Match programmes

[pineapple stu]

Random thread time!

Do you buy match programmes? What about away ones?

What do you look for in a programme? Player profiles/match photos/stats? Historical articles or match reports? Underage news or player interviews/who's the best dresser in the dressing room? Do clubs tailor programmes for the team they're playing (e.g. past matches between the two teams, former players, an article sourced from the opposition club, etc)?

I think for me, an interesting historical piece, something interactive like a quiz, and a league table/list of fixtures is the bare minimum. Player interviews for me seem to be quite bland and generic; little enough interest in them. Don't really tend to buy away programmes these days; usually too home-team focused (which is understandable in fairness), though that could have changed in the past few years of course!

But maybe interesting to see what others think.

[Mr A]

I generally buy a programme if I come across them, but don't tend to go looking for them if I don't. Ours include a historical piece concerning games against the away side this season plus an article by someone from the club. The player focus pieces are pretty weak and for some reason aren't even interviews. That said players rarely have that much of interest to say anyway! Other than that there are photo sections, columns, editorial, underage and club news and manager piece. We try to keep the columns focussed on different areas, there's a danger they can cover the same ground sometimes. Pretty decent value at €3 as a lot of work goes into it.

[Nesta99]

We are spoilt at Dundalk for over a decade now with the match programme. I will buy a programme at away games unless it is 4 pages and €5. Tbh its just a read at half time for me although with the Dundalk one it gets picked up the next day to finish. Managers report (Sk's was particularly interesting as you just never knew what he was going to write about). League Table, home and away squads with correct shirt numbers. Physio update maybe. I like an historical feature but not essential. Quiz absolutely. Finally a piece than can stoke a bit of controversy especially in a witty manner. One poster here is particulary talented at writing such a piece for our programme. What I dislike and is often the case with FAI programmes is buying something that looks substantial and it ends up with minimal contant and lots of advertisments.

[D24Saint]

The Pats programme is vastly improved the past two seasons so I've started getting it regularly again after stopping for two or three seasons. I'll buy an away one if I see one for sale but rarely find them available for away supporters.

[NeverFeltBetter]

The Limerick programmes were OK the last time I bought one early last year (maybe a bit biased, I was in that one as a fan interview segment!), but I think their quality fluctuates. I imagine it's quite hard to keep filling it up week in and out with decent content.

I often find the price charged doesn't reflect the quality of content in programmes, so its rare enough I'd fork out. I never buy away programmes either.

[micls]

I'd be slow to buy programmes, but the digital subscription to ours is tempting. I think it's a good route with a great price.

[ger121]

I buy them home and away. Always a good read prior to matches or at HT. Stories about clubs histories or work in the community, underage structures etc.. are always interesting and the content tends to be something you don’t always see in other forms of club media.

[Martinho II]

limerick didnt even bother producing one last night and it was exceptionally hard to get a teamsheet either -even our radio reporter couldnt get a copy. heard the limerick media officer quit after two days- something is clearly not right at all!

is this a delibrate ploy by limerick to play around the rules?

[Shearer]

limerick didnt even bother producing one last night and it was exceptionally hard to get a teamsheet either -even our radio reporter couldnt get a copy. heard the limerick media officer quit after two days- something is clearly not right at all!

is this a delibrate ploy by limerick to play around the rules?
Is this media officer the guy who couldn't spell?

[Martinho II]

Is this media officer the guy who couldn't spell?

must be. heard loads of people giving out about lack of tweets about limerick match on friday. it must be a shambles down there!

[Shearer]

must be. heard loads of people giving out about lack of tweets about limerick match on friday. it must be a shambles down there!
That's because it is a shambles. So so poor with regard to things like that.

[wonder88]

I buy one about 90% of the home Galway games I go to. Any away game I go(few enough) I would buy. Also go as neutral to around 4/5 other LoI games per season, would buy if I didn't have a recent one from the host club.
I understand printing is expensive, but I find programmes not great value anymore. I rarely buy ones at GAA games these days.
Will programmes be free online soon, and fans can download them.

[seand]

I always do, but sometimes question why I do at away games. Dundalk one is excellent, in recent seasons several clubs have really improved. Rovers, Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Galway were very good recently, I think, and Bohs, Derry, Pats and Sligo make a decent stab at it. I love historic/quirky stuff. Always surprised clubs don't make a bit more of an effort with historic stuff, even recent histortic stuff. A couple of photos and a few words will fill a couple of pages easily and start a nostaligic conversation. It doesn't have to be ancient history... Gary Twigg, Derek Swan, Tony Cousins, Pat Morley in an almost forgotten awful away kit- beautiful!

[pineapple stu]

Funny you mention Derek Swan; I had an article on him in the UCD v Bohs programme on Friday (as he played for both clubs) with, as you suggested, an old photo of Swan in his UCD kit. And then Swan himself came up to buy a copy. So I hope it was factually correct after that!!

[Nesta99]

Funny you mention Derek Swan; I had an article on him in the UCD v Bohs programme on Friday (as he played for both clubs) with, as you suggested, an old photo of Swan in his UCD kit. And then Swan himself came up to buy a copy. So I hope it was factually correct after that!!

That has classic LoI moment all over it lol

[marinobohs]

Funny you mention Derek Swan; I had an article on him in the UCD v Bohs programme on Friday (as he played for both clubs) with, as you suggested, an old photo of Swan in his UCD kit. And then Swan himself came up to buy a copy. So I hope it was factually correct after that!!
I had forgotten Swanny (senior) played for UCD. unusual to have a father and son both play for the same two clubs.

Always buy a home programme, and occasionally buy an away one, no real rationale (for buying away one) except if I come across the seller. would be more inclined to buy one that had articles on club history and/or previous players. like a bit of a quiz as well.

[Martinho II]

see for the first time since 05 season our programme price has gone up to 4e by 1e. it is the first time since 05 season that our programme will be completely colour which is great to see.

many other programmes 4e now?

[wonder88]

Galway 4e, but have a deal of programme and lotto for a fiver, so works out at 3 then.

[Martinho II]

Galway 4e, but have a deal of programme and lotto for a fiver, so works out at 3 then.

thats a unique offer that Galway Utd are doing!!

[oriel]

I always buy the DFC one, quality still excellent and amazingly they have kept the price at €3.

Usually tend to get an away one also, from memory Cork was another good one, Pats was ok, but I heard huge improvement this year, think Bohs was a decent one also. I noticed on Friday that Rovers sneaked in a ‘double edition’ with the Finn Harps game tomorrow night also featuring !

[pineapple stu]

I noticed on Friday that Rovers sneaked in a ‘double edition’ with the Finn Harps game tomorrow night also featuring !
That's entirely fair I would have thought? Do other clubs not do the same when there's two home games on the same weekend?

[Yossarian]

That's entirely fair I would have thought? Do other clubs not do the same when there's two home games on the same weekend?

Can’t speak for other clubs but Dundalk always produce a programme for each match.

[Martinho II]

Can’t speak for other clubs but Dundalk always produce a programme for each match.

we never do any more. years back we used to produce a programme for each match but that was in 2000/01 season which is different circumstances to nowadays!

[Mr A]

That's entirely fair I would have thought? Do other clubs not do the same when there's two home games on the same weekend?

We do one for each match, even league cup games. It's a difficult one though, it inevitably means the second has to be written before the first game, and that weekend's underage games, so putting it together is a challenge.

[Shearer]

Can’t speak for other clubs but Dundalk always produce a programme for each match.
You are bankrolled by millionaires after all

[Ezeikial]

You are bankrolled by millionaires after all

Even before any of the recent two ownership regimes, the programmes were excellent. The now defunct DFC Trust was previously the energy behind it, but the same people still produce and sell the programmes currently

Volunteerism still sits easily among the alleged wads of cash

[Yossarian]

You are bankrolled by millionaires after all

Before any millionaires came near us the programme produced was excellent and always one for each game.

[marinobohs]

Can’t speak for other clubs but Dundalk always produce a programme for each match.

we produce programs for all games, even to the extent of producing them for matches that didn't happen (East Fife)

[Nesta99]

we produce programs for all games, even to the extent of producing them for matches that didn't happen (East Fife)

Thats truly going above and beyond lol. Have to echo the lads above, we were in the 1st Division too when the programme we have today started to be produced. It took some amount of effort to get 2 editions done for 2 fixtures in one week. Iirc once there was a double edition but that had to do with the printers not being able to meet the deadlines. The numbers printed for match nights have obviously changed with a run of say 500 through to now where it would be about 4k+. There was a spell when it was looked at by a prior boardmembers as unnecessary cost, it was tweaked from all colour to a mix. The quality of content and cheap price meant it was grew to be in demand. Again I vaguely remember that it was a Dundalk FC magazine as well as a match programme which could have been available in newsagents locally. With the improvement in quality matchnight sales were solid and minimised any cost to club coffers as empty as they were at one time. I still think it was a good idea to have a magazine version that could be stocked and relevant bar just for matchnight. Probably that's just a step too far for the level of effort needed by the volunteers and contributers. Maybe I have the details askew as it mid 2000s that it was launched. There are contributors on here that might be clearer on those days.

[seand]

There was talk of turning the programme into a club magazine and trying to get it into newsagents etc, but as far as I recall it never happened. Print runs are nothing like you suggest Nesta, I'm not sure of exact numbers these days but we would have budgeted for selling to about 20-25% of the crowd, so we used to print about 300 in the First Division, probably not much more than 500 these days.

[marinobohs]

There was talk of turning the programme into a club magazine and trying to get it into newsagents etc, but as far as I recall it never happened. Print runs are nothing like you suggest Nesta, I'm not sure of exact numbers these days but we would have budgeted for selling to about 20-25% of the crowd, so we used to print about 300 in the First Division, probably not much more than 500 these days.

Wonder would there be a market for a club magazine ? A few attempts at LOI mags have bitten the dust over the year's and that not factoring in the decline of printed materials generally (due to online options).
I remember hearing how they calculated numbers of programs to print at Croke Park and it was something like 20% of estimated crowd expected for the stands and 10% for Hill 16 (on the basis that Dublin fans knew their own players and didn't care who the opposition was :D). Wonder how LOI clubs estimate number of progs to print or is there a set print run irrespective of opponent ?

[oriel]

I was involved in the DFC programme around mid 00’s and I suggested the name change to ‘magazine’ with the idea of having non match day only articles, in an attempt to have it available as a kind of combo match prog / magazine, as at that time the size of the ‘programme’ was about 2/3 the size of a magazine, in size not content.

It never got off the ground, as it was always going to be difficult for non match nights for places to stock it, and logistics to get it there, but it was an idea ! The furthest it got was the ‘programme’ changed its name around that time to ‘Dundalk FC Magazine’ this retained up to this day, however from last season the title move to the second page where its still listed.

I`m not involved these days, but I did a lot of articles following my year involved, and I know how hard a job it can be for anyone working on a publication, not just for Dundalk, for all clubs.

[wonder88]

Interesting information on how producers go about estimating demand at Croke Part (GAA) games. I would say it is a good rule of thumb for LoI clubs as well but maybe use a lower % figure.
Slight difference to LoI programmes would be that the contributors get paid. Apart from Stephen Kenny, I doubt if many other get paid for their articles. Eamon Dunphy used to back in the Milltown days. It was also a nice way of topping up players/managers wages over in England years ago as well.
Question for those involved, what % of production costs would you hope/expect to cover by advertisements?

Big debate going on in the GAA these days regarding the amount of money given to Dublin in comparison to other counties. The Croke Park officials(Those who run the organisation) defend this on the basis that the Dubs bring in the money, but others point out that away crowds at Dublin games are fairly modest and it seems that the average Dub fan spends less in Croker than the rest of us.

[stann]

Question for those involved, what % of production costs would you hope/expect to cover by advertisements?
With regard to the Blues programme, when we were in the first division it was pretty much 0%.
Costs then were (just about) covered by sales, which were usually fairly steady and predictable at around the 20-25% of attendance as seand mentioned above. We ordered about 1 in 4 of expected attendance usually, and if they didn't all sell on the night at least some of the remainder would go, over time, to collectors browsing in the club shop.
I was involved with editing, and later also design, for nearly nine years, and wouldn't need more than my two hands to count the number of paid adverts we carried in that time, instead they were pretty much all contra deals with local firms that supplied goods or services, apart from those required for club and matchday sponsors, Airtricity and whatnot. (had a temporary return to the hot seat last year, and there were some ads that were paying their way, don't know to what extent though)
And the printers were the only contributors who got paid for anything! :bulgy:

[Nesta99]

There was talk of turning the programme into a club magazine and trying to get it into newsagents etc, but as far as I recall it never happened. Print runs are nothing like you suggest Nesta, I'm not sure of exact numbers these days but we would have budgeted for selling to about 20-25% of the crowd, so we used to print about 300 in the First Division, probably not much more than 500 these days.

Really???! I'm going to have to have words with someone for cooking the books so to speak. As an aside a PDF of the programme is made available for distribution to exiled supporters on the eveing of/day after a game.

[The Donie Forde]

Pick up the match programme regardless of where CCFC play, or who they are playing.
I think I would be visibly upset if I failed to get one on match night.
Completely addicted to them! I am missing about 20 programmes (all away) since 1984, some of which may have had no issue at all.
It's part of the match night experience for me and I would know most of the (fairly serious) collectors around the country.
We'd have a wee network built up over many years for helping each other out.

[seand]

While the match programmes thread is fairly active I'll use this opportunity to reach out to fellow collectors / anoraks / social degenerates. I'm always looking for Dundalk items, older the better, Irish clubs in Europe etc. And I have several hundred spare programmes etc available, large selections of Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers and St Pats, plenty of others. Send me a PM if you want to take this offline! Cheers, Sean

[ToberonaTornado]

Quite the statement from Colm Murphy in the DFC match programme last night.
Bualadh bos agus well said.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D22SJWyWkAAej2i.jpg

[Mr A]

Fair play to him, and the editor for allowing it in. Wisely doesn't tackle the central matter directly too much.. because that could backfire on a club big-time.

[Ezeikial]

Fair play to him, and the editor for allowing it in. Wisely doesn't tackle the central matter directly too much.. because that could backfire on a club big-time.

Colm Murphy is Editor and also the Club Secretary.

[White Horse]

There is nothing so damning as subtlety. Well done Colm.

[seand]

While were on the subject of programmes here are a few recent Dundalk AWAY programmes I'm looking for if anyone can help, cheers

18-May-18 Bohemians League
03-Mar-17 Sligo Rovers League
05-Aug-16 Galway United League
01-Aug-14 Cork City League
25-Oct-13 Bray Wanderers League
9-Sep-11 Galway United League
15-Oct-11 Sligo Rovers League
13-Mar-09 Galway United League
08-Aug-09 Sligo Rovers League
18-Mar-05 Athlone Town League
01-Aug-05 Sligo Rovers League
19-Aug-05 Galway United League
03-Jul-04 Kilkenny City League
17-Jun-03 Kilkenny City League
18-Jul-03 Athlone Town League
30-Aug-03 Kildare County League
14-Sep-03 Limerick League
01-Nov-03 Kilkenny City League
13-Dec-02 Athlone Town League
21-Jan-03 Monaghan United League
26-Jan-03 Kilkenny City League
06-Jul-02 Monaghan United First Division Cup
03-Aug-02 Galway United First Division Cup
and loads more Dundalk aways from 2001 back, and loads of Dundalk homes from 1991 back!

[seand]

2018 Programme of the Year awards........

The Irish Football Programme have voted Dundalk's programme from last season the best programme in the Premier Division for 2018. All the programmes in the division were assessed. Galway won the first division award.

[sbgawa]

Fix :)
Feckin another line ball decision going Dundalks way.

[marinobohs]

Fix :)
Feckin another line ball decision going Dundalks way.

No way, the judge, a Mr. Connolly apparently, was completely objective and looked at every program after, whoops, I mean before, awarding Dundalk the prize ;)


by the way, as a result of your baseless claim SRFC are relegated to the 2nd division of the Program league

[Nesta99]

2018 Programme of the Year awards........

The Irish Football Programme have voted Dundalk's programme from last season the best programme in the Premier Division for 2018. All the programmes in the division were assessed. Galway won the first division award.

How many of the top programme award is that now since the Dundalk FC magazine was launced? Its a credit to all involved and very much value for money too!!

[mcgonigle]

No way, the judge, a Mr. Connolly apparently, was completely objective and looked at every program after, whoops, I mean before, awarding Dundalk the prize ;)


I hear he was particularly impressed by the fact that all of the words were in or around their text box

[Martinho II]

How many of the top programme award is that now since the Dundalk FC magazine was launced? Its a credit to all involved and very much value for money too!!

is it since 2013 when they won four in a row till last season of course?

[seand]

Dundalk won it 2010-2016 and 2018 plus 07 and 08 in the First. Rovers won the Premier award in 2009 (I think) and 2017, Cork were the standard bearers before that

[Straightstory]

Drogheda's isn't so bad - for three euros. (Unlike their website: no fixture lists, no match reports, no match previews).
A slight diversion: talking of websites, today (May 16th) Cabinteely are advertising their 'next home game' as 'May 3rd v Shelbourne'. Saturday's fixture against Drogheda is listed as 'Friday, May 17th' with no time given. (It's actually on the 18th at 7 pm - brilliantly scheduled to clash with the latter stages of the FA Cup final). To get back on topic, I don't think they even have a match programme - just a photocopied team sheet.
Let's hope theses clowns never get near the Premier division.