Only 148

[obis]

....... and I admit I was one of those absent.

 

The reason? Probably a few if I wanted to find excuses. I think £9 plus prog, pint or burger (£15 ) is difficult to justify with things tight at the moment.

 

May I suggest reviewing the admission charge? Something needs to be done.

Maybe introduce £5 for midweek games or across the board until the end of the season. Don't know for sure if it will work but would be great for play off push.

 

I see that Charlton charged £5 v Exeter Saurday.

[Urchins]

....... and I admit I was one of those absent.

 

The reason? Probably a few if I wanted to find excuses. I think £9 plus prog, pint or burger (£15 ) is difficult to justify with things tight at the moment.

 

May I suggest reviewing the admission charge? Something needs to be done.

Maybe introduce £5 for midweek games or across the board until the end of the season. Don't know for sure if it will work but would be great for play off push.

 

I see that Charlton charged £5 v Exeter Saurday.

 

I think you'll find the league stipulate a minimum charge - £9 is probably close to it.

 

The reality is that, with great respect to both clubs, AFC Hornchurch v Harrow Boro in the Ryman League on a Tuesday night is not an attractive fixture. AFC Hornchurch v Harrow Boro in a 4th Qualifying Round FA Cup replay, for example, would have been. £9 or not, many more would have turned up. Unfortunately these days we are competing with Dagenham at home and Chelsea on the box.

[Eastside Urchin]

I can't believe that we would lose fans to chelsea on the box although maybe a few chose to go Dagenham.

I wouldn't be surprised if a small amount went to watch Concord v Canvey,i would probably of gone had we not been playing.

I think we have to praise the club for keeping the price at £9 when many in our league are charging £10-12.

Although i do feel we need to do something for the midweek games,i would of expected 200 minimum last night as its a school holidays,but maybe quite a few went away.

Also,with these re arranged fixtures and the fact the last two have been postponed,maybe a few people didn't actually know we were playing???

[obis]

Remember what an ostrich does.

[Eastside Urchin]

we moaned about the last tuesday game against Margate,which was 173 with approx 40 margate fans,but on hindsight this game was sandwiched in between two saturday home games,both of which the gates were more encouraging.

Last nights attendance was in theory,the same as margate,with probably 10 paying away fans.

There were the usual half time attendees,i saw at least 10 people who i did not see before the game,and bearing in mind i didn't stop doing the 50/50 till 7.50pm i would suspect only one or two of these actually paid to get in.

I would guess that the amount of people in the ground just after half time was nearer 200 if you include the staff working and people with complimentary tickets.

I don't think its sticking our heads in the sand but what can we do,as people say times are hard,personally i think that £9 for Ryman Premier games is probably a bit too much.

I would thinbk £6-7 a better figure and kids should come in for a quid at all games,but the league make the rules not the club.

Lets face it,we have always struggled on tuesday nights,even in the conference south.

[BUFC]

Remember what an ostrich does.

 

lays BIG eggs!

[Hornchurch "O"]

You are not forced to buy a program, Beer or Burger, therefore cost is only £9

[Urchins]

Without a doubt there have been many questions raised on here and in club boardrooms about why attendances are dropping. The only thing that's certain is that despite the many theories no one really knows why.

 

So, here's what, in my opinion, we need to do:-

 

- Engage a professional market research company to have people with clipboards in Hornchurch and Upminster high streets between, say, 2:30 pm and 4:30 pm on a Saturday when we are playing at home asking a number of questions beginning with 'Why aren't you watching your local football team ?'

- Analyse the results

- Act on them

 

Problems is this costs money - at least £500 based on my very quick and basic research.

 

I'll be prepared to contribute a small sum towards this.

 

Anyone else ?

 

 

[urchinman1961]

lots of factors really i for one being a season ticket watch the chins through thick and thin others will cherry pick games and if the punters dont spend an average of between £13 to £15 each then the club will struggle financially on our day we are brilliant but fans are fickle and we did go off the boil for a couple of matches and fans choose to stay away it's a shame really cos money does dictate and if we cant get the basics right like getting fans through the gate then we will always be a ryman prem side

 

 

[Eastside Urchin]

I would throw in a tenner or so,probably a bit more when i start working again.

[EastLondonDan.]

.

May I suggest reviewing the admission charge? Something needs to be done.

Maybe introduce £5 for midweek games or across the board until the end of the season. Don't know for sure if it will work but would be great for play off push.

 

I see that Charlton charged £5 v Exeter Saurday.

 

Not a bad idea, but for the club not to lose a penny using that scheme, you'd need nearly double the amount of paying adults to turn up.

 

Sadly, I am only a maximum of 5 games a season person, and have only been that since I started going to see AFCH about 5 years ago and I was not one of the 148, although when I do go, I always bring another person or more.

[Eastside Urchin]

urchins(rob,the other one),i actually think thats a cracking idea,have you ever thought of being on the Supporters association Comittee,you never know when a space can come up???

 

 

[UD161]

All leagues have a minimum charge. Even in the Football League there are minimum charges. Someone has said above about what Charlton did, but League Clubs are only allowed to do this for a certain number og games. For instance at Dagenham we tend to have 2 kids for a quid games each year and the Anti Racism day where all terrace tickets are 99p and all seats £9.99. After one of these games we were chatting to a couple of blokes from the Committee in the bar and we asked why we dont do more of these promotions and he said there was a limit on how many they were allowed to each season, so their hands were tied. You would probably find this is the same with the Ryman League.

 

With regards to the Market research idea, this is probably a good one but the costs would probably take away most of the potential increase in income.

 

I know people disagree, but it is the times we are in. Football crowds have always gone in cycles at all levels, and combined with the state of peoples finances, we are on a downward curve at the moment, at all levels. Our crowd last night was just over 2,300 but this included over 600 away fans, so home support was once again at around 1,700. Only for two games have we really broken through the 1,800 home support barrier (Orient and Southampton). Clubs just have to learn to cut their cloth accordingly until things pick up again.

[Eastside Urchin]

Yeah but dagenham are sh1t lol

[Hornchurch "O"]

A lot to read, but.

 

I'm a season ticket holder, so i pay whether i turn up or not.

I buy £5 worth of lottery tickets and a programme.

 

A few beers and a Hot Dog later another £15.

 

But i get to meet some really nice people i don't normally sociallise with.

Also, I get to see the Mighty Urchins..

 

Well worth it.

 

Wish i was more committed, but my heart is shared and my kids come first.

[aka PeteBeatz]

I think the previous two pp matches may have prevented some fans turning up last night thinking they may have another wasted journey.

[UD161]

A good constructive and well thought out response as always Gooner

 

 

[Eastside Urchin]

Pmsl,just make sure you lot have been practicing your darts son,and get ready for mcbrides massala,you never know,next Thursday you might also be able to watch premier league darts while playing us to get some tips

[missunderstood]

Pmsl,just make sure you lot have been practicing your darts son,and get ready for mcbrides massala,you never know,next Thursday you might also be able to watch premier league darts while playing us to get some tips

 

 

Rising unemployment, job insecurity, wage cuts, and petrol prices, (away supporters) all impact on falling attendances. Also an aging fan base doesn't help as you tend to feel the cold a lot more as you get older. If clubs like ours don't start doing something positive to attract the next generation of supporters in sufficient numbers then the situation will only get worse.

 

One idea might be a league like the Rymans trying a summer season experiment which would include playing matches on a Saturday night. This might help attract families, and old boys like me who no longer like being cold. I would think bar takings would increase dramatically as well.

[YELLOW]

Not sure about summer football. Personally, during he summer when the weather is nice, I'd rather be doing other things than watching football.

 

Then again isn't a bad idea. The Republic of Ireland league goes on during the summer months I think.

Edited February 23, 2011 by YELLOW