Dundalk win the play-off

[Philly]

Yep, the whole of south Dublin means we've got poor marketability compared to, say, Longford or Sligo. Our attendances are woeful compared to Longford, Bray or Waterford. And as for the length of time we've spend in Division One...

Half of the South of Dublin probably doesn't know that the club exists. How many Leinster fans cared to turn up for free again earlier this season?

Marketing isn't just about the place. It's about a lot of factors, including the product. Obviously people don't go to UCD matches for a reason.

As for comparing your crowds to other clubs. The fact that you are in Dublin raises your attendances a lot as you can rely on fans of Bohs, Shels, Bray, Drogheda, St Pats coming in their numbers. The amount of home fans at UCD games is a lot less than the likes of Logford games.

[Philly]

The way you go on about marketing is silly.

I can't say to a businessman:

I have a business idea. I is very marketable because it is based in the South of Dublin and there isn't much comopetition for the product there.

The very fact that the team is located on Belfield takes away from the positive aspects of the location of the club anyway. People from outside the college will think it's a college thing and most students would rather go boozing or actually study than go to a match.

[oriel]

tbh, i think dundalk fans have something to complain about here, lets not forget that the reason they were in the first division in the first place was cos the league was cut to ten teams and they finished eleventh, just a whisker behind us... even one more season in the prem div would have made a huge difference to them as regards their final standing in the rankings and in terms of history thay are after all one of the most famous names in irish football.. just a thought.


Monkey - great name !

Thanks for kind words, you are close, we finished 10th out of 12 that season, (top 9 stayed up + winner of first div + no play off) think we finished a point or was it goal difference behind you in 9th but a massive points gap clear of of the team who came 11th, im sure it was Galway.

Anyway no point crying over split milk, our real damage was done seasons 2002/03 and 2003, what a time to have your worst ever seasons in history, think we came 2nd last and 3rd last. A disgrace to all involved.

[pineapple stu]

Marketing isn't just about the place. It's about a lot of factors, including the product. Obviously people don't go to UCD matches for a reason.
Marketing or marketability - which is it? There's a big difference. Anyone can show marketability, whicih is what you've been rabbiting on about up until now. Arguably every club in the league fails when it comes to marketing themselves.

[Philly]

I believe clubs are being judges on marketability. Am I right?

If so, how do you think UCD fares so? I'll let you "rabbit on" for a bit....

God I'm glad Ididn't go to UCDD.....

[Poor Student]

I think there's a good potential to market UCD but as of now the club lack the resources to do so due to money constraints and lack of staff. If UCD retain their premier status and get a club promotion officer that might help the club to some degree.

[Philly]

I think there's a good potential to market UCD but as of now the club lack the resources to do so due to money constraints and lack of staff. If UCD retain their premier status and get a club promotion officer that might help the club to some degree.

Agreed.

Out of interest, what efforts are currently made to promote the club to the student body?

[Poor Student]

Agreed.

Out of interest, what efforts are currently made to promote the club to the student body?

Club merchandise will be put on sale in the Students Union shop very soon. It's a small step in a positive direction.

[Philly]

Cool. Maybe fixtures could be given into all student accommodation.

Get the goals shown on UCDTV (or whatever it is you call the college station!).

Make attending games an Arts module. After all watching the eL would probablly teach a student more than half the modules offered. And Horizons allows for just about anything to be part of a course!

Get fixtures printed on coasters for the bar and place mats for the canteens.

Get the club involved with the SU, when they aren't busy fighting for free refreshments after their meetings that is...

The Bowl needs a bar if it's going to draw a crowd though! :-)

[Poor Student]

Cool. Maybe fixtures could be given into all student accommodation.

That's a good idea in principal (like postering, flyers etc.) but the resources and manpower don't really exist to carry this out. The club has only one full time staff member employed in a commercial capacity and he has his hands full generating revenue by means which don't bring in much fans but a lot of money. The impact of such advertising hits as low as 1 in 500. That's not to say it shouldn't be tried but there's the feasability issues.


Get the goals shown on UCDTV (or whatever it is you call the college station!).[/QUOTE

I honestly have no idea how UCDTV works, do you know?

[QUOTE]Make attending games an Arts module.

That's a surefire way to make sure we don't get any extra crowd. Have you seen UCD student attendance rate?;)


Get fixtures printed on coasters for the bar and place mats for the canteens.

See the reply to the first quote. It's a new idea I haven't heard though and I'll take it on board.


Get the club involved with the SU

It's being worked on, that's where the merchandise on sale in the SU shop came from. They're not willing to do much more than that but I think the merchandise thing is a postive move.


The Bowl needs a bar if it's going to draw a crowd though!

That'll never happen. The Sports Bar nearby disappeared to accomodate the SU's Forum Bar. They're both about 100 yards from the Bowl.

[jebus]

Not a hope in hell the FAI can relegate UCD after finishing 6th in the league and maintain any creditability for this new SuperLeague. I know fans of Galway and all need a little helping hand getting promoted since they couldn't get the job done on the pitch, but any attempt to demote a 6th place Premier league team in place of a team that didn't finish in the top two in the 1st Division will make this new league a laughing stock to all the new fans the FAI are trying to entice.

I don't care about whether or not UCD are less marketable than Galway or not, you can't demote them after the season they have just had, end of story

[Philly]

100 yards too far! Ha.

The coasters can be printed at under €60 per 1000 through printing firms on the net. You can submit a design and they'll print it on coasters for you. It might catch peoples attention. And no bar turns down free coasters!

Maybe you could organise "cheerleaders" like the "Bohs Babes"?! They had the KCFC crowd laughing all the way to a win when we played them and I've a funny feeling students would be fond of the idea!

[Philly]

Not a hope in hell the FAI can relegate UCD after finishing 6th in the league and maintain any creditability for this new SuperLeague. I know fans of Galway and all need a little helping hand getting promoted since they couldn't get the job done on the pitch, but any attempt to demote a 6th place Premier league team in place of a team that didn't finish in the top two in the 1st Division will make this new league a laughing stock to all the new fans the FAI are trying to entice.

I don't care about whether or not UCD are less marketable than Galway or not, you can't demote them after the season they have just had, end of story

If soccer in this country made sense and teams earned their place in the league by playing football I would totally agree. I do think UCD has potential its just that the student body is a particularly tough crowd to appease and to change the habits of. The fact that they all graduate after 3 or four years, or drop out, doesn't help matters. It means that the club will have to invest lots of time and money into promoting the club every year in order to entice new fans to replace those no longer in the college.

However if the club could develop a sizeable fanbase then the possibilities in terms of advertising revenue for them would be insane. Everybody wants to win over students custom - from bands to condom manufacturers to cults.

[Poor Student]

The coasters can be printed at under €60 per 1000 through printing firms on the net. You can submit a design and they'll print it on coasters for you. It might catch peoples attention. And no bar turns down free coasters!


Philly, I'll look into it. At the end of the day I'm only a volunteer but I'll pass it onto someone.

[pineapple stu]

Get fixtures printed on coasters for the bar and place mats for the canteens.
That's actually a very good idea. Will look into it. Cheers.


I believe clubs are being judges on marketability. Am I right?
My point is that "marketability" is different to "marketing". Marketability talks about potential and what you could do - we potentiall have the whole of south Dublin and could get huge crowds out of it - while marketing talks about what you have done - we haven't gotten great crowds.

You're talking about our marketing - our low crowds - what what we're being judged on is marketability - what we "plan" to do, which, as we've seen from Dublin City's UEFA Licence, doesn't actually have to be ultimately carried out.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Personally I feel that free pints would be better than putting fixtures on coasters.;)

[Philly]

Haha reading through my posts I look like a sales rep for an online printing firm!

[Schumi]

Maybe you could organise "cheerleaders" like the "Bohs Babes"?! They had the KCFC crowd laughing all the way to a win when we played them and I've a funny feeling students would be fond of the idea!I'd forgotten about them, they were a good laugh. :D Ours could have the advantage of being older than 13 too.

[monkey magic]

Thanks for kind words, you are close, we finished 10th out of 12 that season, (top 9 stayed up + winner of first div + no play off) think we finished a point or was it goal difference behind you in 9th but a massive points gap clear of of the team who came 11th, im sure it was Galway.

cant remember meself if it was one point or goal dif, alls i remember is ye had a terrible first half of the season and a fantastic second half - ye came from nowhere to almost pip us at the post, if memory serves me ye came to the flansiro, with only a couple of games left and thumped us 3-1(??) if the season were one week longer...


Anyway no point crying over split milk, our real damage was done seasons 2002/03 and 2003, what a time to have your worst ever seasons in history, think we came 2nd last and 3rd last. A disgrace to all involved.

all the same, the significance of that result, and our subsequent play-off panalty win over harps is not lost on me, for all clubs involved..

[gael353]

Waterford United will be a Premier Division side next year FACT!!.


i could go on quoting for hours but there'd be no point :rolleyes:

[dfx-]

Back to the main point about Dundalk - a little fact they seem to ignore - their club agreed to the new structureand selection porcess - >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>you cannot now cry foul just cause you won a worthless playoff.<<<<<<<<<<<

Now some might argue that they beat Waterford - but so what, they signed up to the new format and they knew at the start of the season that it was a worthless format.





its about applying to a new league, a completely new entity

Well done Dundalk... 2nd is the first loser



- We were going to be in the new 'Premiership' even if we lost EVERY game this season (I think Mike Kerley set out spoecifically to prove this theory:o )

- There is a NEW league next year. Entry to this league is determined by a number of criteria which were set out (vaguely) at the start of the season and which Waterford have attempted to satisfy.

- The play-off was worth something in the region of 10 to 20 of the 1000 entry points.

- This may p*ss people off, but the truth is the play-off was of less consequence than things like the parking and disabled facilities at the RSC.


So could I..

[Jerry The Saint]

So could I..


So this means that Shamrock were NEVER PROMOTED right:confused: Not as good as NEVER RELEGATED I suppose but it has a nice ring to it.

I'm sure it was a proud moment to be the final winners of the old First Division 'championship' even if it was


of less consequence than things like the parking and disabled facilities at <insert name of rented ground here>

:p

[harpskid]

- We were going to be in the new 'Premiership' even if we lost EVERY game this season (I think Mike Kerley set out spoecifically to prove this theory:o ).

- I repeat: we were godawful this year.....but there was a reason for it - we were remaining within budget and putting a huge effort into preparing the club for next season's Premiership.


As Homer would say..."D'oh!!!"

[Monkfish]

As santa would say "ho ho ho"