8 replies to this topic

[Caveman]

The 2012 Annual General Meeting will be held at the club this upcoming Thursday 20th December 2012 from 5pm.

Hope it is worth going to, last years AGM did not inspire at all. Maybe this year we may learn more, however we can appear to outsiders to have such a compliant, non-confrontational supporter base,

Anyway only three days to go, if your in the Footscray area this Thursday just before 5pm, please turn up and attend. It really is a poor look when there are more players sitting there (wearing the club tracksuit) in attendance than supporters.

Those fans that do show up would be 95% old timers who look at every part of the club through rose coloured glasses, the 11 consecutive (and counting) defeats plus a $10 million debt would not cause them to show any discord. It is nice to be loyal and all that, but sometimes you have to complain about your lot in life (well football here) the wheel that DOES NOT squeak will NOT get any oil.

[Amelia Jane]

The 2012 Annual General Meeting will be held at the club this upcoming Thursday 20th December 2012 from 5pm.

Hope it is worth going to, last years AGM did not inspire at all. Maybe this year we may learn more, however we can appear to outsiders to have such a compliant, non-confrontational supporter base,

Anyway only three days to go, if your in the Footscray area this Thursday just before 5pm, please turn up and attend. It really is a poor look when there are more players sitting there (wearing the club tracksuit) in attendance than supporters.

Those fans that do show up would be 95% old timers who look at every part of the club through rose coloured glasses, the 11 consecutive (and counting) defeats plus a $10 million debt would not cause them to show any discord. It is nice to be loyal and all that, but sometimes you have to complain about your lot in life (well football here) the wheel that DOES NOT squeak will NOT get any oil.

Unfortunately, I could not attend. What happened at the meeting ? Please post your thoughts on the meeting.

[Caveman]

I was in attendance this evening at the AGM which was held at the club in the player's gymnasium from 5pm and ran for a few minutes shy of 2 hours. Over an hour of the meeting was taken up with tributes to outgoing President David Smorgon.

Ryan Griffen and Will Minson received Life Memberships as did some non-players. Ryan Griffen told how much he loved the place. Both Griffen and Minson were very humbled as were the non-players in receiving their Life Memberships. Interesting how two 'free settlers' became life members on the same night, however Will Minson pointed out that he was not a South Australian- Will told everyone that he was born in Melbourne. So it was only one 'free settler' that got that gong.

The club through Simon Garlick gave the outward impression that they were not too overly concerned about the $100,000+ loss that the club turned in.

There was a presentation which featured Mitch Wallis and the new campaign for 2012 about the bulldog heartland. I wonder how many realise that 'Heartland' is not exclusive to us- Melbourne had this word used in their membership campaign this year-

The new players were brought up on stage- Ed Lower and Mark Hunter's son being two of the new faces paraded before us all.

People were given red and green coloured pamphlets at the start of the night to vote on some small amendments to the club constitution. I bought a new windcheater from the club shop just before 5 pm and missed out picking up the pamphlets on the way in, so thus I wasn't ticked off and probably couldn't have legally voted if it came down to a split vote on any issue! Anyway with the merchandise shop I produced my 2012 membership card when buying the jumper, the very nice helpful woman serving, told me that you get a 10% discount with your membership card on you, so that saved me a few bob. The jumper was a predominantly grey design containing the words Footscray Football Club and vintage 1883 on the front plus the fair dinkum 1976 tri-coloured bulldog. The club shop has heaps of 'Footscray' stuff in there; people should spend their money in that place.

There was a video presentation about David Smorgon where Rohan Smith, Robert Murphy and a few others told of their love for him. Smorgon was to receive two separate standing ovations from nearly everyone in the room that I could see who were sitting in front of me, (don't know what happened behind.) Nearly everyone but NOT ALL in the room offered this tribute. During his second speech some minutes after his first- he went through his time at the club going back to 1996 and he seemed very proud in how his task force had -

"Taken on this group the Footscray Forever Committee and WE BEAT THEM"

So having not bothered to get off my seat up for him in standing ovation #1, after hearing his triumphalism about how the 1996 bulldog task force had BEAT THEM, whatever miniscule possibility that I may have contemplated stretching my legs for standing ovation #2, was completely ruled out forever.

Anyway other things were discussed like his first game as President in 1997 against Fremantle when they beat us on the last kick of the day from Winston Abraham. Then there was mention of the Liberatore/ Knights incident- Smorgon told us that he hates Richmond. (I always assumed that he definitely DID NOT hate Carlton) Then there is the obligatory Essendon game of 2000- with 'Granty' sitting there on the stage behind him as was mentioned.

Now to Peter Gordon, in his tribute to David Smorgon he compared Smorgon's reign in longevity to that of Otto Grobbecker. It came across to me from the way that Peter Gordon spoke, that he was not overly familiar with Otto Grobbecker. The funny part is that Otto Grobbecker was not President for 16 years; the comparison would have been with John Cuming. Now those that have never heard of Otto Grobbecker- well since 1924 the Footscray Football Club has won one Premiership in 1954- everyone knows that, but many it seem don't know that Otto Grobbecker was the Footscray Football Club President in 1954. Surely Peter Gordon is aware of this, he would have to be?

On the longevity issue with Smorgon's 16 years as El Supremo, John Cuming was President of the Footscray Football Club from 1895-1911. Yet John Cuming wasn't President of 'The Bulldogs" because the clubs bulldogs nickname came into being after John Cuming left the Presidency, in fact after John Cuming left this world- he died in 1911. If John Cuming could be brought back to life right now and told how he was 'The Bulldogs' or the Western Bulldogs longest serving President, then he would not comprehend this at all!

The best part of the night was at the end with the questions from the floor. This time a few got up with what wasn't the usual 'Dorothy Dixers' that have happened in the past. The first question, made the night- Andrew gave some statistics and spoke intelligently about the Footscray name being re-introduced. His response was by Peter Gordon, who gave the initial reply as how he would probably ask the same question if he was sitting on the floor like Andrew and not on the stage as he was now as a board member/President. Then the 'Yes Minister' stuff was trotted out, about his recent discussions with Andrew Demetriou, Mike Fitzpatrick and Gill McLaughlin and how they all agreed that this fastest growing region in the country- needs the Western Bulldogs. Apparently the AFL doesn't want us to be Footscray they want us as Western. Using the same logic this always makes me wonder why the AFL doesn't lean on the red, white and black club to do away with St Kilda and become the Southern Saints! Peter Gordon then went from being a less articulate Sir Humphrey Appleby of 'Yes Minister' to amateur hour when he said that there was no Footscray anymore as it was now the City Of Maribyrnong. Well need I go through them all- the City of Yarra has replaced the Cities of Collingwood, Fitzroy and Richmond, City of Moonee Valley for City of Essendon…… etc

Peter Gordon said that we had to try and make more inroads into gaining the west whilst still. If that is the case, then what has the last 16 years been about?

Then the next question(s) were from a chap named Gavin who had his points prepared already and wanted to know what the club was doing with the western growth corridor and how the 'western region' had increased yet our membership was not coming on in leaps and bounds as it probably should for the increased population. As well as this there was the club debt, he mentioned how when David Smorgon took over from Peter Gordon back in 1996 that the debt was around $2 million and how it was quoted in the paper that it was now $10 million. This one was for Simon Garlick to reply to and he did the best he could I suppose.

Another chap asked a question about our proposed Social Club at Edgewater and Simon Garlick said that he couldn't 100% guarantee that it would eventuate, though they were doing all they could.

Irene Chatfield wasn't the last from the floor but she did have some comments and a question. Irene wanted past players to be made aware when something was being named in their honour, apparently when promotion for the Doug Hawkins wing didn't gain the best media exposure that it could have. Irene also asked if we could have less closed training sessions and also wondered why Brian Lake was let go. Simon Garlick said that Brian Lake was at 31 considered a bit too injury prone and that the club could get a good deal for him. Irene also nominated a few names that should replace Peter Gordon as our new number 1 member, as well as having an additional number one lady member to complement Prime Minister Julia Gillard (JG is as we know is a recent addition to the club & being like Ryan Griffen a 'free settler'- well actually she was born in Wales before her family emigrated from there to Adelaide)

So you can gain from tonight that the club is happy with the future- the 11 consecutive and counting defeats was not mentioned at all.

That's all folks till next time- Peter Gordon is apparently in for 3 years, I would have assumed it was just the one as Smorgon got out with one year to go. Anyway we wait with interest to see if a challenge from outside is not far away.

[Amelia Jane]

I was in attendance this evening at the AGM which was held at the club in the player's gymnasium from 5pm and ran for a few minutes shy of 2 hours. Over an hour of the meeting was taken up with tributes to outgoing President David Smorgon.

Ryan Griffen and Will Minson received Life Memberships as did some non-players. Ryan Griffen told how much he loved the place. Both Griffen and Minson were very humbled as were the non-players in receiving their Life Memberships. Interesting how two 'free settlers' became life members on the same night, however Will Minson pointed out that he was not a South Australian- Will told everyone that he was born in Melbourne. So it was only one 'free settler' that got that gong.

The club through Simon Garlick gave the outward impression that they were not too overly concerned about the $100,000+ loss that the club turned in.

There was a presentation which featured Mitch Wallis and the new campaign for 2012 about the bulldog heartland. I wonder how many realise that 'Heartland' is not exclusive to us- Melbourne had this word used in their membership campaign this year-

The new players were brought up on stage- Ed Lower and Mark Hunter's son being two of the new faces paraded before us all.

People were given red and green coloured pamphlets at the start of the night to vote on some small amendments to the club constitution. I bought a new windcheater from the club shop just before 5 pm and missed out picking up the pamphlets on the way in, so thus I wasn't ticked off and probably couldn't have legally voted if it came down to a split vote on any issue! Anyway with the merchandise shop I produced my 2012 membership card when buying the jumper, the very nice helpful woman serving, told me that you get a 10% discount with your membership card on you, so that saved me a few bob. The jumper was a predominantly grey design containing the words Footscray Football Club and vintage 1883 on the front plus the fair dinkum 1976 tri-coloured bulldog. The club shop has heaps of 'Footscray' stuff in there; people should spend their money in that place.

There was a video presentation about David Smorgon where Rohan Smith, Robert Murphy and a few others told of their love for him. Smorgon was to receive two separate standing ovations from nearly everyone in the room that I could see who were sitting in front of me, (don't know what happened behind.) Nearly everyone but NOT ALL in the room offered this tribute. During his second speech some minutes after his first- he went through his time at the club going back to 1996 and he seemed very proud in how his task force had -

"Taken on this group the Footscray Forever Committee and WE BEAT THEM"

So having not bothered to get off my seat up for him in standing ovation #1, after hearing his triumphalism about how the 1996 bulldog task force had BEAT THEM, whatever miniscule possibility that I may have contemplated stretching my legs for standing ovation #2, was completely ruled out forever.

Anyway other things were discussed like his first game as President in 1997 against Fremantle when they beat us on the last kick of the day from Winston Abraham. Then there was mention of the Liberatore/ Knights incident- Smorgon told us that he hates Richmond. (I always assumed that he definitely DID NOT hate Carlton) Then there is the obligatory Essendon game of 2000- with 'Granty' sitting there on the stage behind him as was mentioned.

Now to Peter Gordon, in his tribute to David Smorgon he compared Smorgon's reign in longevity to that of Otto Grobbecker. It came across to me from the way that Peter Gordon spoke, that he was not overly familiar with Otto Grobbecker. The funny part is that Otto Grobbecker was not President for 16 years; the comparison would have been with John Cuming. Now those that have never heard of Otto Grobbecker- well since 1924 the Footscray Football Club has won one Premiership in 1954- everyone knows that, but many it seem don't know that Otto Grobbecker was the Footscray Football Club President in 1954. Surely Peter Gordon is aware of this, he would have to be?

On the longevity issue with Smorgon's 16 years as El Supremo, John Cuming was President of the Footscray Football Club from 1895-1911. Yet John Cuming wasn't President of 'The Bulldogs" because the clubs bulldogs nickname came into being after John Cuming left the Presidency, in fact after John Cuming left this world- he died in 1911. If John Cuming could be brought back to life right now and told how he was 'The Bulldogs' or the Western Bulldogs longest serving President, then he would not comprehend this at all!

The best part of the night was at the end with the questions from the floor. This time a few got up with what wasn't the usual 'Dorothy Dixers' that have happened in the past. The first question, made the night- Andrew gave some statistics and spoke intelligently about the Footscray name being re-introduced. His response was by Peter Gordon, who gave the initial reply as how he would probably ask the same question if he was sitting on the floor like Andrew and not on the stage as he was now as a board member/President. Then the 'Yes Minister' stuff was trotted out, about his recent discussions with Andrew Demetriou, Mike Fitzpatrick and Gill McLaughlin and how they all agreed that this fastest growing region in the country- needs the Western Bulldogs. Apparently the AFL doesn't want us to be Footscray they want us as Western. Using the same logic this always makes me wonder why the AFL doesn't lean on the red, white and black club to do away with St Kilda and become the Southern Saints! Peter Gordon then went from being a less articulate Sir Humphrey Appleby of 'Yes Minister' to amateur hour when he said that there was no Footscray anymore as it was now the City Of Maribyrnong. Well need I go through them all- the City of Yarra has replaced the Cities of Collingwood, Fitzroy and Richmond, City of Moonee Valley for City of Essendon…… etc

Peter Gordon said that we had to try and make more inroads into gaining the west whilst still. If that is the case, then what has the last 16 years been about?

Then the next question(s) were from a chap named Gavin who had his points prepared already and wanted to know what the club was doing with the western growth corridor and how the 'western region' had increased yet our membership was not coming on in leaps and bounds as it probably should for the increased population. As well as this there was the club debt, he mentioned how when David Smorgon took over from Peter Gordon back in 1996 that the debt was around $2 million and how it was quoted in the paper that it was now $10 million. This one was for Simon Garlick to reply to and he did the best he could I suppose.

Another chap asked a question about our proposed Social Club at Edgewater and Simon Garlick said that he couldn't 100% guarantee that it would eventuate, though they were doing all they could.

Irene Chatfield wasn't the last from the floor but she did have some comments and a question. Irene wanted past players to be made aware when something was being named in their honour, apparently when promotion for the Doug Hawkins wing didn't gain the best media exposure that it could have. Irene also asked if we could have less closed training sessions and also wondered why Brian Lake was let go. Simon Garlick said that Brian Lake was at 31 considered a bit too injury prone and that the club could get a good deal for him. Irene also nominated a few names that should replace Peter Gordon as our new number 1 member, as well as having an additional number one lady member to complement Prime Minister Julia Gillard (JG is as we know is a recent addition to the club & being like Ryan Griffen a 'free settler'- well actually she was born in Wales before her family emigrated from there to Adelaide)

So you can gain from tonight that the club is happy with the future- the 11 consecutive and counting defeats was not mentioned at all.

That's all folks till next time- Peter Gordon is apparently in for 3 years, I would have assumed it was just the one as Smorgon got out with one year to go. Anyway we wait with interest to see if a challenge from outside is not far away.

Reading this is so sad. People are just willing to forget Footscray and accept sub-standard performances from the club. Bragging about "beating" the Footscray Forever group was bad taste and disrespectful.

[Caveman]

Reading this is so sad. People are just willing to forget Footscray and accept sub-standard performances from the club. Bragging about "beating" the Footscray Forever group was bad taste and disrespectful.

The comment about AND WE BEAT THEM- about the 1996 bulldogs taskforce knocking over the Footscray Forever Comittee would be considered a highlight of his 16 years because his newly named Western Bulldogs cannot brag about

Winning Premierships or a Premiership - because it never happened in his 16 years
Playing in Grand Finals or a Grand Final - because it never happened in his 16 years

That AGM showed in many ways why this club has played in 'all of' two Grand Finals since the 1924 'double event'

We were sitting in a room in the suburb of Footscray, where the outgoing President- a billionaire from Toorak, is celebrated for more than half the meeting and even has a go at Footscray with his comment about how AND WE BEAT THEM. Yet most of the sheep in the room don't get it and most of them probably live in Footscray- they just don't get it that Smorgon is taking their YOU RHINE out of them- it purely sails over their heads- the celebrity & messiah complex- we have a celebrity for President- the 'If a celebrity & messiah looks at me I will feel wonderful- it will make my year'

Put the one solitary Premiership since the double of event of 1924 to one side for a moment - the more damning statistic about this club is participating in just the two Grand Finals since 1924, that is the most rudely awakening statistic in all its brutality.

The two main problems with the club since 1924 has been

(1) The acceptance of mediocrity
(2) The cult of the individual

The first one is well known and generally accepted, the second is blatantly obvious but hardly mentioned, but it needs to be. We (the club) have catered for individuals above the team- the wants of the individual or a group of individuals(cliches) have permeated the club throughout most of our history SINCE 1924 BUT NOT BEFORE 1924.

We also lost our last 11 games. 10 of those 11 games we knew we were beat at the start of the last quarter. The one game out of those 11 that we might of got away with was against the Northern Blues and I don't mean in FNWB lingo, I mean we lost to Carlton's actual seconds- the real Northern Blues.

So Peter Gordon you have got problems on the field and the 10 million dollar debt to work on. Unfortunately some people will be reluctant to throw more money in again when one of the reasons for the big debt is the huge embezzlement taken by one employee working in a mid ranking position at the club. The culprit has been found gulity in a court of law and he will be breaking rocks for four years.Yet another major swindle happened there around 10 years ago and this was pretty well covered up, the culprit didn't go to jail- the problem is not just that they they stole from the club but why it was not discovered earlier by people in higher positions. So Peter it is up to you to make sure that everyone on board is scrutinising the money side of things and we dont have rogue employees stealing from the club for their own ends.

It is up to you Peter, at least you are dealing with Andrew Demetriou this time and not Ross Oakley as was the case between 1989- 1996.

[Lisbon]

The comment about AND WE BEAT THEM- about the 1996 bulldogs taskforce knocking over the Footscray Forever Comittee would be considered a highlight of his 16 years because his newly named Western Bulldogs cannot brag about

Winning Premierships or a Premiership - because it never happened in his 16 years
Playing in Grand Finals or a Grand Final - because it never happened in his 16 years

Yep, you got that right. I don't even understand why Smorgon chose to talk about that. What does he want? To rub it in?

[Caveman]

Well possibly because I doubt that there has been a President of any major Australian Football / Rugby League club in Australia that has exhibited such contempt for the heritage of the club that he had control of.

[SonOfScray]

Well possibly because I doubt that there has been a President of any major Australian Football / Rugby League club in Australia that has exhibited such contempt for the heritage of the club that he had control of.

He should be ashamed of holding other Club people in such contempt. Why would you maintain such joy at defeating other people who simply were trying to achieve the same thing as yourself? Success for the Club. Too proud, too stubborn, too much of an ego. He'll revel in the saviour tag.

[Caveman]

He and his cronies/lackeys beat a group of people through such shifty tactics that would have done some of the back room toe cutters in major Australian political parties proud. They beat people who helped do their bit to save the club in 1989.

It must be one of his memorable moments in all of his 16 years as 'El Supremo' He has been extracting the proverbial from Footscray supporters for years and so many lack the cognitive ability to comprehend it.

Now we have Peter Gordon returning who believes in the 'Imaginary Friend"

The imaginary friend being how

'The Western Region of Melbourne is the fastest growing area in the country' and how this is going to be our saviour.

He is going to promote this more- so what have the previous 16 years been all about-

Come on Dimma- this is the time- we can't have 3 more years of this baloney