Apologies if this already happens, but if the club want to get a younger/more people through the gate, do the club do any work with local schools? Both secondary and primary? 

Is it worth giving out free tickets for certain games to the schools in an attempt to get them to a game and then hopefully get them interested and coming along to more games? 

Also with season tickets, if you 'refer' a friend that hasn't had a season ticket before perhaps then you get a discount off your own? 

I know it may be costly, but perhaps a bit more local advertising is required, an advert in various shopping centres, blue water/bexleyheath? 

Again sorry if any of this has already been tried or is being done, just thought I would throw a few ideas about and see what people think. 

Dgj111 wrote:

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Apologies if this already happens, but if the club want to get a younger/more people through the gate, do the club do any work with local schools? Both secondary and primary? 

Is it worth giving out free tickets for certain games to the schools in an attempt to get them to a game and then hopefully get them interested and coming along to more games? 

Also with season tickets, if you 'refer' a friend that hasn't had a season ticket before perhaps then you get a discount off your own? 

I know it may be costly, but perhaps a bit more local advertising is required, an advert in various shopping centres, blue water/bexleyheath? 

 

Again sorry if any of this has already been tried or is being done, just thought I would throw a few ideas about and see what people think. 

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 We invited schools along last season with a half-time penalty shoot-out as well but for some reason I don't think this initiative has been used this season.

it's a shame really as I thought it worked quite well.

WingsTillIDie wrote:

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One possible suggestion regarding individual tickets; have the club looked at going via Groupon/Wowcher. Larger clubs like Millwall and QPR do 2 for 1 or similar offers all the time and get 1000'a of extra punters. With 70-80% of our ground empty on Matchday, surely it's worth giving it a try considering the time and money we used to spend on leafleting and Newsshopper ads.

-- Edited by WingsTillIDie on Sunday 16th of March 2014 03:15:41 PM

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I may be being a bit thick here but what's to stop the regulars taking advantage of this offer as well? You may get the attendance to rise a bit but the overall gate receipts could well be a long way down.

Stoddy wrote:

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WingsTillIDie wrote:

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One possible suggestion regarding individual tickets; have the club looked at going via Groupon/Wowcher. Larger clubs like Millwall and QPR do 2 for 1 or similar offers all the time and get 1000'a of extra punters. With 70-80% of our ground empty on Matchday, surely it's worth giving it a try considering the time and money we used to spend on leafleting and Newsshopper ads.

-- Edited by WingsTillIDie on Sunday 16th of March 2014 03:15:41 PM

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I may be being a bit thick here but what's to stop the regulars taking advantage of this offer as well? You may get the attendance to rise a bit but the overall gate receipts could well be a long way down.

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 You're not being thick, I was expecting that question.

As you can see from the deal Millwall have done below, they do a multi-ticket offer. Obviously individual supporters aren't going to buy two tickets for themselves (unless they take up two seats...), and it would be quite a feat if every supporter managed to pair up with another supporter to take advantage of this deal.

The advantage of this deal is that a potential new supporter who wants to go to the club for the first time doesn't have to go on his Larry Lonesome.

Likewise if a present supporter wants to invite one of his mates to the game he doesn't have to wince at the thought of stumping up another £15/16 on top of his ticket because his mate doesn't want to pay a 'rip-off' price for what he probably misconceives is 'jumpers for goalposts' football...

If it didn't work, other clubs wouldn't do it.

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/events/gl-millwall-fc/35096895

Odin73 wrote:

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tamworth had A and B grade matches.Our march was B grade so entry was 12 quid,that nay be an idea next season

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 Good idea. Also indicates that it's complete cobblers that £15 is the minimum entry price set by the league.

ben281032 wrote:

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You have to remember as well that we are now in a national league rather than a localised one. Our attendances over the last few years may have been higher due to the away support being more inclined to attend as PVR would not have been that far away. I wasn't at yesterday's match but I would guess that halifax's following was hardly gate busting.

The point I'm trying to make here is that the average attendances will have been distorted by the away fans. I've been to a few home games this year where the away crowd has been pretty sparse, normally a northern club, when a season or two ago some "smaller" clubs would have brought a bigger than expected amount.

That said, it's obvious we need to be working at getting in the home fans and attracting new interest. The groupon idea ain't bad and is thinking outside of the box. Not sure how many we'd get from that though. We've tried leafleting but who knows how much that works. How about getting a feature in the News Shopper, in the paper and online? If I was a potential punter I would be interested in a deal such as a reduced price ticket day or another such deal.

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 I recall prior to this season we said we'd keep the prices higher because the away attendances were supposed to be quite large. Apart from the Luton and Barnet games, this hasn't been the case, and we've deterred 100's of potential new home supporters in the process.

Dirtford used to get a full house when they were in the Ryman leagues and moved back to Princes Park but have scared of 50-75% now they've done rip-off ticket prices like us and the rest of the conference. Chester are another example of what happens to your teams results when you go from modest ticket prices and full stadium to expensive ticket prices and half-empty ground. Why don't we set an example by doing the opposite.

At present it's absolute lunacy to have a ground three-quarters empty on matchdays, with no atmosphere as a consequence, and not address why that is.

Not really any easy answers on how to improve attendances. Plenty of reasons I can see why we've struggled for years;

• too expensive (not just us). When we were last in the conference the equivalent today is about £9. Football is overpriced in England
• kids/teenagers have lots of other things going on now i.e. football at goals, gymnastics clubs, dance lessons etc. etc. - you name it, it's all happening now midweek and at weekends. When I started going to PVR at 14 hardly anything else to do.
• going up hasn't really led to massive press/media coverage (we all know the score with BBC Radio Kent)
• I live in Barnehurst (along with 10,000 others). This is an area a few miles from the ground, good train and bus connections, yet to people here we don't exist! I talk to people and they ask what league we're in. Never seen any adverts for any of our games in the local area (although the points above may mean it makes not that much difference)
• live football on tv - certainly affects midweek games
• adults/parents are busier, longer hours at work/more early starts, kids to pick up
• all eyes are on the Premier League, the conference today is not perceived in the same way it was (I also don't believe Charlton & Millwall fans will flock to PVR when they're not at home)
• we have lots of Premier and Football League clubs within easy distance, some offering good deals

These are all things outside of all the great work and incentives produced by certain individuals at the club. Our team and the management certainly deserve more.

Maybe the club could gamble with a 'pay what you want' game or let under 18s in free?

King Penguin wrote:

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WingsTillIDie wrote:

Dirtford used to get a full house when they were in the Ryman leagues and moved back to Princes Park but have scared of 50-75% now they've done rip-off ticket prices like us and the rest of the conference.

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 Ha ha ha! Yep, 4,000+ every home game in the Rymans! Of course we did. 

Good to see you don't let little things like FACTS play any part in your posts.

 

Cheers!

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 Facts?... You mean like Dartford playing Horsham YMCA in 2006 in front of a crowd of 4097!...

GaryH wrote:

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Not really any easy answers on how to improve attendances. Plenty of reasons I can see why we've struggled for years;

• too expensive (not just us). When we were last in the conference the equivalent today is about £9. Football is overpriced in England
• kids/teenagers have lots of other things going on now i.e. football at goals, gymnastics clubs, dance lessons etc. etc. - you name it, it's all happening now midweek and at weekends. When I started going to PVR at 14 hardly anything else to do.
• going up hasn't really led to massive press/media coverage (we all know the score with BBC Radio Kent)
• I live in Barnehurst (along with 10,000 others). This is an area a few miles from the ground, good train and bus connections, yet to people here we don't exist! I talk to people and they ask what league we're in. Never seen any adverts for any of our games in the local area (although the points above may mean it makes not that much difference)
• live football on tv - certainly affects midweek games
• adults/parents are busier, longer hours at work/more early starts, kids to pick up
• all eyes are on the Premier League, the conference today is not perceived in the same way it was (I also don't believe Charlton & Millwall fans will flock to PVR when they're not at home)
• we have lots of Premier and Football League clubs within easy distance, some offering good deals

These are all things outside of all the great work and incentives produced by certain individuals at the club. Our team and the management certainly deserve more.

Maybe the club could gamble with a 'pay what you want' game or let under 18s in free?

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Agree with nearly all the above from GH.

'Pay what you want' worked at Albion Rovers in Scotland, not sure here it would. Some people moan at £1 for a cup of tea.....

We have people commenting on a 'falling attendances' thread who say they weren't even at the game....

Morph's points are very good:

1) we need to engage with the community better and 2) make the experience when they visit PVR a pleasant one when they come here.

It's clear a lot of people have points and ideas, how about WUSA having an open meeting so all this can be discussed and acted upon?