Melbourne Hawks: Encyclopedia II - Melbourne Hawks - Merger proposals

Melbourne Hawks - Merger proposals

Upon pressure and incentives from the league, and saturation of the dire warnings about the consequences of too many teams based in Melbourne, a number of Melbourne based clubs began investigating and pursuing potential mergers. Some proposals raised in the local media included a possible amalgamation of Footscray and Fitzroy, as well as various combinations of Melbourne, Hawthorn, St Kilda, Footscray, Fitzroy, and North Melbourne.

Melbourne Hawks - The case for the Melbourne Hawks

Of the potential mergers that were speculated about in the media, the one which perhaps seemed to make the most sense was the potential merger between Melbourne and Hawthorn. On the surface, the merger appeared to make sense for a number of reasons:

• Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Hawthorn had fielded exceptional teams which had won the club a succession of grand-final appearances and premierships. Hawthorn, under then-coach Ken Judge, had also undertaken a youth recruitment campaign which had netted the club a number of promising players, including future Brownlow Medalist Shane Crawford.
  • In contrast, Melbourne had not won a premiership in several decades, and suffered from relatively weak on-field performance.
• Melbourne was in a relatively strong financial position
  • In contrast, Hawthorn was suffering from mounting debts, and financial losses. It had struggled to obtain and maintain corporate sponsorship; at one point in 1992 not having a corporate sponsor in spite of having won the previous Grand Final.
• Hawthorn had a centralised training facility, administration centre, and social club (on land owned by the social club) at its Glenferrie Oval complex. The team's training facilities had recently been upgraded and were amongst the best in the league.
  • In contrast, Melbourne did not have a central base: it trained at the Junction Oval in St Kilda, had its administration facilities in Jolimont, and had a social club in Sandringham.
• Both clubs were perceived to have had a traditionally middle-class supporter base; Melbourne had a historical connection to the MCC, while Hawthorn was based in the middle class, inner-eastern suburb of Hawthorn.
• Both clubs, in contrast to the stronger Melbourne based clubs (like Collingwood, Carlton, or Essendon), and the stronger interstate teams (like the Adelaide Crows, or West Coast Eagles), had a relatively small membership base.

It is perhaps from a combination of these reasons that negotiations would proceed further between Melbourne and Hawthorn than between other potential merger partners.

Melbourne Hawks - Negotiations

The negotiations advanced considerably, and settled on a number of key aspects of the proposed team. Speculation about ongoing merger negotiations often appeared in the mainstream media prior to the official announcement, with several key details 'leaking' to the press. Key points agreed upon during negotiations prior to the official announcement included that:

• The new team's name would be "Melbourne" and would use Hawthorn's "Hawks" nickname
• The new team's jumper would resemble Melbourne's jumper, except feature a yellow 'v' and a yellow hawk
• The amalgamated team would use Melbourne's red and blue with Hawthorn's yellow
• A version of Hawthorn's Hawk would be the new team's logo

Some commentators noted that the merged team would more closely resemble Melbourne than Hawthorn, and speculated whether Hawthorn suffered from a weaker bargaining position as a result of its weak financial situation.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Merger proposals", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki