Re: Dewsbury, lets have a party : Mon May 02, 2022 7:20 pm  

orangeman wrote:

Given we are the only club who don't post crowd pictures, it's hard to fathom how popular the wire kit is amongst fans.
Are they selling well?
Did they announce a gate yesterday?
Did anyone upgrade and take pictures of the gold lounge?
It all seems very strange that we had a crowd if about 700 and yet they are still segregating the after-party?

Some observations.
There is a guy taking photos. For obvious reasons I think he takes quite a tight focus on family groups so as to show it’s a family game and not to show empty seats. There were quite a few families there.
I did notice quite a few on the balcony which I take to be the corporate section.
I did see a couple of kids with the Broncos blue shirt. There is not much merchandise available but they are selling kids shirts in the shop.
I think it was one of the smaller gates of the season. Dewsbury brought a couple of dozen. Decent atmosphere though but a shame there weren’t more but, sadly, predictable that was the case. What price this performance in one of the first two home games. Ah well!

Re: Dewsbury, lets have a party : Mon May 02, 2022 7:26 pm  

BigTime wrote:

Some observations.
There is a guy taking photos. For obvious reasons I think he takes quite a tight focus on family groups so as to show it’s a family game and not to show empty seats. There were quite a few families there.
I did notice quite a few on the balcony which I take to be the corporate section.
I did see a couple of kids with the Broncos blue shirt. There is not much merchandise available but they are selling kids shirts in the shop.
I think it was one of the smaller gates of the season. Dewsbury brought a couple of dozen. Decent atmosphere though but a shame there weren’t more but, sadly, predictable that was the case. What price this performance in one of the first two home games. Ah well!

The fact that they've stopped announcing attendances shows that whilst we might be a handful of old whiners on the internet, the club don't take kindly to scrutiny/criticism of their performance

Re: Dewsbury, lets have a party : Mon May 02, 2022 8:03 pm  

Did anyone manage to buy or find where the raffle tickets were on sale? I couldn't find them anywhere. Related to that, is their any presence in the stadium (apart from in corporate) of somebody representing the Broncos. Sometimes there is a (presumably) volunteer handing out team sheets, although sometimes they are unattended on a table.

I've been to every match and not once have I seen anybody representing the club beyond somebody handing out team sheets. All the staff are the same as for the football. It's very hard to get engaged. I turned up with a pocketful of cash to buy some raffle tickets; nobody wanted my money!

Everything seems to go back to lack of staff at the club and the total alienation of long term fans/volunteers.

Re: Dewsbury, lets have a party : Mon May 02, 2022 8:27 pm  

Smithers99 wrote:

Did anyone manage to buy or find where the raffle tickets were on sale? I couldn't find them anywhere. Related to that, is their any presence in the stadium (apart from in corporate) of somebody representing the Broncos. Sometimes there is a (presumably) volunteer handing out team sheets, although sometimes they are unattended on a table.

I've been to every match and not once have I seen anybody representing the club beyond somebody handing out team sheets. All the staff are the same as for the football. It's very hard to get engaged. I turned up with a pocketful of cash to buy some raffle tickets; nobody wanted my money!

Everything seems to go back to lack of staff at the club and the total alienation of long term fans/volunteers.

Missed the raffle tickets. Team sheets, or more accurately a list of our entire squad were on an unattended table. I agree it’s a surprise there is no Broncos presence at all even a greeter table, someone handing out mini flags or some such to the kids. I suspect the reason for this is we don't have the staff to do it or to engage with Dons to ask if they could allocate some stewards to assist in that. One point though it did seem there was a drop in stewards to a more realistic number with I assume ancillary cost reduction to all so that was smart. Basically I can’t see what the point is using PL as our ground as we just are not maximising it’s potential. Possibly the gig in the bar later was successful. I hope so. If so they should repeat. I had to get away as it’s a long journey across town.

I can only assume those in corporate find it a better experience but unless numbers in there are high (and higher than at Trailfinders) then the whole thing is mystifying. Anyway here’s hoping Broncos can get another win on Friday week if so perhaps the decision makers can have a proper think about what they are doing and learn from some of the mistakes.

Re: Dewsbury, lets have a party : Mon May 02, 2022 8:34 pm  

Yea, it was my first visit, and TBH there is no point us playing at PL. We sat in 108, and I think there must have been at most 20 people in 108 and 109. Most fans I think was on the other side (ie 104-105). So if 107-109 is the community section, I would say you had max 60 people in those sections.

I'm sure the whole experience would be different for a Wimbledon match, but if we are not going to use what PL has to offer, its really pointless playing there.

Next time (assuming we go again) we will bring our own flask and food, there was nothing but one single option (a pie) for a non meat eater, and really you had more options at Ealing, as basic as it is. Yes we had a good atmosphere, but I put that down to the fact it was the first win of the season.

As nice as Plough Lane is, its not suitable for the Broncos based on our current standing. Yes if we get to SuperLeague then play there, but if we are paying 200k a year, for what I saw on Sunday its a big rip-off.

Re: Dewsbury, lets have a party : Mon May 02, 2022 9:52 pm  

crashmon wrote:

Yes if we get to SuperLeague then play there, but if we are paying 200k a year, for what I saw on Sunday its a big rip-off.

This is the biggest mystery.
If we were courting a SL spot, then a SL type stadium is key, but if we are in a "transitional" phase (this is an expression that has popped up a few times on social media of late.....it's like someone is trying to steer the conversation) where we are going to learn how to fend for ourselves as Part-Timers reliant on our own income, then moving away from Ealing was pointless as are currently 12 positions and 8 wins away from being even close to SL.

I am struggling with the clubs reticence to post pictures of the Gold Lounge? It's either working or it's not and I'm leaning towards the latter here, because in typical LB style, they only post good news...thus they've stopped with attendances, we've had 2 home matchday sponsors that I can recall.

In short, the move has failed thus far. If anyone believes it's a work in progress, please show me how you have come to this conclusion. I've seen no pictures of the Phoenix bar afterwards, whereas social media used to be awash with post match pictures from the stoop, or corporate scenes from trailfinders......I suspect those that had the ear of the decision makers and who recommended to the move south are now long gone and their previous failings have been laid bare.....it wasn't trailfinders fault london broncos couldn't make money, it was London Broncos being run badly.

Enjoy the next 10 days or so. A win against Newcastle and dreams of survival will become closer to reality, but can we please keep Dane Chisholm........rumours he's been off-loaded to Keighley.....surely we need him more?

Re: Dewsbury, lets have a party : Mon May 02, 2022 9:56 pm  

I know an effort was made by the supporters group, to get at least one mascot outfit for the game. However it failed to materialise.

Re: Dewsbury, lets have a party : Tue May 03, 2022 12:21 am  

I can only repeat that up to 75 max in Corporate for the York match in the Platinum lounge plus a handful in the boardroom. I've seen photos but not mine to share. Don't show much beyond people at tables and queuing for food. Most were more mature, although the fan base appears generally in that direction. Those in the "balcony" seats are corporate. So there is definitely some presence (and vocal support) up there. At around 10% of the attendance it's not bad, but really need to be hitting that percentage on a much higher attendance figure. Better than the football, they get a few hundred (I'd guess average around 350/400) but that's a smaller percentage of the crowd.

The pub looks one of the bigger success. Very busy both pre and post matches (excellent considering the attendances). But you wouldn't have a clue of it's existence if you weren't told. The guys in the bar think the numbers are improving as fans become aware it exists. Band was meant to set up half time. Were still carrying equipment in ten/fifteen minutes after the match though which doesn't help.

Whether the pub is right for long term drinking is questionable. Very little seating due to the size. Some of the football fans have questioned why the large corporate area (750) couldn't be used by all post match.

Food at the stadium is an issue due to the attendances. The pies aren't bad, you even get the Broncos edible emblem printed on them! But the burgers, hot dogs etc aren't great. For the Broncos and Ladies football they tend to only offer restricted pies and hot dog. The football model is built on the street food behind the stand. Only MyPie have ever attended, and the Broncos made no effort to advertise them whilst fans were AT the ground. You have to first find the pub, go through it, go outside and round the corner to find MyPie. For the football there is Pizza, Bodeans, Vegan Express, Jerk Chicken, MyPie and a Chips van. A reasonable selection, but without them the concession stands are very limited.

The prizes for the raffle were pretty good. I'm still intrigued who got access to them, just gets me wondering if it was restricted to a select group!

I sat at the football on Bank Holiday Monday and thought how impressive the atmosphere would be for a Rugby League match if the stadium was packed.

Re: Dewsbury, lets have a party : Tue May 03, 2022 7:35 pm  

crashmon wrote:

Yea, it was my first visit, and TBH there is no point us playing at PL. We sat in 108, and I think there must have been at most 20 people in 108 and 109. Most fans I think was on the other side (ie 104-105). So if 107-109 is the community section, I would say you had max 60 people in those sections.

I'm sure the whole experience would be different for a Wimbledon match, but if we are not going to use what PL has to offer, its really pointless playing there.

Next time (assuming we go again) we will bring our own flask and food, there was nothing but one single option (a pie) for a non meat eater, and really you had more options at Ealing, as basic as it is. Yes we had a good atmosphere, but I put that down to the fact it was the first win of the season.

As nice as Plough Lane is, its not suitable for the Broncos based on our current standing. Yes if we get to SuperLeague then play there, but if we are paying 200k a year, for what I saw on Sunday its a big rip-off.

Sorry Crashmon but my wife got the last of the veggie pies.
Either they sell well or they don’t make enough of them.

Re: Dewsbury, lets have a party : Tue May 03, 2022 9:56 pm  

Good to see 3 upbeat articles on the website in quick succession. Pretty clear though that we only have 2 photos of Coleman. The one where he looks distraught and the one where he is pointing the way to the try-line. In this case we have, quite rightly, used the latter but perhaps using the same photo 3 times was excessive.
I like the match report (Broncos secure win) it has a good pace to it but, as I have mentioned before, I’m not sure how the basic errors are getting through the edit. A quick check of para 2 would have unearthed some issues that could have been corrected. Still wouldn’t be Broncos if all was positive.