they say "You cannot put lipstick on a pig"!

paul
Last seen: 1 month 3 weeks ago
Joined: 11/04/2006 - 00:00

Don't be sorry. You don't have to apologise for not recognising that the connection with AFL teams was not broken during COVID because the games remained on TV, and clubs had huge budgets to remain connected with their fans.

In contrast, competitions that played at local venues were stopped, the clubs effectively shut down and now they have to find ways to reconnect with their fans and get them to break newly-formed habits and get back into going to local footy.

That's been made even harder for standalone VFL teams whose football programs were shut down for a large part of two years, and so lost ground on their full-time opposition who were allowed to continue operating.

billythekid
Last seen: 3 months 3 weeks ago
Joined: 22/11/2004 - 00:00

I stick with my comments no amount of marketing will help the crowds at the VFL now apart from Frankston and maybe Werribee are now abysmal and a joke for a supposed leading State competition.

When Port Melb are drawing two and a dog you know the comp is in trouble!

I can see in the not too distant future the AFL giving up on this distorted unwieldly comp and have their own AFL Reserves only comp and the rest can go jump.

paul
Last seen: 1 month 3 weeks ago
Joined: 11/04/2006 - 00:00

If crowds are a measure the VFL has been in trouble since the late 90s. We all know that.

However, your point suggesting COVID didn't have a big impact on VFL and local footy crowds because AFL crowds are high does not compare apples with oranges, and ignores the factors local football teams had to face that AFL teams didn't.

As for the future of the VFL, it will mostly come down to what the AFL thinks creates the best pathway into the draft. That, along with developing young talent on AFL lists, is the purpose of the competition in their eyes.

billythekid
Last seen: 3 months 3 weeks ago
Joined: 22/11/2004 - 00:00

The AFL will end up with their own Reserves down the track and the 7 ex VFA clubs ( I don't count  Box Hill or Casey) should start planning for that day.

Maybe they could get together as the VFA again and invite three strong suburban clubs and the Admin could be HQed at North Port and finals at North Port also..

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NorthPort
Last seen: 1 week 2 days ago
Joined: 03/11/2003 - 00:00

I like the idea of strong suburban clubs coming on board, but would they want to take the risk of moving to a new venture.

A lot of clubs also like big in big fish in a little pond. 

Eve a promotion/relegation within regions could be considered?

Alternatively, I like the idea of leagues running their own representative team in the VFL. Promoting the best talent as a pathway to being drafted and for bragging rights between regional comps. 

 


* It's time to restore the VFA name.