RFC to become family club of the year?

[Thaumagurist*]

"Plastic stadium". WTF does this mean?

[Baines]

What image should this club go for then? Being seen as a family club or otherwise won't stop the stadium being a morgue on matchday.

Affordable.

[Skin]

Retro

[boy1985]

What image should this club go for then? Being seen as a family club or otherwise won't stop the stadium being a morgue on matchday.

Course it will, i bet you'd like every home to have the atmosphere of an U21 game

Bring back terracing

[Skin]

RFC: love the team hate the club

t-shirts on sale soon.

[Silver Fox]

Wow, where can one get such a great item of apparel?

[Sun Tzu]

Bring back terracing

Irony !

[cmonurz]

What image should this club go for then? Being seen as a family club or otherwise won't stop the stadium being a morgue on matchday.

Course it will, i bet you'd like every home to have the atmosphere of an U21 game

Bring back terracing

Erm, nope.

I take it your issue then is kids going to matches at all.

[boy1985]

What image should this club go for then? Being seen as a family club or otherwise won't stop the stadium being a morgue on matchday.

Course it will, i bet you'd like every home to have the atmosphere of an U21 game

Bring back terracing

Erm, nope.

I take it your issue then is kids going to matches at all.

No my issue is you thinking football should be aimed at kids.

[Sun Tzu]

Well some of you need to smell the coffee then. Football isn't just about lager, and 'funny' chants any more. Kids going to games now are the future core of our support. Whether the award itself is naff, I don't think it's a bad thing at all that this club be recognised for being a good place (in terms of facilities, atmosphere, maybe prices) for families to go and watch football.

The best thing about going to football as a kid used to be standing at the front with a load of mates swearing as loud as our unbroken voices could manage. That kind of atmosphere is far more likely to attract kids who will end up supporting the club their whole lives.

I appreciate that we live in different times now. However, being a "family club" will not encourage the supporters of tomorrow. The only thing that will, if we can't turn back time, is a massive reduction in ticket prices so that people aged 12-21, when you start paying for matches yourself but before you get a job, are able to carry on going.

What an odd rant !!

I don't think the club are trying to attract a new audience, we already have a massive proportion of younger fans. There are loads more U16's at games than there were at EP which kind of knocks down the argument. Having gone from a club with an average of 6k fans to one with 20k you'd kind of think that something is working (and I know we're serving up better football, but the numbers are there whatever...)

[brendywendy]

Well some of you need to smell the coffee then. Football isn't just about lager, and 'funny' chants any more. Kids going to games now are the future core of our support. Whether the award itself is naff, I don't think it's a bad thing at all that this club be recognised for being a good place (in terms of facilities, atmosphere, maybe prices) for families to go and watch football.

I appreciate that we live in different times now. However, being a "family club" will not encourage the supporters of tomorrow. The only thing that will, if we can't turn back time, is a massive reduction in ticket prices so that people aged 12-21, when you start paying for matches yourself but before you get a job, are able to carry on going.

becuase set of circumstances A made you love football, therefore set of circumstances B cannot make someone else love football??

im not sure thats right

for every one of us who has been turned onto football by the sweary/beery loud men aspect of the game
there are possibly twice as many put off by that sort of thing, who would continue to go if the game became more family oriented


personally, i miss the old days too, and realise the new ethos makes for worse atmospheres sometimes(not always) but have been told off often enough by people around me to realise that swearing and singing doesnt seem to be the primary concern of the majority in the NE corner

[brendywendy]

Most predictable reaction to news ever, I'm just disappointed finerain hasn't ben along yet to tell us how much fans of other clubs laugh at us

LOL

it wont be long

[brendywendy]

I do have a problem with that image, yes.
Winning that award will have no impact whatsoever, we're not going to all of a sudden have an extra 4,500 Mums and Babies turning up after hearing that we've won it. So why bother with such an embarrassing award?

actually, that may not be true

have the accolade of best family club-is bound to attract a proportion more of the families
it may or may not add up to 4500, but to say it wont happen is totally baseless
if not totally counterintuitive, its bound to have some sort of an effect

i know plenty of people who are put off by the loud manly shoutiness of it all, who would go if it were more friendly and harmless

[boy1985]

i know plenty of people who are put off by the loud manly shoutiness of it all, who would go if it were more friendly and harmless

Point them towards the west stand.

[brendywendy]

why dont i think I like it?

well for the club I think its great due to the club being able to attract new fans/ family etc etc bringing in money.

But from a fans point of view its not really the best stigma to have attached to a club although pretty much every club in england see's us a family club. where a classic example of what english football is turning into. we have a plastic stadium, with tom hark music, quite a few fair weather supporters and where generally seen as a 'nice' club. as soon as something bad happens its then blown out of proportion ie wally vs warnock? Hunt on Cech. thats when to*s*r reporters such as oliver Holt get a kick out of writing about us.

i still believe from the clubs point of view its good but not so much the fans.

if you take that to its logical reverse conclusion then the most loud, sweary, intimidating,aggressive, manly crowded clubs should be the most supported and respected in the game-and that blatently aint true-probably the opposite

people who moan about it, are really just bemoaning the loss of the pack mentality/football violence from the game

[Ian Royal]

I'd suggest the family atmosphere at the club is more likely to bring in a higher number of new supporters than a sweary down the front naughtiness atmosphere. Maybe not such a hardcore.

But it's not stopped my nephew being a very promising convert. I can't say he'll stay a fan as he grows and spend his money as a regular. We'll have to wait and see. But he's certainly pretty into the club now.

There are loads more kids at the stadium these days than before, even if a lower percentage are likely to stay on as fans as they grow up, the absolute numbers are going to be higher.

As indicated by the general trend in increasing crowd numbers.

[who are ya?]

well for the club I think its great due to the club being able to attract new fans/ family etc etc bringing in money.

It won't attract new fans at all winning this award (mainly because most normal people will never know the award actually exists), therefore will not make the club any better of financially. Families in the area that one day find themselves wanting to waste a couple of hours on a Saturday, will not wait for the reassurance that thier local club has won a certificate naming them the most family club in the league, they know they can just buy a ticket and go without being smacked round the head by a 19 year old wearing a Burberry boiler suit.

[brendywendy]

i know plenty of people who are put off by the loud manly shoutiness of it all, who would go if it were more friendly and harmless

Point them towards the west stand.

people sit where they want to

i doubt theyll be taking orders from you or i on the subject


personally i get sick of the bad looks i get when i forget to stop swearing, or the woman and her kids with a big blanket across their collective knees behind me, or the man who complained when me and the yoofs behind me were being"too loud"
but as a grown up adult and sensible human being i can see how my enjoyment of the game may infringe slightly on theirs, and try to modulate my beaiviour accordingly.


and by the way, you can sing your heart out for the lads, you can sing non stop for the entire game at top decibel level, but that doesnt neccessarily demand swearing, or angry faces, or threatening to kill opposition players or the ref.

just a though boy

[brendywendy]

well for the club I think its great due to the club being able to attract new fans/ family etc etc bringing in money.

It won't attract new fans at all winning this award (mainly because most normal people will never know the award actually exists), therefore will not make the club any better of financially. Families in the area that one day find themselves wanting to waste a couple of hours on a Saturday, will not wait for the reassurance that thier local club has won a certificate naming them the most family club in the league, they know they can just buy a ticket and go without being smacked round the head by a 19 year old wearing a Burberry boiler suit.

LOL baseless, mindless opinion dressed as fact

1stly there are more normal people including the old, the young and the femalwe than there are sweary agressive blokes in the world
th eold school atmospheres put these kinds of people off
therefore any sensible business will be trying to apeal to the 2nd group rather than the 1st if it wants to progress and grow as a business, in the same way you havent grown or progressed as a human being

[Terminal Boardom]

I don't understand the negativity at all. This is not the 1970s with skinheads, DMs and braces. Times have moved on. Just take a step back and try and see the bigger picture. Once extremely good reason for winning such an award would be in ATTRACTING more corporate sponsorship. After all, how many businesses out there would not want to be associated with such a football club.

And as for terraces, don't make me laugh. The next thing you lot will want is a return to the Victorian era and the reinstatement of workhouses and child labour. Don't any of you remember the state of the toilets in the South bank or Tilehurst End? Positively prehistoric!