Rebels 2013

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

virtually everyone i know down here can differentiate between rugby and league, and everyone i know are footy heads.
further - i dont know anyone that goes to league games, but have taken quite a few to rebels matches. with success, I am completely convinced the rebels would draw near to 20K to games against the chiefs, blues, crusaders and hurricanes and not far off that to the top Australian teams.

Further, i think a few saturday afternoon or night games would boost the attendance by a good couple thousand, but success is the key driver.

yes the storm got 17k to a game, but usually their figures are in the 9-14k range. the vast majority of afl fans that i know have an affinity for the wallabies and prefer union to league. the complexity of afl and its focus on skill and tactics lend to union and i think it is a natural 'partner'

rebels have made a big push for fans in years 1 and 2, i think the missing pieces are first and foremost success (when they strung a few high quality performances together last year, the crowds grew) and to a lesser extent getting some diversity in game times/days. However, a mate who works at the age in the sports team has said the feedback he has is that the rebels in years 1 and 2 were woeful at engaging the very large pacific islander community here a lot of whom live in the suburbs and can't make it to friday night games.
it looks like this is improving with vuna, PAE and the other islander rebels spending more time in the islander communities and mixing with the clubs who have strong islander connections.
bringing in that flying fijian would only help their stocks.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

That actually isn't true.

exactly. rugby has a very large shadow following in melbourne, success and games which allow a greater number of these shadow fans to make it out is the key.

the friday night strategy is flawed.

 

[boyo]

That actually isn't true.

So what Daz said is false?

My experience of Mexicans is that when you say "rugby" they think of mungoball.

 

[Dumbledore]

So what Daz said is false?

My experience of Mexicans is that when you say "rugby" they think of mungoball.

Yep. That is word for word what I said.

The majority of people down here know that Rugby and League are different sports. The problem is they don't really care about either of them.

 

[kronic]

So what Daz said is false?

My experience of Mexicans is that when you say "rugby" they think of mungoball.

The same can be said in the UK, depending on where you are. The so called home of the game.

 

[tranquility]

I live in Melbourne at the minute, and the differentiation of league and union is non-existent. Occasionally league even gets referred to as rugby in the paper! Their is also a store in Richmond called "Rugby Mania" or some such thing, and it sells plenty of league gear in addition to the Rah-Rah.

 

[blues recovery]

exactly. rugby has a very large shadow following in melbourne, success and games which allow a greater number of these shadow fans to make it out is the key.

the friday night strategy is flawed.

In relation to the continued attack on the Friday night draw, please consider the financial impact for a battling club.
Most corporate areas sell out for Rebels games at over 250 bucks a ticket
. You need to sell about 15 ga tickets to equal that return.
That means you need an additional crowd of about 8000 to equal the financial result.
Agree more balance needed with the draw, but would be nice for supporters to understand this position.

 

[Athilnaur]

My experience has been that plenty know there is two types, the majority just have no clue what the difference is. The rest are ex pat from nz sa qld or nsw. Still, there are a fair few (25%?) who actually know who the rebels are. Those ones are saying words 'you are a rebels fan? Brave to wear that lanyard!'

In Victoria, even more so than NZ if it's possible, there is only one game.

 

[jermano]

In relation to the continued attack on the Friday night draw, please consider the financial impact for a battling club.
Most corporate areas sell out for Rebels games at over 250 bucks a ticket
. You need to sell about 15 ga tickets to equal that return.
That means you need an additional crowd of about 8000 to equal the financial result.
Agree more balance needed with the draw, but would be nice for supporters to understand this position.

This will never expand the fan base.
Conversation with a mate, 'You should come and watch the Rebels'
' When?'
'Friday night after work'
'Sorry Fridays are no good for me'
'Oh. Well that is too bad. '

The Rebels need new fans through the gate, to buy merchandise and to spruik the word. If the same people are buying the corporate tickets, who is seeing the game for the first time? I understand the point of view but feel it short sighted. People who can afford these tickets week in, week out aren't stupid and must understand that larger crowds, new fans benefit everyone. Whereas the same 10000 people will never make this great game competitive in Melbourne.


Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk 2

 

[qwerty51]

Broadcasters want them on Fridays

 

[blues recovery]

Still reckon winning games is more important to developing the crowds than what night we play

 

[Dumbledore]

Still reckon winning games is more important to developing the crowds than what night we play

I agree with that, but I do think they need to mix up the scheduling a bit too. Have to try a few different things. A Saturday night game, Sunday afternoon. At least give it a go and see if it makes a difference.

 

[jermano]

Broadcasters want them on Fridays

Super Rugby is played by 15 teams on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Are you saying Foxtel wants only Rebels games on Friday? Or any game on Friday?

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk 2

 

[en_force_er]

My experience has been that plenty know there is two types, the majority just have no clue what the difference is. The rest are ex pat from nz sa qld or nsw. Still, there are a fair few (25%?) who actually know who the rebels are. Those ones are saying words 'you are a rebels fan? Brave to wear that lanyard!'

In Victoria, even more so than NZ if it's possible, there is only one game.

This. Everybody knows there are two rugbys, league and union, but they don't know which is which.

Usually the easiest way to explain it is "union is the one with the Wallabies which has the thing lift people to catch the ball and with real scrums, league has the storm".

Also, in Victoria everyone will call anything where multiple people push a scrum and will expect you as a rugby fan to get into the joke.

Person: "Oh pushing through that crowd was like a scrum, lol"
Me: "A scrum is a very specific structured part of rugby, you mean maul"
Person: *confused look*

 

[Braveheart81]

Super Rugby is played by 15 teams on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Are you saying Foxtel wants only Rebels games on Friday? Or any game on Friday?

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk 2

Foxsports wants their best game at 7:30pm on Saturday night. That is why the majority of them this year are either a Brumbies or Reds home game.

If you go back a few years, the Tahs used to have more Saturday night games. It was only last season after they'd been surpassed by the Reds as the best Australian side that they were allowed to have a couple of afternoon games. They now also have a lot more Friday night games.

This year the Tahs have three home games on Saturday nights. They are the two blockbusters against the Brumbies and Reds at ANZ Stadium and the Stormers game at the SFS. The B&I Lions game is also at the SFS on a Saturday night but that obviously isn't a Super Rugby game.

The Rebels will be stuck with the majority of their home games on a Friday night whilst they are one of the bottom couple of Australian teams. I think they should push to get a couple of early season Sunday afternoon games before AFL starts to provide some variety.

The Force are in a different position due to the time difference. They can have a Saturday night home game and it follows the blockbuster 7:30pm game which fits perfectly for Foxsports.

 

[TOCC]

Yes the time-slots for games is pretty structures... All times AEDT/AEST local, this is the standard breakdown:

Fri:
5:30pm NZ
7:30pm Aus(east coast)
9:30pm Aus(force)

Sat
3:30pm NZ
5:30pm NZ
7:30pm Aus(east coast)
9:30pm Aus(force)

Sun
1:30pm NZ
3:30pm Aus (East Coast)

In terms of priority for highest rating teams, sat 7:30 is the prime slot, followed by 7:30 Friday and then 3:30pm Sunday. Western Force will always hold down the 9:30 slot due to time zones which allows 6hours of uninterrupted live rugby on Fridays and 8 hours on Saturday.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

I agree with that, but I do think they need to mix up the scheduling a bit too. Have to try a few different things. A Saturday night game, Sunday afternoon. At least give it a go and see if it makes a difference.

totally agree. but a few satday games would help. just two out of 8 is all i ask.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Foxsports wants their best game at 7:30pm on Saturday night. That is why the majority of them this year are either a Brumbies or Reds home game.

If you go back a few years, the Tahs used to have more Saturday night games. It was only last season after they'd been surpassed by the Reds as the best Australian side that they were allowed to have a couple of afternoon games. They now also have a lot more Friday night games.

This year the Tahs have three home games on Saturday nights. They are the two blockbusters against the Brumbies and Reds at ANZ Stadium and the Stormers game at the SFS. The B&I Lions game is also at the SFS on a Saturday night but that obviously isn't a Super Rugby game.

The Rebels will be stuck with the majority of their home games on a Friday night whilst they are one of the bottom couple of Australian teams. I think they should push to get a couple of early season Sunday afternoon games before AFL starts to provide some variety.

The Force are in a different position due to the time difference. They can have a Saturday night home game and it follows the blockbuster 7:30pm game which fits perfectly for Foxsports.

thanks that is a good response and spells it out quite well

 

[KevinO]

totally agree. but a few satday games would help. just two out of 8 is all i ask.

I have to agree, 2 Saturday games and 1 Sunday game would be nice. Don't even mind having a Aussie Derby on Anzac day or playing a Easter Sunday 7:30pm game. Mix it up is all we really want.

Yeah Fridays are ok for me, I am able to go straight from work. Half the rugby players in Vic work construction, having a 7:30pm game on a Friday does not work well for them either.

I wouldn't mind if they made the kick off at 8:30pm on a Friday, at least I could go home after work before heading to the game. I think that 1 hour later kick off would gain you about 1000 in the crowd on just having the time to get to the stadium.

 

[swingpass]

as mentioned earlier one of the major pushes from the rebels was to capture the corporate dollar, tie in with the weary dunlop club and lunches, get the expat sydney, brisbane and os business community involved. friday works best for them i suppose. i also would like to see some saturday evening sunday afternoon games as well, but as already mentioned the foxsports schedule is given a significant priority, not to mention ground usage clashes with the storm, victory and heart.
winning a few games would be a start