Re: Why is the game against Batley a 2pm kick of time. : Wed Jan 11, 2012 12:02 am  

Bakewell tart wrote:

Yes all home games are a 2pm kick off apart from any friday night or mid week games. This is for a number of reasons:
1. Families can get home earlier with children making sunday nights an earlier night for those who have young children at school on a monday.
2. To encourage people to have an extra hour in the bar drinking after a game, including away fans, who would of normally set off home at around 530 anyway.
3. To encourage more fans to make the trip across from places like doncaster, sheffield knowing that they will still be home at a decent time.
4. To encourage people to go straight to the ground before the game rather than say meeting in a pub in town for an hour before then making their way to the ground.
5. To make it more appealing to get volunteers such as the sea cadets to work on the turnstiles before the game, knowing they will be done for 230 ish.
6. To save the club alot of money on floodlighting and outdoor lighting in places such as the main gates.

1. Pretty reasonable point I suppose, it would be interesting to see if this has an affects other demographics eg older people, single people, church goers etc.

2. Fair point, although for me to stay longer there would need to be more happening after the game.

3. Would work if the club put some decent grub on before the game and promoted this beforehand using opposition forums, twitter etc as said fans travelling from further away would be travelling at lunch time.

4. Personally I think having Cougar fans, the Cougar branding and sponsorship that comes with it, visible in Keighley town centre on game days outweighs the financial benefits of them having an extra pint in the ground before a game. Will fans just go out into town an hour earlier and negate this anyway?

5. Good point, volunteers are very important to the club

6. I can understand this for the games in maybe February and March but there's plenty of light around in the months after that. Floodlighting is very expensive, is energy efficiency the way forward? Or even blag a few photovoltaic panels off of our new sponsors? We've plenty of roof space in the stadium.

Re: Why is the game against Batley a 2pm kick of time. : Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:23 am  

Hi, Stealth. I completely agree with you regarding the food side in the bar, and putting events on afterwards to keep people down. I have said for the last 2 years that we need to feed people good quality, but cheap as possible food before and after the game and not just the ones who pay for upstairs hospitality, but at the same time we dont want to distract people from those packages. I am in talks with the powers that be down there to try and put the plans in motion for things like this to happen. All ideas will be greatly recieved and any offers of help warmly welcomed.

Re: Why is the game against Batley a 2pm kick of time. : Wed Jan 11, 2012 12:07 pm  

Thoughts:

Hot beef/pork/turkey in a decent bread bun - (whatever is being offered to the carvery-diners upstairs) or a curry would be better than a hot dog/burger as well as saving cooking/carving time. If they're eating before the game upstairs then the remnants of their carvery in decent bread bun would make things easier to administer as well as possibly saving costs (and potentially generating additional income) from the left-overs. Try, if possible, to keep the cost down also to a maximum of £2.50 per item/serving.

A child's portion in a mini-bun with a sugar-free drink in a bottle or container might also help at a fair price as a 'meal-deal'.

Whatever you decide it is essential that the food provided continues with the Cougars' 'Healthy Eating' campaign and, ideally served away from the bar (so as not to slow-down service).

Re: Why is the game against Batley a 2pm kick of time. : Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:36 pm  

AS I TRAVEL FROM LEEDS,(EX INGROW LAD) 2 PM AINT TO BAD, PLUS WHOEVER WINS THE TOSS CAN HAVE THE SUN TO THERE ADVANTAGE, COUGARS HOPEFULLY, (CAN BE ARANGED,,, UMM, UM) BORROW MY DOUBLE HEADED £1 COIN)

Re: Why is the game against Batley a 2pm kick of time. : Sun Jan 15, 2012 10:21 am  

I hear there are plans afoot for this season re really good food for supporters.

Re: Why is the game against Batley a 2pm kick of time. : Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:09 pm  

Maybe better quality prices and choices in the take away 'Freddies Grill' , previously it's just been lower end quality at premium prices ......I don't mind paying a quid or there abouts for a coffee in a plastic cup but please make them decent sized cups with more than a couple of mouthfuls worth of coffee in them.

Re: Why is the game against Batley a 2pm kick of time. : Tue Jan 17, 2012 10:15 am  

I hope they use better cups for the coffee than last season.
Getting a piping hot coffee in a cup designed for pop, really isnt a good idea.

Re: Why is the game against Batley a 2pm kick of time. : Tue Jan 17, 2012 2:16 pm  

I hope the food improves as I used to often buy a burger when we had the van, and especially when we had the special ones that sold fancy coffee or beef sandwiches. I bought a burger at Freddies grill in the last game of the 2010 season and it was disgusting, with not even a choice of onions. I havn't been back since. The club has lost quite a bit of income from me last year and if a lot of other people have been the same are losing out on a significant income stream.

Re: Why is the game against Batley a 2pm kick of time. : Tue Jan 17, 2012 4:39 pm  

I did get involved a bit of an impromptu focus group with Rach in a pub after the Fax game on Boxing Day. I believe it is something that the club are looking to improve.

Re: Why is the game against Batley a 2pm kick of time. : Tue Jan 17, 2012 6:43 pm  

To get good burgers, you need to have a good butcher to supply them.

Looks like they should get in touch with Andy Aspinall.