Can IPSWICH CATS AND EAGLES agree to merge?

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Billyclub

Debutant
Mar 22, 2021
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AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
I purposely didnt say SHOULD THEY. The Ideal situation for the 2 Ipswich clubs would be to merge ASAP. Both have u12s. Both have kids older on the peripheral which may form to make a stand alone team, but at present neither play. Time for the angst should be gone. Once it was the Cats that had all juniors and no senior mens side. The Eagles had no juniors but 2 mens sides. They should have merged 10 years ago, put all their resources into recruitment. Had that have happened, they would have div1 kids sides, and perhaps a QFA1 and reserves side. Many, many good kids went east to bigger clubs for opportunity instead. Time for one club to approach the other.

I know the Cats arent happy with the move to amberley. They arent 'visible' anymore for recruitment like they were at Limestone park. Eagles are. Both have great club members. Perhaps its club names (Eagles or Cats?) is a stumbling block? Surely something could be worked out? Perhaps, Rebrand? A 'Griffin' (Harry Potter) is a cross between a Lion (cat) and an Eagle, and Eagle colours remain but slash become horizontal gold bars?

Anyway, for the good of footy in Ipswich, i think its best not for one club wait for the other to die before offering an olive branch. Would be a great day when these two great clubs ally.

Perhaps there are members from both these great clubs habituate BF? If so, perhaps some small kernel of dialogue can be created..?
 
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Billyclub said:
I purposely didnt say SHOULD THEY. The Ideal situation for the 2 Ipswich clubs would be to merge ASAP. Both have u12s. Both have kids older on the peripheral which may form to make a stand alone team, but at present neither play. Time for the angst should be gone. Once it was the Cats that had all juniors and no senior mens side. The Eagles had no juniors but 2 mens sides. They should have merged 10 years ago, put all their resources into recruitment. Had that have happened, they would have div1 kids sides, and perhaps a QFA1 and reserves side. Many, many good kids went east to bigger clubs for opportunity instead. Time for one club to approach the other.

I know the Cats arent happy with the move to amberley. They arent 'visible' anymore for recruitment like they were at Limestone park. Eagles are. Both have great club members. Perhaps its club names (Eagles or Cats?) is a stumbling block? Surely something could be worked out? Perhaps, Rebrand? A 'Griffin' (Harry Potter) is a cross between a Lion (cat) and an Eagle, and Eagle colours remain but slash become horizontal gold bars?

Anyway, for the good of footy in Ipswich, i think its best not for one club wait for the other to die before offering an olive branch. Would be a great day when these two great clubs ally.

Perhaps there are members from both these great clubs habituate BF? If so, perhaps some small kernel of dialogue can be created..?
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Billyclub said:
I purposely didnt say SHOULD THEY. The Ideal situation for the 2 Ipswich clubs would be to merge ASAP. Both have u12s. Both have kids older on the peripheral which may form to make a stand alone team, but at present neither play. Time for the angst should be gone. Once it was the Cats that had all juniors and no senior mens side. The Eagles had no juniors but 2 mens sides. They should have merged 10 years ago, put all their resources into recruitment. Had that have happened, they would have div1 kids sides, and perhaps a QFA1 and reserves side. Many, many good kids went east to bigger clubs for opportunity instead. Time for one club to approach the other.

I know the Cats arent happy with the move to amberley. They arent 'visible' anymore for recruitment like they were at Limestone park. Eagles are. Both have great club members. Perhaps its club names (Eagles or Cats?) is a stumbling block? Surely something could be worked out? Perhaps, Rebrand? A 'Griffin' (Harry Potter) is a cross between a Lion (cat) and an Eagle, and Eagle colours remain but slash become horizontal gold bars?

Anyway, for the good of footy in Ipswich, i think its best not for one club wait for the other to die before offering an olive branch. Would be a great day when these two great clubs ally.

Perhaps there are members from both these great clubs habituate BF? If so, perhaps some small kernel of dialogue can be created..?
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Both clubs are in a struggle for a limited number of juniors, which results in both clubs having teams short of players, and if they do manage to field one, its only in lower divisions. Im sure both clubs can point to the success of fielding a team in one age group in lower divisions. However, if the two clubs combined, they would field teams in each age group season after season.

While the two clubs tear at eachother, Ipswich is not served well by either. For example, If both teams get half an u17s girls team, they wont combine and keep the kids in Ipswich... they will send them off to different clubs! Same with the boys in any age group. I like people of both clubs, but the anarchy is disgraceful.

Also, both clubs senior mens struggle on field in their respective divisions. No one seems to care that there is another option. How does either club expect to attract players in the current state of both clubs? No doubt it will get some hackles up, but someone has to say it. But said with the best intentions..

Both clubs seem happy to fail the regions juniors by not swallowing a bit of pride, putting aside some animosity and coming to an agreement that would benefit the kids and footy in the area by being able to represent their town, and not have to ship off to Brisbane to get a game..

Ive heard people from both clubs say its the other club that wont come around. I actually believe it is both. Both are blameless, and both are to blame.

Imagine how much stronger a single amalgamated club could be? Combined volunteers, funding, sponsorship, player numbers, etc?
 
When painted like that the situation is crazy.

Some leadership about what is best for the code would be of benefit but AFLQ always unwilling to play a role in that regard
 
Every facebook ad or post that the Eagles make says "the Premier club in Ipswich" its actually becoming pretty childish

Eagles have the advantage of location the Cats don't have, but no culture, no history and a series of forgettable incidents in recent decade makes them hard to root for, compared to the Cats as the traditional Ipswich club, especially in junior footy.

Ipswich Cats have about 15 ex juniors running around in Div 1 youth footy and QAFL footy right now that the Eagles just can't compare to.
 
Couldnt agree more Miller ....

Seen it for a while now and makes me laugh, considering this "Premier Club" is at the bottom of every Senior and Youth competition they are in.

Really no need for the self grandiose attidude, im sure other clubs in Ipswich and surrounds would find it quite insulting... or particularly amusing :tearsofjoy:

I meet the old President of the Cats when my son was playing colts many years ago and they were flying, seems it has nothing to do with the location and everything to do with the right administrators out there, hope they can get some quality people back in the top positions and represent Ipswich appropriatly unlike what is currently happening.
 
its confrontational and unnecessary. JIndalee do something similar like 'best in the west' despite having Kenmore and Sherwood on their doorstep, who are obviously superior in every way on the field, and don't have the completely feral supporters off it!
 
FIIK said:
Couldnt agree more Miller ....

Seen it for a while now and makes me laugh, considering this "Premier Club" is at the bottom of every Senior and Youth competition they are in.

Really no need for the self grandiose attidude, im sure other clubs in Ipswich and surrounds would find it quite insulting... or particularly amusing :tearsofjoy:

I meet the old President of the Cats when my son was playing colts many years ago and they were flying, seems it has nothing to do with the location and everything to do with the right administrators out there, hope they can get some quality people back in the top positions and represent Ipswich appropriatly unlike what is currently happening.
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I dont think its helpful to put the boot in to these clubs. There are really good, hardworking people at both clubs, who really do care about their clubs, the kids and people there, and footy in general. They give up their time to help others, make sure things run right etc. A lot of positivity at both clubs.

*What im saying is, both clubs are each lifting a weight that requires the energy of both clubs. Apart they are weak, together they will get stronger. More players, more teams, more volenteers, more sponsorship, more grants etc. If those of most influence can meet and find some common ground, it would be a start.

Dont take parochial members to a conciliatory meeting.

*The club colors (jerseys) and the name of the club could be a sticking point. Then why not agree to a trade off and have blue and gold hoops? As for the name why not just "Ipswich United"?

*The Cats have always been a junior club. Just recently they have a seniors. So the junior sides could remain 'cats'. The Eagles have traditionally have been a seniors side. So the seniors (18 - seniors)could remain "Eagles". Both juniors and seniors wear blue and gold hoops.

*Limestone park is the obvious place for the club to remain. Cats would be seen to be going home anyway.

.
 
sticking point there is AFLQ would want both Ivor Marsden and Limestone to remain as AFL facilities. Its a KPI in AFLQ to maintain or grow AFLQ facility presence, they desperately do not want to lose any AFL facilities - which makes sense.
 
Miller1971 said:
sticking point there is AFLQ would want both Ivor Marsden and Limestone to remain as AFL facilities. Its a KPI in AFLQ to maintain or grow AFLQ facility presence, they desperately do not want to lose any AFL facilities - which makes sense.
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They could schedule some junior games and training there to keep the facility going. Ivor Marsden is a cricket facillity with some AFL goal posts on it. No great loss. AFLQ should be more concerned to see their own code strong in a RL stronghold, rather than stress about a cricket field.
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Are we there yet?

Both Cats and Eagles playing friday nights in div4, when as an amalgamated club they would be in div2 with both seniors and reserves, playing on a Saturday.

Cant find any cats Junior sides over 10yo (doesnt mean they havent got any).
Eagles seem to have both girls and boys u13s in lower divs. (may have others)

In the vacuum of no single strong Ipswich club, both Rattlers and Springfield going ahead leaps and bounds.

Im sure on the inside both Cats and Eagles will say they are tracking fine. From the outside, the evidence disputes this.

If they were to merge, they would have double the volunteers, double the sponsors, 2 venues, more teams, stronger junior teams, have div2 seniors and ressies. A bigger club with access to more grants could see Limestone park with a fence around it, which would be a showcase field for Ipswich, Centrally located and visible.

Whats the problem?
 
GEEitLONG said:
Are we there yet?

Both Cats and Eagles playing friday nights in div4, when as an amalgamated club they would be in div2 with both seniors and reserves, playing on a Saturday.

Cant find any cats Junior sides over 10yo (doesnt mean they havent got any).
Eagles seem to have both girls and boys u13s in lower divs. (may have others)

In the vacuum of no single strong Ipswich club, both Rattlers and Springfield going ahead leaps and bounds.

Im sure on the inside both Cats and Eagles will say they are tracking fine. From the outside, the evidence disputes this.

If they were to merge, they would have double the volunteers, double the sponsors, 2 venues, more teams, stronger junior teams, have div2 seniors and ressies. A bigger club with access to more grants could see Limestone park with a fence around it, which would be a showcase field for Ipswich, Centrally located and visible.

Whats the problem?
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Egos and rivalry? Seems the most obvious solution in the world to almost everyone to merge, other than those at the controls of those clubs.
 

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what would they be called?

probably the first sticking point, and they'd be stuck on that argument forever before getting into any detail beyond that!
 
Miller1971 said:
what would they be called?

probably the first sticking point, and they'd be stuck on that argument forever before getting into any detail beyond that!
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Should just be Ipswich + a completely new mascot and colours so no side feels that they're being underrepresented.
 
easy to say if you have no affiliation or history with one of the clubs. would be hard if you have coached or played 100+ games under one of the banners
 
what are other Ipswich teams called in other codes?

Knights, Rangers, Miners, Hornets, Jets ?

doesn't seem to be much of a theme.
 
Mullsy17 said:
Gryphons are half cats half eagles

Ipswich Gryphons
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Cats have a history of Juniors.
Eagles have a history of senions.

Cats are blue and white with hoops.
Eagles are blue and gold with bars.

Solution? Entire club wear Jerseys of blue and gold hoops.

Juniors are cats, (u17s);
until they become seniors when they soar as Eagles.
 

Griffin​


From Wikipedia

The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: γρύψ, romanized: grýps; Classical Latin: grȳps or grȳpus;[1] Late and Medieval Latin:[2] gryphes, grypho etc.; Old French: griffon) is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle with its talons on the front legs.

Overview​

Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts, and the eagle the king of the birds, by the Middle Ages, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Since classical antiquity, griffins were known for guarding treasures and priceless possessions.[3]

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