Increasing attendances - the way forward?

[Hempstead Gaz]

This emotive subject has been debated to death on here over the years, but I would be greatly interested in what supporters perceive as :

A) The main reason/reasons why we do not get larger gates

 

Do you have any workable and affordable short term and long term ideas that will increase the gates.

 

Rather than turn this into a lengthy and repetitive debate, could any worthwhile contributions be PM'ed to me, please.

 

Could a moderator lock this thread, please?, Hopefully I will get the information I need within a few days, then it can be deleted.

[chilled out entertainer]

i dont think it needs to be locked, if people dont want to read it they can not click on the thread. i would still be intereste don peoples views on the matter.

[Riverview Supporter]

Gary

 

The problem is , that the club needs to draw a line in the sand from which to work.

 

They need , no must , know their current fan base.

 

They then need to survey all groups of society to see why they dont come to the groud. Investigate brand awareness within these groups.

 

Once this is done , they can look at increasing attendances.

 

To target future growth in support , you need to know who to target.

 

The problem is , that this data capture costs money

[hopeful]

im not computer literate,so what is PM ed.For what its worth here is the answers to your problem.let the people of gravesend know who you are and where you play,that nice big billboard with charlie and austrian airways placed in good positions around town will do.then tell them when you play,fixture posters or calenders in all the takeaways, paper shops, petrol stations, etc,etc.then make it affordable,family tickets or kids for a quid when with an adult, but no freebies it makes you sound desperate.Now youve got them there, all you have to do is play good entertaining football and win all the home games. ok.

[UP FLEET]

Hi gary, this has poss been mentioned before but how about;

1,1x child free with each paying adult

2,maybe children permantly say for instance £2.50

3,reduce the price of a family ticket

4,vouchers in a puchased program, maybe save 5 and get half price admission.

5,maybe 2 or 3 paying adults get 1 half price

6,buy 1 child get one free ticket

7 more womens days, ie; women for a fiver.

 

feel free to bin any of these idears, it apears sometimes the club dont listen any way.

 

[chilled out entertainer]

how about driving up and down the a2 with a lorry billboard with the advertisement on it. catch some people who sail down the a2 with no idea of there being a football ground around the corner

[Riverview Red]

How about .....

 

1. People don't come because they support one of the huge number of other teams within easy travelling distance (ie all the London clubs and Gills etc..)

2. Some people who do support those other clubs, do come occasionally when their team is away, but would never change their team to support (and why would they ?)

3. Any new people who come to live in the area and like Football come along once, ralise they've arrived in a toilet of a ground (if they have kids with them, hear the idiots behind the goal chanting their obcenities and think so much for friendly non-league football), had to pay £12 for the "pleasure" and never come again

and 4. What if 1,000 to 1,400 is the real support of G & N FC. Remember Wimbledon - they went to and stayed in, the Premiership for many years and never increased their attendances ever !

 

I know many people who fall into all the catagories 1 to 3 above - let's get real and take on board the fact that we have a limited number of supporters. The crowds now are no larger than when we got promoted out of the Southern League Southern Division in the early 90's and now we are an established Conference Club !

 

[Stu M]

Aagh, at the risk of agreeing with RR for the first time in a while ( ), this is the first time someone's said it in quite such clear-cut terms. No harm in trying to increase attendances, but there probably is a very real limit on fans that this club can get, certainly in the short-term, and that short of promotion to the league, no amount of bright ideas is going to see an upsurge of more than, say, 200 as regular attendees – and even that many new fans would require one hell of a marketing drive.

 

 

[Richard C]

I sit behind the goal and enjoy the atmosphere and the goal action, BUT, it has to be said the swearing in songs and at players is sometimes unbearable. I'm young and under no cicumstances impressionable or offended, BUT, some/most people will be and we prob do lose fans because of this! Something us as fans have to address maybe?!

[thatguy]

I too sit behind the goal, and join in the chants which are not racist, targeted at one of the away team, or any that contain swearing, which truthfully does not leave that many. Hopefully next season we can come up with some clean songs.

[Robbo]

We're talking about football matches, swearing is part of the game and has been for many years. If you don't like it then you're following the wrong sport fellas, go watch womens football or something.

 

What you hear is no worse than you get at most premiership grounds, why should it be any different at this level.Yesterday, Spurs vs Chelsea, spurs fans were very clearly singing "your support is f****** s***." I swear some of you lot on here live with your heads in the sand.

[thatguy]

OK, so when you hear a four year old calling players "c**ts", and then goes to school and starts using it there, thats fine. Because that is what is happening, this scenario also goes for racism.

[Harry J Allstars]

Originally Posted By: Robbo

We're talking about football matches, swearing is part of the game and has been for many years. If you don't like it then you're following the wrong sport fellas, go watch womens football or something.

This argument won't get anyone anywhere. Your arguing with the wrong people, the people that say they don't like the swearing aren't the ones we need to convince, they're the people that are staying away. One of the reasons they are staying away maybe has something to do with the swearing.

Originally Posted By: Robbo

What you hear is no worse than you get at most premiership grounds, why should it be any different at this level.Yesterday, Spurs vs Chelsea, spurs fans were very clearly singing "your support is f****** s***." I swear some of you lot on here live with your heads in the sand.

Despite what I say above, this is true. What does that tell you?

[David Holden]

Quote:

Despite what I say above, this is true. What does that tell you?

 

That not all cro-magnons support non league sides?

[Riverview Red]

Harry J - you are indeed correct and now that you have sold your action men on ebay and started shaving, I have noticed how you have started to share my measured approach/opinions, based on years of watching football at all levels.

 

For the record, I also am not bothered by the swearing by the "behind the goal under-fives" (although I do find none of it amusing, mainly because the chanting is so high pitched, owing to the fact that the boys doing it haven't had their voices brake yet and they are soppy little monkeys who would run a mile if any of the away fans got anywhere near them!)but I was mearly reporting on what new real potential supporters have told me after their first and only visit to the ground.

 

One other thing to add is that the guys I know who are part time attendees (when their main club ie Chelsea, West Ham, Charlton etc are not playing) have told me that they would come more often but don't think the level of football they are watching in a ground as bad as ours, warrants £12 for them and £6 for their kids.

 

Again this is a true report/observation and not my opinion.

 

For me, I couldn't think of a better way of spending £12 !

[StuThompson]

Originally Posted By: Riverview Red

How about .....

(if they have kids with them, hear the idiots behind the goal chanting their obcenities and think so much for friendly non-league football), had to pay £12 for the "pleasure" and never come again

From the biggest idiot on this forum.

[DA11]

I don't think it is the bad language that keeps people away. I am a parent of two young children and treated my 4 year daughter to her first game earlier this season. We sat in the Plough end. Yes there was swearing but no more or less than what you hear in the food court at Bluewater on a Sunday afternoon. I've promised to take her again and I have no issues. I also feel that as a club with a small fan base there is an obvious divide between supporters which is a shame. If we were to take away the drum, the fans, the singing behind the goal where would the atmosphere come from?? Plus where would the revenue come from if they buggered off to watch Charlton or The Gills. They are fans first an foremost.

[kieronoliver]

this has probably been mentioned before if you just recently moved to the area how would you know that GNFC even exsisted there's nothing around the town to advertise the fact GNFC exsists. The cost to get in does need lowering and family tickets need advertising more, does a family ticket exsist? i noticed a shop in the Thamesgate way shopping centre is available for renting should the club or trust or both think about renting it for a while for a sports shop for goods, tickets, shirts, away travel etc would this help raise some interest? i know it would cost but speculate to accumalate perhaps the council could help in some costs or in some other way

[DA11]

Good idea Kieron but renting a unit in such a prime location would prove far too expensive, even with council subsidisation. It would have to be open through normal trading hours with full time staff. If it wasn't it would have a negative effect on shoppers not knowing when it would be open. I still feel a concession in JJB Sports is the way forward. We could even get a poster put up in the entrance. This could be supplemented by Austrian Airlines as they would get fantastic advertising as well.

[kmj]

I don't know what the rent is now in the Thamesgate, but when it was called the Anglesea Centre, in or about the mid 1980s (ie 20+ years ago) a medium sized shop unit cost about £14,000 to £18,000 per annum. I know because I saw Court pleadings to recover possession of one of these and was shocked at the rental figure. Also I doubt that the landlords would allow a short let in such a centre. A lease would be probably from 3 to 10 years I imagine with rent reviews (upwards of course) once every 3 years.

 

The cost today would I imagine be prohibitive and I regret that this idea is probably a non-starter.