Members' Information Night - West Adelaide

Interesting.

http://westadelaidefc.com.au/wafc/members-information-night/

Good on West Adelaide for openly communicating with their members...

Good initiative by West. Not suggesting it was the sole reason for reversal in fortunes at Norwood, but a similar approach of transparency and re-strengthening of ties with the club community was the commencement of turning around their fortunes. Hope it goes well for the Bloods.

Have a feeling that a few other clubs maybe having similar meetings over the next few months.Well done to Westies for getting on the front foot.

Also an announcement about a Blood's Cyclethon.



Ride For The Bloods – Cyclethon

   

Introduction to the Ride For The Bloods Cyclethon

The West Adelaide Football Club has embarked on a debt reduction programme to ensure the survival and future sustainability of a traditional and famous SANFL club. This Cyclethon is the first of many initiatives in our quest to raise funds for the Bloods.

The ride is NOT a race but a leisurely community fun ride for anyone capable of riding approximately 20Kms. The planned route will start and finish at City Mazda Stadium (Richmond Oval) and will be held on mainly safe, dedicated bike tracks including the Anna Mears Bikeway from Netley along the southern boundary of the airport, then through the back streets of North Glenelg to Camden Oval and along the Western Bikeway heading back to the starting point.
Event Details

All participants are to register in the car park at City Mazda Stadium between 8.30 & 9.30am on Sunday 30th November. The ride is expected to take approximately 60 to 75 minutes depending on age and speed. Registration will entitle each rider to a sausage sizzle and a soft drink at the completion of the ride.

For those without a bike & helmet, we will have a limited number available from BikeSA, so you must be quick to reserve one.

The West Adelaide players will be conducting fun kicking and handball activities for the kids at the conclusion of the ride. The clubrooms will also be open and we welcome everyone to enjoy a meal & a drink in the bar. There are games for children in a reserved section in the lounge area of the main bar.
How will this raise funds for the club?

As registration is free we do ask that participants assist with raising money from sponsors.

We would like participants to aim to reach suggested targets, which are outlined below;
Adults to raise sponsorship of $100, Under 18’s $50, Under 15’s $25 and Families (2 Adults & 2 Children) $120.


The West Adelaide Football Club has embarked on a debt reduction programme to ensure the survival and future sustainability of a traditional and famous SANFL club. This Cyclethon is the first of many initiatives in our quest to raise funds for the Bloods.

http://westadelaidefc.com.au/wafc/ride-for-the-bloods-cyclethon/

if Lee wakes me up when he rides past my place, i'll put the hose on him at full blast

bayman wrote:if Lee wakes me up when he rides past my place, i'll put the hose on him at full blast

(j/k Lee )

I think I'm the starter.

They said my bike pace was well outside the qualifying time by several hours.

I have referred Bayman and Scrunch to Admin for possible life bans.

Lee wrote:Interesting.
http://westadelaidefc.com.au/wafc/members-information-night/

In a nutshell ( IMHO ) -

- Westies are set in an area that has an ageing population, not yet has the inner West, South of Henley Beach Rd, experienced an influx of young families
- Those young families that have moved into "hip" inner West suburbs are unlikely to be wooed by SANFL football
- The population of the areas surrounding Westies will not experience any boom. The 1/4 acre blocks have been there since the 50/60's and I can't see anyone leveling hundreds of "the great Australian dream" any time soon.

With little in the way of success over the past 15-20 years the younger generations that are around Westies will not be crawling over each other to get memberships, kids ( Gen Y ) want to be winners, flash, modern....they aren't ( sadly ) interested in tradition and era's gone by.

Not only West, I think Glenelg are in a similar boat, are really up against it and would need to be very clever with strategic planning for the next 5-10 year period.

I wish you, Lee, and all the stakeholders at Westies all the best for this very important period in your clubs history.

Thanks for your good wishes, Booney. Your summary accurately shows the job we know we have in front of us.

We're attacking it with enthusiasm, vigour and ideas, but we're realistic about the difficulties.

We're out to make a big difference and hope the members will come along for an exciting ride.

I like the direction Westies are heading in with a focus on being a local community club, Andy Collins was not wrong to head the club in that direction when he got them started on some local projects in the area.

Its fair to say that there are some challenges ahead, but there also are some good people with the resolve needed to continue moving it forward.

I still think that the SANFL clubs in general need to do more to work together to resolve some of these financial issues that are now common place at several SANFL clubs. Westies would likely struggle to get a new venue up and running, yet a joint venture between several clubs would be a lot lower risk and provide income streams into the clubs that are involved. A venue in the city jointly owned by all the SANFL clubs would probably be a good start.

You're always a lateral thinker, Ben, good stuff.

Good thinking Ben, perhaps the people in key positions at the SANFL clubs could try and take advantage of the facilities at Football Park or, in turn, invest in a venue close to the Adelaide Oval and make the most of the 50,000 people who flock to that precinct every other weekend for 6 months of the year.

Booney wrote:

Lee wrote:Interesting.
http://westadelaidefc.com.au/wafc/members-information-night/

In a nutshell ( IMHO ) -

- Westies are set in an area that has an ageing population, not yet has the inner West, South of Henley Beach Rd, experienced an influx of young families
- Those young families that have moved into "hip" inner West suburbs are unlikely to be wooed by SANFL football
- The population of the areas surrounding Westies will not experience any boom. The 1/4 acre blocks have been there since the 50/60's and I can't see anyone leveling hundreds of "the great Australian dream" any time soon.

With little in the way of success over the past 15-20 years the younger generations that are around Westies will not be crawling over each other to get memberships, kids ( Gen Y ) want to be winners, flash, modern....they aren't ( sadly ) interested in tradition and era's gone by.

Not only West, I think Glenelg are in a similar boat, are really up against it and would need to be very clever with strategic planning for the next 5-10 year period.

I wish you, Lee, and all the stakeholders at Westies all the best for this very important period in your clubs history.

Can't see it getting any easier for West. Glenelg have been given a boost getting all the seaside coast to Trimmer Parade from the Eagles. I think they'll be fine if they can get their act together on field. Their juniors should be very strong in a few years once they start adding Henley and St Michael's kids to their programs and they have many supporters when going well.

Eagles will struggle to survive with the move in to Port zone and losing all old West Torrens areas to West and Glenelg. Competing against a Port AFL team and Port SANFL team in literally their own back yard. Without a big supporter base to call on, even in good times, I can see Eagles either getting gulped up by the Crows or joining forces with West in a decade or so.

I am very keen to see what the board of west has to say in relation to moving the club forward. What could possibly be the answer to the worrying scenario that they face. The crowds are just not coming to the games like they used to. The quality of football was patchy at best.Beat the top team Port and then lose to the bottom team Glenelg and finish with four losses to round out the year was disappointing. The upside is the under 18's won the premiership but they aren't ready to step into the league team. Physically they wont match up with the bigger bodies of the stronger sanfl teams.
Firstly getting the club back on track financially needs to be first and foremost. Is it the club sells the rooms to the local council as other clubs have? Is it leasing out some of the club to a fitness company to generate income like sturt has done? The sponsors cannot be continually asked to put their hand in their pocket. Perhaps there are people within the club that could "sell" the club as a great place to do business in and with rather than sit on their hands and see what happens?
This club is very important to a lot of people and change is a must.

Welcome to the Forum and a great first post, coach. I agree with everything you have said and the Board believes things have to change and will be putting a proposition that should see us take a dramatic, but positive and member-friendly direction.

It's time Westies became a very strong club on and off the field and I'm confident this will happen if the members accept the Board's proposal at the Information Night next Monday.

Any indication as to what may be proposed, Lee?

@coach31 wrote:I am very keen to see what the board of west has to say in relation to moving the club forward. What could possibly be the answer to the worrying scenario that they face. The crowds are just not coming to the games like they used to. The quality of football was patchy at best.Beat the top team Port and then lose to the bottom team Glenelg and finish with four losses to round out the year was disappointing. The upside is the under 18's won the premiership but they aren't ready to step into the league team. Physically they wont match up with the bigger bodies of the stronger sanfl teams.
Firstly getting the club back on track financially needs to be first and foremost. Is it the club sells the rooms to the local council as other clubs have? Is it leasing out some of the club to a fitness company to generate income like sturt has done? The sponsors cannot be continually asked to put their hand in their pocket. Perhaps there are people within the club that could "sell" the club as a great place to do business in and with rather than sit on their hands and see what happens?
This club is very important to a lot of people and change is a must.

I am also very keen to hear what proposals the board put forward on Monday night coach31, it is arguably the most important meeting in the club's history and our future may well be determined by the outcome.
I urge all members to get along and be part of the discussion.
All will be revealed on Monday night.

Booney wrote:Any indication as to what may be proposed, Lee?

I can't give details before Monday, Booney, but we'll be proposing something we're confident will once and for all solve our cash flow problems, while still enabling us to keep control of our assets.

We're able to do this as we have a large equity in our assets.

Seems the board will suggest that a consortium of board members buy the West Adelaide Football Club club rooms, hold it and sell it back to the football club when the club is back on its feet.

How good was Ruccis information Lee?

Count me out of any fictional consortium of Board members, Booney, I'm buying my lunch with coins right now

Lee wrote:Count me out of any fictional consortium of Board members, Booney, I'm buying my lunch with coins right now  

only because you wont break green notes

How did last night go, Lee?

I thought it went well, Booney.

As you'd expect and is reasonable, some members were critical of the Boards over the years for the position we find ourselves in, but there was a lot of positivity as well.

Several members asked good, relevant questions and the feeling of the meeting at the end was one of support for our proposals.

I believe a Media Release will be made soon.

The gist of the proposal, as you fairly accurately posted a while ago, is to transfer the club's building into the ownership of a Unit trust and seek investment in that Trust from interested parties at a fair return. The investors may well be people who have some connection to Westies, but that isn't compulsory.

There is certainly no 'consortium' of Board members involved.

The problems with West's financial position has always been cash flow, not equity. We can put up this proposal because we have approximately $2 million of equity right now and we're far better placed than many clubs.

We're hoping that this move will allow us to retain control over our building, while at the same time getting a very, very sizeable cash injection, which will allow us to take advantage of our relatively strong Balance Sheet.

None of this will work, though, unless our budgeting and operations are disciplined and tightly controlled.

We face a tough challenge, but we're up for the fight.