| HARBOURSPORT |
Club loyalty. All of us, whatever our sport of choice, have it. We’ve chosen our team, we support
that team win or lose, through thick or thin. We buy tickets to see them play, we watch them on
TV, we buy the merchandise. It’s our team.
Whatever our sport, we know the feeling – we wouldn’t be on a sports site like this if we didn’t.
It’s not a loyalty shared by players or officials, any more than we stay loyal to our jobs. If a
better offer at a rival employer came along, we’d change jobs straight away – and so do players
and officials.
You can’t blame them for that.
Sport is an industry which is very cut-throat, where job security is an unknown and careers are
short; and you can’t blame players and officials for maximising their career and earnings.
Sport is an industry. It’s big business. AFL, NRL, A-League clubs all turn over millions of dollars a
year. Our loyalty is to multi-million dollar corporations – and yet to sports fans such as ourselves,
our loyalty is to so much more.
Dedicated fans look down on the bandwagoner, who disappears when the club is losing only to
return to the grandstands when the team returns to the winners’ circle.
But reviled even more than the bandwagoner is the turncoat; the one without loyalty who
switches allegiances to another team.
If sport is a multi-million dollar entertainment industry, is it wrong to transfer your support to
where the enjoyment factor is higher and where value for money is higher? The objective
observer may say no, but the passionate sports supporter would say yes.
So under what circumstances would it be acceptable to change loyalty? It’s a tangent my mind
drifted towards after reading an excellent piece by Davidde Corran on The Roar and the
comments below; of Mr Corran’s decision to continue supporting Melbourne Victory when
Melbourne Heart joins the A-League.
But as all the codes in Australia continue to expand, it’s a decision many sports fans face.
And when we show loyalty to our club, what do we expect of our club in return? To play the
sport they currently play, in the competition they currently play in, to play by the rules and
putting in the maximum effort to win. But do we expect more from our club than that?
What duty does a club have in return for the loyalty of their supporters?
While a dedicated supporter would rightly look down their nose at someone who switches clubs
merely because their previous club was losing games, I believe there are four instances in which it
is acceptable for a supporter to change allegiance:
The Family Rule
If a family member, such as a son, brother, father or partner were to make it as a player, and
were to sign for a club other than the club you previously barracked for, it is acceptable to follow
your family member. Similarly, if the family member changes clubs, it is acceptable to change
clubs with your family member.
For example, if a lifelong Melbourne supporter has a son who is drafted by West Coast, there is
nothing wrong with the parent switching to supporting the Eagles. If the son subsequently
moves to St Kilda, there is nothing wrong with the parent then following the Saints. Family comes
first.
The New Club Rule
If a new club starts, it is acceptable for someone who lives in the area of the new club to transfer
to the new club.
Once upon a time, there was no such thing as organised sport. All clubs once started up, and to
have had any supporters at all when they started, someone had to transfer their allegiance.
As leagues in Australia expand, the new teams will need start-up supporters.
So there’s nothing wrong, in that context, of someone living in Melbourne switching to the Heart.
There is nothing wrong with someone living on the Gold Coast who currently has an interest in
AFL supporting the Suns.
Particularly in non-heartland areas such as Gold Coast and Western Sydney for AFL, start-up
supporters will be essential to make the new teams and the league expansion work. Some of
these may have previously supported other clubs.
The Club Death Rule
Similarly to a marriage being “till death us do part”, and after one’s spouse dies one is free to
remarry the partner of their choice, should a club cease to exist in its current form then former
supporters of that club are free to transfer their allegiance to any club of their choice.
When the old NSL ended, some clubs ceased to exist while others continued on in name only in
the state leagues, barely substitute for the elite status they once held.
Most supporters of NSL clubs went on to support an A-League team – hardly an act of turncoat-
ism but a reflection that the landscape for the round-ball code had changed and the supporters
had changed with the time.
When Fitzroy sadly went under in 1996, not all Fitzroy fans went to Brisbane. Some now follow
other clubs, and there is nothing wrong with that. When Norths lost their NRL license, some
Bears fans who wanted to continue supporting the NRL moved to other clubs. Some went to
Northern Eagles and on to Manly, others went elsewhere.
The Club Breach Rule
This one is more contentious – under what circumstances is it acceptable to walk away from
your club and support another because your club has done the wrong thing?
I’ve known of people who have threatened to defect because of their club doing the wrong
thing. I know of someone who, after his credit card details was left unattended and stolen from
the Sydney FC membership office, walked away from Sydney FC for good and now supports the
Mariners.
Another friend has been stuffed around two years in a row by the Swans membership
department; first made to queue for an hour to pick up her membership card after it wasn’t
mailed out to her in time, and then last summer after she paid her membership received no
acknowledgement other than someone asking her if she planned to renew and then the club
membership department couldn’t find her payment in their system despite her credit card having
been charged.
She’ll be jumping to GWS in 2012.
And what if the club was cheating? Someone who bought a Storm membership believed they
were signing up to see live games in a fair fight. To see an illegal team not playing for points isn’t
what they signed up for.
Would it be wrong to walk away?
While the fair-weather fan, who changes teams to only follow the winner, is rightly viewed with
derision; the issue of changing teams is far from black and white. Not all who have changed
teams do so from such shallow motives.
While loyalty to one’s team is important, and is what keeps us coming back to games and what
keeps our sports viable, there can be other factors at play.
that team win or lose, through thick or thin. We buy tickets to see them play, we watch them on
TV, we buy the merchandise. It’s our team.
Whatever our sport, we know the feeling – we wouldn’t be on a sports site like this if we didn’t.
It’s not a loyalty shared by players or officials, any more than we stay loyal to our jobs. If a
better offer at a rival employer came along, we’d change jobs straight away – and so do players
and officials.
You can’t blame them for that.
Sport is an industry which is very cut-throat, where job security is an unknown and careers are
short; and you can’t blame players and officials for maximising their career and earnings.
Sport is an industry. It’s big business. AFL, NRL, A-League clubs all turn over millions of dollars a
year. Our loyalty is to multi-million dollar corporations – and yet to sports fans such as ourselves,
our loyalty is to so much more.
Dedicated fans look down on the bandwagoner, who disappears when the club is losing only to
return to the grandstands when the team returns to the winners’ circle.
But reviled even more than the bandwagoner is the turncoat; the one without loyalty who
switches allegiances to another team.
If sport is a multi-million dollar entertainment industry, is it wrong to transfer your support to
where the enjoyment factor is higher and where value for money is higher? The objective
observer may say no, but the passionate sports supporter would say yes.
So under what circumstances would it be acceptable to change loyalty? It’s a tangent my mind
drifted towards after reading an excellent piece by Davidde Corran on The Roar and the
comments below; of Mr Corran’s decision to continue supporting Melbourne Victory when
Melbourne Heart joins the A-League.
But as all the codes in Australia continue to expand, it’s a decision many sports fans face.
And when we show loyalty to our club, what do we expect of our club in return? To play the
sport they currently play, in the competition they currently play in, to play by the rules and
putting in the maximum effort to win. But do we expect more from our club than that?
What duty does a club have in return for the loyalty of their supporters?
While a dedicated supporter would rightly look down their nose at someone who switches clubs
merely because their previous club was losing games, I believe there are four instances in which it
is acceptable for a supporter to change allegiance:
The Family Rule
If a family member, such as a son, brother, father or partner were to make it as a player, and
were to sign for a club other than the club you previously barracked for, it is acceptable to follow
your family member. Similarly, if the family member changes clubs, it is acceptable to change
clubs with your family member.
For example, if a lifelong Melbourne supporter has a son who is drafted by West Coast, there is
nothing wrong with the parent switching to supporting the Eagles. If the son subsequently
moves to St Kilda, there is nothing wrong with the parent then following the Saints. Family comes
first.
The New Club Rule
If a new club starts, it is acceptable for someone who lives in the area of the new club to transfer
to the new club.
Once upon a time, there was no such thing as organised sport. All clubs once started up, and to
have had any supporters at all when they started, someone had to transfer their allegiance.
As leagues in Australia expand, the new teams will need start-up supporters.
So there’s nothing wrong, in that context, of someone living in Melbourne switching to the Heart.
There is nothing wrong with someone living on the Gold Coast who currently has an interest in
AFL supporting the Suns.
Particularly in non-heartland areas such as Gold Coast and Western Sydney for AFL, start-up
supporters will be essential to make the new teams and the league expansion work. Some of
these may have previously supported other clubs.
The Club Death Rule
Similarly to a marriage being “till death us do part”, and after one’s spouse dies one is free to
remarry the partner of their choice, should a club cease to exist in its current form then former
supporters of that club are free to transfer their allegiance to any club of their choice.
When the old NSL ended, some clubs ceased to exist while others continued on in name only in
the state leagues, barely substitute for the elite status they once held.
Most supporters of NSL clubs went on to support an A-League team – hardly an act of turncoat-
ism but a reflection that the landscape for the round-ball code had changed and the supporters
had changed with the time.
When Fitzroy sadly went under in 1996, not all Fitzroy fans went to Brisbane. Some now follow
other clubs, and there is nothing wrong with that. When Norths lost their NRL license, some
Bears fans who wanted to continue supporting the NRL moved to other clubs. Some went to
Northern Eagles and on to Manly, others went elsewhere.
The Club Breach Rule
This one is more contentious – under what circumstances is it acceptable to walk away from
your club and support another because your club has done the wrong thing?
I’ve known of people who have threatened to defect because of their club doing the wrong
thing. I know of someone who, after his credit card details was left unattended and stolen from
the Sydney FC membership office, walked away from Sydney FC for good and now supports the
Mariners.
Another friend has been stuffed around two years in a row by the Swans membership
department; first made to queue for an hour to pick up her membership card after it wasn’t
mailed out to her in time, and then last summer after she paid her membership received no
acknowledgement other than someone asking her if she planned to renew and then the club
membership department couldn’t find her payment in their system despite her credit card having
been charged.
She’ll be jumping to GWS in 2012.
And what if the club was cheating? Someone who bought a Storm membership believed they
were signing up to see live games in a fair fight. To see an illegal team not playing for points isn’t
what they signed up for.
Would it be wrong to walk away?
While the fair-weather fan, who changes teams to only follow the winner, is rightly viewed with
derision; the issue of changing teams is far from black and white. Not all who have changed
teams do so from such shallow motives.
While loyalty to one’s team is important, and is what keeps us coming back to games and what
keeps our sports viable, there can be other factors at play.
| SHOULD SUPPORTER LOYALTY BE UNCONDITIONAL? |
This article was originally published on The Roar.
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