The future ......and Ricky

[Neil Appleby]

It's been interesting reading the posts here for the last couple of weeks.
On the one hand we have a group of women/girls who love Collingwood and view a players face and bum as equally important as their ability.Dare i suggest that if Rupert and Licca and Ricky never even trained again they would still be the "darlings" of the teeny-bopper brigade.
Then we have a large group of,mostly males, who comment on the broader issues...performance, recruiting, membership etc.
No problems with both groups living harmoniously; even if I did suggest with tongue in cheek some weeks ago that the girls should have their own site.
On the issue of falling attendances; I tell every gloating Bomber fan when this comes up something like the following.
1.If you go back and look at total attendances over the past 20 years how often will essendon be at the top????
I'd suggest only the last couple of years.
2.Ditto for membership.....nice to throw in that even in our wooden spoon year, with a team bereft of talent, we still had more members than the other big 3...Carlton and Essendon.
This usually shuts them up quick smart.....and is very significant in the scheme of things.
My analysis of our situation is that we have an enormous group of supporters and only in very lean times do they begin to fall off.
This year I expect our attendances to rise again with the expected improvement in our play.
What really worries me is the young supporter situation.
I posted here this time last year that, as a teacher, I have watched Collingwood's dominance gradually erode.
Now I've never taught in Collingwood zones, but until 1995 Collingwood ALWAYS had significantly more supporters than other teams.Now Essendon is CLEARLY dominant with young kids.....ESPECIALLY girls.
success on the field is , as we all know ,essential in maintaining a supporter base....but my grade six kids this year see Collingwood as a 'loser' team; in their living memory Collingwood has never been a power or even made the eight.
1990 was their first year of Kinder.
I thought last year was crucial for us...to stop the decay with kids......this year we're in BIG trouble if we don't turn it around.I'm confident we can; I also agree with Sly and Doug....if we double the number of wins from 4 to 8 we'll be doing well; as supporters that is a realistic aim...of course the Club can't say such things.

[Spidergirl]

Neil,
Yep that's a typical narrow minded view from a teacher alright!

U can't judge us as teenys when you haven't even met us. I can't speak for the others but i am certainly far from it. I know a lot more about footy and can even play better than most of my male mates can even dream of so they all tell me. I said before that Ricky deserves more of a chance than he's been given otherwise i reckon he should go after this year. That is what i said. As much as i love him i still admit that I reckon he should go if he doesn't improve this year.

#8 RoCkS
Go RiCkY!

[michy]

Spidergirl,
My Friend's Step Dad who works for St Kilda is called Glenn Stevens . I'm pretty sure he's the Statsman.

Luv michy
GO RUPS AND RHYCE
49 TILL I DIE
GO PIES