Re: Love Rugby League Article : Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:18 pm  

RfE wrote:

Maybe this time the club might actually take some advice from a bloke who knows how to build a club up? Maybe advice was the word I should have used rather than help in my original post.
While the DHFC guys might not have local contacts for Wimbledon ( or previously for Ealing) they'd surely have been able to show how they'd developed things in their area and how they went about things?
Safe to say that in the end a lot of what they did must have been successful in terms of building the supporter base. DHFC have crowds , as a 7th level football club, that we would now love to have.

Surely we are a lot larger, even potentially with SL just one league above us, not to need to deal with some level 7 (or whatever they are) football team.

Re: Love Rugby League Article : Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:25 pm  

wire-quin wrote:

Surely we are a lot larger, even potentially with SL just one league above us, not to need to deal with some level 7 (or whatever they are) football team.

They attract fantastic crowds (several over 3,000 this season). Something we fail at so plenty to learn.

Re: Love Rugby League Article : Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:33 pm  

wire-quin wrote:

Surely we are a lot larger, even potentially with SL just one league above us, not to need to deal with some level 7 (or whatever they are) football team.

They need all the help they can get. It's not about the level the advice comes from but the ideas themselves that are important. Anything that can drag this basket case of a club in the right direction has to be welcomed.

Re: Love Rugby League Article : Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:35 pm  

wire-quin wrote:

Surely we are a lot larger, even potentially with SL just one league above us, not to need to deal with some level 7 (or whatever they are) football team.

At the moment Hamlet are the bigger club in terms of fan base, match day revenue etc by far. Broncos are potentially far far larger in fan base, revenues etc. They were far bigger in both when Hamlet commenced revitalisation.

The basic principles of fan attraction cross sports - see Peter Deakin's achievements at Saracens using a blueprint developed in RL. Hamlet have won two major national awards for this sort of stuff. They certainly aren't the only information source the club could approach however they are strong candidates to pick their brains, especially as they were offering their knowledge for free.

Re: Love Rugby League Article : Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:46 pm  

Halfdan of t'wide embrace wrote:

Not surprised. Most amateur / semi pro sports clubs with youth sections report it doesn't add many on the first team gate. I know a non league club - not Hamlet - that offer free admission to parents with kids registered to their juniors and the junior players, with the exception of organised days few turn up.

The reason it was a slow burn at Hamlet was initially the local community weren't interested. Hamlet had to grow interest. Gates then grew a bit but most didn't want to pay to watch "rubbish" football. A Pay what you want game, with profits to a local charity, attracted a lot. Many enjoyed it and told others.

Every time Broncos move they drop back to the starting point. Hamlet are widely held up as an exemplar at this and it took them over a decade to transform.

Enfield Town did a similar deal and I went with my son a few times. I have to say one of the key reasons I haven’t gone back as a paying customer, although, I don’t discount it from happening was the on field product was not what it was when I was a child watching Enfield FC, on field product is a real driver of attendance especially if you have little in built generational support. Not easy but is something for Broncos to think about.

Re: Love Rugby League Article : Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:49 pm  

BigTime wrote:

Enfield Town did a similar deal and I went with my son a few times. I have to say one of the key reasons I haven’t gone back as a paying customer, although, I don’t discount it from happening was the on field product was not what it was when I was a child watching Enfield FC, on field product is a real driver of attendance especially if you have little in built generational support. Not easy but is something for Broncos to think about.

I think even the Broncos know that, you only have to look at the team we had at the Stoop and some the crowds. Those days are long gone and will be difficult to reach again.

Re: Love Rugby League Article : Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:54 pm  

wire-quin wrote:

I think even the Broncos know that, you only have to look at the team we had at the Stoop and some the crowds. Those days are long gone and will be difficult to reach again.

I am not sure DH does know this. Assembling the worst sqaud we have ever had and targetting 5,000 fans does not strike me as a coherent plan.

Re: Love Rugby League Article : Fri Jan 28, 2022 5:20 pm  

Someone has been reading this thread...

I've just received an e-mail from Dulwich Hamlet Supporters Trust offering me the chance to buy tickets, in limited blocks, v Widnes and Whitehaven for a quid.

Shame it's a bit short notice but good on the club for trying. There's a few lapsed Broncos fans there so hopefully some may take advantage.

Re: Love Rugby League Article : Fri Jan 28, 2022 8:56 pm  

It is a shame that the club have started offering discounted tickets to other sports clubs yet the real fans are expected to pay the full price. I know is is getting new potential supporters in but speaking to someone who was involved in Afc Wimbledon once those cheap tickets disappear not many of their fans will come back.

Re: Love Rugby League Article : Fri Jan 28, 2022 9:54 pm  

wire-quin wrote:

Surely we are a lot larger, even potentially with SL just one league above us, not to need to deal with some level 7 (or whatever they are) football team.

No need to be patronising towards DHFC, they’ve got a successful model for building crowds - their attendances are better than many fully professional clubs, and the numbers we can only dream of at present.
We’re in no position to not listen to advice from people with a proven success on their hands.
Unless we want to fail with this move as well……