Spewing

[magpie willow]

I am absolutely spewing! I just found out that after the 10th of January you cannot have a guarranteed grand final ticket! We have not yet bought our memberships and i have told dad and we are both spewing. We will probably get captains or legends but they are heaps. But I have suggested something better to my dad and something i have always wanted to do. We could join the Collingwood cheer squad! Dad is having a good think about that and I hope we can Joffa and the rest of the squad i wanna be there with you guys every week. And im not just doing it to get a granny seat i want to be as comited as i possibly can to the collingwood football club.
Cheers


ROCCA UAHAUAHAUAHAUH ROCCA UAHAUAAHAUAH ROCCA UAHAUAAH ROCCA AUAHAUAUAHH ROCCA GOAL! A YEAH YEAH YEAH ROCCA GOALL A YEAH YEAH YEAH ROCCA GOALLLLLLLLLLL!

We are the pies and proud to be yes we are the boys of cfc so why dont yas all hey why dont yas all hey why dont yas all get .....!

[MagpieMad]

Membership News
5:43:33 PM Fri 10 January, 2003


All Social Club Memberships bought after today Friday Jan 10 2003 cannot be guaranteed a Grand Final Ticket .

This is due to the AFL allocation of Grand Final Tickets and the high number of Collingwood Social Club memberships already sold.


If members do miss out on a ticket there names will go into a priority ballot for all uncollected tickets.

The number of Collingwood Social Club Memberships sold will also be restricted due to the reduced capacity at the MCG, so we urge you to get in early to avoid disappointment.


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http://magpiemad.magpies.net/

[couragous cloke]

awesome! im having trouble joining the cheer squad at the moment.

cant find a way, im a legend at the moment tho

footy ROX!

[Dr Alf Andrews]

I've missed the January 10 cut-off as well. And with the huge increase in Cheer Squad membership this year, I doubt very much if Cheer Squad members will be guaranteed a seat either.

Looks like no Grand Final for me this year.

There is actually a name for this phenomenon. It's a name usually associated with Richmond. And it starts with a B ...

GO HARD OR GO HOME
**************
Ph.D. thesis, "Football: the People's Game?" http://alf.magpies.net

[This message has been edited by Dr Alf Andrews (edited 18 January 2003).]

[Dr Alf Andrews]

Further to this topic, I really must say that I, too, am spewing at the way The Club has gone about deciding who gets GF priority and who doesn't.

It would appear that they've decided to give priority to whoever paid up by January 10 ... with no regard to how many years of continuous membership you've got. So a long term Social Club member who was planning to renew just before the start of the season will miss out in favour of someone who's just decided to jump on the b***w*g*n because they reckon we're a chance to make the GF.

The Club has made an unholy botch up of this.

I know that it's not Collingwood's fault that there won't be as many tickets as usual. There's nothing they can do about that.

But it is still up to Collingwood how they decide to set up criteria for GF guarantee. And in my opinion they've got it WRONG.

For one thing, most Social Club members would have had no idea about the January 10 deadline until AFTER January 10. Fat lot of good it does us then.

There was a brief passing mention during the A.G.M. that members were advised to renew their memberships ASAP to avoid missing out on the GF guarantee. But how many of the Social Club membership were actually present at the A.G.M? Only a very small percentage, I can assure you.

And for those of us (like me) who heard the warning, it was made in only the vaguest of terms. There was no explanation given for what the criteria for GF guarantee would be. And there was certainly no specific date mentioned.

The Club has clearly tried to have it's cake and eat it too.

They KNEW that the MCG capacity would be less than normal BEFORE they started selling 2003 Scoial Club memberships.

They KNEW that there would be less GF seats for Collingwood members as a result of this reduced capacity.

Therefore they KNEW that Social Club membership could not guarantee a GF seat.

So what did they do?

They went right on accepting NEW Social Club members ... giving them a guaranteed GF seat, without knowing how many of the existing membership intended to renew ... instead of doing the only decent thing in the circumstances, which would have been to PUT A CEILING ON SOCIAL CLUB MEMBERSHIP until the MCG is returned to full capacity.

They gave no FORMAL warning to existing members to renew their memberships by a certain date in order to secure their GF guarantee. The passing reference made by Greg Swann (I think it was) at the A.G.M., which the vast majority of Social Club members would not have even heard, hardly constitutes a FORMAL warning.

They then RETROSPECTIVELY applied the January 10 deadline when it was too late for any of the tardy payers to do anything about it.

Bloody poor form, Collingwood ...

... and this threatens to erode the credibility that the existing administration has fought so hard to achieve in the past four years.

Like Magpie Willow ... I, too, am SPEWIN'

GO HARD OR GO HOME
**************
Ph.D. thesis, "Football: the People's Game?" http://alf.magpies.net

[This message has been edited by Dr Alf Andrews (edited 19 January 2003).]

[molloymagic]

One question: isn't a legends/captains memberships the same kind of thing as a social club one?. I'm a captains member and i have always wanted to join up but decided in 2000 to join,does that mean i've taken someone's place in the que?.

I hope it dosn;t mean that people will miss out on prelim finals matches to.

I still haven't got my membership that i renewed last year. I am so totally confused by this whole membership thing. Ahhhhh, i just wanna see a prelim final again, man it was awesome!!!!!!!.

One more question: say if u were to go from being a captains to a legends membership option would u be able to keep your home game seat that u had as a captains thing?



Jarrod Molloy RULES!!!!
*2003:The beginning of molloy's injury free footy seasons*
*2002 Joint V.C*

[JLC]

I know that the club will say that there is no way that they can please everyone.

However I agree with Alf completely. They should have taken into account the number of years that people have been a member when deciding on the Grand Final tickets. I signed up before January 10 as i always get my membership before Christmas. However whether you sign up before Christmas or round 1 does not make you anymore loyal or less loyal. Surely loyalty would be based on how many years you have been a member and surely these are the people that should be looked after first. Chances are that these were the same people who had to endure loss after loss only a few years ago yet kept the faith and supported their club. Its well and good to accept new members BUT the Collingwood Football Club should NEVER EVER forget those supporters who stuck through the hard times. It appears to me that this year some of these supporters will be left out in the cold

Also one would think that seeing that social club memberships sold after this date do not carry the guarantee of a grand final ticket that these memberships would be cheaper as they are less valuable than those memberships that are GUARANTEED a ticket??

Out of interest will the same "Cut off" date apply to Cheersquad Memberships ??

jlc




Essendon 2000 premiers
2001 runners up
2002 fifth
2003 ????
The slide continues

[ramjet21]

good to see so many supremely confident of reaching the GF. fingers crossed....

[JLC]

Its also the principal of the matter at hand.

In the MCC and AFL members there are two tiers of membership. Restricted and Full members. Perhaps new Social Club members would have been made "Restricted Members" and people from prior years would be classified as "Full". When full members dont renew by a certain date then Restricted Members could be elevated to full membership status. Naturally Full members would get priority to finals tickets. Restricted members would bide their time. This would also encourage loyalty in the membership stakes. At present there is no reward for loyalty in the present system. Clearly this needs to be addressed by the club.

jlc


Essendon 2000 premiers
2001 runners up
2002 fifth
2003 ????
The slide continues

[Dr Alf Andrews]

I agree completely with JLC. The restricted membership/full membership idea would have been the way to go. Unfortunately, now that they've gone and sold all those new memberships prior to January 10 on the basis that they were guaranteed a GF seat if we made the GF, it's probably too late to do anything about it.

I'm really in a bit of quandary here ... Do I cough up for another year, knowing that I'm being ripped off, just to keep my place in the queue for future years? Or do I just walk quietly away and find something else to do in the winter. The way I feel right now I'm quite prepared to tell them to shove it. I feel as though I've been shafted.

Molloymagic,

Captains and Legends memberships are really just Social Club memberships plus a reserved seat package. In the case of Captains it applies only to home games. Legends membership applies to the 18 games in Melbourne. When these categories were first introduced in 2000, they came with a GF guarantee.

Now this raises another interesting point. What if you hold a Legends membership (or Captains) and you haven't got round to renewing yet. Does your GF guarantee still apply? I can't see how it could still apply, given that they've said no one who renews after January 10 has got a guarantee. That's a hell of a lot of money to pay to miss out on a GF ticket.

I'm not particularly confident of making the GF this year ... but as JLC says, it's a matter of principle.

GO HARD OR GO HOME
**************
Ph.D. thesis, "Football: the People's Game?" http://alf.magpies.net

[Rowdy26]

It sucks.

and to make it worse they released that statement late friday afternoon on the day of the cut-off.

totally agree alf and jlc.

1500 tickets (or 1200 due to renovations) to each non-competing grand final club? its a joke. If this was restricted to no more than 50 tickets per non-competing club, then there's an extra 20,300 (or 16,100) tickets straight up to those who deserve them - THE LOYAL MEMBERS OF THE CLUB!

Stuff the corporates and sponsors... If the corporates or sponsors' club makes it to the grand final, then sure give them tickets out of the allotted 1500 tickets the DESERVING club gets. Why sponsors and others are proposed deals that allow them to attend the most significant game in a true supporters mind when they give jack all about the clubs participating is beyond me. The AFL should get tough and restrict the amount of tickets the non competing clubs get. And the clubs should stop going for greed and instead treat their supporters (the most important section of the club) with respect.

20,000 extra grand final tickets gives those who really deserve to be there a much greater chance of doing so and its achievable if the clubs really want to do whats right for their supporters.

Justin Madden you have gone on about this issue in the past, i'm still yet to see much action.

[Rosewall Woman 3]

Whilst I am not saying I agree with any of your arguments, I felt that time was of the essence since 2002 GF with joining up for 2003. I have been a member for several years but was warning all Collingwood folk to get in early rather than later. This has been talked about since 2002, and people's disappointment with not being able to obtain tickets for 2002 GF, and not being called up in the ballots. Several people in the queues that did get called up in the ballot knew they were bloody lucky to have been able to line up for a ticket and vowed they would get a social club next year no matter what.

Having said this I am sympathetic to those seasoned members that have not renewed as yet. I for one made prior to the AGM my cutoff as many would renew on that night, due to the fact of all the talk of cutoffs for membership due to increased numbers and limited MCG capacity.

I think restricted/ full memberships has validity, and is something the Club should seriously consider. Also I am aware the Club cannot please everyone all the time, especially when you have such a large supporter base and promising signs ahead for the team's performance.

I think the Club has warned often of the possibility of cutoff dates for guaranteed GF tickets, and don't feel they have been covert in this area. All reports on AGM make note of this as well. Membership propaganda sent with applications for 2003 have certainly pushed this notion and recommend reserved seat options. So I don't think we can be blaming the Club for something it has been suggesting for some time. It is unfortunate for those members that were there through '98 and '99, and all of our other lean years, and I am not really sure of the solution but feel the restricted/ full membership idea has real merit.

[JLC]

The other thing that must be remembered is that leading up to Christmas families go on holidays and it is generally a high expenditure period so for some people it would be a struggle cash flow wise to sign up before christmas. I know the club has the deal where you can pay half now and half later but for some it would still be a struggle.

I understand the club has been telling members to renew early and book reserved seats for the home and away but i was of the opinion this was targeted mainly for seating in the home and away rounds especially for games like Anzac Day and Queens Birthday. I didnt really think in terms of a cut off date for grand final tickets.

jlc

Essendon 2000 premiers
2001 runners up
2002 fifth
2003 ????
The slide continues

[magpie willow]

I just had a season ticket last year and cos i was only 12 and i didnt know about what types of membership gets a guarranteed granny seat i found out and then was very very dissapointed when i received the letter of what members had permission to buy a ticket. Now that social club members cant get it if i get a legends or captains will they have guarranteed granny seats cos were not paying thousands for exactly the same stuff that we got in the season ticket if theres no granny guarrantee. Joffa tells me that the cheer squad reserved seating package is 70 bucks and its reserved seating for all 22 rounds, finals and grannys. He says that was the price this last year and they will decide this years price on thursday night at a meeting. That is an awesome deal and we will probably be joining. I just dont know whether i would be able to handle missing out on a granny seat again if we make it. Because i havent missed a collingwood game since 1995 except the 2002 granny and i didnt see how that was fair and it definately was unfair. But thats life isnt it. Hopefully i get a reserved granny seat this year cos this is our year and will get in it again and win this time. GO PIES.
CHEERS


ROCCA UAHAUAHAUAHAUH ROCCA UAHAUAAHAUAH ROCCA UAHAUAAH ROCCA AUAHAUAUAHH ROCCA GOAL! A YEAH YEAH YEAH ROCCA GOALL A YEAH YEAH YEAH ROCCA GOALLLLLLLLLLL!

We are the pies and proud to be yes we are the boys of cfc so why dont yas all hey why dont yas all hey why dont yas all get .....!

[Cam]

I am not a member yet, nor have i been a paying one in the past due to living in the country i guess, but the 'first-in' business is terrible.

I agree with the points about long time members get first preference, i agree with the points about christmas and how tough it is at that time. Which, coming from a reformed sociologist, leads me to some troubling conclusions. One is that our club has rewarded the rich and wealthy, who could afford memberships at christmastime. This is against Eddie's mentality and against the clubs heritage.

The only other alternatives to only the rich & wealthy having the money are; being a very good budgeter, and thus having surplus cash to splash on something that doesnt bear fruit for some time, or, leading us deeper into credit card woes at a time when we all probably do a deal with that particular devil so that our families can live at the status quo on december 25.

Troubling, they should reward commitment and not just cash.

Its the commitment of those who have put the dollars down year after year that should be recognised and rewarded.

Hard at it. The Collingwood way.