Supporters Meeting 31/8
It is intended to now try to have these meetings as regularly as possible, every two weeks being the intended target, this will allow the good communications between the club & the supporters to continue.
The usual suspects, from the RDSC, RDISA & RDFCNet were greeted by Jane Corby.
There wasn’t a set agenda for this meeting & it was left open for general questions, suggestions, discussions, etc.
- The next fans forum will be held early in October, the date will be confirmed shortly on the official website & in upcoming programmes. So keep an eye open, as there will only be the same amount of spaces available, so presumably it will be first come, first served! It is hoped that Strikers will be open for anyone wishing to have a drink after the forum, (I wonder who suggested that, eh? Oink Oink!)
- It was confirmed that the car park by the bridge, in front of the factory/offices, will now be known as car park H & will be for staff vehicles only. The idea is to release more spaces for supporters in the main car park & by allocating car park H to staff cars, stewarding can be kept to a minimum.
- The prices in the snackbars were discussed again, no response had been received from Lindleys, so Jane is going to invite a representative from them to attend the next meeting. If you have any sensible questions for Lindleys, please post them on the message board & we’ll put them forward.
- The suggestion to send out a questionnaire/survey to previous season ticket holders to establish why they have decided not to renew, etc was discussed. It is something the club are looking into & will have to be looked at in conjunction with the new marketing plan.
- The MOTM announcements will return, there wasn’t a MOTM sponsor for the last game, but normal service will now be resumed, with alternative measures in place if this should happen again.
- The question was raised as to why the attendances are not being announced, at present it is Stephen Grigg’s wish that they are not announced to avoid the away supporters winding up the home fans.
- The new marketing strategy for the Nene Park complex, including the club, is almost ready to be launched & will be presented in the next few weeks.
- The England game on Saturday 4th Sept. will definitely be shown on the big screen in Strikers.
- You should all be aware by now that there is a youth game & a Ladies game also on Saturday, details are posted up on the official site, www.thediamondsfc.com
- The opening times for the refreshment kiosks was discussed, with the cup game given as an example that we were minutes away from potentially another approx. 60 minutes of extra time & penalties & yet the snack bars had all closed after 10 minutes of the second half! This also would be discussed at the next meeting, hopefully with Lindley in attendance.
- For clarification it was explained that the vouchers to win the signed photo of the player within the programmes are distributed around the ground with each vendor having one programme that contains the voucher, these are put into the programmes by the club & not the vendor prior to distribution, so it is not open to abuse.
- The feedback received by all to date for the new format programme had all been positive. This was pleasing as a lot of hard work had gone into creating the new programme, by both the club & the contributors, so well done to all involved! If you haven’t bought one yet it is well worth a try!
- With the Memorabilia sale in Strikers fast approaching, (Sunday 5th Sept. 10:00 to 16:00), the question was asked if the club will be retaining a set of the videos, programmes, etc for a club archive. It was confirmed that there has been a set retained for the club.
- A brief discussion over the origins & history of the Maunsell cup was held, our very own Mr. Pigman is going to do a bit of digging to try to research it’s origins, I can sense a programme article coming on!
- It is hoped that the new away kit will all be available for the trip to Oxford. Currently the club has not received the full kit for the players, so we have to trust the Italian postman to deliver it soon!
- The shirts from the IOM tournament have now been distributed, with RDFCNet receiving 3 home shirts & 3 away shirts as worn in the IOM tournament.
The shirts were worn by the following players;
HOME No.2 worn by Sean Connelly No.3 worn by Peter Hawkins No.4 worn by Rob Gier
AWAY No.7 worn by David Bell No. 8 worn by Stuart Gray No.9 worn by Craig Dove
It is hoped to have the tickets drawn to win the shirts, at the next fans forum, by Ernie if he is available. Who ever is lucky enough to win will then have the choice to have the shirt signed if they wish. Once again the club thanked all those that contributed & helped to raise the money to take the squad to the IOM. Pigman will confirm the presentation arrangements via the message board as soon as they have been confirmed, winers, if not present at the Forum, will be notified via email.
- The posters to be printed off by the supporters to promote forthcoming events at Nene Park were discussed & distributed, it is hoped these will be available to download from both the rdfcnet & rdsc websites. These will be updated approx. monthly. If you can put these up on work noticeboards, in hairdressers, dentists, doctors, schools, shop windows, etc, please do so, as the intention is to promote the club within the local community.
- If anyone has any contacts that would be interested in sponsoring the club, there are various packages available to choose from. Any body interested should contact Jane on 01933 652000 for details.
- The next supporters’ group meeting has been set for 15/9/04, when it is hoped to be able to give some news on the supporters’ attendance at the board meetings & hopefully to meet with Lindleys.
These meetings rely on two way communication & if there is anything you feel should be discussed with the club, be it a suggestion, a question, or a problem, please let either Pigman or myself know via the message board or e-mail Jane at the club directly, jane.corby@airwair.co.uk & these can be discussed.
Don’t forget if you want to avoid sitting in the car park queues to get out, you could always stay behind after the match, for 20 minutes to give us a hand to clean the stadium, this help is greatly appreciated by the club.
Cheers,
AD.
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