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I'd really appreciate it if people could post here the role which fans play in the running of their club, either through their supporters clubs or other avenues and how they feel this is working. In Limerick we're having a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the club structures and we're hoping to take some ideas from successful ventures at other clubs (Galway United and Drogheda United both come to mind but I'm sure there are others.)
Longford Town are a members club, so basically you can get as involved as you want/ can spare time for.... The Committee is elected from the membership....
The supporters club has a close relationship with the club - for example they are doing the bar under the stand....
The galway supporters trust is a similar idea from what I can make out, only they brought it into fans ownership from a few shareholders, AFAIK....
UCD Supporters' Club works with the club as well. The club does some community events (main one being a summer soccer camp), and all participants get season tickets and Supporters' Club membership. Main thing in the SC is an e-mail newsletter which is very handy for keeping the club in people's minds (sent round with a covering e-mail listing upcoming matches). The club also allows us give away four free tickets to one member for every game (so existing fans can increase our fan base for us). We do the match programme and fanzine as well, and the funds go to the Supporters' Club. I'd say though that we're the only SC to do the match programme, but it does have the advantage that we don't need to charge a membership fee to join.
We're looking at doing match reports for some of the local free newspapers as well just to raise the profile of the club in the local area.
We'll probably organise a meeting with the club committee in the close season to forward ideas on increasing support and on small upgrades to the ground on behalf of the SC.
Hope there's some ideas for you there anyway!
Oddly enough, there was more formal contact between the Independent Saints and Pats in the dying years of the Dolan era. Andy O'Callaghan used to have a fans forum every couple of months or so, and we (I.S.) used to meet the club twice a season or thereabouts.
Since the regime-change in the close season, the level of formal contact has dropped off massively but that's probably cos there's so much informal contact now instead. Apart from a now-RIP SEI column in the programme (ahem! :rolleyes: ), they can't do enough for us, storing regalia, advertising our buses to away games over the PA and on the club website, lads are constantly on the phone to Andy or the club over one thing or another.
There's certainly a lot more glasnost and mutual appreciation, and the paranoia of the dark days is now an unhappy memory.
Remember something like that alright. :DQuote:
Originally posted by Dr.Nightdub
a now-RIP SEI column in the programme (ahem! :rolleyes: )
I was reading in the program for our game against Bray. It said that the South Sligo S.C. raised around €45,000 since '95 for us which is very good cause they have less than 10 members and south Sligo is mainly a gaaaaaa area (and every one know how much the gaa loves the EL)