Clash of fixtures

I will be at the Merthyr game, however it is a shame that the game clashes with the Wales rugby game, there are a number of Supporters who will not be at the game on Saturday due to the clash, so there will be a reduction in the crowd and that is something we can ill afford. Is there no flexibility or a way early on in the season that we can plan our fixtures/ko times around such clashes if the other team is amenable?

We are lucky that Cardiff, Swansea and Newport are not playing at home. I'm sure there will be a few fans who are not interested in the rugby making their way up.

MattMartyr87 wrote:We are lucky that Cardiff, Swansea and Newport are not playing at home. I'm sure there will be a few fans who are not interested in the rugby making their way up.

Yep, agree Matt, I'm hoping for a good crowd of 500+, The players and Management deserve that after their superb performances away from home over the last three games.

I'll be at PP on Saturday (b***s to the rugby). If it was an earlier K.O. I'd still be in work.
Nocturnalme asked about the kick-off time last week, as last year the K.O. time of the Didcot game was altered to accommodate the rugby.

As I said I will be there, however taking on board your comments 500+ is great compared to all other teams at our level and the fans must be applauded for that, although it must be said that there are many reasons why fans fail to attend games and this is one that may have been avoided or is it?

I was reading a Blog a few weeks back about a non league club possibly introducing Friday night games. I'm not 100% sure if that would work for us mind. Ah well I'm glad I'm out of Cardiff when the rugby is on

When considering rearrangememt of kick off times we have to take account of match day sponsors so there would be some difficulty in meeting every ones needs

Admin wrote:When considering rearrangememt of kick off times we have to take account of match day sponsors so there would be some difficulty in meeting every ones needs

Yeah.

MattMartyr87 wrote:I was reading a Blog a few weeks back about a non league club possibly introducing Friday night games. I'm not 100% sure if that would work for us mind. Ah well I'm glad I'm out of Cardiff when the rugby is on

I listen to the bbc non league podcast whilst im in work, hating life haha, one of the regular panellists (it may have been Swampy of FC UTD) asked a question to the Chairman of Stockport about playing games on Friday nights because they used to get bigger crowds when they were a league club and used to do that, they still get huge crowds in non league terms mind. The Chairman (or whoever he was) of Stockport said they wont be going back to Friday night games(regardless of how popular they were) because younger people/kids cant watch those games, and the future of the club lies with the youth.

Benji wrote:

Admin wrote:When considering rearrangememt of kick off times we have to take account of match day sponsors so there would be some difficulty in meeting every ones needs

Yeah.

I couldn't have put it better myself.

Forget about the PART-TIME, ARMCHAIR, Egg-Chasers, Football is all about watching games at 3:00 on a Saturday. All true Martyrs will be there tomorrow to cheer the Team to victory & one step nearer to Promotion.

MattMartyr87 wrote:I was reading a Blog a few weeks back about a non league club possibly introducing Friday night games. I'm not 100% sure if that would work for us mind.  

ENTO Aberaman, now Aberdare, tried this a number of years back.  It worked for them.  But that is, of course, a different club with different circumstances.  I suspect that their support is overwhelmingly local.  With Merthyr it  is more of a mix. I suspect Friday evening games would gain a number of new faces but at the same time make it difficult (maybe impossible) for those who travel from out of the area on public transport. Plus shift workers.

Just trying to be constructive,
There have been many opinions given as to why we are unable to accommodate a suitable solution to the International match day problem, with some saying the loss of paying egg chasers will just have to be accepted, personally I think that any way we can maximise the footfall to the ground on international match day may be possible and help towards our financial security, like looking at the International fixture list at the start of the season and rearrange our home and away fixture with those teams in mind and if it is acceptable appeasing everyone with no financial loss.

Twyn Jasper wrote:   ...looking at the International fixture list at the start of the season and rearrange our home and away fixture with those teams in mind and if it is acceptable appeasing everyone with no financial loss.

I'd be surprised if that wasn't already being done. The trouble is that with the depressingly large number of rugby internationals there seem to be - plus the occasional football international - it must be very difficult to completely avoid the occasional clash during the season, with the wishes of other clubs and the requirements of the league having to be taken into account as well. And I think what 'Admin' is maybe getting at is that sponsors may prefer Saturday games to evening kick-offs so their views have to be taken into account as well - there must be significant income from match sponsorships.

And it's the Southern League who arrange the fixtures not us.

Old Sod wrote:And it's the Southern League who arrange the fixtures not us.

How do we or others sometimes have early kick off's? there must be some flexibility, I am not talking about going against the wishes of sponsors as the swapped games would still be played on a Saturday but not on our home international day, once again I will add I will be at Penydarren Park.

I think this is the first time this season we have clashed with a rugby international on a Saturday.In past years the rugby was always on a Saturday afternoon so perhaps we should not complain to much.Lets hope for a fine sunny day where supporters will want to get a bit of fresh air and not be stuck at home or in some club and support the martyrs

We have experimented with early kick offs in the past and when you compare the "gate" with the usual kick off time you'll find that there's very little difference.  With the 5 game a year egg chaser watchers you'll find that they are usually there for the beer as opposed to sport and irrespective of what we do you'll never tempt them up to PP. 

Traditionally evening games always produce low crowds with transport problems and work commitments and we would lose revenue from sponsors.  In addition any change to kick off times has to be made in agreement with the opposition and sometimes they don't agree.

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned football is a game to be played at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon - unless it's a prearranged midweek fixture of course.

I must admit Victorian Pitch, that I will be going to the egg chasing purely for the beer...after all football is a game intended for gentlemen played by Bridgwater, and rugby is a small school just outside Coventry.....whilst I would prefer to see the return of the Prodigal Dai tomorrow at the CiggE ...I am obliged to quaff free beer with the family in Caerdydd ....dew it's hard....Boz

Boz1964 wrote:I must admit Victorian Pitch, that I will be going to the egg chasing purely for the beer...after all football is a game intended for gentlemen played by Bridgwater, and rugby is a small school just outside Coventry.....whilst I would prefer to see the return of the Prodigal Dai tomorrow at the CiggE ...I am obliged to quaff free beer with the family in Caerdydd ....dew it's hard....Boz

Have a good time Boz.  From what I hear you deserve it.  At least you'll be so p****d you'll probably think that you're at PP anyway.  Try not to imitate our Bridgwater friends or you'll be falling down every few yards - mind you, at the end of the day you probably will be falling down anyway.  I trust Ggggggranville will be at his spiritual home?

Correct...I assume the new car park will be open all hours for him....Boz

Attendance today of 681. Says it all.

4mad.anubis wrote:Attendance today of 681. Says it all.

Yep, totally agree, proves we can play on a Sat at 3:00 when the rugby is on TV & also in future forget about changing days or kick off times to accommodate a few Egg-Chasers.

681 fantastic turn out and a cracking game, I know quite a few who decided to watch the Rugby, their loss in my opinion, with gates like that I think we can manage, looking at our lowest gate 305 it is still higher than the best gates of 11 other teams in our league.

Our gate of 681 was the best in the Southern League yesterday better than Kettering v Hanwell ( central ) 656, and Corby v Banbury ( premier) 606.