Re: How Can Blackpool improve the Fanbase? : Tue May 25, 2010 9:30 am  

I suspect it's nothing more than rumour mongering - putting two and two together and getting five.

Panthers win lots of games, have good players in squad, must be on big money, but gates are poor, benefactor gets disheartened therefore pulls plug.

It's happened that many times before in RL that it's inevitable that someone is going to reach that conclusion.

Equally though, you have to assume now that any chance of playing at Bloomfield Road next season is a non starter, so where do we go if Fylde isn't the answer?

(the first one that says Chorley will be sent to the funny farm )

The BFC situation plus the lack of support does raise some questions though, some clarification of our position and aims for the future from the board would be welcome.

Re: How Can Blackpool improve the Fanbase? : Wed Jun 02, 2010 5:36 pm  

Meaning to post about this for a week (tried once but phone messed up!) Got to reading bobby hope's letter from the gateshead game. Few interesting points:

"as you are aware I personally provided Martin with the funds to assemble the team, but we do need help in many other areas" followed at the end by "i have done my best and now ask all our supporters to help your club to bring in the extra income to further the success of the blackpool panthers" - not too positive a message from the chairman, suggests what is feared thar he is getting frustrated and bored of the project. And also, that all he considered was the playing side of things. I'm sure this isn't the case, but I revisit the what did we need more - halliwell or marketing argument?

"the new panthers fundraising shop situated at 76 waterloo road (next to betfred) is in need of donations" - I hadn't heard of it. Anyone been? Does it just sell second hand stuff or does it sell merchandise and tickets etc.?

Also, wonder if we will be having fans meeting like last year. That'd be good.

Re: How Can Blackpool improve the Fanbase? : Wed Jun 02, 2010 8:54 pm  

It is a second hand shop but also devotes one window to club merch, I popped in and bought a Panthers t-shirt a couple of weeks back. Chap in there said that trade hasn't been too bad. Re. Hobson/disciplinary actions you can read any cases referred to the RFL at the following link http://www.therfl.co.uk/about/disciplinary.php You will see that this is up to date and there is no mention of any Panthers players since Leather a couple of months back. I found this as a few weeks back someone supposedly "in the know" told my mate that a number of our players has been cited. Load of rubbish it turned out to be.

It is a second hand shop but also devotes one window to club merch, I popped in and bought a Panthers t-shirt a couple of weeks back. Chap in there said that trade hasn't been too bad. Re. Hobson/disciplinary actions you can read any cases referred to the RFL at the following link http://www.therfl.co.uk/about/disciplinary.php You will see that this is up to date and there is no mention of any Panthers players since Leather a couple of months back. I found this as a few weeks back someone supposedly "in the know" told my mate that a number of our players has been cited. Load of rubbish it turned out to be.

Re: How Can Blackpool improve the Fanbase? : Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:11 pm  

Oops note quite up to date obviously. Mr Hobson could be in deep do by the looks of it. http://www.therfl.co.uk/about/disciplinary.php

Oops note quite up to date obviously. Mr Hobson could be in deep do by the looks of it. http://www.therfl.co.uk/about/disciplinary.php

Re: How Can Blackpool improve the Fanbase? : Sun Jun 06, 2010 8:55 pm  

current location at Fylde rugby club is the problem - area is populated by older people and is mainly a rugby union area. So not the best start to begin with. Other problem is local press - Panthers dont get much press coverage and if they do is very poor indeed. We have a good squad this season and the away game at the super league champions Leeds rhinos proved we can get fans as 150 made the trip. Where are these people every week? Move to blackpool and we would get better crowds and im sure would get holidaymakers coming along to catch a game. Club should av kicked on from the leeds game. I am now getting involved with the blackpool rugby league supporters club. Anyone want anymore info just give me a shout

Re: How Can Blackpool improve the Fanbase? : Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:26 am  

cavedrone wrote: Oops note quite up to date obviously. Mr Hobson could be in deep do by the looks of it. http://www.therfl.co.uk/about/disciplinary.php Two out of three ain't bad, reading those it looks like there is no charge for the alledged head butt Could be out for a few games

cavedrone wrote: Oops note quite up to date obviously. Mr Hobson could be in deep do by the looks of it. http://www.therfl.co.uk/about/disciplinary.php Two out of three ain't bad, reading those it looks like there is no charge for the alledged head butt Could be out for a few games

Re: How Can Blackpool improve the Fanbase? : Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:55 am  

kevbanham wrote:

current location at Fylde rugby club is the problem - area is populated by older people and is mainly a rugby union area. So not the best start to begin with. Other problem is local press - Panthers dont get much press coverage and if they do is very poor indeed. We have a good squad this season and the away game at the super league champions Leeds rhinos proved we can get fans as 150 made the trip. Where are these people every week? Move to blackpool and we would get better crowds and im sure would get holidaymakers coming along to catch a game. Club should av kicked on from the leeds game. I am now getting involved with the blackpool rugby league supporters club. Anyone want anymore info just give me a shout

Don't want to disagree with you kev but I'm going to have to. Location is not the problem. We play at a rugby ground for a start which is better than playing on a football pitch which isn't big enough. Fylde ground is close to blackpool south train line and bus routes covering Preston to cleveleys so people can get there if they want to / knew when games were on or how much entry was. If they were publicised better people who wanted to go can easily, just like everyone who gets to bloomfield road from lytham/kirkham/poulton wherever for football. If the club had an option of having their own place where they could generate income from non-rugby events then moving would be good,otherwise I don't see a better option and club should do more with what is there. There is nothing tangible to say crowds will increase if we move. The same actual problems which are the things discussed above will still exist.

Re: How Can Blackpool improve the Fanbase? : Mon Jun 07, 2010 12:07 pm  

I agree that the same underlying problems will still exist within the club untill someone does something about it to try and increase the fan base,i just meant with blackpool been a more populated area maybe be easier to attract more fans and more lets say normal rugby people than the old rich people that reside in lytham that are more union orientated. Panthers will never get their own ground so its either woodlands or bloomfield road. That in itself isnt good as you dont like you say have a permanant home so harder to attract fans then keep them. Went to oldham yesterday and id say they were 25 panthers fans. These are hardcore supporters but they are begining to become disallusioned with the club due to all the rumours and lack of information. Think the club needs to sort this out then liase with the supporters. Where we play wont matter if we dont have a team to support anyway !!!

Re: How Can Blackpool improve the Fanbase? : Mon Jun 07, 2010 12:17 pm  

Sadly it looks like a case of "same old story", grand plans but a lack of good communication with the supporters will no doubt result in the same outcome.

Moving to Blackpool would make little difference unless communication and promotion of the club increased dramatically.

We've been saying it for weeks but no-one seemed to listen. People have offered to help, many good ideas have been put forward but little has been acted upon and few if any lessons learnt.

They then wonder why people get disillusioned

Re: How Can Blackpool improve the Fanbase? : Mon Jun 07, 2010 2:43 pm  

Hello, From reading the RL press and also these forums, it seems there is a great deal of concern amongst the supporters about the future sustainability of the club in its current guise. Whilst you seemingly have a very good side on the field, there does not appear to be a great source of revenue to back this up and I wondered if any of you have considered the idea of a supporters trust? My name is Laura Harrison and I am the Rugby League Development Officer for Supporters Direct, the umbrella organisation for supporters trusts in the UK. Our aim is to see clubs returned to their community under sustainable models of ownership to hopefully put an end to the boom and bust model which is prevalent in most sports nowadays. There are a number of ways a trust could work but all of them centre around the supporters gaining influence within the ranks of their professional clubs. After all, you pay money every year supporting your club but if the club is being badly run (which a number are) then that money is not being used in the best possible way to develop the club for the future. Whilst the main bulk of our work centres around football, I hve been working for the past 13 months to develop supporters trusts within rugby league and I am now working to develop a partnership approach between clubs and their supporters rather than the more 'hostile' relationship that exists in football. Trusts can work with their club to develop crowds, local playing talent, community activities, playing facilities etc but need to ensure they receive something in return. Ideally we would like to see trusts holding shares in their clubs or having a director on the board but this return could also come in other forms. Whilst I appreciate that it is difficult for clubs to compete when they don't have the 'sugar daddy' investment, it is also vital to remember that most of the clubs that take this route, would not survive if the sugar daddy decided to walk away and there is no reason cooperatively run clubs cannot be successful - Bramley Buffaloes are currently one of the most successful amateur clubs in the country whilst Hornets RL are currently enjoying an excellent season in only their second year as a trust owned club. Perhaps the most successful cooperatively run club of them all is Barcelona FC - a great example of what can be achieved. If a trust sounds like something that may be of interest to you, please feel free to contact me on 07985 628215 or alternatively via email on Laura.Harrison@supporters-direct.org or you can visit our website at http://www.supporters-direct.org Thanks, Laura

Hello, From reading the RL press and also these forums, it seems there is a great deal of concern amongst the supporters about the future sustainability of the club in its current guise. Whilst you seemingly have a very good side on the field, there does not appear to be a great source of revenue to back this up and I wondered if any of you have considered the idea of a supporters trust? My name is Laura Harrison and I am the Rugby League Development Officer for Supporters Direct, the umbrella organisation for supporters trusts in the UK. Our aim is to see clubs returned to their community under sustainable models of ownership to hopefully put an end to the boom and bust model which is prevalent in most sports nowadays. There are a number of ways a trust could work but all of them centre around the supporters gaining influence within the ranks of their professional clubs. After all, you pay money every year supporting your club but if the club is being badly run (which a number are) then that money is not being used in the best possible way to develop the club for the future. Whilst the main bulk of our work centres around football, I hve been working for the past 13 months to develop supporters trusts within rugby league and I am now working to develop a partnership approach between clubs and their supporters rather than the more 'hostile' relationship that exists in football. Trusts can work with their club to develop crowds, local playing talent, community activities, playing facilities etc but need to ensure they receive something in return. Ideally we would like to see trusts holding shares in their clubs or having a director on the board but this return could also come in other forms. Whilst I appreciate that it is difficult for clubs to compete when they don't have the 'sugar daddy' investment, it is also vital to remember that most of the clubs that take this route, would not survive if the sugar daddy decided to walk away and there is no reason cooperatively run clubs cannot be successful - Bramley Buffaloes are currently one of the most successful amateur clubs in the country whilst Hornets RL are currently enjoying an excellent season in only their second year as a trust owned club. Perhaps the most successful cooperatively run club of them all is Barcelona FC - a great example of what can be achieved. If a trust sounds like something that may be of interest to you, please feel free to contact me on 07985 628215 or alternatively via email on Laura.Harrison@supporters-direct.org or you can visit our website at http://www.supporters-direct.org Thanks, Laura