How do you ' hit ' the school harder ?

' Fans that used to attend , whatever reason now stay away , stay aways ' , they are gone let them go , they wont be coming back , any investement in time or effort is wasted on them

i agree with you that getting more kids in the shay is the future, but i cant see that giving away a free junior season ticket as working......i buy an adult season ticket, and if i got a free kids one, i would have no one to give it to, many people would be the same i recon.

thanks for your input.....oh no wait there was no input! just an attempt to pull apart some valid suggestions.

contribute or
jog on SB

I've always found the idea of simply reducing gate prices a bit risky and all a bit 'made up'. People think you're suddenly going to get twice as many people just because you take a fiver of all prices. It just doesn't work like that. For each pound you take off you would need around 250 extra people to come in to equal what you were already getting (based on an average home gate of around 2,400).

Being clever with family tickets and kids tickets is what Fax need to do more of (it's not like they don't any way). Then maybe a few 'special' days like the retro kit/cheaper ticket idea above. Thereafter, the only thing that will increase gates is a team performing well against decent opposition in a competitive match. For all the hard work and price planning the Club does though, they'll always be another stupid suggestion and game killer that the RFL come out with which will put people off.

If you read my post it does say "I would" , I know it would not be ideal for everyone but for me I would rather try to nurture a new supporter than have a meal in the new stand (nice though it is).

done but should have a few more options on some questions that dont have box for writing anything.

FAO: Mr. Fax - just a point about the Cashfax questions. I've had to check options for two questions because the correct option does not appear, ie; why I don't buy cashfax and the following one. Another option could be 'other' with a box to fill in.

You are spot on there , simply reducing prices just p155es off fans who have ST s and you never get your return numbers wise ,

And you are spot on with the family tickets , it's all about being clever in the distribution , to avoid existing fans taking advantage , as that is the main reason club owners don't do it

' stay aways'

i mean by the many fans that after the game are drinking in town, and ask " what was the score ?"

they obviously have an interest, and the majority go on to say, "i did go when we were up at thrum hall "

i can not beleive they dont go because its more difficult to get to the shay or logistics, its probably just price.

you must get them over there too?

Loads of them , but it is too late , they will never come back , I'll bet loads will still come out with " that Nigel Wood , fleeced the club blind , ime never going watching them again "

I've had , " The directors are robbing the club " , this when I was on the board tipping in every week , or " Ime not paying to watch them till that Alan Rowley goes " when Alan wasn't even connected to the club , or " My mate was THE best scrum half at .... Club , but Leigh didn't sign him " so I ask , " where's he playing now " , " oh he packed in a couple of years later "

They always have an excuse , it is never " well I just don't like it anymore " , or , " I prefer to spend my money in the pub watching footy and SL for free "

They are gone , and if they ever did come back you can guarantee that'll be the game you play crap against Hunslet and lose , whereupon you will hear " I'm not paying good money to watch that rubbish "

You just know that will happen , you need loyal long term fans of Halifax RLC , not glory hunters who will turn up once or twice and then return to the pub watching Man Utd v Chelsea the following week

Done it

The aim is to increase crowds. You are not going to get sustainable increases unless prices come down. Families may come one week with the incentive of free tickets, but given the option of then spending £50 plus the following week to watch Halifax v Hunslet......Halifax's prices would be okay if we were in Super League, but they are too high for the Championship.

With the right marketting before any game with reduced pricing, I don't see why you can't get way more than 250 extra people in. I attended a game at Thrum Hall in the 1989/90 season against Runcorn Highfield, RL's then perennial whipping boys and the crowd was over 6000. Where are these fans now?

As for the season ticket holders being a bit miffed, all I am suggesting is a trial for a few games this year. If it works, then I'd suggest it is implemented across the board next year but in the meantime, would any true fan with a season ticket object to a genuine attempt by the club to increase numbers?

No I certainly would not mind but I would prefer them to offer a mini season ticket so people are more likely to commit to attend the games for the rest of the season rather than a one off.

You are missing the point a little bit there Freddy , you are assuming that after one visit , these ' fans ' are suddenly expected to start coming straight away , that will just not work , so what you have to do is ' Blanket marketing '

Set aside one part of the stadium ( skircoat ) , that becomes your dedicated family stand , nobody gets in unless accompanied by kids , you don't randomly invite anybody , you go into a couple of local schools with the community dept run by frank , they do the ' pitch ' for the club , you invite the whole school ( kids,parents,siblings,teachers,spouses ) to a game , that is ' closing ' the deal

The teachers and their spouses go in the best stand and you invite them into the corporate lounge ( this is building relationships with the community as you want them to help sell the club to the kids and parents , ie a feel good factor , you want them all to have a good time

As the ' family stand ' is exactly that you don't sell alcohol , you work with your catering company , you tell them what you WANT , that being say hot dogs , cones of chips , cartons of drinks and toffee , ie just enough for kids without costing the earth

As the families enter the stand you ask them to fill in a simple questionnaire asking for their opinions of the day and if they would be interested in any ' special deals ' on future tickets obviously with their contact details

You have different schools every time , you invite a 1,000 people each time , do this for 5 games , then contact all those that said they would be interested in a special deal and do them a full family ticket for 20 quid , out of those 5,000 , you might get 500 back for your special deal , you make an extra £ 10,000 and potentially get another couple of hundred new fans , they won't come every week , but hopefully they will see themselves as Halifax RL fans

Then do it again , and again , and again

It won't happen overnight and it takes a lot of work , but it is the only way you will ever start to improve the numbers coming through the gates

It is no good getting a hundred down here and a hundred there , you need to get 4,000 through the doors to generate the atmosphere to get them to enjoy themselves enough to come back

Not forgetting to communicate all this to your existing fan base , so they trust the club to make sure things don't get abused , and are not upset when they see people getting something for free ,