This just highlights the simple problem that has dogged us since inception. We aren't a club. If we were, then a component of our fees each year would be membership fees - like in Melbourne. Then the club would be entitled to keep that proportion of the fees. That would also entail voting rights, seats on boards etc etc. Then only the game day component would be recoverable. That means the club would still be holding 25-35% of the money paid, which is a pretty good result in the current circumstances, especially given that they have no costs relating to providing the spectacle other than the players. Far better than a lot of businesses going around (including mine).
I know that we don't have a proper club structure, and some of you will be questioning why I even mention this as it is dreamland, but my point it - as the parent corporation/owner, where is the WAFC in all this? It's all very well to own and control, but you have to take the bad with the good. If you deliberately set up a structure that removes the element of membership from the process, then you have to live with the consequences when it goes pear shaped, for whatever reason. Corporatisation has its costs, and as has been mentioned, when you make it a purely commercial transaction, you have to abide by contract law and consumer protection legislation - and part of that is making redress and refund option clearly available where the service has failed to be delivered.
Freo has not done this.
Hypen - none of us want the club to go under but it won't. The AFL is a moneymaking machine, and despite Gil's pathetic pleas and hyperbole, it will not be folding, and the future value of the product is such that obtaining advance funding/loans for almost any amount would be simple, especially where underwritten by the various state bodies - which would happen in a heartbeat if it ever looked like the AFL was going under. As part of that system, for better or worse, the AFL will prop up the existing clubs that are struggling. So in many ways, if we do retain commercial viability, we will probably just be propping up North Melbourne and Gold Coast again in the near future.
If the AFL can't weather the storm of 1 disrupted season, given the profits it has made in the past and the quantum of TV and sponsorship deals in place, then it has overextended and essentially been mismanaged. I personally think this is what Gil and co are really concerned about: being called to account for the position they find themselves in now. Hence the ridiculous and completely anti-social decisions to try to commence the season and the ridiculous forecasts of football again in July. Going cap in hand to chase finance is a terrible position for the AFL to be in after 2 months of no footy, and they know it.
Also - don't be surprised if the AFL fires up again 3 months, but due to interstate travel prohibitions, it is just the Victorian clubs playing a reduced season.
And we won't get those minutes back on the quarters. Ever.
So in short - after an extended and wide ranging rant (providing an opportunity to include some roman numerals):
i) having gone down the pathway of full ownership and no membership rights, FFC owes all seat renters a full refund for monies paid for the 2020 season.
ii) FFC should have made this clear and provided a clear mechanism to enable this for all seat renters.
iii) FFC could at the time also have requested people to opt to donate a proportion of their membership, or hold over for next season. Said option should have been part of the process of refund.
iv) WAFC and FFC (in conjunction with the AFL) have to devise a plan to support the club through this period, as every other business is doing without the benefit of being able to ignore paid for purchases and services.
v) The season should be abandoned and the AFL should have confirmed with clubs that they will be supported throughout this period, or be very advanced in the process of securing the funding that will allow them to do this.
I probably don't seem very sympathetic the the plight of the AFL or the FFC, but my business was arbitrarily closed down with 4 business hours notice in the first round of closures. 100% cease trading and discontinuation of income under threat of $50,000 fines for non-compliance. No right of appeal and no body appointed to even hear our case. We had to honour and refund outstanding services paid for. All this despite having stringent Social Distancing and decontamination policies in place, which we had instituted 3 weeks prior, and which would have allowed us to continue to trade safely and effectively short of full lockdown. To this stage we have received no government assistance, and will not find out if and when until end April for a component, and end June for the balance - if we are still operational.
I think the FFC and the AFL will struggle by.
