Attendances

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Anyone else struggling a bit to understand why they haven't picked up again yet? Understandable early on but surprising they aren't picking up.

[Alan Southstand]

Division 2?

They will come back eventually, but the last few years have been grim.

[IDM]

Last night?? Bloody freezing and on the telly!

How many more would have attended if not on Sky? 500??

[colincramb]

I'm not sure what people were expecting last night!? It was bitterly cold, a Thursday night (people like me struggle due to work comittments and I surely won't have been the only one), too late for kids being a school night, 2 home games in 3 days after Christmas. The list goes on

[Mike_F]

Yeah, for all the reasons above I didn't expect a big turnout last night but hopefully if we keep up the form as we get toward the business end of the season we'll see a few more on the gate. Knowing Rovers we'll get 9000 in for a winnable match and put on a dire show.

[MrFrost]

I don't see them picking up a great deal. Maybe 5500-6000 home fans as the season draws in.

People have fallen out with us because of the shambles of the last few years and even though we are storming the league isn't bringing them back.

Add into that,  there are no glamour ties that people are interested in.  Even in League One you had Sheffield Utd, Scunny etc that used to add plenty onto the gate.

[Bezza]

seeing that on tv will surely bring people back.

[RobTheRover]

We need another Donnybob challenge. Challenge all us to bring a friend to a match. If 5% of those get the bug then that will help enormously.

[MrFrost]

We need another Donnybob challenge. Challenge all us to bring a friend to a match. If 5% of those get the bug then that will help enormously.

Was that the Swansea game?

It needs a one off offer from the club,  planned In advance and then hype generating

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Folk know where we are, they know how we're doing, they'll come when they're ready!

Once you stop the habit of attending regularly, for all the reasons mentioned, people find other distractions or find other habits so it's more difficult to change what they do with their spare time.

We know former long term ST holders who have said they had just simply had enough and are having a break.

Interestingly, with this Board of Honour for all 10 consecutive year ST holders, how many do you think there are? I thought maybe around 1500.

I did a quick calc looking at the board and there's around 980. This reflects that people do get in and out of the habit of attending regularly.

I wouldn't object to identifying a game in a month or two when we could target those stay aways to "come and have look if you're curious enough".

There will be a new full house before the end of the season as long as we stay on track.

[bobjimwilly]

http://www.drfc-vsc.co.uk/index.php?topic=119884.msg120752#msg120752

Donnybob challenge was over 6 years ago! 

Maybe we should also start a get donnybob back challenge? He hasn't logged on to forum for 10 months 

[Jonathan]

Last night was never going to be a big crowd for the reasons mentioned (early January, midweek, freezing, on the tele).

However, I do struggle to understand why crowds aren't generally higher at the moment. I think the prices are fair, we're playing good football, scoring goals, winning games (the home form is outstanding), we're showing ambition in the transfer market, bringing kids through and are top of the league. The above are all excuses that are used from time to time, and I don't see what more the club can do.

I used to think there was a (lack of) marketing issue. But the club does its best to engage with the community, they've reacted to accessibility constraints (pay on the gate / ticket purchasing). Anyone with any interest in football has access to a fixture list, the club is always online / social media / in the local papers and radio. There isn't really a lot more we can do.

People do fall out of routine (I've done it myself) but I don't think that's a valid explanation. Generations change and evolve and there are / should be new fans coming on board all the time to replace those that have spent some time away. My own experience tells me that, even though going every week is no longer a ritual, you always keep your hand in and a grasp of what's going on. When I started, there were only 1-1,500 regulars, so a few of those waivering from time to time shouldn't have a huge impact. The rest that we've built on top of that are essentially a fairly new fanbase so, despite a few peaks and troughs, it is still growing and history says if we go up the leagues it'll grow further. Some of the newer fans have only tasted failure for the first time in the last few years. It's all part of the process.

It would help to be in a division where more teams bring an away following. Huge credit to Portsmouth for their numbers last night. The standard away crowd of circa 100 makes for a pretty soulless atmosphere in such a big stadium and perhaps means fans miss out on the 'tribal' element of it all as there's nobody there to 'get one over' at the game. I miss that.
So maybe I do get it, we just need to be patient. I'm still confident that if we keep winning and progressing the crowds will gradually come back. We're doing a lot right as a club.

[IDM]

 

I would assume that many of the fans who attend irregularly would have found a way to watch the sky coverage last night.

The best advert for us was what we saw, a decent performance against a quality opponent, good attacking football, goals and above all a great win.  Folks can take our comments on forums etc with a pinch of salt but there is nowhere to hide from the cameras.

[graingrover]

I feel that the family stand , the activities for children pre match ,  pricing to encourage families to bring the new generation ?is the way forward .

[RedRover45]

All good and relevant points made. At the moment, our 'home fans' attendance is largely rising by a couple of hundred on average every game. Contrast this when I started regularly attending in the late seventies where the Rovers had a few occasions of five, six and seven wins in a row and the crowds went up accordingly from about 2000 to 8/9000 to match each win.
Dont seem to get that huge increase any more, maybe it's all the other 'things to do' in the entertainment spectrum that weren't around in those days.
Can't help feeling though that any wavering ex Rovers fans that watched on Sky last night would have been mighty impressed and could tempt some of them back. Hope so.

[moses]

I dint bring my 9 yo lad last night cause it was freezing and there is nothing that puts him off rovers more than it being freezing. He goes on about it for months.
Young un's these days, they don't know they are born.

[Bristol Red Rover]

I dint bring my 9 yo lad last night cause it was freezing and there is nothing that puts him off rovers more than it being freezing. He goes on about it for months.
Young un's these days, they don't know they are born.

Nah, it's their parents being wuss's with the central heating turned so high and on all day. We used to go out in winter to get warm.

[Lincoln Rover]

Last nights match, will be good training for those intending to head to Hartlepool in the SUMMER.

[RedJ]

I dint bring my 9 yo lad last night cause it was freezing and there is nothing that puts him off rovers more than it being freezing. He goes on about it for months.
Young un's these days, they don't know they are born.

Get him to stick more layers on the gret jessie.

[ravenrover]

Anyone else struggling a bit to understand why they haven't picked up again yet? Understandable early on but surprising they aren't picking up.

ALERT ALERT Mr F has hacked BFYP ACCOUNT

[Sammy Chung was King]

Since we've been in this stadium the reasons for people to come to games has been built up. All the activities for kids, plenty of games where the price is reduced etc. They try to get the kids involved now whereas a lot of us grew up watching rovers with fag and cigar smoke billowing around our heads being the only heat we would feel. Games where you can barely hold you're tea up to you're mouth and watching sides most of the time that just clung onto league football.

The kids now are having a special time that they think is normality-it isn't. Even though we've dropped down the leagues recently it is nowhere near as bad as in the past. No fundraising, shaking buckets to survive. When you're team goes through that it makes you appreciate what you have.
 The world is such that a lot of people don't hope for more-they demand it. I'm glad we have had this run of doing well because we lost a lot of potential fans over the years. When i was growing up i didn't see one rovers shirt in my village. We won the conference play-offs and suddenly everybody had a shirt on. A lot needed something to be proud of.

 Me i didn't get many of our shirts myself the first one i had was the white and green away shirt during the Richardson era. I tended to buy coats, tracksuit tops more than shirts. The merchandise back then wasn't the best. There was'nt a lot of shirts available you had to be quick while you were at the ground.
When i got anything to do with rovers for christmas the excitement was more than for other things i got. It's nice to see young kids playing football with their home town shirt on. Us doing well has saved on a fair few more Donny White's-Leeds fans!.

[mrfrostsdad]

Folk know where we are, they know how we're doing, they'll come when they're ready!

Once you stop the habit of attending regularly, for all the reasons mentioned, people find other distractions or find other habits so it's more difficult to change what they do with their spare time.

We know former long term ST holders who have said they had just simply had enough and are having a break.

Interestingly, with this Board of Honour for all 10 consecutive year ST holders, how many do you think there are? I thought maybe around 1500.

I did a quick calc looking at the board and there's around 980. This reflects that people do get in and out of the habit of attending regularly.

I wouldn't object to identifying a game in a month or two when we could target those stay aways to "come and have look if you're curious enough".

There will be a new full house before the end of the season as long as we stay on track.

Where is this board of honour Barry? Roy and myself have been season ticket holders since day one in the same seats (hand picked by Roy when the stadium was being built) first I've heard of it

[mrfrostsdad]

All good and relevant points made. At the moment, our 'home fans' attendance is largely rising by a couple of hundred on average every game. Contrast this when I started regularly attending in the late seventies where the Rovers had a few occasions of five, six and seven wins in a row and the crowds went up accordingly from about 2000 to 8/9000 to match each win.
Dont seem to get that huge increase any more, maybe it's all the other 'things to do' in the entertainment spectrum that weren't around in those days.
Can't help feeling though that any wavering ex Rovers fans that watched on Sky last night would have been mighty impressed and could tempt some of them back. Hope so.

Sorry, how do you work out our home fans attendances are going up by on average 200 a game? The number of home fans on Thursday night was lower than the one before which was lower than the one before

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Folk know where we are, they know how we're doing, they'll come when they're ready!

Once you stop the habit of attending regularly, for all the reasons mentioned, people find other distractions or find other habits so it's more difficult to change what they do with their spare time.

We know former long term ST holders who have said they had just simply had enough and are having a break.

Interestingly, with this Board of Honour for all 10 consecutive year ST holders, how many do you think there are? I thought maybe around 1500.

I did a quick calc looking at the board and there's around 980. This reflects that people do get in and out of the habit of attending regularly.

I wouldn't object to identifying a game in a month or two when we could target those stay aways to "come and have look if you're curious enough".

There will be a new full house before the end of the season as long as we stay on track.

Where is this board of honour Barry? Roy and myself have been season ticket holders since day one in the same seats (hand picked by Roy when the stadium was being built) first I've heard of it

It's on the South-West corner wall. I took a picture but forgot to show you. You're definitely on there, just below me as it's done in first name alphabetical order.

[mrfrostsdad]

Folk know where we are, they know how we're doing, they'll come when they're ready!

Once you stop the habit of attending regularly, for all the reasons mentioned, people find other distractions or find other habits so it's more difficult to change what they do with their spare time.

We know former long term ST holders who have said they had just simply had enough and are having a break.

Interestingly, with this Board of Honour for all 10 consecutive year ST holders, how many do you think there are? I thought maybe around 1500.

I did a quick calc looking at the board and there's around 980. This reflects that people do get in and out of the habit of attending regularly.

I wouldn't object to identifying a game in a month or two when we could target those stay aways to "come and have look if you're curious enough".

There will be a new full house before the end of the season as long as we stay on track.

Where is this board of honour Barry? Roy and myself have been season ticket holders since day one in the same seats (hand picked by Roy when the stadium was being built) first I've heard of it

It's on the South-West corner wall. I took a picture but forgot to show you. You're definitely on there, just below me as it's done in first name alphabetical order.

Thanks Barry. We'll have a look next home game 😊

[RedRover45]

All good and relevant points made. At the moment, our 'home fans' attendance is largely rising by a couple of hundred on average every game. Contrast this when I started regularly attending in the late seventies where the Rovers had a few occasions of five, six and seven wins in a row and the crowds went up accordingly from about 2000 to 8/9000 to match each win.
Dont seem to get that huge increase any more, maybe it's all the other 'things to do' in the entertainment spectrum that weren't around in those days.
Can't help feeling though that any wavering ex Rovers fans that watched on Sky last night would have been mighty impressed and could tempt some of them back. Hope so.

Sorry, how do you work out our home fans attendances are going up by on average 200 a game? The number of home fans on Thursday night was lower than the one before which was lower than the one before

Because obviously the Grimsby game pulled in more because they appeared to be more of an attraction due to the local derby. The rest of the home games are slowly increasing in home support.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Actually, come to think about it, next seasons tickets will no doubt be going on sale soon. If promotion looks fairly certain, we might get some returners coming to have a look before they ponder whether to buy!

[Donnybob]

"Maybe we should also start a get donnybob back challenge? He hasn't logged on to forum for 10 months"

You're probably right, BobJimWilly. I'd happily sit down with someone from the club and discuss ways to increase attendances. So much of the current marketing (which is digital and very professional) appears to be aimed at the wrong demographic.

Although I may not have logged in for a while, I still read every post on here although I do find myself shaking my head at the same old, same old, juvenile views. Especially from disrespectful kids who expect mature folk to behave like rowdy teenagers. So much negative crap about trivialities, too. Standing. Singing. The drum. Allocated seats. Catering. And an undercurrent that actually yearns for a bit of agro. Yawn. So no point in commenting, really.

When I go I want to sit and watch football. Not stand and ball my head off. I did that 50 years ago. I loved Belle Vue in the 60's. It was a shithole, but it was our shithole, where I let off steam. Now it's time to move on and embrace a far, far better, if different, set-up.

Sadly I only attend rarely nowadays. Never really got over the manner of SOD's sacking. Vowed never to watch any team managed by Saunders and I'd still stick by that even if they gave him the England job - although he'll be lucky to get a job managing Bentley Vics with his track record of failure and walking away before the job's complete. Complete and utter tosser, arrogance of the highest order. Inept. Talked utter rubbish and managed to alienate me completely.

Yet some still think he's a God. Different strokes and all that.

No-one was more elated than me when he left but to replace him with Dickov was catastrophic and utterly stupid. But that's now history.

I'm impressed with Ferguson and can only feel optimistic about the future under his leadership, whileever that lasts. Probably until he loses a couple of games! And yes, I've begun to drift back. Occasionally. Despite an inbred revulsion of anything that can possibly be connected, however tentatively, to Man U. Which is completely irrational, I know.

I've seen us play under the likes of McMenemy and Bremner but the two most memorable periods of football, for me, were under George Raynor and SOD. Proper football. It's not to everyone's taste, but neither is Mozart, or Van Gough. There are signs that Ferguson is now moulding a squad that can actually play football. I hope he succeeds. It will take that to get me back more often.

Meanwhile, I wish the team well, and the die-hard supporters in whose hands the solution to better crowds lies. If the current 5,000 that regularly attend were simply to bring one friend each then the gate would swell to 10,000. It really is as simple as that, but the club has to be proactive and incentivise those new visitors to come. If that means some kind of voucher scheme whereby the club raises little in extra revenue initially then so what? These are potentially new long-term customers. A full ground creates a better atmosphere and gives the existing customer a more enjoyable experience which in turn motivates the players on the pitch.

Once the ball is rolling then the whole prospect of attending games becomes more attractive.

And why, oh why, does the TV camera have to be positioned on the West side looking over at an empty East Stand? Does this make folk watching the TV highlights think, wow, that looks fun? I want to experience a bit of that. Of course not.

Anyway, I'm blathering on. It's nice to be remembered but if this club wants to truly progress it has to engage and encourage the likes of me to attend rather than the ones who already attend. I (and folks like me) am the challenge that is facing the club. Folks who can remember 22,000 turning up for a midweek 4th Division game against Darlington, 5 consecutive gates over 15,000 the same year. Folks who've travelled to Torquay on a New Years Eve, to Swansea on a Boxing Day and been among 4,000 followers away at Chester in Div 4.

So much today is good. Infinitely better. But the world is changing. No-one then proffessed to support Tottenham, or Chelsea, Or Arsenal. Or Barcelona. It's a new challenge and folk like me are easy to write off rather than regard as an important demographic. Well, do so at your peril is all I can say.

Good luck to the club and all who attend for the rest of the season. There does actually seem to be a strong glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel.

[mrfrostsdad]

All good and relevant points made. At the moment, our 'home fans' attendance is largely rising by a couple of hundred on average every game. Contrast this when I started regularly attending in the late seventies where the Rovers had a few occasions of five, six and seven wins in a row and the crowds went up accordingly from about 2000 to 8/9000 to match each win.
Dont seem to get that huge increase any more, maybe it's all the other 'things to do' in the entertainment spectrum that weren't around in those days.
Can't help feeling though that any wavering ex Rovers fans that watched on Sky last night would have been mighty impressed and could tempt some of them back. Hope so.

Sorry, how do you work out our home fans attendances are going up by on average 200 a game? The number of home fans on Thursday night was lower than the one before which was lower than the one before

Because obviously the Grimsby game pulled in more because they appeared to be more of an attraction due to the local derby. The rest of the home games are slowly increasing in home support.

But the last home game before Thursday night was not the Grimsby game

[MrFrost]

Folk know where we are, they know how we're doing, they'll come when they're ready!

Once you stop the habit of attending regularly, for all the reasons mentioned, people find other distractions or find other habits so it's more difficult to change what they do with their spare time.

We know former long term ST holders who have said they had just simply had enough and are having a break.

Interestingly, with this Board of Honour for all 10 consecutive year ST holders, how many do you think there are? I thought maybe around 1500.

I did a quick calc looking at the board and there's around 980. This reflects that people do get in and out of the habit of attending regularly.

I wouldn't object to identifying a game in a month or two when we could target those stay aways to "come and have look if you're curious enough".

There will be a new full house before the end of the season as long as we stay on track.

Where is this board of honour Barry? Roy and myself have been season ticket holders since day one in the same seats (hand picked by Roy when the stadium was being built) first I've heard of it

It's on the South-West corner wall. I took a picture but forgot to show you. You're definitely on there, just below me as it's done in first name alphabetical order.

Thanks Barry. We'll have a look next home game 😊

Apparently I'm on it. Despite not having a season ticket since about 2008.