Hall of Fame

[Plugger46]

Clubs need members to survive and not signing up again hurts the club and who cares where their from. I have been taken the wrong way as i have alot of friends in Sydney who go to the footy and i go up a fair bit and have been to every final up there, i love it up there, so BA get off your high horse.

I know plenty of Swans supporters in Melbourne who aren't members.

[Big Al]

Clubs need members to survive and not signing up again hurts the club and who cares where their from. I have been taken the wrong way as i have alot of friends in Sydney who go to the footy and i go up a fair bit and have been to every final up there, i love it up there, so BA get off your high horse.

Sorry Bedford, but I'm not the one who wanted to initially differentiate between the 2 sets of supporters.

However it is good that you do acknowledge that not all is lost up here.

[Doctor J.]

Correct.

The club has been in Sydney for 27 years, it's not like it happened last week!

I love that we've got two states with a lot of passionate people who follow our great club. As Colless said the other night, no other club (maybe Brisbane could but to a much lesser extent) can claim that.

We follow the ONE club and I couldn't care less where each supporter comes from. All passion has to start somewhere.

Absolutely spot on.

Now can someone drag up the the thread on which is the better city?

[laughingnome]

I know plenty of Swans supporters in Melbourne who aren't members.

Members of the KSAS movement that are bitter?

My great-grandmother refused to serve her 4 year old grand-daughter (my mother) hot dinners in the Melbourne winter of 1963 because my mother wanted to barrack for Richmond, and nan and pop were both die-hard Blood supporters. Mum quickly came around and has been supporting South Melbourne/Sydney ever since. While I doubt many Sydney-siders (of which I am one) could have a story like that because the club is simply not old enough in Sydney, I certainly see, and partake in, brainwashing of the next generation with Sydney merchandise, cheers, etc. By the time he was three my cousin (born 2001) would say very little apart from "Go-Barry-Hall!", which was so ingrained he would cheer it regardless of who was actually playing.

And while the days of the Cheer Squad members walking around the ground at half-time with a blanket for spectators to throw coins in and getting pelted with bottlecaps and bric-a-brac by rival fans are gone, one cannot argue that they are a 'greater fan' or 'more passionate' just because they did that in a previous time. We are all supporters. We probably all have superstitious rituals to help our team win, and we all will ear-bash anyone who comes near about how Sydney/South Melbourne is the greatest team in the history of sport, and we'll all brainwash the next generation into believing so (unless of course it's a mixed marriage, but then we'll all come over and convince your partner the kids should support the Red and White).

To those who point to dwindling membership numbers either side of the border, I point out that in my immediate family 6 passionate fans did not renew their membership this year. Not because they thought we would lose, but as protest to the Membership Department. It breaks my sister's heart that she doesn't go to games this year, but it's people like her which will improve the club in the years to come, as the message was sent loud and clear about what the club can and can't do to increase membership in the Harbour City.

Passion is not something that can be measured statistically, and it's easy to say it's not as great when you have the luxury of 850km to say it. But I know it burns strong in Sydney and it burns strong in Melbourne, but all I care about is how well we do on Saturday against the Demons, and how well the future of the club plays.

[bedford]

Good post, but the club as a whole shouldn't suffer because of the balls up of a couple of staff.

[DST]

Sorry guys, you should have written a complaint letter, voiced your concerns and then renewed.

It's a club you support.

DST

[Big Al]

Sorry guys, you should have written a complaint letter, voiced your concerns and then renewed.

It's a club you support.

DST

It has been my experience in the past that any complaints or issues that I have raised with the club have been ignored. It took members to stay away in protest did the club react. I have a feeling that if the members renewed like you suggest that no changes would have been made.

Hopefully the club can now back their recent rhetoric and put in place a membership stategy that will get back these disaffected members.

[Triple B]

Correct Big Al.

No doubt the recent correspondence is a result of people not renewing.

If people had renewed along with a complaint, we'd still have the recently departed Membership Manager (or whatever he was called) steering the reins and crowing what a great job he did getting everybody to renew in these tough economic times.

[Bear]

Plenty of people in London support Man U.

[Frosty13]

Oh what a night. Am still recovering now....

One thing i can remember tho is that they never really thanked the fans enough imo.

Great night apart from that.

[Primmy]

It has been my experience in the past that any complaints or issues that I have raised with the club have been ignored. It took members to stay away in protest did the club react. I have a feeling that if the members renewed like you suggest that no changes would have been made.

Hopefully the club can now back their recent rhetoric and put in place a membership stategy that will get back these disaffected members.

Well put and I agree. When a squeaky wheel is ignored it generally falls off.