Life membership debate | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Life membership debate

Good debate. I thought the rule was pretty stupid when it first came in but winning flags dulls the senses to these sorts of issues. Townsend might end up the life member with the least AFL games of all the players.
 
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I think his situation encapsulates exactly why the life membership policy is poor policy.

It is clearly ridiculous that he is a life member of the club after half a season on the list and one game. For me to devalues the weight of life membership.

A life membership should be earned via an outstanding contribution to the club over a long period of time.

The current policy implies that being a premiership player is the only thing that matters and it is just not the case. There are any number of fine Richmond men who played throughout the 80s and 90s that will never be life members but have made a much greater contribution to the RFC than Pickett has.

An uncharacteristically poor piece of administration from Brendon Gale.

I can see your point of view BR,

but am pretty sure it's wrong.

worst case scenario, you have 5 flags and a glut of easy street life members, they'll all be dead in 50 years

or if they're indigenous, 30 years
 
Good debate. I thought the rule was pretty stupid when it first came in but winning flags dulls the senses to these sorts of issues.
Winning flags dulls the senses you want dulled, and sparks-up the ones you want sparked-up. Admittedly that could be connected to the exuberant celebratory behaviour that tends to occur at the same time.
 
If I was boss, Id give the young girl in the superstore who ironed the number 50 on my back the Thursday before the GF a life membership.

she was really nice. she could have been Ivan Maric cousin?
 
so the way I see it. TBR expresses his opinion. not a wild shoot em down approach. something that's pretty commonplace in a lot of clubs from elite to social.
life memberships mean something to a footy club.
so does winning flags.
some people don't care. fair enough.
some think making 1 complaint about the club is tantamount to a focus on footy tantrum.
fair go. its not wrong or sacrilegious.

to me the 22 players who won flag 12 are kings of the club.
but life members are for those people, both volunteers, staff and players for a lifetime and deserving of special recognition. it's a celebration of the effort not result.
but I am happy we won. and happy with how the club is won. let's win it again
 
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Yep, let's just keep slapping each other on the back and allowing every decision the club makes to pass without question and the success will inevitably keep falling from the sky.

Given what Benny and Dimma have achieved I'll take their opinion over internet forum posters any day.
 
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so the way I see it. TBR expresses his opinion. not a wild shoot em down approach. something that's pretty commonplace in a lot of clubs from elite to social.
life memberships mean something to a footy club.
so does winning flags.
some people don't care. fair enough.
some think making 1 complaint about the club is tantamount to a focus on footy tantrum.
fair go. its not wrong or sacrilegious.

to me the 22 players who won flag 12 are kings of the club.
but life members are for those people, both volunteers, staff and players for a lifetime and deserving of special recognition. it's a celebration of the effort not result.
but I am happy we won. and happy with how the club is won. let's win it again

So we probably need Silver life membership + Gold life membership + Platinum life membership
 
I guess it only matters if you think life memberships should mean something.



Yep, let's just keep slapping each other on the back and allowing every decision the club makes to pass without question and the success will inevitably keep falling from the sky.

Being successful on-field does not mean that every single decision a club makes is perfect. It is the duty of members to scrutinise and question every decision the board oversees, vigilance is a necessity of sustained success.

There are plenty of examples of sporting powerhouses who ended up in the doldrums because of poor decisions when they were on top and we are right at the top of the list.

The day we all start singing Everything is Awesome is the day we set ourselves on the road to Carlton.

The club moved the motion, the members voted it in
 
The club moved the motion, the members voted it in

Reckon members would've voted to award their property to the club in their wills after the 2017 flag. Some of us voiced concerns that such decisions shouldn't be made during emotional peaks.

It's not the biggest issue in the world; everybody now understands that playing in a premiership team makes you a life member. Simple.

There are two schools of thought at my local sporting club, where the older members want the honour to remain exclusive and hard-earned, and a newer attitude of "the more, the merrier". The club has clearly opted for the latter. As pointed out by others, it does tend to diminish the contributions of those who have devoted something approaching a true "lifetime" of effort to the club.

It also runs somewhat contrary to the club's push for all listed players to receive premiership medals.
 
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Just on the Life Membership Premiership thing.
It needs to be remembered that it was introduced at a board meeting in March 2017.
This decision was made on the back of a season where we'd just finished 13th & missed the finals, after 37 years in the wilderness without a flag.
At that stage I'm sure even in their wildest dreams that they didn't expect 2 flags in the next 3 years when it was introduced..

That said I'm totally ok with it. Hopefully we're handing out plenty more life memberships in the years to come.
 
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Reckon members would've voted to award their property to the club in their wills after the 2017 flag. Some of us voiced concerns that such decisions shouldn't be made during emotional peaks.

It's not the biggest issue in the world; everybody now understands that playing in a premiership team makes you a life member. Simple.

There are two schools of thought at my local sporting club, where the older members want the honour to remain exclusive and hard-earned, and a newer attitude of "the more, the merrier". The club has clearly opted for the latter. As pointed out by others, it does tend to diminish the contributions of those who have devoted something approaching a true "lifetime" of effort to the club.

It also runs somewhat contrary to the club's push for all listed players to receive premiership medals.
I do see your points but your comment above doesn't happen in real life, RFC criteria is / was 150 games or 10 years, hardly a lifetime
 
Craig Lambert played 123 games for Richmond in 6 seasons. He then went to Brisbane and played another 96 games in 7 seasons

Had he stayed at Richmond he would have got his life membership but he chose to leave.
mmm pretty sure Craig was forced out by C Schwab