Hawko
Tony Shaw (54)
I am so looking forward to this year's comp, I just can't wait. But there is one thing that just gets on my goat about the games at the SFS - that lots of the so-called supporters aren't real supporters. Last year in the game against the Hurricanes I took my seat and a bunch of business suits sat in front of me - 7 or 8 I reckon. One of them, before he sat down, opened his bag and pulled out a supporters jersey and put it on. The rest of them were dressed in every colour of the rainbow except light blue. Yes, you guessed it, the supporter in a jersey was a Hurricanes fan!
The Tahs management needs to get right onto this. The Reds management seems to have a great program in place to win back supporters, but they don't seem to need to fire them up. The Tahs management needs a whole marketing program to get the fans to act like fans - half the time you don't hear a peep from people unless someone is running in for a try.
So here's a few suggestions:
Get the game announcer to start a campaign to wear light blue clothing next time. This doesn't need to be politically correct - shame can be a great incentive. Doesn't have to be official gear, just the colours. Run half time competitions that are only open to people wearing sky blue.
Have people on the gates handing out cheap light blue plastic overshirts to anyone not wearing colours. Include a number in each one. At half time, draw a number and announce it. The person in the crowd who has that number has to hold up the number to signal and be wearing the jacket to win. The prize is a full set of Waratah clothing.
Get rid of kids playing at half time. The only people this enthuses is their mums and dads and its a lousy way to boost attendance numbers. It just sucks the oxygen out of the stadium. You need entertainment that fires people up, gets the blood circulating. Props in 100 metre races, rugby ball catching comps, scrums comps with only wingers as participants.
Tah man needs to be more prominent - abseiling from a helicopter, chasing a fake horse with a lassoo and tying it up when we play the Brumbies, jousting with a man in armour and putting him to the sword when we play the Crusaders, playing matador to a fake bull and downing him, chasing a shark with a big net around the oval, locking up Rebels in a cage, fun things that add to the pre-game excitement.
Reserve a bay of seats at the northern end of the stadium for a special supporters crew. Offer incentives to people to become part of the supporters crew (cheap season tickets and gift jersey and cap) and equip them with drums, chants and cheer leaders. Get WJ or some similar Tah nutter to lead. Then have a general mike to pick up on the supporters and put it through the PA while the game is on to encourage the rest of the stadium to get fired up too. People doubting the value of this should recall the "Wendell's a w......" chant in Brisbane 2006? Wendell liked it and it didn't put him off but it added immeasureably to the atmosphere at the game.
Get a ground announcer who is a real fan and and outgoing personality. Have him fire up the crowd pre-game and during the stoppages. Light hearted banter with opposition supporters, reminding them of their losses to date; geeing up the crowd with appropriate chants like "we want another one" straight after a try or "stay onside sivun" when we play the saders; that sort of thing. Doesn't have to be like the saffer announcer who called us pig-rooters, we Tahs are more refined (well most of us anyway). Have him interview old Waratahs pre-game but choose outrageous ones who are able to recall great previous games when we smashed whoever we are playing this week. Maybe interview Brock every week on what we need to do to win this week. That would add colour and life to the game experience.
Home games at OUR HOUSE, if its still called that, need to be an excitement experience for those attending and a real support to our team. My memory is that early super games had more atmosphere than the last few years, though that could I guess just be nostalgia.
So, Tah fans. Lets open up the forum to suggestions how to wake up the supporter base. What do you think?
PS. I know we are going to get suggestions from Reddy and other northern supporters about why the Reds don't need such a campaign at their stadium. Suggest you post these on the Reds thread.
The Tahs management needs to get right onto this. The Reds management seems to have a great program in place to win back supporters, but they don't seem to need to fire them up. The Tahs management needs a whole marketing program to get the fans to act like fans - half the time you don't hear a peep from people unless someone is running in for a try.
So here's a few suggestions:
Get the game announcer to start a campaign to wear light blue clothing next time. This doesn't need to be politically correct - shame can be a great incentive. Doesn't have to be official gear, just the colours. Run half time competitions that are only open to people wearing sky blue.
Have people on the gates handing out cheap light blue plastic overshirts to anyone not wearing colours. Include a number in each one. At half time, draw a number and announce it. The person in the crowd who has that number has to hold up the number to signal and be wearing the jacket to win. The prize is a full set of Waratah clothing.
Get rid of kids playing at half time. The only people this enthuses is their mums and dads and its a lousy way to boost attendance numbers. It just sucks the oxygen out of the stadium. You need entertainment that fires people up, gets the blood circulating. Props in 100 metre races, rugby ball catching comps, scrums comps with only wingers as participants.
Tah man needs to be more prominent - abseiling from a helicopter, chasing a fake horse with a lassoo and tying it up when we play the Brumbies, jousting with a man in armour and putting him to the sword when we play the Crusaders, playing matador to a fake bull and downing him, chasing a shark with a big net around the oval, locking up Rebels in a cage, fun things that add to the pre-game excitement.
Reserve a bay of seats at the northern end of the stadium for a special supporters crew. Offer incentives to people to become part of the supporters crew (cheap season tickets and gift jersey and cap) and equip them with drums, chants and cheer leaders. Get WJ or some similar Tah nutter to lead. Then have a general mike to pick up on the supporters and put it through the PA while the game is on to encourage the rest of the stadium to get fired up too. People doubting the value of this should recall the "Wendell's a w......" chant in Brisbane 2006? Wendell liked it and it didn't put him off but it added immeasureably to the atmosphere at the game.
Get a ground announcer who is a real fan and and outgoing personality. Have him fire up the crowd pre-game and during the stoppages. Light hearted banter with opposition supporters, reminding them of their losses to date; geeing up the crowd with appropriate chants like "we want another one" straight after a try or "stay onside sivun" when we play the saders; that sort of thing. Doesn't have to be like the saffer announcer who called us pig-rooters, we Tahs are more refined (well most of us anyway). Have him interview old Waratahs pre-game but choose outrageous ones who are able to recall great previous games when we smashed whoever we are playing this week. Maybe interview Brock every week on what we need to do to win this week. That would add colour and life to the game experience.
Home games at OUR HOUSE, if its still called that, need to be an excitement experience for those attending and a real support to our team. My memory is that early super games had more atmosphere than the last few years, though that could I guess just be nostalgia.
So, Tah fans. Lets open up the forum to suggestions how to wake up the supporter base. What do you think?
PS. I know we are going to get suggestions from Reddy and other northern supporters about why the Reds don't need such a campaign at their stadium. Suggest you post these on the Reds thread.
