Received this email today:
Supporter Consultation Meeting - September 2021
First of all thank you for your support in 2021 and before that through the very difficult times of 2020. As a Season Pass Holder or Member you have given the club your backing in what turned out to be one of the most difficult periods in it's history and all of us at the Broncos are truly grateful for this.
We should point out at this stage that you have been added to this mailing list as a Season Pass Holder/Member because we wanted to give you an update on the recent Supporter Consultation held between the Club and a group of fans. If you do not wish to receive any further communication from the London Broncos please use the link below to unsubscribe. If you are happy to receive communication we will be sending regular updates on a variety of matters including Season Pass Information and Exclusive Pass Holder events, Supporter Consultations and other news that you, our loyal fans deserve to hear first.
As many of you will be aware we met with a group of supporters, selected for a variety of reasons which were explained to them on attendance, to try and allow the club to explain some of the recent decisions that have had to be made, give honest answers to speculation that has been made and to listen to the group's suggestions for ways to improve the relationship between Supporters and Club as well as ideas for ways to improve the overall Broncos experience. Below is a brief outline of the first meeting which was a very positive start to what we hope will become a regular monthly fixture.
September Supporter Meeting
Members of the clubs management enjoyed a positive first meeting with supporters last week as our first Supporter consultation took place in Central London.
Chief Executive Jason Loubser and Head of Commercial James Milner met with a group of Broncos long term fans to establish the potential for a focus group to become a regular feature and discuss the concerns of supporters as we come off the back of a very difficult period for the club.
This initial meeting was a relaxed general discussion however some questions were asked that we felt would be of interest to the wider fan base.
The first point raised was a concern over the team going part time in 2021 and how that leaves the clubs future in terms of ambitions of Super League. CEO Jason Loubser gave the group a detailed explanation of how the financial situation across the game is going through a huge change which is likely to result in the Broncos being hundreds of thousands of pounds worse off in 2022 than in 2021 and 2020. An estimate of 86% reduction in central funding is expected which is probably going to leave several clubs in serious problems so we are taking steps to ensure the club is stable and able to come back stronger in future seasons.
On top of this our owner David Hughes has been injecting huge amounts of cash in order to keep the first team Full Time in what is predominantly a part time competition and it has been decided that this simply cannot continue. 2021 has been very disappointing on the field for the First Team and the justification for spending the sort of money it takes to remain full time cannot be found. We have had some big positives with the Academy continuing to hold it’s own with Super League sides and our Ladies team doing themselves proud in their first ever season.
The group were reassured that whilst the playing staff would become part time players this was not a reflection of the club resigning itself to Championship Rugby League and the focus was now very much on marketing the move to Plough Lane and ensuring that we maximize the potential of that new beginning.
This led to further questions on the move to Plough Lane, how the club plans to build the average attendance, community engagement and memberships. It was explained by James Milner that the focus will be a milt-pronged attack on several groups including, but not exclusively, families, community club partners, AFC Wimbledon Fans and the event seeker. It was explained that making elite sport affordable to families in London was a key part of the plan with attention going on family season tickets in our Community section which will contain a no-alcohol zone. This will also hopefully give those who prefer not to be around Alcohol an opportunity to enjoy the game in separate surroundings.
Positive discussions have already started with our community club partners around their involvement in the Community stand, playing curtain raisers and being mascots ahead of First Team Games and their feedback has been very good.
It was explained that several Home fixtures will be planned as ‘events’ with specific target markets being catered for to try and attract new supporters via a ‘side door’ and other reasons to attend the game such as live music, a ‘theme’ around matches such as an ‘80’s music event’ or Street Food/Real Ale festival.
The club officials also suggested a new style membership scheme could be offered if this can be facilitated by our ticketing partners and the Lough Lane system which would see supporters be able to support the club in a number of ways, some of which not involving a large upfront payment but still reward them for their loyalty by attending games.
Away from the room our supporter who unfortunately was taken ill emailed some interesting questions which were answered remotely. These included a question on poor communication from the club in 2021 with a specific mention of communication not being consolidated across all social media channels. The clubs response to this was that we communicated as much as possible in 2021 but for much of this year there was simply no updates possible. It has always been felt that if the club puts out an update that says nothing it would be criticized for not really saying anything but if it says nothing at all it is still criticized. On the specific issue of Plough Lane we held a dignified silence throughout much of the process as it was not our business to be communicating to fans about something that was not official. This was widely praised by fans of AFC Wimbledon on social media. On the question of Social media the club feels the output is significantly improved in 2021 and everything is absolutely consolidated across all channels.
Due to GD PR regulations the club is about to reset it’s marketing database and ask any supporter who wishes to be communicated with to sign up to a new database so emails will go out far more regularly in future.
A further question from the same absent supporter was asked regarding the change from a squad that was a mix of quality players from the UK and Australia to one that is majority Academy products and is this the future? The clubs response on this was that above all else the current financial climate is the main thing dictating how we build our squad. Many clubs in our division, and potentially Super League, have players funded by ‘Squad Builder’ initiatives from supporters and other innovative ways to assist and we are open to discussions on this but in the main the club will only sign players within a pare-agreed wage structure and who fulfill the attributes to fit into the culture we intend to create at the London Broncos.
Signing players from Australia is no longer an easy option given the current visa regulations and leaving the EU rules out the EU Passport holder option too. However the club still has several contacts in Australia speaking to the CEO with potential options and we would never rule out bringing in overseas players with potential, in fact we are in current dialogue with Australian and Kiwi players as well as many British based athletes.
We would encourage supporters to email any questions they have to hello@londonbroncosrl.com and if the supporters focus group feel they should be asked we will certainly do our best to answer them. We are also keen to add to the group, specifically with another female supporter, young supporter (under 25) but also a couple of additional long standing London Rugby League fans who want to make a positive difference to the future of the club. Again, please just email hello@londonbroncosrl.com and we will try to add people on a first come first served basis to the group.
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