: Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:15 am
I’ve been reading these Manly postings for a short while now after I recently found the site, and I’m blown away by the naivety of some of the comments. I’m originally from South Sydney and know the Aus community over here well having been here for a long time. I also know my RL.
Where on earth is the disappointment in pulling in 5-6k for a FRIENDLY fixture in London? The result doesn’t determine anything competition-wise. Your average ‘competitive’ gate last year was 3.6k if you take out Wigan, game 1! And that’s with a contingent of away fans. Sunday will be all London based people. You pulled in only slightly larger crowds last time you played Aus teams in a HIGHLY PROFILED COMPETITION (first year of Super League Aus, the war with NRL, Murdoch’s money, SkyTV) and that was with the benefit of messieurs Offiah, Edwards and Branson to get you profile. Realistically, no paper is going to be willing to give major profile to a friendly fixture and that’s before you get going on the biased middle classes who run the press – all of the available press is going to the World Club Challenge, between the best two clubs sides in Europe and Aus, who merit their place in that comp by winning their respective comps!; even Sky Sports News haven’t mentioned the London game. Not wanting to be rude, but you don’t at the moment have a major player of recognisable profile whom Londoners would recognise (unlike Offiah, Edwards or Cipriani to make a further point), regardless of how good a team you might believe you have. So where is your mass PR going to come from?
I recently met about 8 members of the club staff distributing flyers for the game at a Walkabout on Aus day. They faced a hell of a task, thousands of Aussies strewn across London p1ssed out of their faces. Do you have any idea how disliked Manly are by Aussies? And before you tell me they should come along to cheer Quins, don’t also forget that your average travelling Aus is middle class and more likely to be a Wallabies fan or AFL fan than an NRL fan. Be honest, how many NRL shirts do you see in the street? Your average NRL fan is still sitting in South Sydney in front of Fox. Of course you’ll get an abundance of support if you put Aus v NZ on at QPR; traditional rivalry, the perfect locality (the Bush), 34 of the best players in the world who everyone from Aus and NZ can support. Not 17 (or 23 as it appears now) players who are loved by Manly fans, but hated by everyone else. Seriously, some of the comments on here are bordering on the delusional.
As for marketing the game – I think I’ve seen about 8 ads in TNT, recieved 3 emails from TNT online (they have 75,000 addresses so I suspect a lot of us have this) plus some extensive editorial (not cheap from my experience). I think I’ve seen competitions running in London Lite, Walkabouts, Aus Shop and heard something on local radio. Someone at the club told me that they’ve put a wrap on the local rag and it’s gone into 100,000 homes. I used to work in sports development in Aus and I understand that the community game here has passed on over 10,000 flyers for family tickets into the community game. I’m also a member of BritOz and I’ve been told that the club have worked extensively with them in reaching out via the Aus Business Club (of which I’m also a member) and have hit 100’s of Aus businesses with ticket offers and pitches for hospitality.
Not sure what more can be done personally – take it from someone who hangs out in Aus ex-pat circles every night of the week, we know they are here. Whether we will attend will probably be determined by how hung-over we feel on Sunday morning and/or how much of a draw the Church is……
I’d suggest that instead of the pervading negativity voiced on here, that you embrace this opportunity to put on some real fun for circa 6k fans (if that’s what turns out to be) and get as many of them back for your next home fixture.
You really should be looking at raising your fan base in increments, season by season. Rampant overnight success off the field is only going to come your way by winning Super League I’m afraid.
