MonkeyLover wrote:
What is it you would like to see them do?
*Give free tickets away? Tried that, people don't come again.
*Sign Jarrod Croker? Tried the big name, even the Aussies based in London don't care.
*Reduce the price? See my previous comments.
*Spend money on magic marketing to suddenly turn people into Rugby League fans? Who is going to pay for it whilst the club is losing millions?
*Give tickets to Junior teams? They don't turn up. Most of them would have to travel for hours.
I am genuinely interested in seeing your plan to increase attendance. If it is good then I can ensure the owner and CEO get to hear it and look at putting it into practice. Just remember, as per point 4, there isn't any money for a magic marketing campaign on the underground or in the Evening Standard. Your plan has to be free.
If this is the prevailing view at the club then you rather underline my point. Why be so negative if growing the fan base is essential to sustainability ? It's not right to simply accept the situation.
There have been times in our history when the home fan base has been much more healthy. We have actually seen a steady decline over around ten years so the drop to Championship probably has little to do with this. In fact, as a fan we are arguably a more entertaining prospect as a competitive Championship club than a poor SL one.
Personally, I don't accept that there is no audience for RL in a city the size of London where many other non traditional sports can attract decent crowds. RL is a relatively simple, fast and exciting game so we also have a great product.
I would dispute most of your specific claims:
Giving away free tickets - it perhaps depends who are giving tickets to and how you follow up with them. I suspect many of our core fan base were first brought to a game by someone else who was already a fan and got into the game as a result. They would have explained what was going on so you could easily get into the game. If the club is just giving away tickets to random people without taking the trouble to nurture them then is it any surprise they don't come back.
Signing big names - what evidence do you have that this doesn't work ? There is another thread on here about our best players. A lot of the players being mentioned are from times when we had a bigger fan base. If you actually look at the data there is a direct correlation between our best average attendances in SL and our win %. In the past, better players and therefore teams have coincided with bigger crowds. Fact.
Reduce the price - if this doesn't work then why is it used in so many other situations ? Perhaps the club don't execute and follow up very well on this. Who is being targetted ?
Spend money on magic marketing to suddenly turn people into Rugby League fans? - While many in London do not know about RL, there is an abundance of sports fans. With football and RU become increasingly sanitised, perhaps RL has somewhat of a USP. If we can get sports fans to games, and make sure they understand what is going on then some of them will like it and come back. However, we also need to improve the overall experience. Again, something we have done so much better in the past. Think back to the days of Chris Warren, the matchday experience included half time kids games, post match interviews in the bar, bands etc. Seemingly much more energy was put in to attracting people to games.
So let's be more positive. We have a great game and a (hopefully competitive) Championship team. That is the bedrock of what the club need. The rest is down to the club making the experience as good as it can be and targetting the right people. Like any successful venture that will require effort and investment.
