Rumour File, Home games in NZ

[howlinwolf]

Excuse me if this has been brought up in another thread.
There was a Rumour File call to 3aw this morning. He said the Saints will play home games in New Zealand in a multi million deal. Not just ANZAC day.
Interesting if true.

[melton girl]

tim watson was talking about it with andy maher this morning on sen

[howlinwolf]

I don't particularly want to lose home games but in this day and age the monetary gains can't be ignored.
Whether or not there would be a gain from Kiwis jumping on as members is debatable but at the least there would be dollars from the NZ Govt.
Tassie would probably have been the better choice.

[meher baba]

If true, words fail me. What an appalling decision. Once we abandoned Tassie, our second spiritual home (there are an insane number of Saints supporters down here), we should have stuck to our guns and not gone in for this sort of caper ever again.

Hell will surely freeze over before AFL ever makes any sort of inroads in NZ. Even plugger66 thinks this is a dumb idea!!

[stkildathunda]

Its not a rumour, its fact and the club has been very public about it for the last month or so.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=74727

[saintspremiers]

money talks.

We are financially pretty weak and will never cut the mustard in Victoria alone.....we will never get the level of membership that Collingwood, Carlton and Essendon can get. That's reality unfortunately.

Look at North - they are completely financially faarked now that they've turned down the GC deal a few years back.

Yes, I'd love us to play 11 home games in Victoria, but the sad reality is this may not happen....

[borderbarry]

There was a time when Aussie Rules was quite strong in New Zealand,, with 16 seperate leagues or competitions going. It was probably pre 1st World War.

[citywest]

There really are some short sighted people on this forum.

[saintly]

not a rumour at all. the club has been up front about playing in NZ for quite a while.

maybe just anzac day next year, but in 2014 possibly 2-4 games.

[matrix]

as long as they're on fox and the club makes some coin out of the situation then go for it i say

[skeptic]

If they set up the same kind of deal as Tassie... i'll be happy

Tassie was better but well thats that

[james rose]

If true, words fail me. What an appalling decision. Once we abandoned Tassie, our second spiritual home (there are an insane number of Saints supporters down here), we should have stuck to our guns and not gone in for this sort of caper ever again.

Hell will surely freeze over before AFL ever makes any sort of inroads in NZ. Even plugger66 thinks this is a dumb idea!!

My NZ friends seem to think every game would be a sell out in Wellington as they are sport mad.

[st_Trav_ofWA]

If true, words fail me. What an appalling decision. Once we abandoned Tassie, our second spiritual home (there are an insane number of Saints supporters down here), we should have stuck to our guns and not gone in for this sort of caper ever again.

Hell will surely freeze over before AFL ever makes any sort of inroads in NZ. Even plugger66 thinks this is a dumb idea!!

Fact is when we play games at the dome against the likes of Port , GWS ect it costs us money.. The Tassie deal we had was vastly different to that of Hawthorns so the whole we should never left Tassie is a wasted argument ... At this stage the club financially with the new home base ect could do with some extra income and if NZ is willing to pay then we would be crazy not to take up the offer

[Pwoit]

Good chance to visit the neighbours

[mr six o'clock]

not a rumour at all. the club has been up front about playing in NZ for quite a while.

maybe just anzac day next year, but in 2014 possibly 2-4 games.

correct
We played freo on friday with a crowd of just over 30k , How much money did the club make ? probably nothing thanks to our fantastic stadium deal .
So a match or two played at a venue where your guaranteed to make good money is something a responsible board should be considering .
Hopefully with free to air broadcast thrown in .

[Moods]

I'm tipping that the majority of ppl posting on this thread are from interstate and don't get to many games anyway, or ppl who actually don't go to the footy that often. I follow the saints b/c I like to watch them play - live. I accept that certain games need to be played interstate, but if we ever played 11 games in NZ we would have to virtually base ourselves in NZ. As far as I'm concerned I would lose a LOT of interest in the club. I assume the money that I donate through my AFL membership would still go their way. When Fitzroy were taken over by Brisbane, it became a situation when all home games were played in Brisbane (11) about 5 other interstate game (takes it to 16) which meant they play in Victoria roughly 6 times a year. Nup, not for me.

I would go from being a passionate supporter, to taking a casual interest in how they are going. I would just be a footy supporter who goes to the best game each week with mates.

[howlinwolf]

I'm tipping that the majority of ppl posting on this thread are from interstate and don't get to many games anyway, or ppl who actually don't go to the footy that often. I follow the saints b/c I like to watch them play - live. I accept that certain games need to be played interstate, but if we ever played 11 games in NZ we would have to virtually base ourselves in NZ. As far as I'm concerned I would lose a LOT of interest in the club. I assume the money that I donate through my AFL membership would still go their way. When Fitzroy were taken over by Brisbane, it became a situation when all home games were played in Brisbane (11) about 5 other interstate game (takes it to 16) which meant they play in Victoria roughly 6 times a year. Nup, not for me.

I would go from being a passionate supporter, to taking a casual interest in how they are going. I would just be a footy supporter who goes to the best game each week with mates.

I would agree with you Moods. I love the club and would watch on tv anyway but the highlight of our working week is heading up the highway, having a feed and watching the saints undercover. We love it.
If we were to play all our home games away we would certainly lose some members.
I doubt we'd ever play many more than 4 in a season though. Similar to Hawthorn in Tassie.
I would guess we would want to play Port,Freo,Gold Coast (especially seeing how many Kiwis are up there) GWS etc in NZ and play the big teams Geelong,Carlton, Hawthorn etc at Etihad which would give us a flow on effect of more money through the stadium deal.
If this were long term we may even be able to negotiate a better deal when we have proven good numbers coming through the turnstiles ?

[SainterK]

Is there a chance of some good sponsorship as well?

New Zealand tourism, Air New Zealand....

Stuff like that?

[Dr Spaceman]

Is there a chance of some good sponsorship as well?

New Zealand tourism, Air New Zealand....

Stuff like that?

As long as we don't have to change our name to St Kelda

[saintly]

well according to these 2 articles.

2-4 games in 2014. both brisbane and sydney

http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.p ... 6100206912

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sp ... Wellington

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthrea ... 055&page=6

and the saints hierarcy are going back to visit in 2 weeks.

[howlinwolf]

Is there a chance of some good sponsorship as well?

New Zealand tourism, Air New Zealand....

Stuff like that?

As long as we don't have to change our name to St Kelda

PLEASE NO.... lol
Couldn't handle the vowels all the wrong way around in our name.
Would it be more like Sun Kulde ?
God love our brothers across the ditch but that accent is something else.

[vacuous space]

I disagree with the practice of selling any home games. The only people who think this sort of stuff is a good idea is the people paying the bills. Anybody on this board arguing in favour of selling games is either a fantasy accountant or a real one. It makes life harder for the coaches, players and the majority of fans. It turns home ground advantage into neutral grounds. It makes recovery more difficult. Selling games hurts our chances of winning and winning sells a lot more memberships than publicity stunts in non-football lands. I assume we get some extra up-front cash from a Kiwi circus promoter looking to put a bearded woman in front of some gaping locals. That's short term gain for long term pain. In the long run, NZ hurts the club.

Tassie was a foolish. NZ is complete madness. The more games we play over there the madder it is. York was never a second home for us, so the reality is we might lose games that we could have won at Docklands. Then on the return trip, we may face a fresher local team that hasn't had a shortened turnaround from a long flight. So we could wind up losing two games for every one played in NZ. If it's three or four games, NZ could be the difference between finals and bottom four. While it's unlikely to be that dramatic, it definitely makes life harder - for what gain?

I just don't see the need for this. AFL clubs are not normal businesses. There is little bonus from running massive surpluses. Running minor deficits like the one from last year doesn't put the club in danger of folding - The Roos are still in Melbourne, as are the Dees. In any case, we were told that deficit was a result of relocation costs and stadium issue that should be now corrected. So what's the eagerness for this project? To me it's the sort of thing that anybody associated with the on-field side of club is going to hate. It's questionable on a financial and a football front. As far as I'm concerned it's executives gone mad and I want no part of it. The less we travel, the better. Always has been, always will be.

[saintbrat]

12 Mill over 5 years was part of the rumour?
thats 2.4 mill per year............ against 0 or minimal at Etihad games,

with replacement games in Victoria to make up the 11 home.-

[Doctor Two]

might be a good way to get on Demetriou's sweet list

better deal from corrupt umpires, more favourable fixturing

anything to increase Dimwit's bonus may assist in gaining better outcomes for the club

[chook23]

we will have people saying suxty sux was our last premiership...................

also what do sheep and saints have in common............................

both take it up................