Big Thanks

[Gareth]

Goes out to all the officials at Sligo Rovers. I arrived down to the stadium the morning of the game and I have a number of issues to sort out and every single member of staff was helpful and friendly. Anything I asked to do or needed was accommadated, even at times when I was in the way. They are a fine example to the league and I'd personally like to say a big thanks to them all, esp their PRO!! A gent.

And the lad filming beside me was a big help too. Depsite my end product turning out a big....iffy :)

[The Stars]

wow,someone with something good to say about the club...fair play gareth

[Gareth]

To be honest, there seems to be plenty of reason to be positive. There are very good all weather pitches. The stand is nice and when I went down on Saturday, there was a line of kids joining up to the youths club. Your team came out in suits and all your officials too. Thats a professional move. Your officials seem very nice and well apart from the pitch, things look good in Sligo. Add to that the fact you are not doing badly after coming up from the first and that you have a town behind the team.....I'd think you have plenty to be happy with???

[The Stars]

I agree its just our stewards havent always recieved praise...ie Galway and Bohs fans.

[sligoman]

I agree its just our stewards havent always recieved praise...ie Galway and Bohs fans.2 teams out of all the ones that have visited aint bad;) :D.

[The Stars]

I know..must just be there fans

[sligoman]

I know..must just be there fansOr Oliver Davey causing trouble at just those games?;).

[Bravo]

Goes out to all the officials at Sligo Rovers. I arrived down to the stadium the morning of the game and I have a number of issues to sort out and every single member of staff was helpful and friendly. Anything I asked to do or needed was accommadated, even at times when I was in the way. They are a fine example to the league and I'd personally like to say a big thanks to them all, esp their PRO!! A gent.

And the lad filming beside me was a big help too. Depsite my end product turning out a big....iffy :)

Fair play to Ya! we are all to quick to criticise when something goes wrong, but its nice to see them get some praise as-well, credit where due, Nice one.

[hamish]

Congratulations to Rovers and Gareth for that excellent film on the game. Just shows there are folks in EL footie who are real pros in promoting local senior football.
Every club should be doing this.

BTW, Rovers fans, why all the complaints about atmosphere in the Showgrounds, there was a loud and lively racket on the film soundtrack????
Maybe you lot are being too hard on yourselves?

[The Stars]

probably are being hard because we know it can be so much louder

[hamish]

probably are being hard because we know it can be so much louder
Take you point, The Stars, but, in my time in El footie, Rovers always had loud and lively support - home and away. Still, no harm in aiming for higher standards of support.
I always believe in "get 'em young and get 'em early" as regards increasing a fan base and future fans. Have Rovers ever thought of doing what Drogheda United do? They've given out loads of free tickets to schools in the Louth and Meath area and players regularly visit these schools for talks and coaching. I did this with Athlone in my time and' believe me, it works. You could even have reduced-price tickets for groups of kids with free admission for adult minders (teachers,Junior club officials etc) accompaning them.
Kids in schools like Tubbercurry, Strand Hill etc etc will soon connect with the players once they get to know them and can identify with them. It's amazing the short step it is for these youngsters to attend a few games and then make Rovers part of their sporting interests. They will also start to pester their dad or mum or teacher to bring them. You know yourself the racket a bunch of kids can make too.
That's how I started with Athlone. First the brother in law started bringing me to games in Mels, then even a teacher in my secondary school brought us to a few games and the HABIT started/formed and I began to go independently.
When I was teaching in Portumna (40 miles from Athlone BTW), I used to bring busloads of kids to Town matches and they soon had me pestered to bring them to more games and began talking about the away matches every Monday and voicing opinions on which player was good, bad or useless.:D
The interest was sparked and soon Town coaches started coming to Portumna to help me coach my school kids and lending us full sets of gear for our matches. We even got a set of shirts and some footballs to keep.

The link/connection/interest was formed - that's the vital thing.

Most EL clubs are simply criminal in their lack of drive/vibrancy to connect up with their potential supporters. This is NOT a Sligo Rovers-bash fest by the way. Sadly there were members of the Athlone Committe then who were also uninterested in my efforts to expand our support. Thankfully, that lot are no longer involved.

[roversforever]

i fully agree with sirhamish.i reckon kids could be the key to getting an atmosphere in the new stand.at the shelbourne game and last season against pats and athlone the stand was singing.and why? because a group of kids started it off with their infectious enthusiasm and everybody joined in. the adults in the stand feel stupid if they start singing but kids will do it and adults will then join in. i think it would be a great idea to give the mfree tickets.

[1 9 2 8]

Their was a few chants from the top half of the main stand saturday night against Shels roversforever

[hamish]

i fully agree with sirhamish.i reckon kids could be the key to getting an atmosphere in the new stand.at the shelbourne game and last season against pats and athlone the stand was singing.and why? because a group of kids started it off with their infectious enthusiasm and everybody joined in. the adults in the stand feel stupid if they start singing but kids will do it and adults will then join in. i think it would be a great idea to give the mfree tickets.

Thank you, Roversforever.
I'm puzzled though. During Chris Rutherford's time, didn't Rovers link up with the likes of Tubbercurry etc and form local supporters clubs? I was talking to Sligoman about this a while back.
There might be some resistance by regular Rovers fans at the thought of kids getting in free but it's a kinda introductory offer thingy. You could plan out the scheme easily - (a) first few games free admission, rising to (b) say, a euro a game rising to (c) eventually,whatever the current kids admission is. Phase it in.
Besides, the kids will spend money in the club shop for food, flags, programmes, shirts etc so the club makes money anyway.

However, the bottom line should be Sligo Rovers players and coaches to go into the local schools and clubs coaching - THAT is the most important factor. TBH I would make it part of any fulltime players contracts. For part-timers I would make it a bonus on top of what they get for playing/training with the club. It would cost more money as regards the part-timers but it would be a wise, if financially painful, investment for the future.

I know we slag Shels a lot but they have done a lot of hard work linking up with schools and coaching over the years. Monaghan United are also brilliant working with local footie too - are you watching Magicme??

It brings me back to what Kilkenny City's Jim Rhatigan said to me once - that fcuk all of the players in the Kilkenny Junior League travelled to Buckley Park for EL games - even nightime ones. From my experience, far too many in the EL regard any level below the league as "mickey mouse". One of your ex-managers, that Reid bloke, said those very words when he heard that one of his Rovers youths players was selected for an Irish Schools team and didn't want to release him - even though there was no clash of games. Again, NOT Rovers-bashing, Reid was only one of many who had the same attitude. This might seem biased, but of the many people in EL that I met when I was involved, only Jimmy Greene made it a point to warmly welcome Junior and under age players to try out with the club. He didn't just give them a few token games/training sessions with the B team either - he persisted with a player. encouraged him, advised him etc until he had to make the hard call if the player wasn't up to scratch. He is/was an honest bloke and I couldn't say a word against him. He also coaches clubs/schools in the locality too.
Jesus, look how long we persisted with Shane Curran - I was the one who signed him - he was given two runs with Athlone and invited back a third time. Sadly, he was eventually content to play Gah with Roscommon FFS which only unerlines my theory that many Gah players were just handy (at best) Junior soccer players. Shane Curran, Charlie Redmond, Jimmy Barry Murphy to name a few.

[Rory H]

the complaints are because in the other games like waterford it was really quiet and less fans....

[hamish]

Wild Rover, I have to say this, both Sligo Rovers and the Sligo-Leitrim League were absolutely brilliant in giving me The Showgrounds and McSharry Park for loads of schools semi-finals, finals etc. One of my best memories was when we used the Showgrounds for the Sligo Primary finals in 1999 - club couldn't do enough for me.
However, re. my posts above. For one schools Irish final (I think there was a Sligo school in it but not certain) I wrote to all the Sligo Primary schools inviting them to that game free of charge PLUS they would get a set of good quality footballs if they turned up.
ONE school brought a dozen kids plus their Principal, took the balls and then fcuked off ten minutes into the game.:o :D
OK, it was a test run for me and I honed the process and improved it as time went by with some success but it's not easy improving support levels. It must involve the other things I mentioned - player coaching etc.It's a package really and must be accompanied by an aggressive campaign in the local media.
It would take time to bed in and develop but, in time, you'd be amazed how the support level would increase and also the volume of noise at matches along with it.
That is why I find it impossible to criticise other EL clubs even though I am an Athlone fan to the core. I know what other clubs are going through in flying the El flag, so to speak, so, I feel that the entire EL management should get together and devise (financially backed by the FAI - don't laugh please) to promote the game at local levels.
If the FAI are serious at improving support at The Showgrounds, Finn Park, Turners Cross etc etc - they need to provide the bucks and plans for clubs to be able to finance players coaching at Junior levels. But this also must be part of the player's contract.
For example, in addition to making coaching part of a player's contract, the players would also have to do the various levels of coaching schemes AND referee schemes to. The benefits are plentiful
(1)Lots of players might not be good coaches but it would help them, at the very least, understand what their manager is talking about and they could be handy to assist good coaches if their communication abilties were lacking.
(2)Some players will learn that they have a talent for coaching.
(3)You have decent qualified players coaching at Junior, underage and schools levels - again, building up the connection with their EL club and generating future support.
(4)Players -having completed a referee course - will appreciate the match officials difficulties in actually running a game.
(5)Players with a ref. badge then could become referees themselves and referee at local level (good money in it too) and perhaps graduate to EL level refereeing standard (eg John Carpenter) where, as an ex-player they would have more respect from the EL players because of their playing history.
(6)El players refereeing at local levels will also help to build up the connection between club and potential support.

and so on.

Building coaching and refereeing into a player's contract is vital and would be more expensive - this is where the FAI involvment is essential if they are serious in promoting the game.
Fancy PR campaigns are all good and well but are shallow, meaningless and useless exercises if not accompanied by "on the ground" and local schemes as I suggested above.
The Professional Footballers Association would also be delighted if their members were receiving extra money too so they would back it.

End result is what we all want - increased support and passionate support because the local club - Rovers, Waterford, every club - would actually mean something to the fans and be part of the fans.

I'm not a genius, as you can see from most of my posts:o , but if a gobsh!te like me can come up with the above - what the fcuk are those paid with running the game in this country dreaming about??? You don't need to be a brainbox to devise these simple schemes so are the EL management/FAI/IPFA committee totally stupid or focusing on only a few aspects of promoting the game or just interested in their own little "manors".

[avvenalaf]

SirHamish, you were doing really well, flying it in fact, until you mentioned John Carpenter. Don't mention 1978 !!!!!!!!

[hamish]

SirHamish, you were doing really well, flying it in fact, until you mentioned John Carpenter. Don't mention 1978 !!!!!!!!

Trying my best Avvenalaf - people hated Carpenter but, when he retired, everyone said things like, "Carpenter was a cnut but better than the fcukers we have now".
He must have being doing something right - everyone (both teams and both sets of fans) were "on his case" so I suppose he could be described as neutral.

1978? That rings a bell. Can you shake myold memory banks on that??

Hamish.

[Rory H]

Wild Rover, I have to say this, both Sligo Rovers and the Sligo-Leitrim League were absolutely brilliant in giving me The Showgrounds and McSharry Park for loads of schools semi-finals, finals etc. One of my best memories was when we used the Showgrounds for the Sligo Primary finals in 1999 - club couldn't do enough for me.
However, re. my posts above. For one schools Irish final (I think there was a Sligo school in it but not certain) I wrote to all the Sligo Primary schools inviting them to that game free of charge PLUS they would get a set of good quality footballs if they turned up.
ONE school brought a dozen kids plus their Principal, took the balls and then fcuked off ten minutes into the game.:o :D
OK, it was a test run for me and I honed the process and improved it as time went by with some success but it's not easy improving support levels. It must involve the other things I mentioned - player coaching etc.It's a package really and must be accompanied by an aggressive campaign in the local media.
It would take time to bed in and develop but, in time, you'd be amazed how the support level would increase and also the volume of noise at matches along with it.
That is why I find it impossible to criticise other EL clubs even though I am an Athlone fan to the core. I know what other clubs are going through in flying the El flag, so to speak, so, I feel that the entire EL management should get together and devise (financially backed by the FAI - don't laugh please) to promote the game at local levels.
If the FAI are serious at improving support at The Showgrounds, Finn Park, Turners Cross etc etc - they need to provide the bucks and plans for clubs to be able to finance players coaching at Junior levels. But this also must be part of the player's contract.
For example, in addition to making coaching part of a player's contract, the players would also have to do the various levels of coaching schemes AND referee schemes to. The benefits are plentiful
(1)Lots of players might not be good coaches but it would help them, at the very least, understand what their manager is talking about and they could be handy to assist good coaches if their communication abilties were lacking.
(2)Some players will learn that they have a talent for coaching.
(3)You have decent qualified players coaching at Junior, underage and schools levels - again, building up the connection with their EL club and generating future support.
(4)Players -having completed a referee course - will appreciate the match officials difficulties in actually running a game.
(5)Players with a ref. badge then could become referees themselves and referee at local level (good money in it too) and perhaps graduate to EL level refereeing standard (eg John Carpenter) where, as an ex-player they would have more respect from the EL players because of their playing history.
(6)El players refereeing at local levels will also help to build up the connection between club and potential support.

and so on.

Building coaching and refereeing into a player's contract is vital and would be more expensive - this is where the FAI involvment is essential if they are serious in promoting the game.
Fancy PR campaigns are all good and well but are shallow, meaningless and useless exercises if not accompanied by "on the ground" and local schemes as I suggested above.
The Professional Footballers Association would also be delighted if their members were receiving extra money too so they would back it.

End result is what we all want - increased support and passionate support because the local club - Rovers, Waterford, every club - would actually mean something to the fans and be part of the fans.

I'm not a genius, as you can see from most of my posts:o , but if a gobsh!te like me can come up with the above - what the fcuk are those paid with running the game in this country dreaming about??? You don't need to be a brainbox to devise these simple schemes so are the EL management/FAI/IPFA committee totally stupid or focusing on only a few aspects of promoting the game or just interested in their own little "manors".


wha???im just saying we should sing a little more....no need to to write a thesis on it

[hamish]

wha???im just saying we should sing a little more....no need to to write a thesis on it

Apologies Wild Rover - just got a bit energised about all this and was trying to suggest a few ideas that might help.
Thesis my hole. I understand the put down - deserved it I guess - but I couldn't write a thesis if I got a brain transplant.

[Rory H]

its just "I I I " isnt it:D

anyway

Sean connor said

"Hopefully this well tell the people of Sligo how far we have come.I saw the film Field of Dreams recently-"Build it and they will come"-I've built so maybe its about time the started coming.If the supporters keep coming I've showed I'll bring good players here.I don't think I've brought a bad player this season"


thats a warning..soon he'll get angry...then they will come!!

[hamish]

its just "I I I " isnt it:

!!

Ah stop taking the p!ss on old Hamish you - I was just voicing a few thoughts with passionate, fellow EL supporters - like you Wild Rover.
Where's the harm in that?, you young pup.:p :D

Just kidding. You're always hard on old Hamish.:( Is Sligoman training you to do that?

Anyway I've blathered on enough in this thread and am obviously annoying you so I'll quit before you find my address and give me kicking for being a pest.

[roversforever]

Their was a few chants from the top half of the main stand saturday night against Shels roversforever
ya thats what im saying.it was the three claps followed by "the rovers". it was kids that got it started and then adults joined in. it shouldn't be like that but it is so i think we should let national school kids in free.if they're in big school groups too they will be mad to sing and i think everyone would join in from there.

[Guts&Glory]

[QUOTE=hamish]Congratulations to Rovers and Gareth for that excellent film on the game. Just shows there are folks in EL footie who are real pros in promoting local senior football.
Every club should be doing this.

Guys, what film on the game, where can I catch the coverage at this stage, on any website??

[gustavo]

http://www.shelbournefc.ie/video/Sligo%20Rovers%20vs%20Shels.wmv

[Guts&Glory]

Cheers Gustavo, the penny finally dropped not long after I posted the reply. The Long weekend has taken its toll it seems.

Great coverage and a great idea for Shels to be doing.

Any chance of Rovers doing it I wonder ?

[Gareth]

Cheers for the positives on the footage. Our production each week will be of far higher quality than this current one.

[sligoman]

Just kidding. You're always hard on old Hamish.:( Is Sligoman training you to do that?No, but I do advise everyone to be picking on you:p.