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More "Home" games not at Home.....
- Thread starter serious14
- Start date
northernspirit
Well-Known Member
Also had a response from the club re my email:
Hi there,
Im not sure who the best person or contact is to receive this email but I would as one of 2 members in my household like to voice my disapproval of some of the directions taken by the club in recent times.
We for the first time are strongly considering not renewing our memberships and I know from the marinators website that many others are thinking the same, recent crowd attendances confirm all this!
Yes results contribute to attendances (obviously) however look at Adelaide, they have increased theirs despite their results and we have seen how hard it is to get fans back once they are gone (look at Brisbane Roar). We fans hold grave concerns with the direction the club is going in, once the proud community club it seems this Centre of Excellence has taken priority at the expense of the lifeblood of the club.. the fans.
These are the issues which we are unhappy with:
1: Moving home games to Canberra
This really got under the nose of members last season, as someone who goes to all home games and some away I refused to go to these games as a matter of principle. We feel lied to on this point, and find it hard to believe that pitch related issues could be the true reasoning, most think its financial. (This relates to point 3). Now there are rumours its happening again this season, if it does goodbye memberships (again where is the club saying whats going on, all this uncertainty alienates the fans!).
2: No post-match functions
Only a small gesture but the post match functions were a way that the club could show we were valued at fans (notice the word fans not customers). It gave an opportunity for everyday people to mingle with their heroes, it seems the club has dropped the ball on this.
3: Total lack of official announcements
Rumours of signings, sponsors, games being moved etc run riot amongst fans but it seems the club has never really effectively communicated these with the fans. We do appreciate that you dont unnecessarily get our hopes up like say Sydney has been known to do to their fans but we need more effort in this area to get the Mariners brand out there, get people feeling a sense of belonging that their club is including them on these issues not simply ignoring them. The biggest gripe with this goes back to home games beiThe clng shifted, most people feel lied to about the true intention of the club moving the games for financial reasons if so tell us the truth not that its pitch problems, we find this very hard to believe!
4: Percieved lack of community engagement
Tradtionianlly the strong point of the club and attendances showed for a region our size, now attendances are suffering and I believe a big part of this is to do with this. I would like to see the club return to its old community programs and get more involved with local junior football, and indeed local senior football. Last season I coached and played in the local competition and didnt see anything from the mariners or hear anything about it what about something like a membership specially for local juniors?
5: Membership structure
I believe you are already looking to overhall these which is good, the memberships havent represented value for money. Less gimmicky fridge magnets and more functions and things to draw us in I really dont like the NRL but something like their NRL family fun days. I know you guys have done similar things in the past and I would rather see more of these sorts of things than gimmicks.
Im happy to discuss this further if you wish, honestly I think the club should do more to meet with the fans to discuss the clubs future, we are reliant on each other with no club we have no team to support, with no fans you have no club to run capiche?
Response from club:
Hi Scott,
Firstly, thankyou for your e-mail, this is the type of feedback the club wants to receive as it plans the best road forward in 2010/11 and beyond.
Let me reassure you, our club remains passionate about its Members, supporters and the Central Coast community, and remains in touch with the business models of other clubs not only in the A-League, but across other codes.
The development at Tuggerah has the potential to not only be a financial lifeblood of the club, but also a community project of which the entire Coast can be proud of, and in a financially competitive world, it is a sad fact that Hyundai A-League clubs would be unable to survive on the goodwill of Members, sponsors and supporters alone.
It is therefore paramount that the club moves to consolidate its future, whilst also remaining loyal to its core Community values.
To respond to your points individually, let me once again assure you that it has, and will always remain, the club's absolute preference to play all home matches at Bluetongue Stadium. Unfortunately however, as the club doesn't have an ultimate say in its availability, we remain at the mercy of Stadium Management and Gosford City Council.
While the two matches were played in Canberra, pitch rectification was carried out, with new grass laid around the goalmouths and halfway line. Major stadiums such as Etihad Stadium, Suncorp Stadium and the Sydney Football Stadium have large budgets which allow regular and quick acting turf resurfacing, while the budget for these works at Bluetongue Stadium appears to be significantly lower.
The FFA indicated a willingness to give Canberra a chance to show its support for the Hyundai A-League, and, with Bluetongue Stadium out of action for a long period, we worked with the FFA to achieve the next best available outcome.
By playing 11 home matches at Bluetongue Stadium, Membership prices were frozen at 2008/09 prices, something the club remains proud of being able to achieve for our Members.
The decision to hold one post match function last season as opposed to each home match was based around attendance and interest levels surrounding the events in the past. The feedback the club received from Members based on correspondence and their attendance, was that they had run their course, and that one, larger event may have been more successful. Just over 300 people attended the post match function this season.
Events such as this, and others this season including movie nights, fan days and open training sessions will always remain options for Membership packages, and the club is currently analysing results from the Members survey distributed recently to discover how to best deliver Membership packages for 2010/11 and beyond.
With regard to official announcements, the club's policy remains not to comment on speculation either in the media or within the supporter base, and once player signings or major announcements become official within the club, they are distributed to a database of over 400 media representatives, and key partners, while all official announcements are readily available on the club's website.
The club remains proud of its community involvement and remains committed to forging a close partnership with Central Coast Football and local clubs through our ambassador program, where each Mariners squad member is paired with a local club, to appear at events such as presentation evenings.
Club nights have also proven hugely successful in the past with the entire squad hosting coaching clinics and signing sessions at local clubs, and a number of these have already been organised for the new season.
The club has a strong Community program and has created an elite pathway for all young footballers on the Central Coast, from their local club to Central Coast Lightning and beyond, through School Holiday Clinics, school and academy Gala Days, Academy Programs and Scholarships.
The club regularly conducts school and community visits, and will continue to do so.
The club's Open Day was highly successful last season while the Exclusive Members open training session and Post Match Function didn't receive the kind of support we would have hoped for. With such a large Member base the club receives vastly differing messages from many Members on the importance of differing components of a Membership package, and it is hoped the recent survey will give the club a greater understanding on how to package Memberships in the future.
Thankyou for your continued support of the club.
Kind Regards,
John McKay
Chief Executive Officer
Hi there,
Im not sure who the best person or contact is to receive this email but I would as one of 2 members in my household like to voice my disapproval of some of the directions taken by the club in recent times.
We for the first time are strongly considering not renewing our memberships and I know from the marinators website that many others are thinking the same, recent crowd attendances confirm all this!
Yes results contribute to attendances (obviously) however look at Adelaide, they have increased theirs despite their results and we have seen how hard it is to get fans back once they are gone (look at Brisbane Roar). We fans hold grave concerns with the direction the club is going in, once the proud community club it seems this Centre of Excellence has taken priority at the expense of the lifeblood of the club.. the fans.
These are the issues which we are unhappy with:
1: Moving home games to Canberra
This really got under the nose of members last season, as someone who goes to all home games and some away I refused to go to these games as a matter of principle. We feel lied to on this point, and find it hard to believe that pitch related issues could be the true reasoning, most think its financial. (This relates to point 3). Now there are rumours its happening again this season, if it does goodbye memberships (again where is the club saying whats going on, all this uncertainty alienates the fans!).
2: No post-match functions
Only a small gesture but the post match functions were a way that the club could show we were valued at fans (notice the word fans not customers). It gave an opportunity for everyday people to mingle with their heroes, it seems the club has dropped the ball on this.
3: Total lack of official announcements
Rumours of signings, sponsors, games being moved etc run riot amongst fans but it seems the club has never really effectively communicated these with the fans. We do appreciate that you dont unnecessarily get our hopes up like say Sydney has been known to do to their fans but we need more effort in this area to get the Mariners brand out there, get people feeling a sense of belonging that their club is including them on these issues not simply ignoring them. The biggest gripe with this goes back to home games beiThe clng shifted, most people feel lied to about the true intention of the club moving the games for financial reasons if so tell us the truth not that its pitch problems, we find this very hard to believe!
4: Percieved lack of community engagement
Tradtionianlly the strong point of the club and attendances showed for a region our size, now attendances are suffering and I believe a big part of this is to do with this. I would like to see the club return to its old community programs and get more involved with local junior football, and indeed local senior football. Last season I coached and played in the local competition and didnt see anything from the mariners or hear anything about it what about something like a membership specially for local juniors?
5: Membership structure
I believe you are already looking to overhall these which is good, the memberships havent represented value for money. Less gimmicky fridge magnets and more functions and things to draw us in I really dont like the NRL but something like their NRL family fun days. I know you guys have done similar things in the past and I would rather see more of these sorts of things than gimmicks.
Im happy to discuss this further if you wish, honestly I think the club should do more to meet with the fans to discuss the clubs future, we are reliant on each other with no club we have no team to support, with no fans you have no club to run capiche?
Response from club:
Hi Scott,
Firstly, thankyou for your e-mail, this is the type of feedback the club wants to receive as it plans the best road forward in 2010/11 and beyond.
Let me reassure you, our club remains passionate about its Members, supporters and the Central Coast community, and remains in touch with the business models of other clubs not only in the A-League, but across other codes.
The development at Tuggerah has the potential to not only be a financial lifeblood of the club, but also a community project of which the entire Coast can be proud of, and in a financially competitive world, it is a sad fact that Hyundai A-League clubs would be unable to survive on the goodwill of Members, sponsors and supporters alone.
It is therefore paramount that the club moves to consolidate its future, whilst also remaining loyal to its core Community values.
To respond to your points individually, let me once again assure you that it has, and will always remain, the club's absolute preference to play all home matches at Bluetongue Stadium. Unfortunately however, as the club doesn't have an ultimate say in its availability, we remain at the mercy of Stadium Management and Gosford City Council.
While the two matches were played in Canberra, pitch rectification was carried out, with new grass laid around the goalmouths and halfway line. Major stadiums such as Etihad Stadium, Suncorp Stadium and the Sydney Football Stadium have large budgets which allow regular and quick acting turf resurfacing, while the budget for these works at Bluetongue Stadium appears to be significantly lower.
The FFA indicated a willingness to give Canberra a chance to show its support for the Hyundai A-League, and, with Bluetongue Stadium out of action for a long period, we worked with the FFA to achieve the next best available outcome.
By playing 11 home matches at Bluetongue Stadium, Membership prices were frozen at 2008/09 prices, something the club remains proud of being able to achieve for our Members.
The decision to hold one post match function last season as opposed to each home match was based around attendance and interest levels surrounding the events in the past. The feedback the club received from Members based on correspondence and their attendance, was that they had run their course, and that one, larger event may have been more successful. Just over 300 people attended the post match function this season.
Events such as this, and others this season including movie nights, fan days and open training sessions will always remain options for Membership packages, and the club is currently analysing results from the Members survey distributed recently to discover how to best deliver Membership packages for 2010/11 and beyond.
With regard to official announcements, the club's policy remains not to comment on speculation either in the media or within the supporter base, and once player signings or major announcements become official within the club, they are distributed to a database of over 400 media representatives, and key partners, while all official announcements are readily available on the club's website.
The club remains proud of its community involvement and remains committed to forging a close partnership with Central Coast Football and local clubs through our ambassador program, where each Mariners squad member is paired with a local club, to appear at events such as presentation evenings.
Club nights have also proven hugely successful in the past with the entire squad hosting coaching clinics and signing sessions at local clubs, and a number of these have already been organised for the new season.
The club has a strong Community program and has created an elite pathway for all young footballers on the Central Coast, from their local club to Central Coast Lightning and beyond, through School Holiday Clinics, school and academy Gala Days, Academy Programs and Scholarships.
The club regularly conducts school and community visits, and will continue to do so.
The club's Open Day was highly successful last season while the Exclusive Members open training session and Post Match Function didn't receive the kind of support we would have hoped for. With such a large Member base the club receives vastly differing messages from many Members on the importance of differing components of a Membership package, and it is hoped the recent survey will give the club a greater understanding on how to package Memberships in the future.
Thankyou for your continued support of the club.
Kind Regards,
John McKay
Chief Executive Officer
kevrenor
Well-Known Member
northernspirit said:
Basically that is bullshit John! You ran them down until people gave up!
At one point he lauds 300 for turning up, then rubbishes us for not getting support at the function.
As for the open training ... I thought the numbers were great given pissweak notice, promotion, benefits (1 snag/drink), and particularly the timing on an afternoon when most are at work or kids with no-one to take them.
Ditto for the post match function which was equally poorly planned, and abominably run.
NFI have they!
Why not cut games to 6 then you can halve the price ...
Goodwill and credibility is hard to regain once lost ...
Yup most things they did seemed to be when most people were at work, then they complain about low numbers? 
. Silly people; and the mariners didn't really hang around much for that post match function they did - the W-league ladies however, did - they were great to meet.
Also its great they go and do work at schools around the coast - but it's not the kids that need convincing - it's their parents
. Silly people; and the mariners didn't really hang around much for that post match function they did - the W-league ladies however, did - they were great to meet.Also its great they go and do work at schools around the coast - but it's not the kids that need convincing - it's their parents
dibo
Well-Known Member
northernspirit said:
They really *are* laying it on Council and the stadium.
I guess the question that comes to mind is this: How much are we paying for the ground per use? How much of this is swallowed up in costs to run each night (staff, security, lighting, etc.) and how much is going into maintenance?
In the stadium's annual budget there'll be certain fixed factors.
There'll be a certain flat cost devoted to the sort of basic admin that happens whether it's used or not - Monique Marks and whoever else is on staff there plus basic maintenance.
There'll be a certain amount allocated from GCC too. These first two amounts may be related, they may not.
Thereafter we're onto per-hire costs. Very simply I'd assume from each hire there'll be $X set aside for running the stadium for the night - staff, lights, security etc. and $Y set aside for maintenance.
Basic maintenance might be limited in the bare bones budget to keeping the pitch watered, mowed and marked and filling divots. It's possible that we don't have enough events to cover the 'additional maintenance' that would be required to keep the pitch tip-top using the sort of big-budget methods that other stadia can afford.
Therefore it's also possible that contrary to intuition, what we need is for the NRL etc. to actually hire the stadium out more so that the sum of the extra maintenance dollars is such that they *can* afford to keep the pitch halfway decent week to week.
Look at the SFS - they did a full re-lay during the HAL season and it looked pretty good right from the off. But this costs the sort of money the stadium might not have unless they get regular events. It might be not until the CC Bears show up that the stadium actually has the cash to splash on a decent pitch.
I still reckon they should go artificial. That would cost less per year in maintenance, wouldn't require watering, could be used by pretty much every sporting organisation on the coast. Junior grand finals? No problem. Schools days? Not a worry. Lightning matches? Too easy...
FFC Mariner
Well-Known Member
An NRL club on the Coast would just about do the Mariners in I reckon.
If the Bears (or whoever) get their back office together and hoover up local sponsors, game over CCM.
If the Bears (or whoever) get their back office together and hoover up local sponsors, game over CCM.
Harsulas_SFC
Well-Known Member
dibo said:
Would be a problem for League wouldn't it?
pjennings
Well-Known Member
I went to an event at the NSW Leagues Club yesterday and the general feeling from many there is that there is too much entrenched Sydney opposition to allow the Bears in. The way it was put to me was that the best and only chance for a CC League team is for a full re-location of an existing Sydney club.
The CC League people are really talking up their chances. I spoke to one last night that is heavily involved from a CC RL point of view. They are convinced that the CC Bears will be in by 2013 and suggest it may be 2012.
Someone's got it very wrong
???
Gotta agree though. If a real coast NRL team was here it would really 'challenge' the Mariners.
The CC League people are really talking up their chances. I spoke to one last night that is heavily involved from a CC RL point of view. They are convinced that the CC Bears will be in by 2013 and suggest it may be 2012.
Someone's got it very wrong
???
Gotta agree though. If a real coast NRL team was here it would really 'challenge' the Mariners.
Arabmariner
Well-Known Member
All the more reason why CCM management should be pulling out all the stops to keep good relations with fans and sponsors now.pjennings said:
If they continue on as they are by the time 2012/13 comes or whenever a RL team apears up here we are gone I'm afraid.
midfielder
Well-Known Member
FFC Mariner said:
Arabmariner said:
The street news I have is the CC Bears have an office and three employees ... Greg Flamerio (spelt wrong) but last NSB captain.
They have almost four million in the bank... over 5, 000 signed on members and a petition going with over 12, 000 people signed on...
They have a sponsor and the rumour is for over 1 million per year if they get in..
They have Singo offering to cover any losses they incur over the next 7 years... they have Singo's radio stations on the Coast...
They have articles almost weekly in the News papers... and have 2GB and Alan Jones constantly calling for them to come in...
Against all this is two things first greatly reduces RL's ability to expand as it looks like / is and extra team in the greater Sydney area. The other clubs are not keen on expansion...
12 months ago the smart money said they are no hope .. today the smart money says they are a shoe in... they have a ground ... sponsor... money ... and the backing of the popular RL media ... and the arguably the CC most influential sports power broker in Singo...
bikinigirl
Well-Known Member
dibo said:Interesting. Is the club laying the blame at the feet of the Council and Stadium?
. i know you have added to this further ... but i think it is about time. my letter to the club (still in draft form) says as much. anybody who saw the 'maintenance/restoration' done last year can think nothing else
. the problem is if they are trying to roll out the same line again this year it just won't work. this is the time for CCM to be naming and shaming not suggesting other games may need to be moved (yes i know there was more to it than the ground works). last year they may not have been willing to upset the apple cart, hopefully they realise the stability of the apple cart if the least of their problems
bikinigirl
Well-Known Member
kevrenor said:NFI have they!
Why not cut games to 6 then you can halve the price ...
Goodwill and credibility is hard to regain once lost ...
. i agree with your other points, but this one has always troubled me
. i know there were 'other reasons' for the relocation as well but the point about pricing is still valid. i remember a lot of comments on here leading up to the memberships being released last year and they were along the lines of:
- if they even think of increasing prices, they can go and pleasure themselves sexually
- we need reduced/concession pricing in the bay
- the GEC is having an effect on CC households ... they had better consider that when setting prices
- there are other options for the discretionary spend of the entertainment budget
. i know i would have willing paid for the extra couple of games and we will never know what the true damage was ... but you can't please all people all of the time. they figured their best bet was to curb their spending, limit cost to members and gain a little extra on the side from Canberra
. will they make that same bed again?
. at least they are now considering multi-game passes which may satisfy more people ... but it may also have a significant impact on full season ticketholders. last year's option didn't work, will this year's option work any better?
midfielder
Well-Known Member
midfielder said:
My reply ... I liked a line I used in my letter about moving the game ... "I guess my point is you need to get the word in the street that this has nothing do with revenue raising or Singos revenge."
FFC Mariner
Well-Known Member
No reply
Looks like they have realised that each reply will be posted and analysed on here and have thought better of it.
Good case study for aspiring PR students I would have thought.
Looks like they have realised that each reply will be posted and analysed on here and have thought better of it.
Good case study for aspiring PR students I would have thought.
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