CC Mariners: memberships, communication and the "Community Club"

[adz]

This thread is a continuation of the rant I started in this thread regarding memberships. It was getting a little off topic for that thread and deserves its own one... plus it's a good time killer for the off-season

To summarise my thoughts on memberships, I think the club should be pushing for more members. Members = Loyal Fans = Higher Attendances = More Sponsorship = $$$ Profit. It's a bit simplistic I guess, but who wants to pump sponsorship dollars into a comp that nobody is watching?

So today I want to bring up communication issues. Yesterday, my team that plays in the code that shall not be named on here, played out an agonising draw. After the game I went to the club's website and there were 4 news articles and a page with videos of game highlights and press conferences. Today we have 7 more articles. We have game reviews, a couple relating to rules of the game (because it was a draw, and they introduced a new substitute rule), one of the coaches has done a review on all the players who played in the game, and there is some news about an injured player and if we are likely to see him take the field next week. This will keep up through the week and the season, lots of info about the games, the club on and off the park, and tons of stuff to keep the fans up to date.

Now let's compare this to CCM. Some weeks we might get a review of the game, and then nothing until the preview of the next game. If we're lucky, we will get a handful of articles in a week. Some player news (contract signings etc), some news about what the club is doing in the community, but comparatively, nothing.

Now this is not great for passionate football fans, is it? How many times during the season do we ask "I wonder how xxx is doing after that game?" or "Why did xxx come off early, how is he doing?" or "How is xxx doing, because we haven't even heard anything about him all season". And I'm sure that the club is out and about doing promo stuff during the week... training clinics at schools, whatever, etc, but do we hear about it? They should be telling us all about the good stuff that is happening off the field too.

I won't even bother talking about other media - flick on the radio and you will hear talkback and other programs devoted to the other codes. People want to know about their team, they want to talk about their team, passionate fans just live and breath their team, and it isn't happening with the A-League. I wouldn't expect this sort of thing for a long time but why should there be talk back, tv shows, news stories and other stuff devoted to A-League when the clubs themselves couldn't be bothered with that stuff?

It's almost like everything is a secret. It says to me, we can't be arsed keeping you up to date with all this stuff, but we expect you to get passionate every weekend and come to the game anyway.

How are we meant to keep the enthusiasm up all week, when there is nothing to get enthusiastic about!?

Any thoughts on this? Perhaps a lot of football fans don't know any different, and the level of coverage is probably a step-up from the old NSL days, but still way off the mark (IMO).

 

[style_cafe]

Wow!! What a great topic.

Adz, your comments are well founded indeed.

It`s absolutely painful to try to find out what is happening around the Mariners.

We seem to attract the least amount of media coverage in the A-league, that is the main reason I come on this forum, as it has some of the most informed & intelligent posts I can find on our team.


One thing I would like to see & I`m sure it would be fairly simple to set up in the new head-quarters is a room where our media guy could do interviews & link them to forums like this one.

Imagine monday morning after a Sunday game where interviews could be carried out.

Things like :-
a) Arnies view of the match.
B) Mossy going over technical aspects of the game
c) Clarkey discussing injuries ec.
d) Crawley talking about goalkeeping
e) Player interviews
f) Club Updates
g) Yellow Army Interviews & updates

These interviews & news items could then be placed daily to draw fans to the websites & to give them more information.

I`m sure others on here have some great ideas.

I read on the new media guy topic that he reads this forum,so I hope he takes note of what is written here.

 

[Roy Law]

Promotion of the Mariners in the media by the club is woeful. Clearly it's all about money, that's why we are tied to one radio station. In an ideal world every station on the Coast should be promoting the Mariners.What frustrates me is when we miss obvious opportunities - the 'famous' day when the Express Advocate had a full page plea from Lawrie for the fans to attend a friday night game - unfortunately it was in the very same friday and many on the coast would not have read the paper until Saturday. And I would like to see us take a full page in the Advocate every week with Mariners news, paid for by the club, giving news, interviews, upcoming fixtures etc. It's ridiculous that a player like Musty is not a cult figure on the Coast - and he is not, despite a handful of red wigs being sold. I can't blame the FFA, it's the Mariners who need the kick up the arse.

 

[Woodsy]

Couldnt agree more about the lack of communication about the goings on about the club and its players and everything else that is of interest to the loyal fans and general public. Lets be honest the amount of support and communication that this site provides amongst us all is fantastic and shows me that their is so much interest here on the coast but one must ask, What the bloody hell is going on with the lack of information about the club and its players ??? We are loyal fans who pay our memberships yearly as well as spend our dollars on merchandise each year not to mention turn up to games rain, hail or shine either at home or away. We deserve to know of the goings on of our club. It keeps people talking and excited therefore creates more interest. Stuff this secret service where we are all left guessing. Get one of us in there i say, we all know as fans what is of interest to loyal supporters....

 

[MrCelery]

Nice post Adz.

I agree totally. The little snippets being communicated via the official site is rather bland to say the least.

Getting column inches in the mainstream papers, on TV and on the radio is more problematic, as they are syndicated these days, and are owned by the other codes.

Lawrie's twittering is good value, and the 'meet the Club' sessions Lawrie runs now before matches are pure gold. So it is getting better.

I'd like to see much more targetted at the 7-15 age group. Something along the lines of the old 'Shoot' magazine from the UK. Good pics and art work, simple info, profiles, fun stories, etc.

It would probably need to be web-based (I tend to rely on this site more and more these days for my interesting, passionate news) as, apart from the Foxtel and SBS offerings, it is the only free medium not controlled by the other codes.

I love your idea of a media interview room\studio for short 2-5 minute video grabs covering various topics each week. You could film half a dozen a week and release one or two each day. All it takes is the stuff I have in my house - a HD video camera, some decent spotlights, some lapel mics (don't you hate the Foxtel post match interviews where you can hear the answer but not the question?), maybe a green screen (hanging in my garage!)

Other topics could include:

Merchandise on sale
Player profiles
Skill/techniques
Rules of the game
Interviews with media personalities, eg. Mick Kmet, Ben Coonan
TIFO of the week
More from Lawrie - he such a funny bugger!
Sponsors spots - let them have a say
Outrageous rumours
Celebrities that love football
Ex-Mariners player watch - where are they now?

Like everything, it takes people power and money to create material, and with the club having to operate on a shoestring, I can understand that once the basics are attended to, there is little left in the tank for lots more. Both in person power and dollars.

If the Club would like to set up a communications committee with some volunteers, maybe that can help.

 

[Woodsy]

One particular incident that springs to mind from last season which is a prime example of lack of communication amongst the fans that i remember is this.
Wake my family of 4 up early saturday morning we take a 20 minute drive up to the waterfront at gosford to wave the players coach goodbye before they head off to the grand final. My son who is 8 absolutely loves Perez who at this stage we were unsure if he was playing in the grand final. The express newspaper had said on the friday that the desision was going to be made friday as to whether or not he would play. We get to the waterfront but no Perez in site we did not see him up there nor hear anything about whether he was fit to play. It was a long day for us as my son was constantly asking whether his favourite player was going to take the field. You can imagine how we felt when we watched nbn news to see Moss at the waterfront beside the coach saying they were going to be without Perez for the game. (this interview was saturday morning before the coach left.) My question is, Why could someone not have informed the dedicated fans that had lined the waterfront foreshore that Perez was not playing in the grand fina?. Lack of communication amongst the dedicated loyal fans is what i put it down to..

 

[midfielder]

ADZ

Time is my enemy so have time to look and only offer brief comments... but this a a very important thread... arguably the most important thread in a couple of years...

I will post latter in more detail.... but we not as much the community club we believe we are...

Our recent management decisions especially the radio deal where in RL season it was not hard to pick the preferred code and when the two morning jocks were from southern states and loved AFL.... and to get no coverage on the other two ... not good...

Down to some simple things.... the Leagues club across the road.... food service starts late and ends early ... so after the match its all shut up and prior to the match it is a rush if you can be bothered...

Being fair the management does a lot of good things but marketing and promotion ... is not a strong point..

More latter .... other duties call now....

 

[Muppet]

Cannot say that I disagree with anything on here. I think one point that needs to be made clear or clarified is that all articles posted on the website or released to the media have to be approved by the FFA. It would be nice if they could loosen the shackles and allow the clubs to do their own media to some extent. Absolutely agree with the comments about after match reports by Graham, Moss, and the players.

It would also be wonderful to have a section with tips from the players and Graham in relation to training drills etc which meet the national curriculum. The perfect thing for the juniors to train against.

One thing that I would love to see is the dream team of all players who have played for the club but I think that could wait until we get 10 years up.

If Lawrie is not here next season who will step into his shoes for the 'meet the club' sessions.

 

[Ezz]

Adz, so glad you started this topic as it is something I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by. I too support the other code you mentioned and my team actually fought to have an independant website so they were not constricted by the rules of the governing body, I think their website is now by far the best in the AFL.

Another thing we definitely have to remember is the money issue. We all know that money is tight so the more things that us members can be involved in on a voluntary basis the better. I've already commented on another topic that I would volunteer to take prospective member details if we could arrange players to do a meet & great in the major shopping centres. Much the way the CC Bears were everywhere a few months ago pushing memberships.

Finally, rather than just saying the club needs to get into the papers, tv, etc, I would advise as many people as possible to write letters/emails to all forms of media. We can't expect the media to cover our team, or the A League as a whole, if they don't know the demand is there. I am currently drafting a letter to SBS to request a show dedicated to the A League. A 15 minute update a week to cover all games just doesn't cut it. Remember that we, as consumers for these shows, papers, etc have the power and the more pressure we can put on them the better.

End of my rant for the moment.

 

[adz]

Celery - Lawrie's twitter is great! Definitely a step in the right direction, as is the pre-game events that have been held in the Kendall a couple of times, but I think that was the Yellow Army that had to organise that?

I don't think we can just sit back and say the mainstream media is controlled by the AFL and NRL and there is nothing we can do about that, because I don't think that's completely true. Mainstream media will write about things that are popular and things people want to hear about. I think it's up to the clubs and the FFA to be pushing stories out there and using everything they have available to do that. I want to see some hype! Some excitement! Some passion about football!

A couple of people have mentioned money and budgets which is fair enough, but it really doesn't cost a lot to bang out a quick article, or grab a camera these days and shoot a quick interview with someone. I would see that as inexpensive marketing and a way of making the club more personal. Articles don't have to be long and complicated, and it's probably best if they aren't, so even a few paragraphs on different things is better than absolutely nothing.

Muppet you mentioned the FFA has to approve everything that goes on their website, which sounds a bit strange... and I'm not sure what the process is but surely that shouldn't stop them from pumping out more info than we currently get. And if that's true, then the FFA should really cut the cord and trust the clubs a bit. It sounds a bit like an office where the boss makes everyone send outgoing emails through them... pretty stupid really.

It would be nice if the football programs we already have would play along too, e.g. even on Foxtel we get a crappy 30 minute highlight show, which means a replay of all the goals, and then Fox Sports FC which has a little bit about the A-League, and the rest about overseas football! What does that say about the A-League when we can't even have a one hour show dedicated to it? I can get in depth previews and reviews of every AFL and NRL game from a ton of shows dedicated to them, all aimed at different types of fans, e.g. you have your "footy show" I want my entertainment sprinkled with footy talk, to the hard core in depth blah blah shows, and everything in between... and then I look at Fox Sports FC and the game I want to hear about might not even crack a mention that week!

Ezz, even though I hate the Bombers, especially after how they humiliated us in 2000 I checked out their site... I absolutely LOVE this: http://www.essendonfc.com.au/membership/membership2011helper.asp - Such a simple, yet effective way to get across membership options.

There are some great ideas in this thread btw, so keep them coming!

 

[Ezz]

Hey Adz, sorry for bringing up painful memories. I don't want to sound like I'm harping on about the Bombers but check out bombertv on youtube. They have interviews, injury updates, player interviews and highlights as suggested by Style. Short little segments to make you feel more a part of the club.

bombertv

 

[universalmind]

People,
I understand you are frustrated by the lack of coverage from the club, and mainstream media. But the reality our is a distant third in the football codes and further behind in the media ranks. We need to grow our game through the underground media - tweets, blogs et al. We should corrobrate to extend our reach beyond the dedicated markets we currently serve. I'm willing to write a blog once a fortnight, however i'll need the support of others. In today'so social media world we don't need to rely on mainstream media to get our voices heard, we just need to demonstrate tenacity. Anyone else keen? It may be slow and painful to start off with, but the more perseverancee, the more i'm convinced me can make a difference. Today's youth dont use the same medium for sources of information we are used to.

 

[MrCelery]

What we need is some ways to harvest all the communications about our club and make it very easy for the unskilled web user to access it.

For example I use Google Alerts to email me a regular collection of articles. It's not always perfect, but it's a great source of new articles to slake the thirst.

Other RSS feeds would be available.

Even without any effort from the Club itself, there are some quality blogging going on. Eg.

http://www.theroar.com.au/category/soccer

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/blogs.aspx?CIaBEID=2399

http://www.thefootballsack.com/search/label/Mariners

http://vulgar.com.au/libero/das.html

http://www.back-of-the-net.com

http://www.aleagueblog.com/

http://www.ultimatealeague.com/club_detail.php?club_id=2

http://www.a-league-fancentral.com.au/group/centralcoastmarinersfc

It is not official news from key people in the Club, which would be better. But it's something. It shows there is a healthy 'underground' of fan power that is creating interest.

 

[Muppet]

Good discussion. It is all well and good about it on this forum but has anyone actually approached the club with the collective voice of the fans? No use pontificating on this forum if you have not approached them.

A little bit off topic. Did'nt Peter Turnball mention that they would be announcing a new investor in a few weeks? Times is pretty much up since this was said. Has anyone heard anything more on this?

 

[MagpieMariner]

We have many on this forum who have the knowledge, insight and ability to be able to write a pre-game review like this:
http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/newsfeatures/news/newsarticle/tabid/5586/newsid/110338/default.aspx

I read it with great interest and enjoyment, not only because I'm a fan, but also because of the (I thought) very even treatment the author gave to both sides.

Do you think something like this offered to the club from our members who have the above attributes and the desire to put on it's site every week would add something worthwhile? I think it would be good for newcomers to our club to get some knowledge of the players they'll see in the next match (from both sides).

I notice there's been nothing posted to the club site since last Wednesday. I know the club doesn't have the personnel resources like the big AFL clubs, but it's pity not to see even a couple of pars about our current and new players' activities - Wilko, Kwaz & Lawrie in China, Hearfield (and Doig, even though he's no longer a Mariner he did give us some good service) in Indonesia, Musti in Germany (or is he now in Newcastle?).

 

[adz]

Good discussion. It is all well and good about it on this forum but has anyone actually approached the club with the collective voice of the fans? No use pontificating on this forum if you have not approached them.

Fair point, "has anyone approached the club to tell them how to run a club?". I could flip that and say that in six years of having the fan site I haven't been contacted by the club once. As members and fans we invest a lot of our own time and money in the club, and they have people employed to run the show and should be taking care of all these issues.

This thread isn't just about having a whinge or being negative about the club, it's pointing out an area that can be improved, and using an open discussion to get some ideas that may even be taken to them. Also, the things pointed out aren't just problems of the Mariners, but the A-League in general. Because the Mariners are being so pro-active and pushing boundaries in other areas, it would be nice if they got this side of things going too.

I could have just rang the club and went blah blah to whoever answers the phones but they would probably just hang up on me. At least this way I know there are others who feel the same way, and we can have an open discussion about what we would like to see in the future. The whole point of the forum is to provide a place for open discussions such as this, so why not use it?

 

[Ezz]

I view this forum as a 'brain-storming' session. Once we have a collection of good suggestions and an idea of what we need the club to help with and what members/supporters can do, then we approach the club. Much better to go to them with a list and possible ways these can be resolved rather than approaching it in an unorganised fashion.

We also have to remember that often we are comparing ourselves to RL & AFL (& yes I have posted suggestions from the AFL) which has been around for many, many years. When these clubs were being established I'm sure that there was a large amount of supporter involvement in the initial years to help build the clubs and to gather more support.

 

[elevated position]

I would say the big difference between the A League clubs and most other clubs(pick your code including old soccer) is that they are privately owned.
And at that who wants to be told how to spend their own money? ie Tinkler, Palmer etc.

The general gist is that as long as the owners are not reliant on an income from the game and treat it as a ego trip,(yes, I own a Football team)I see it hard as to where they will let the community in.
However there is a lot of good ideas flowing through and the wheel does not have to be reinvented just rolled a few times a year.

 

[midfielder]

Style

I have often wondered if we could achieve what you expressed in your post…

I am all for it …. It does require a lot of work and commitment from a number of people…whether or not we have the numbers and the talent on the site I don't know but I think it needs looking at...

The first thing is obviously an agreed way forward and I would suggest, it would look something like this… {note the numbers in brackets are the number of people over a season it would take... One final thing the following can be reduced or added to but it would be interesting to do it for a season and see how or if it grows...

Pertaining to the Mariners and produced weekly during the season and as needed offseason
A pre match report [2]
A post match report [2]
A pre match vlog [1.5] plus support i.e. someone to film and record sound..
A post match vlog [1.5] plus support i.e. someone to film and record sound..

Most importantly some player interviews both in a forum style question and answer … and maybe a some vlog interviews as well. [1or 2] plus support i.e. someone to film and record sound..

Above with coaching staff and Mariner management. Same crew as above

Posting if possible of the Fox & SBS post match reviews & Coach / Player interviews. [1.5]

Pertaining to the A-League in General Weekly updates during the season and as needed off season

An A-League round report [1.5]
Key Interviews copied and posted. [ could be the same as people that do the Mariner copies]
Football in General [1]
Updates on Aussies overseas [1]
A Media watch … i.e. the good the bad and the ugly ..[1]
Referrals to other good sites..a shared responsibility

Organisation

All this needs to be done on a pre-agreed scheduled timetable.

It needs a lot of people … but not as many as people think… look at half time heroes as an example … not to follow their site design … but the way they put it all together…

For the site to work name calling and slagging other posters would need to be cut out…

It would requier patience to see if it grows and lots of emails to other football sites so some of their posters would come on to our site as well… and lots of talk to local media ….

Other than people to write it needs some video gear, and people who know how to edit …
It needs lots of mods to operate

 

[adz]

I would say the big difference between the A League clubs and most other clubs(pick your code including old soccer) is that they are privately owned.
And at that who wants to be told how to spend their own money? ie Tinkler, Palmer etc.

The general gist is that as long as the owners are not reliant on an income from the game and treat it as a ego trip,(yes, I own a Football team)I see it hard as to where they will let the community in.
However there is a lot of good ideas flowing through and the wheel does not have to be reinvented just rolled a few times a year.

Either this is in the wrong thread or you're a tad confused mate? I'm not sure how any of that relates to the lack of communication from the club?


Anyway, I guess there isn't a lot more that can be said on that, and we're heading into a new topic now of fan generated content.

Fan generated content is important too, and we have a lot of people doing some great work with blogs and websites (like this one ) but it can't replace content from the club. We simply don't have the resources or the access to the information that fans want to hear, which is why we need more from the club.

I think we are in a good position now with this website to push on and make it a lot better and more useful for Mariners fans in coming seasons. There are some good ideas already in this thread that we can look at implementing, but we have 6 months to brainstorm and put together a plan of attack, and there will be discussions in the coming weeks about this. So, as they say, stay tuned!