Don`t agree with what you said about the shares issue affecting our crowds. Over half of Town supporters come from surrounding towns, there are loads in Dewsbury, plenty from Wakefield, Ossett, Morley, Batley. And they don`t support the Giants. So those few that actually come from Huddersfield who support Town, it may matter to them somewhat, but there aren`t many of those who support the Giants also that the shares issue would cause a problem.

I think the main problem around Huddersfield is simply a case of

A)many people aren't aware we exist
B( those that do dont really have an idea how we are doing or
C) do have an idea but prefer to watch it in the pub or WMC

This is where our marketing team - if we actually have one - should be going out and making
D) there is a huge buzz around town about the Giants as people are now aware that the town has a fantastic rugby league team that are challenging for honours and are currently the top team in Europe - happen .

Daz/Meast I think we need a new chant to the tune of claret and gold.

'we are a disgrace, we are a disgrace, we Huddersfield Giants and we're a disgrace'
'we are a disgrace, we are a disgrace, so say eddie and stevo we are a disgrace'


or

'we're a disgrace cos we've less fans than you,we're a disgrace but we're louder than you, '

too much apathy towards the club, even our own are fickle

its a football town, season is starting soon again so even more interest for that, they play tomorrow night against real betis, the crowd will prob be bigger than our gate at the weekend.

we have lost a generation of fans too im afraid, will have to wait for the next

Maybe with the football season round the corner, try targetting town fans again - maybe give their ST holders a deal for the last games or something, their may be a bit more interest now than last time around due to our recent improvement ?

I realise that the anti-Ken bile will probably surface with a few but surely there will be some who fancy it - worth a try i think.

I have just now realised the hill we have to climb to get any sort of half decent gates.
My son, the product of my loins, has just bought a Season ticket for Town!

His Granddad will be spinning in his grave.

When I have calmed down I will ask him why, in the meantime he's out of the will.

Just another example of poor parenting it seems

Keefie- you have failed him, you have failed the giants and you have failed yourself. Look it's not too late you can still redeem yourself!

I have tried, Lord knows I have tried,

I have taken his sons to matches, I have introduced him to the powers that be at the Giants, on a business level.

His 2 nephews are registered Academy players, one with the Giants, and the younger, better prospect, is with Wire.

I give up!

I think the key for you lot is for the club to capitalise on success. For instance, when the play-offs come around, what you really need, more than the gate money, is bums on seats. I think the RFL (who I believe largely control play-off ticket prices) have some responsibility here, which I'm sure they'll fail to discharge...

At Leeds we like to pretend that our crowds have been huge for as long as we can remember. This is, of course, not true, nad I can certainly remember times when crowds of 6-8k were pretty commonplace at Headingley.

You have to get the product to sell itself. Your stadium does you know favours. Half empty stadiums kill an atmosphere pretty well, but that can't be helped.

But, if you get 15-16k in there for a play-off semi on a nice evening, and win a tense game you WILL get those people to Old Trafford, and a lot of them will come back. Success breeds success. Once crowds go up, the atmosphere improves and the matches feel more exciting, more of an event and people are more likely to part with their cash to be part of it. The trouble is, for the reciprocal of those reasons, low crowds are a tough cycle to break.

I actually think they're a symptom of the wider sport's image and PR too. You can look at the turn-out at Salford with their target population too. Leeds get good crowds, but look at the size of the pond we're fishing from. It might help therefore if other teams' fans (including, but not limited to) Leeds', stopped chelping at those of you who are turning up every week and started to think about the wider interests of the sport. If the product is hard to sell with a team playing as well as Huddersfield, there's a warning bell for other clubs that they shouldn't be too short-sighted to listen to.

Rant ends.

Ive been told the way the club treat the schools in the area (missing coaching sessions, late cancelations, no acknowlegement of achievements) has left a bitter taste in the mouth of many. These teachers, parents and kids will resent the way they have been treated. Can the Giants expect them to support a club who couldnt give a about them? It just seems like poor management and a lack of taking on constructive critisism are simple things that can be solved to see the Giants take off in the community, or as Bernie says another generation could be lost.

Leeds on Friday and Bradford back in the day had huge crowds due to getting kids involved in tag rugby and dance routines. If they all bring a parent and grand parent and watch a great team the Giants will have a great chance of keeping their support.

But it needs a change in management.

There is a "giants liaison officer" who "communicates" with the local amateur sides. My lads team manager is the liaison with him for my sons club.... I had to tell her about the giants junior craft day - she knew nothing about it.

Slack. There is no excuse for it. its a crying shame as the club could easily get 8/9k crowds if it did the basic right and not as an after thought.

With all due respect though, a craft day is not gonna entice any new fans through the door. In this day and age, is cutting and colouring really going to be inviting to the X-Box generation (and I'm not knocking it cos I'm sure there were a few kids there who were probably already going to the game).

We need more ticket offers (family tickets £25, 2 games for price of one etc) but I also think we need more going on on the pitch. A regular round robin competition before the game featuring ALL local clubs with winners announced at the end of the season. Get 200 kids there, they should bring at least 200 adults.

Get more non-playing players mingling before the game instead of just standing by the dug out. Maybe have them doing coaching master classes in the 'Giants Zone'.

I still think we should be in EVERY school with flyers for ticket offers. Why not take a hit and offer free tickets for the last two games for one under 16 and accompanying adult. Hopefully the kid will like it so much and put pressure on mum or dad to come back next year. Maybe include anyone who used the flyer for both games in the discounted season ticket period (before general sale).

I'm sure there's lots more we can do, but we certainly need to have more presence in the town

This is it, we all have ideas but it seems the people paid to get the crowds in dont seem to have any....the crowds are down and i presume losing money so why not try something for a couple of games.

The matchday price definitely needs to come down though because that is the single reason most people i speak to give for not coming !!!