Go Dogs Go

the daggy face of community

geniwate — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:21:17 +0000

Having just written about the Dog’s concept of their community, I now turn to another mag I got in the post–this one from Melbourne Council. Once again, all about ‘community’. How pollies and governmental organisations love throwing that term around. When in doubt, justify with reference to ‘community’.

In March, Melbourne Council hosts the Moomba Festival. The Moomba Festival has been going on for many years, and it is a celebration of all things daggy. They call it a ‘community festival’. It has silly races and competitions and home-made floats and a parade and concerts and fireworks and I’ve never been and I doubt I ever will.

Makes me wonder, does community mean daggy? You get a feeling that the organisers think that if the events are too professionally producers, the ordinary punters won’t go along. The community buys in because it’s so DIY.

But surely there’s a lot of people like me who won’t go near it because it lacks the cool factor!

I know, I’m a snob.

Doggy community

geniwate — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:12:50 +0000

Perusing the Bulldog’s members mag, there’s a lot of clues about who they think their community is. They cling pretty strongly to the western suburbs of Melbourne–they’re not really aiming for a supporter base beyond that. They don’t have much of a virtual presence which would give them that potential. Their community activities centre around Whitten Oval.

They’ve got events for kids lined up, and also they do activities designed to encourage new migrants to the Western suburbs to experience (and come to love) football. They also have a First Bounce program which helps members in a crisis. A program called Fresh provides alternative education for youth at risk in the west of Melbourne.

All good stuff, although none of it appeals to me personally. The Doggies doesn’t really see people like me as part of their demographic. I wonder how many other Doggies members feel slightly alienated from the way they present themselves?

The Doggies–and I suspect other AFL clubs–have to juggle a few tensions with regards their marketing. They have to sell their sponsors’ products to their community. The simplicity of the fan relationship is therefore slightly undermined by money. While I think fans are quite forgiving about this, and appreciate the need for sponsorship, the club has to be careful the extent to which it tries to market products.

buy in

geniwate — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:32:37 +0000

Well… it took a while for the first of my membership to turn up in a mail. Now I have a particularly fine plastic membership card with my very own name on it, and a magazine, and a subscription to an email list. I hear there’s more to come. Rumours about the Bulldog’s membership services being clunky to the point of completely stalling are ringing loudly in my ears.

However at least I’ve got something. I belong. And there are other reasons to be cheerful, given Barry Hall’s recent performance.

I’m a member!

geniwate — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:50:28 +0000

After umming and ahhing for the last two years, I’ve just become a signed up member of the Western Bulldogs football Team. This is Australian rules football, for those that don’t know. Its fast, furious, sometimes violent and always dramatic.

I’ve never been a member of a footy club before. Not sure how much I’ll get out of it, or how interesting it will be. This blog is the diary of my journey as a Doggies supporter, season 2010.
Bring it on!

Doggies colours

geniwate — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:04:18 +0000

There’s a limit to my commitment, and I’ve already rubbed up against it. I really did try to find a theme in the Doggies colours (blue, white red) that I could bear. But I can’t.

It’s amazing how well the Doggies have been doing the last few years, despite the colour scheme.