"What we're trying to achieve here..."

Sorry for the Mark Hughes quote to kick things off, but obviously (shit, there's another one) the start of the Australian Blues weekend is nearly upon us.

Although there is no doubt it will be a fantastic few days of football, drinking, and drinking, there is another reason we are running the weekend — to work out how both Sydney and Perth can get bigger and better.

I've listed a few items on the agenda that we would like to discuss. And hopefully, we can use the vast experience of the Perth lads to increase our presence in Sydney. We'll come back in a week or so and post the findings from the talks!

• Make the weekend a regular occurance. Alternating yearly between the eastern and the western seaboard.
• Improving dialogue between our supporter clubs, and exchanging contact details. And making these available for everyone.
  
• Using our collective experience to help grow Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide. There are plenty of Blues there, we know there are — but the hardest part is getting them all in the one place at the one time!
  
• Official Supporters' Club status for Sydney — is it feasible? is it worth it? We will have to have an executive and a monthly meeting if this is the case. A proper meeting, with minutes and everything, not just beers at trivia!
• A one-stop website that the first-time fan can stumble upon and find all the information they need for the area they live — who to contact, where to watch games, how to get involved.
• Should we consider one identity and badge for all Australian branches?
• Lesson in Pride is currently the only Australian-based City blog. Do we allow contributions and post information from other states and other branches?
  
• And any other idea to find more Blues, and what more can we do to continue to grow.

We'll probably just get pissed and all of this will be forgotten, but we hope to have some answers to our questions by the weekend's conclusion.

We hope to see you there.