Promoting the club

[Poor Student]

I'll consider it but also if all the fans are boxed into a corner (and let's face it, it's only that one corner taken up) it looks just as bad, if you had more clearly defined home and away seating areas it would be better. I've never seen the jersies for sale in the sports centre although I haven't looked specifically

Well as far as people are concerned that is our support whether the rest of you spread around or not. You'll notice people on the board slagging Pinapple and Schumi as the whole UCD support. No one chants in the slightest except those gathered around the drum. It's an unwritten rule that those vocal away fans will gather in the end near the wall, those UCD fans who will chant will gather at the other end and those quiet, confused or neutral sit in the middle or stand around the ground. 3 or 4 of you would actually quite bolster the numbers. I certainly saw the jersies on sale a few years ago there though haven't noticed them recently. I have never seen anyone wear it once on campus though I've seen a fair few of the GAA shirt.

[pineapple stu]

I've never seen the jersies for sale in the sports centre although I haven't looked specifically
I think they used to be on sale in the shop just inside the Sports Centre anyway, but then it's been a few years since I was in there.

[CollegeTillIDie]

I think they used to be on sale in the shop just inside the Sports Centre anyway, but then it's been a few years since I was in there.

You can buy them in Belfield Park on Matchdays for fooks sake :p

[pineapple stu]

We know that! ;) But having the jerseys in places around the college is akin to free advertising.

[CollegeTillIDie]

True, but getting geezers who want jerseys to come to games means more gate money :D

[CollegeTillIDie]

Where does the STIG money go btw?

I was thinking to be honest if we wanted to attract pure casual first timers from the student body that the student ticket price should actually be €4 maximum. I know you say McNally says low prices and free tickets don't work but surely once we crossed the fiver note barrier that creates a psychological feeling of too high an expense for someone wavering on going?
€5 or €6 is less than the price of two pints even in the SU Bar I don't think that should be a deterrent in these days of effluence..sorry affluence! :D

[Poor Student]

CTID I am just saying when you consider the total apathy of everyone towards the eL and UCD, to entice somene along particularly students you'd want the price to be on the right side of a fiver to make them think about it.

[CollegeTillIDie]

CTID I am just saying when you consider the total apathy of everyone towards the eL and UCD, to entice somene along particularly students you'd want the price to be on the right side of a fiver to make them think about it.

Students never seem to have any problem finding money for drink I notice .....

[Poor Student]

Students never seem to have any problem finding money for drink I notice .....

I don't drink myself but you know the average student holds drinking more dear and of a higher priority than the eL! ;)

[CollegeTillIDie]

I don't drink myself but you know the average student holds drinking more dear and of a higher priority than the eL! ;)

So going to an el Match would be good for them... keep them out of the pub till at least 10 p.m. ;)

[Poor Student]

So going to an el Match would be good for them... keep them out of the pub till at least 10 p.m. ;)

Which is exactly why they won't come unless it's very cheap! ;)

[pineapple stu]

I see Cork (and also Waterford now) have a scheme whereby they'll upload match posters to their websites for people to download and put up around town. There's a new UCD Supporters' website soming on line in the next while - will have to see if this is somethig we can incorporate (read - rob :) ) as well.

[Poor Student]

I see Cork (and also Waterford now) have a scheme whereby they'll upload match posters to their websites for people to download and put up around town. There's a new UCD Supporters' website soming on line in the next while - will have to see if this is somethig we can incorporate (read - rob :) ) as well.

That's a positive idea but may not be very successful with a club with as small an active fanbase as ours. :o Any rough timescale on this new site and what will be on it?

[pineapple stu]

True, but every bit helps.

We hope to have the website up in the next month or so - it's being put together at the moment. It's effectively a STIG website, just with far more content... :)

[Poor Student]

True, but every bit helps.

We hope to have the website up in the next month or so - it's being put together at the moment. It's effectively a STIG website, just with far more content... :)

STIG you say? Good news. :D

[el tk]

It's effectively a STIG website, just with far more content... :)

That sounds truly diabolical, and I mean that in the best sense of the word.

[Poor Student]

That sounds truly diabolical, and I mean that in the best sense of the word.

Not a fan of STIG I take it? :confused:

[CollegeTillIDie]

Ah crap, I was looking at the fixture list. Unless we're involved in a home tie in the FAI Cup quarter finals there isn't a home game until two weeks into the college year in October and that's against Waterford.

We need to think laterally. We need to get all the WUFC fans on campus to get off their ass and go to that game to support their own team, as well as increasing our own support. It's all more money and a better bottom line for our club at the end of the day.

[pineapple stu]

I think the best sense of "diabolical" would be evilly...well, evil, in which case, it's a nice compliment!

[el tk]

Not a fan of STIG I take it? :confused:

No I am! I meant it in a good way. See Stu gets it

[Poor Student]

I was a bit slow on the uptake. :o ;)

[CollegeTillIDie]

Poor student

I think Irish people are flakey or as we normally say fickle.
Look at so called GAA Supporters.
National League the Dubs can barely fill Parnell Park....capacity 10,000
All-Ireland series... they fill Croker... capacity 80,000 approx.

AILRugby Division 1 average attendance 1,500
Irish Rugby international at home average attendance... 50,000

Eircom League Premier Division average attendance ...1,000 approx
International soccer game at home attendance 34,000 and they could probably sell more tickets if the capacity was there.

[Poor Student]

It just hit me today while taking a mental leave of abesnce during my part time job would it not make sense for tickets for UCD games to be sold around the college? Say the SU shops, maybe the bookshop, maybe the sationary place around the photocopiers outside Th. L, the sports bar (after all it is laden with UCD AFC memorabilia) and maybe other places in the sports centre. Obviously there would have to be a sign up saying they are available to entice the person to buy it. Maybe someone new will make the compulsive buy. Surely it would be easier to rope someone into coming via selling them tickets in conventient outlets than them having to grapple with the perceived burden of later on bothering to get to the ground and find it and then buy the ticket. Perhaps we could even offer a further discount on tickets bought in these outlets. Also wouldn't it be hander if posters for games said: Tickets available at SU shops etc.? Does this idea sound decent to anyone? Have we ever tried it before?

[CollegeTillIDie]

It just hit me today while taking a mental leave of abesnce during my part time job would it not make sense for tickets for UCD games to be sold around the college? Say the SU shops, maybe the bookshop, maybe the sationary place around the photocopiers outside Th. L, the sports bar (after all it is laden with UCD AFC memorabilia) and maybe other places in the sports centre. Obviously there would have to be a sign up saying they are available to entice the person to buy it. Maybe someone new will make the compulsive buy. Surely it would be easier to rope someone into coming via selling them tickets in conventient outlets than them having to grapple with the perceived burden of later on bothering to get to the ground and find it and then buy the ticket. Perhaps we could even offer a further discount on tickets bought in these outlets. Also wouldn't it be hander if posters for games said: Tickets available at SU shops etc.? Does this idea sound decent to anyone? Have we ever tried it before?

The ticket office on matchday is conveniently located at the most prominent part of the stadium from the point of view of access...i.e beside the turnstiles doesn't come any handier than that. Attempts to attract students before have been tried off and on for the past 26 years and have been mostly unsuccessful. Most students are just a lazy shower of barstoolers I'm afraid. :rolleyes:

[Poor Student]

CTID I noticed your attitude on this is particularly negative. :p From my experience of working in a shop if you put something beside a counter people buy it. When we put a sign hanging off the till saying we sell phone credit with no surcharge, sales rocketed. Put a certain product by the till and its sales rocket. Perhaps if we could get some outlets to have a sign by the till saying "Tickets on sale here for UCD v Team X" people may impulsively buy. Perhaps if we sell them in the Sports Bar and centre people may also buy after all it is in theme. To get them to buy the tickets right now they have to find a will to find the ground and go there. If you got them to buy the tickets first then they must find it and go there. You really think people are just hopeless?

[CollegeTillIDie]

CTID I noticed your attitude on this is particularly negative. :p From my experience of working in a shop if you put something beside a counter people buy it. When we put a sign hanging off the till saying we sell phone credit with no surcharge, sales rocketed. Put a certain product by the till and its sales rocket. Perhaps if we could get some outlets to have a sign by the till saying "Tickets on sale here for UCD v Team X" people may impulsively buy. Perhaps if we sell them in the Sports Bar and centre people may also buy after all it is in theme. To get them to buy the tickets right now they have to find a will to find the ground and go there. If you got them to buy the tickets first then they must find it and go there. You really think people are just hopeless?

Been involved in several promotion efforts during my student years... The season we were Cup holders and were lying 2nd in the table , we only got 250 to games for chrissakes !.... so I know what a waste of time many efforts of this nature have been. Besides with most of the season clashing with either Exam time or summer break it could be a very short term boost even if it was slightly successful at attracting extra punters.
The biggest success in recent seasons has been the summer camps and attracting local kids and their parents. That coupled with links with some local schoolboy league clubs has had benefits to UCD. But it has all been relatively small scale....... my view is still this we need to also target summer school language students. By producing information about the club in say Spanish Italian and French we could maybe attract some of them.
Then like ManUre we could have a different bunch of supporters in every home game :)

Plus another major thing which all and I mean all EL clubs need to try to do is get their home games listed in tourist information brochures especially as we now have " summer soccer". We get small numbers of tourists ,in Belfield Park, as things stand but these tend to be football addicts.

[Poor Student]

CTID those are decent suggestions and it also occured to me seeing the Milan kids that perhaps it might be a good idea to think about all the foreign language students on the campus during the summer. But on my idea, what would we have to lose by offering tickets for sale in some of the outlets? In theory the SU should do this for us as they shouldn't be hell bent on profit like normal shops. The sheer volume that pass through SU shops and that have to queue is massive. Combined with posters letting people know they are available on the campus perhaps we could get a few more people. What would the club have to lose by attempting this? Or have you seen this exact idea implemented in the past?

[CollegeTillIDie]

CTID those are decent suggestions and it also occured to me seeing the Milan kids that perhaps it might be a good idea to think about all the foreign language students on the campus during the summer. But on my idea, what would we have to lose by offering tickets for sale in some of the outlets? In theory the SU should do this for us as they shouldn't be hell bent on profit like normal shops. The sheer volume that pass through SU shops and that have to queue is massive. Combined with posters letting people know they are available on the campus perhaps we could get a few more people. What would the club have to lose by attempting this? Or have you seen this exact idea implemented in the past?

Putting tickets on sale or maybe vouchers for tickets which could be redeemed at the box office on matchday might work. Postering on campus does not work. Thousands of punts and €uros have been spent on this (campus postering) over the years... and has been met with outright apathy.

We could try local shops just off campus i.e. Woodbine Avenue shops, those in and around Fosters Avenue and in Clonskeagh obviously, and also Cranford Shopping centre and the Montrose itself especially the petrol station next door. It gets back to numbers on the ground to do this as pineapple stu has pointed out there are a small number of people on the committee and they are left to do most of the many jobs necessary. Which is why so many of the STIG and UCD Supporters Club people are so much part of the scene on matchdays.

[Poor Student]

The tickets sold on campus could be for say €5 therefore giving you an added incentive to get them there and then plus they're cheap. Your idea about the shops near the campus I've thought of too however they may not be as receptive as college affiliated shops (for all I know they may not want to either) as I sincerely doubt we'd be offering even a cent of profit margin in this. The tickets could be a different colour so we could measure the effectiveness or lack of with such an idea.

CTID what I mean is a poster or announcement campaign in conjunction with the sale of them around the place. Seeing a poster advertising a game tomorrow or days later somehwere a km or so away is perhaps more effective if the ticket was instantly available at cut price only meters away.

[pineapple stu]

There was also the League Cup final - the club had a stall outside Theatre L (the usual place for all these kind of things). Idea was that you could get your ticket for the away leg of the final there and if enough people wanted one, the club would organise a bus to the game and back. Don't think anyone went for either option. At all (bar the four or five of us, obviously)

[Bluesky]

I wonder if the club are particularly interested in promoting the matches at the moment

Looking at the seating behind the goal , closed off now for a couple of seasons, I would conclude that there is no anticipation of a large crowd.

This state of neglect is presumably due to uncertainties regarding the future of Belfield Park along with licensing and other regulations.

What is the current effective capacity ?

Would it be fair to say that the base support is strong relative to previous years and growing ?

[Schumi]

Looking at the seating behind the goal , closed off now for a couple of seasons, I would conclude that there is no anticipation of a large crowd.

This state of neglect is presumably due to uncertainties regarding the future of Belfield Park along with licensing and other regulations. The seating behind the goal is closed off because it's not safe at the moment. Any bit of rain at all and wooden walkway is incredibly slippy (as I discovered a couple of times while hanging up falgs there!). I'd say you're right that the reason it's not been fixed is due to the uncertainty over the ground.


What is the current effective capacity ?I don't know the official capacity but the stand holds about 850 and if you could fit people three-deep around the pitch, that would come to about 1,500 so maybe 2,500 as a maximum.


Would it be fair to say that the base support is strong relative to previous years and growing ?I think so, our lowest crowds have been better than they were three or four years ago. I can't speak for much longer ago than that though.

[pineapple stu]

I don't know the official capacity but the stand holds about 850 and if you could fit people three-deep around the pitch, that would come to about 1,500 so maybe 2,500 as a maximum.
1900 for UEFA Licencing purposes, as far as I know.

The new ground thing is a pain in the arse, to be honest. There were plans drawn up two or three years ago for a new stand on the hill, but sure there's no point now wasting money on it if we're going to get moved. So at the moment, we're stuck groundwise until something definite comes out of the move.


Would it be fair to say that the base support is strong relative to previous years and growing ?
Definitely. Even five years ago, games against Monaghan and Galway in the Premier were getting crowds of 100 or so. In the First last year, they got more than twice that. It's still low, but it is an improvement. Our average last year was just over 300 (might include on average 50 away fans, with Bray bumping up that average hugely), but from the likes of the Derry, Waterford and Cork games, the home crowd at games is about 400 this season.

[student]

CTID those are decent suggestions and it also occured to me seeing the Milan kids that perhaps it might be a good idea to think about all the foreign language students on the campus during the summer. ?


Thats a good idea IMO.

You would not believe the amount of foriegn language students that were at Bray's under 21 match against Belgrove, and there was also a considerable amount at the first teams match against Longford. They really got involved in the match and were great for boosting the atmosphere in the ground.

(Although they did nearly cause a riot at the Belgrove game but that's a matter for another day)

[Poor Student]

I think we should attempt something while crowds are up and we're doing well. Is there anyway we could have a meeting with the committee or McNally and thrash out some of the ideas we've outlined here? There's little point in all of us with no position sitting here and debating ideas which we can't really implement.

Student, how did Bray get this to come to an U-21 game?

[Bald Student]

Is there anyway we could have a meeting with the committee or McNally and thrash out some of the ideas we've outlined here?Sounde like a good idea. We should have a meeting ourselves first and decide on what action to take.

Macker will happily let us market the club any way we want so long as he doesn't have to do anything and it doesn't cost the club any money up front.

[student]

Student, how did Bray get this to come to an U-21 game?


Well actually Bray followed in the great tradition of many an EL team to get the foriegn students to their game.

That is they did nothing. :) :)

It seemed like many of the students were hanging around at the bowling alley and saw the amtch going on so they went in. there was probably about 100 to 150 of them at the match.

[Schumi]

The solution is obvious then, locate a bowling alley across from Belfield Park. :D

[Bald Student]

The solution is obvious then, locate a bowling alley across from Belfield Park. :DDon't you meen locate belfield park accross from a bowling alley, since we're moving it anyway.

[Poor Student]

Sounds like a good idea. We should have a meeting ourselves first and decide on what action to take.


Well lads, any of you on for this?

How would McNally feel on the idea of giving out free or discounted tickets?

[Colie]

Well lads, any of you on for this?

How would McNally feel on the idea of giving out free or discounted tickets?
Well I'd feel hard done having to pay €15 in every week!

[Poor Student]

Well I'd feel hard done having to pay €15 in every week!

Colie you'll never recover from the 'free programme' stunt will you? :D

[pineapple stu]

Well lads, any of you on for this?
Definitely. Probably best to meet up first to decide exactly what we're going to suggest. The problem with this is that I'm away from this Friday to Saturday week, while you're away for most of August I think? That said, it's not necessary to get everyone in attendance, especially with the thread to post to. Our next home game isn't for three weeks (Harps at the start of August), so if we want to get something in before then, it'll have to be a midweek or weekend meeting. The Montrose is a fairly handy place to meet I suppose - central, has beer but you won't get drowned out like you could in a pub.

[Poor Student]

I am away from August 2nd to probably early September. Sometime this week maybe before you head? I'll basically be gone after that. Is Thursday too soon?

[pineapple stu]

I'm in Derry on the Friday, so Thursday is the last day possible. Wednesday's out for me too. How about others?

[Poor Student]

I'm in Derry on the Friday, so Thursday is the last day possible. Wednesday's out for me too. How about others?

Wednesday's pretty much out for me, going to the Shels game. I think this has to be reasonably early if we're gonna get anything constructive done other people's work permitting.

[pineapple stu]

Woohoo! First thread to get to 100 posts in this forum! :)

Let's aim for Thursday so. In the Montrose, say from 7:30? (I can be there from 6:00 or so, but allowing for others in work, etc.)

[Poor Student]

Woohoo! First thread to get to 100 posts in this forum! :)

Let's aim for Thursday so. In the Montrose, say from 7:30? (I can be there from 6:00 or so, but allowing for others in work, etc.)

I think that's grand for me. Earlier the better if others can do. You could even send an e-mail out to all supporter's club members telling them the time and location (when we agree) on the off chance an extra head could turn up.

[Student Mullet]

I can't make it myself but I was chatting to Bald Student there and he said to say he'd be along on Thursday.

[pineapple stu]

Fickle fecker. :rolleyes:

At least Bald Student's a real fan who wants to help his club!