Cats, Hawks suffer heavy income losses

Hello fans:

Heavy rain fell in Victoria across the weekend, flooding homes around Geelong, swelling rivers and cutting roads. More than 170mm (more than 6 in.) of rain fell in Geelong from Friday to Wednesday, while Melbourne metropolitan area received more than 100mm (about 4 in.) in the same period.
The four-day rain hit two AFL matches: Carlton v Adelaide at Optus Oval and Geelong v North Melbourne at Kardinia Park. In the first one, rain belted down on players during the first quarter, with electrical storms striking nearby. Regarding the incident, AFL Players Association chief executive Robert Kerr said that ground managers and not field umpires should be entrusted with stopping matches when there is the threat of lightning. Kerr has spoken briefly to AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson this week about the issue and will write a formal letter expressing the AFLPA’s views and concerns.
In the second match, the Kardinia Park (Shell Stadium) was so wet that the players were described as playing in a pond. Both Cats coach Mark Thompson and Roos coach Denis Pagan described the conditions as the worst they had seen. Remarkedly, Kardinia Park has recovered well from the deluge and will be ready for this Sunday’s Geelong-Port Adelaide match.
The drenching rain, which started early on Sunday morning, prompted Cats chief executive Brian Cook to contact Channel Seven just an hour before the game, allowing the network to show the game live into Melbourne, because thousands of fans could not get to the venue due to local flooding. Cook said on Tuesday that a million viewers throughout the country watched Seven’s live telecast, including 300,000 in Melbourne.
Cats and Roos fans returning from the game found their way blocked by flash flooding on the Princes Freeway at North Geelong and Little River. This section of the Princes Freeway, which links Geelong and Melbourne, 75 km to the northeast, was closed intermittedly for long periods during the rain and the subsequently flood, before finally reopening to Melbourne-bound traffic on Wednesday morning. Victorian Premier Steve Bracks later promised to spend A$15 million to raise the affected section by one metre to prevent future flooding.
Cook said after the match that the smaller-than-usual crowd had cost his club A$60,000, and his hopes of realising a A$200,000 profit for the season was diminishing.
And Hawthorn president Ian Dicker said the rain at the MCG had kept 20,000 fans from attending the Hawthorn-Melbourne match, costing his club about A$200,000.
Melbourne’s big wet also soaked the Yarra Park surrounding the MCG, which is used for car parking during match days, causing the Melbourne City Council to close the park on Wednesday, forcing tens of thousands of fans travelling to watch the Essendon-Collingwood game to use public transport.
Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse was so impressed by the condition of the MCG for the Anzac Day clash that he thought the MCG curator, Tony Ware, deserved a vote for the “outstanding” condition of the ground, despite it copping a lot of rain over the previous days.

Leadership challenge in Demonland?
Some members of the Melbourne Football Club board are seething over McGuire’s role as host of The Footy Show in sparking renewed speculation of a challenge to Gutnick by Walker.
A Melbourne director said McGuire should get other sources to confirm the news.
McGuire denied there was any conflict of interest and said he was unconcerned by the latest claims
He is standing by his claim that Gutnick is about to be challenged for the Demons’ top job.
McGuire says Grand Prix Corporation Chairman Ron Walker will challenge Mr Gutnick for the presidency. However Walker, who is the former chairman of Victorian Major Events Corporation and former treasurer of the Victorian Liberal Party, denies he has been involved in any moves to oust the Demons president.
McGuire says he has spoken to a number of people who concede there are problems. “I was able to get them on the phone at short notice and get quotes from them, but everyone knew they were on the record,” he said. “Everyone was happy to talk and everyone conceded there were some problems.”
Claims emerged on Thursday night that Walker would challenge Joseph Gutnick for the position, following concerns over Gutnick’s management style.
But Walker says there is no truth to the story. “Stone motherless none,” he said. “I’ve got no intention of running for office, either the board or the presidency of the Melbourne Football Club.”
“I’ve had many opportunities over the years, particularly when I was number one ticket holder and then patron of the club, but I think the club is in good hands.”
Walker said he was just unhappy about comments made by Gutnick regarding the recent racial slur affair involving Demons forward David Schwarz.
During his term as chairman of Victorian Major Events Corporation, Walker helped secure several big sporting events to the city, including the Australian Formula One Grand Prix (from Adelaide), the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, President’s Cup golf, and the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Walker was Melbourne’s No.1 ticketholder from 1985 to 1989 and is a former patron.
Gutnick said it would be inappropriate for Walker to stand for the presidency of the club at this time of the year. He said that Walker or anyone else is entitled to stand for the presidency but he understands Walker has not put himself forward.
While Gutnick said he was personally disappointed and embarrassed in what was put to air on The Footy Show on Thursday night, he had no criticism of McGuire. “Eddie is a great friend, a great president, a great entertainer, so I have no problems with Eddie,” he said. “He is trying to get a popular show going.”

Bulldogs, Tigers settle feud
The Western Bulldogs have dropped legal action against Richmond president Clinton Casey for defamation over comments he made about the round two clash between Tony Liberatore and Matthew Knights.
Casey and his Bulldogs counterpart David Smorgon met for the first time since the row erupted and thrashed out their differences.
In a joint club statement, Casey apologised for inferring the Western Bulldogs condoned unsportsmanlike behaviour on the football field. Smorgan also apologised to the Tigers captain Wayne Campbell for questioning his credibility as a witness at the AFL tribunal hearing.
However Casey maintains his comments were turned around by the media. “I certainly don’t want David Smorgan or any of the football going public to think that I suggested that he or Wallace intentionally had a player intentionally go out and hit another player because as I said it was never my intention for that to be the perception,” he said.

Essendon rejects calls for Anzac Day match-up review
Essendon chairman Graeme McMahon has slammed rival AFL clubs for complaining about the Bombers and Collingwood’s exclusive right to the lucrative Anzac Day (April 25) fixture, saying that if other clubs wanted to play on Anzac Day, they would need to play either Essendon or Collingwood to draw the 90,000-plus crowd.
“Thankfully the AFL recognises that and believes we ought to be allowed to play this game and continue to build the tradition of the Collingwood-Essendon game on Anzac Day year after year,” McMahon said.
The Bombers and Magpies have agreed to donate A$125,000 in gate receipts from Wednesday’s match to the AFL, to be then shared between all 16 clubs at the end of the season. However rival clubs have still complained about the financial advantage gained by Collingwood and Essendon each year from the Anzac Day game, which usually draws match receipts of around A$1 million.
Several clubs, including Carlton, St Kilda and Richmond, have demanded that they be allowed to play on Anzac Day in the future.
McMahon said the other clubs forgot to mention the money and effort Collingwood and Essendon had invested to make the game such a success since 1995. That year, the Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy and Pies’ former football manager Graeme Allan put forward the idea to the Victorian president of Returned Services League, Bruce Ruxton.
“There has been a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of money gone into it from both clubs and we have established the day as it is today because of that effort,” McMahon said at the official luncheon before the Anzac Day clash between the two clubs. “And importantly it should be recognised that Collingwood and Essendon are not the only two clubs that will benefit from today (thanks to the $125,000 donation to the AFL).
“That’s why it was disappointing to read that some other clubs are now complaining that this game is locked in on this day to Collingwood and Essendon.”
The first Anzac Day game between the clubs in 1995 attracted the second biggest home and away crowd in league history of 94,825, with the average crowd in the six years since being 84,657. This year’s match attracted 83,905 fans.
McMahon’s comments contradicted those of Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy, who suggested in his regular column in The Australian on Anzac Day that a “nationwide festival of blockbusters” could be held on Anzac Day as early as 2003. He wrote the festival could feature Brisbane against Sydney at the Gabba, Port Adelaide v Adelaide and West Coast v Fremantle, plus matches in Hobart and Sydney’s Stadium Australia, featuring Melbourne-based clubs.
*McMahon has written to the AFL and the Melbourne Cricket Club, demanding a full explanation for what it regarded as a relatively disappointing Anzac Day crowd of 83,905. McMahon said that he told on Tuesday that only 300 to 500 AFL members’ reserve seats were left “so I can’t really understand why the numbers weren’t higher”, he told The Age.
However, AFL general manager of football operations Andrew Demetriou blamed the live telecast of the Anzac Day clash as well as the possibility of further bad weather and the closure of the MCG carparks for the lower-than-expected crowd.

Collo wants more big games at Colonial
Colonial Stadium boss Ian Collins has challenged the AFL to honour a promise to deliver big games. He said the league had reneged on commitments on both programming and promotion.
Collins wants the AFL “(to) embrace the stadium; give us better games, Ansett Cup semi-finals, maybe the final; the international games”. He said the league had not delivered on the User Agreement, signed in August 1997 by AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson and then commission chairman John Kennedy.
Collins said the User Agreement promised a program of matches with “an average attendance potential of at least 40,000”. Colonial’s average in 2000 was 29,000.
“The User Agreement says, under the heading ‘Stadium Usage, SOL (Stadium Operations Limited) and AFL meet in August’ -- which we didn’t do – ‘to outline the strategic thinking of both parties in relation to scheduling of matches’.” Collins said.
The agreement also reveals an AFL promise to promote the stadium, which is headed for another multi-million dollar loss this year.
Collins said: “Under the heading ‘AFL commitment: Principal Facility’, the AFL agrees to treat the stadium, and promote its use, as one of the two principal venues in Victoria for AFL matches.”
AFL corporate affairs and communications manager Tony Peek said the original agreement stipulated a minimum 30 games at Colonial, adding the stadium was better off in numerical terms with the current arrangement. “Thirty games at 40,000 would have given them 1.2 million people; they got 1,465,000 from 48 games last year,” he said. “Collo should know about the emphasis on best-fit fixturing; it was his idea when he worked here.”
*The AFL and Colonial Stadium management are reportedly chasing Richmond to play at least four home games at the venue to boost attendances and compensate for possible departure of Collingwood. The Tigers are previously opposed to play home matches at Colonial.
*The centre corridor of turf at Colonial Stadium was ripped up and replaced during the week as part of the A$1.4 million returfing program to complete relay the stadium’s surface. The western wing (Docklands side) will be replaced after Saturday’s Western Bulldogs-Hawthorn game, followed by the eastern wing (Melbourne City side) a week later.

The roof question raised again
The AFL and Colonial Stadium management is also arguing on whether and when the stadium roof can be closed in bad weather.
Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews criticized the AFL for taking until ten minutes before the start of last Saturday’s Bulldogs-Lions clash to decide the roof should be closed. “When there’s black clouds in the sky, close the damn roof,” he said.
However, Matthews was happy to play under the roof to avoid the torrential rain which fell at nearby Optus Oval during the Carlton-Adelaide clash.
An AFL spokesman said it was up to the match manager to decide on the roof closure pending weather forecasts.

Budget leak shows A$90 million grant for MCG revamp
The Australian Government’s May budget will include A$90 million towards the redevelopment of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, according to a leaked document from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The MCG allocation is believed to be $10 million to $40 million less than the Victorian State Government and Melbourne Cricket Club sought for the A$400 million redevelopment. It could force the club to sell naming rights for the new northern stand to a private company.
The Federal Cabinet’s Expenditure Review Committee (ERC) had decided to “provide $90 million over two years to redevelop the MCG for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games”, the briefing document states.
Prime Minister John Howard said funding the MCG redevelopment was “totally justified” and a much smaller subsidy than the Olympics got. “It’s just not realistic to think we can host the Commonwealth Games without putting quite a bit of money into it,” he said.
Victorian Sports Minister Justin Madden said the contribution would be welcomed, but he had been expecting a larger contribution to the Commonwealth Games.
The document also contains details of proposed budget cuts in assistance to diabetics and sufferers of high cholesterol, reductions in environmental programs and an A$11,000 pay rise for doctors.
The Australian Federal Police has been called in to investigate the leak.

Membership news
Carlton has called on its supporters to step out of the “comfort zone” after being struck by a rare case of the membership blues.
The Blues currently boast 24,000 members and appear unlikely to reach last year’s total of 27,571.
There is deep concern at Optus Oval that the club’s membership growth has not come close to matching the achievements of rivals such as Hawthorn and Essendon in recent seasons.
President John Elliott went as far as making a plea to fans in a TV interview after the club’s memorable win against Essendon last week.
Carlton chief executive Don Hanly said “a considerable amount of Carlton people .. are supporting the club, but not from a membership point of view”. “It is a concern and it’s disappointing,” he said.
Hanly said the club was determined to lift its membership next season with an intensive campaign. All members who did not renew this season would be contacted.
He said it was understandable that Essendon was the Melbourne membership pacesetter because of its run of on-field success. Essendon has recorded a good rise in membership, and the magical 40,000 figure (which Adelaide and West Coast reached several years ago at their peak) is within reach.
The Western Bulldogs are also struggling to reach last year’s figure, being stranded on 15,200 members and the last on the membership table. The Bulldogs are hopeful they can pass last year’s total of 18,056, but it will be a very difficult task. As a result, the Bulldogs have embarked on a shock campaign to entice more than 9,500 so-called “passive supporters” to renew their membership.
On Channel Nine’s Footy Show on Thursday night, Bulldogs president David Smorgon introduced midfielder Scott West wearing a Collingwood jumper, defender Nathan Brown in a Kangaroo jumper, and ruckman Luke Darcy in a Port Adelaide jumper. Smorgon warned fans that is what they could see next season unless the membership improves.
Smorgon told the studio audience that the club had found there were 9,533 people who were club members in 1999 and 2000 but not in 2001. He said the club put a value of A$100 on each member, thus 9,500 people not renewing their membership would cost the club A$950,000.
Hawthorn has a healthy membership of 25,244 so far, but in 1999 more than 32,000 signed up.
This year’s figure is well short of the target of 35,000 set by president Ian Dicker. The Hawks are concerned that about 8000 members from last year have yet to re-sign.
Hawthorn chief executive Michael Brown said the members who had not renewed had a responsibility to help the club push forward. “We have worked so hard to get membership up to record levels since the merger debate of 1996. And worked too hard to let the supporters go,” he said.

THE MEMBERSHIP LADDER

this year last year

Adelaide 42,500 42,896
West Coast 37,956 38,868
Essendon 34,594 34,278
Port Adelaide 32,800 34,925
Sydney 28,505 30,177
Collingwood 28,154 28,932
Hawthorn 25,000 26,879
Carlton 24,000 27,571
Richmond 24,000 26,869
Geelong 23,500 25,595
Fremantle 21,500 24,925
North Melbourne 20,800 22,156
St Kilda 20,640 17,855
Brisbane 18,000 20,295
Melbourne 18,227 18,900
Western Bulldogs 15,000 18,056

Tribunal results
*Collingwood forward Jarrod Molloy was found not guilty of charging Richmond defender Darren Gaspar in last Friday night’s match at the MCG.
*Sydney utility Brett Kirk was found not guilty of striking Essendon midfielder Blake Caracella on the same night at the SCG.
*Essendon rookie Damien Peverill was fined A$600 and Swan Matthew Nicks A$1200 for wrestling.

Court rules against union in Grand Final telecast dispute
A Federal Court judge in Melbourne has ruled that a trade union has contravened workplace laws by threatening to disrupt Channel Seven’s telecast of the AFL finals, the Brownlow Medal count, and the Sydney Olympics last year.
Justice Ron Merkel ruled that the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia (CEPU), and its two senior officials, Victorian Secretary Dean Mighell and organiser Alex McCallum acted coercively by threatening to take industrial action against Seven in August last year, in order to bring pressure to bear on the network to accede to the CEPU’s demands for a local enterprise agreement, instead of a national enterprise agreement, for the Melbourne employees.
He said that during the hearing, the CEPU claimed to represent up to 80 employees in Channel Seven Melbourne, including cameramen, sound engineers and technicians. In fact, the CEPU had only one member, an electrician, who was employed at Seven Network in Melbourne at the time.
Justice Merkel said the Seven Network employees represented by the CEPU “did not form an intent to take industrial action to interfere with or interrupt the televising of the AFL finals or the Olympic Games”.
Justice Merkel has ordered that the further hearing of Seven’s application for declaratory relief and penalties be adjourned to a date to be fixed.

Hawthorn’s Team of the Century
After Melbourne, Carlton and St Kilda, Hawthorn has announced its own Team of the Century at a gala function in Melbourne’s Crown Entertainment Complex, despite the club having only joined the VFL in 1925.
As expected, the team is dominated by players from the club’s greatest era, between 1971-91, when it won eight of its nine premierships. Only seven of the 22-man team played for Hawthorn before the Hawks’ second flag in 1971.
The team is:
B: Gary Ayres, Kelvin Moore, Albert Mills
HB: Colin Austen, Chris Mew, Peter Knights
C: Robert DiPierdomenico, Jim Bohan, Brendan Edwards
HF: Graham Arthur, Dermott Brereton, Gary Buckenara
F: Jason Dunstall, Peter Hudson, John Platten
R: Don Scott, Michael Tuck, Leigh Matthews
Interchange: Chris Langford, Ian Law, Paul Salmon, Roy Simmonds
Coach: John Kennedy Senior

In Brief
*St Kilda captain Robert Harvey has suffered a back-related hamstring injury in his right leg at Friday’s training session and will be sidelined for three weeks. Harvey missed four matches with a hamstring tear late last season, managed to return for the last two rounds, but was sidelined again during the pre-season with more right hamstring problems.
*Collingwood has lost key recruit Chad Rintoul for up to six weeks after a scan revealed he has a broken leg. Rintoul suffered the injury in the first quarter of the Anzac Day clash with Essendon.
*North Melbourne coach Denis Pagan will become the first man to coach the Kangaroos for 200 games since the club joined the VFL in 1925, when the team battles with Adelaide at Football Park.
The closest was “supercoach” Ron Barassi, who coached the Roos for 198 games between 1973 and 1980, with five successive Grand Finals from 1974 to 1978, including 1975 and 1977 premierships.
Pagan’s record is almost as impressive as his tenure. Since taking over as senior coach at Arden Street in 1993 from Wayne Schimmelbusch, the Roos reached the finals for eight years in a row, including two premierships and top-four finish for seven successive years. Pagan also coached Essendon to nine successive reserve Grand Finals, with premierships in the last five.
*The South Australian Cricket Association has came up with the idea of buying shares in the North Melbourne Football Club to play at Adelaide Oval. The SACA is known to be strongly lobbying the Kangaroos and Geelong to play “home” games against teams such as Brisbane and Fremantle at the oval. However, the South Australian National Football League has remainded the SACA that every game played in Adelaide in the next 15 years will only be at Football Park, under an agreement between the SANFL and the AFL.
*Two SANFL goal umpires tested a small camera attached to their hats during the Anzac Day clash between Central District and Woodville-West Torrens at Adelaide Oval. The lipstick-sized camera, which sits just above the umpire’s ear and connected by a cord to a battery and a transmitter in a belt worn around the umpire’s waist, gave the ABC’s TV coverage a new camera angle. SANFL state umpiring director Shane Harris said the trial had been successful and the league would consider using the camera again, but ruled out using the new camera to judge close decisions.
*Carlton stars Anthony Koutufides, Ang Christou, Lance Whitnall and Callan Neasy have joined the launch of Bluey Day 2001 which raises funds to fight childhood cancer. During the launch, their heads were sprayed blue, one by one, by the new Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Christine Nixon. The Bluey Day head-shaving event, featuring police, ambulance officers, firefighters and emergency workers, will take place on August 11 at Melbourne’s Crown Entertainment Complex.
*Plans to hold a “people’s Brownlow” before a packed Colonial Stadium had been abandoned by the AFL because it was too radical, according to AFL spokesman Patrick Keane.
“To make such a dramatic change to footy’s night of nights requires a lot more thought and planning,” he said. “The AFL believes the format of our showcase night should not be tampered with without major consultation throughout the football community.”
Colonial Stadium boss Ian Collins had put the proposal to the AFL to hold the Brownlow Medal count at the stadium -- with the public invited. Collins wanted to fill Colonial by selling tickets to 50,000 fans to watch the event at the ground.
*Former Brisbane Bears player Robert Dickson has defended the accuracy of re-enactments in his movie The Passion of Play. Dickson came under fire two weeks ago from former coach Robert Walls about the portrayal of a boxing session in 1991 that left fellow player Shane Strempel with chipped teeth and a bloodied nose and tooth.
Walls claimed the depiction of teammates forming a circle around Strempel and taking turns to box with him were overdramatized, but Dickson said he had nothing to gain by concorting events.
Dickson wrote, produced and edited the four-hour film which was endorsed by the AFL and the Players Association. It is now available from Australian Football Video (contact the AFANA for prices).
*Waverley Park would be an ideal base for Victoria’s second-tier football competition, the Victorian Football League, Premier Steve Bracks said.
“I think it would be an ideal venue for the VFL, frankly,” he said. “They’re looking for a headquarters, they’re looking for a home and that’s one of the clear options.”
Bracks said he was still hopeful of the AFL scheduling some matches at the ground in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs. “I am still hopeful we can negotiate the position with the Sports Minister, Justin Madden, and the AFL to have elite football still played there for the eastern suburbs, for the Gippsland area and that whole region of Victoria,” he said.
VFL team Springvale, now affiliated with AFL club St Kilda, used Waverley as its base last season.
Newspaper advertisements have announced that expressions of interest would be accepted until June 29 for the 80ha site, which is expected to reap the AFL at least A$80 million.

General Silliness
The following two stories are from MX, Melbourne’s afternoon free newspaper.
*Media outlets in Western Australia were told last Saturday night’s Fremantle-West Coast clash was to be labelled The Carlton Mid Derby – not the Western Derby. Carlton and United Breweries, makers of the midstrength beer (hence the “Mid” in Carlton Mid), informed The West Australian newspaper that the term Western Derby was already registered by Swan Brewery, CUB’s rival in WA and owned by Lion Nathan (who, you may recall, sponsors Seven’s AFL coverage). So CUB came up with their own little name.
*Players from the Northern Eagles rugby league club, who happened to travel to Melbourne on the same flight with the Kangaroos, who were returning home after being thrashed by the Sydney Swans by 80 points, were stunned to see Roo coach Denis Pagan and his troops all seated at the back of the plane – but skipper Wayne Carey sitting in comfort in the front. A Roos spokeswoman said she was not aware of the incident but it was common practice for Ansett (official carrier for both AFL and NRL) to offer first-class seats to players if there were some spare. (For the record, the Eagles were thrashed by the Melbourne Storm on Good Friday, but beat the North Queensland Cowboys at the following weekend.)
And how about this one from Geoff McClure of The Age: cleaners at Geelong’s Kardinia Park (Shell Stadium), who mopped up North Melbourne’s changeroom after their shock win over the Cats last Sunday, had found not only a plastic board detailing the Roos’ match plan, including the rain-soaked but effective “Pagan’s Paddock”, but also a sheet of paper with the full lyrics of the Roos’ club song, in case the players might have forgotten them.

Finally, we should praise the efforts of several Sydney Swans players, including Brett Kirk, Rowan Warfe and Andrew Schauble, who joined a group of young Australians to walk on the tracherous Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea in March, just before the start of the AFL season. For those who are not familiar with the Australian involvement in World War II, the Aussies vigorously defended the trail against the Japanese invasion in 1942, under very difficult conditions, and with the help of local village people. The journey was taped and shown as an Anzac Day special on Seven’s national current affairs program Today Tonight.

The last word should go to MX again, who belted “the few idiots who found 30 seconds of quiet tribute too much to bear and who just had to hear the sounds of their own voice”, during the two-minute silence and the playing of The Last Post to commenmorate Australia’s fallen heroes, before the Bombers-Pies match: “Go take a history lesson. And preferably, go take a long hike (along the Kokoda Trail in PNG) beforehand. You’re a disgrace.”

See you soon.

Regards,