seating : Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:45 pm  

I have read this post with renewed interest and have to agree there are fors and againsts in all of it. I have gold seat membership this year and will not be renewing it next year. It is a lot of money to pay in advance for seats I don’t particularly want to sit in. I understand the financial implications of all this debate and moving stands etc but at the end of the day it is my hard earned cash that I am spending and there are a lot of things you can do with an extra £300 per annum like a week’s holiday. I understand SKY has requested the move and because of the sums of money the club have agreed to it. But we as fans should have some form of consideration in the decision. |We do not own the club, we are not bigger than the club but without fans there is no club. How can you build a fan base when the long diehard fans are upset and walking away? A lot of fans did not renew season tickets this year and a lot are saying they will not renew next year. It is heard around the ground that the only way to show your displeasure is vote with your feet. I find this a very sad thing when our love of RL over a great number of years comes down to the decision of walking away. Can some form on compromise possibly be reached? Let the fans have allocated season tickets in the LV stand and unallocated in the East stand which would also double up with away fans. However on a SKY game all fans move to the East stand with the central seating allocated to season ticket holders on a first come first served seating arrangement and walk ups get tickets that are available and put the away fans behind the sticks at one end and schools and community clubs behind the sticks at the other end. This should look good on SKY with three stands fairly well occupied. I would not complain at moving for SKY games as I understand that our club like every other club in SL need SKY funds. We would not have to move seats very often in a season as SKY are very very shy of showing their face at the Stoop during the SL season. We are on for the second time this season tomorrow and there is no other activity with them planned for a further 6 weeks at least. So it makes it a very low ratio of movement. There would be no need to open the bar under the LV stand as there are bars in the ground, in the Jester and in the Kings areas so no extra expense incurred apart from a couple of extra stewards. What do other people feel? Is there a compromise to be reached? Do people have strong opinions? Is there a better atmosphere with noise from both stands? Or is it just a topic people can have a moan about but not really bothered either way?

: Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:48 pm  

Reasonable idea but it could never work in practice IMO. I don't think many believe that the club can justify opening both the LV and the East Stand. I think doing this for non-Sky games would be a poor move as well as often the Sky games are the "bigger" away followings (Wigan, Leeds, Hull).

The atmosphere in the single East Stand is good IMO and far better than last season.

: Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:50 pm  

And just out of interest, why are long diehards walking away? If this is to do with sitting in the East Stand rather than the LV then I would be very disappointed as the differences are marginal, especially for Gold season ticket holders such as yourself. However, it is perfectly understandable to not want to shell out £300 again as that is a lot of money and I would never considering paying such an amount in the first place.

: Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:30 pm  

Dont see why not being able to sit in the LV/lexus/the one on the other side from this one - would have any sway on my decision to come and watch the pro rl team i support

Can understand why someone would not want to spend gold prices to have to sit next to the away support though.
Keep the behind the goal stands open, its whats worked best in the past.

: Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:49 pm  

possible solution........
Open the Lexus and the south. Keep the Greene King bar open as well (behind the south) and open bar lorries at both ends.
Remove the "crap seat at the front" argument, but guess what....I somehow think we'd get complaints anyway
Might be a possibility.....but the biggest stumbling block is the position of the camera gantries.....facing the ....EAST.

: Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:33 pm  

Ive never understood fans who have experienced live top-level RL walking away from the only top quality RL club in England south of Wakefield. But they must have done it in their thousands over the years. Loyalty is something London/Quins really struggle with and is the one thing that has really stopped us growing. Every fan who has walked away from the club has made it that little bit less likely RL will ever succeed on a national level. I mean the clubs not perfect but its still the best sporting entertainment around by a mile.

: Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:39 pm  

Tre Cool wrote:

Ive never understood fans who have experienced live top-level RL walking away from the only top quality RL club in England south of Wakefield. But they must have done it in their thousands over the years. Loyalty is something London/Quins really struggle with and is the one thing that has really stopped us growing. Every fan who has walked away from the club has made it that little bit less likely RL will ever succeed on a national level. I mean the clubs not perfect but its still the best sporting entertainment around by a mile.

I have walked away and I am missing it. My decision is however justified in that the first home game I would have been to watch is 19 April and maybe I could then see only 3 more in the season due to Saturday kick offs.

So for me its no good. I either want to see the lot or none, I am not someone who can watch the odd game

Still reckon Saturday home games is bonkers and clearly not working so far

: Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:41 pm  

Chris Brown wrote:

I have walked away and I am missing it. My decision is however justified in that the first home game I would have been to watch is 19 April and maybe I could then see only 3 more in the season due to Saturday kick offs.

So for me its no good. I either want to see the lot or none, I am not someone who can watch the odd game

Still reckon Saturday home games is bonkers and clearly not working so far

Bonkers because people who prefer soccer cant go? RL fans should be our target market, and keeping them should be our priority after that. There are thousands of them in the SE who are exiles, aussies, armchair supporters but dont come to watch us.

: Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:37 pm  

1st

have one Friday NIGHT game
have one Saturday NIGHT game
make the rest Sunday afternoon matches

2nd

the east stand for home support and either open HALF of the North or South stand for the away fans (still easy to steward)

3rd

Realise that part of the reason attendances have gone down is partly down to people losing jobs and tightening the purse strings. Attendances are down across the board.

: Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:40 pm  

YED79 wrote:

Realise that part of the reason attendances have gone down is partly down to people losing jobs and tightening the purse strings. Attendances are down across the board.

Good point. I think our crowds in particular will be hit hard due to the expense for many getting to the match, as a large proportion of our support comes from 20+ miles away.