 Saturday, 23rd Feb 2008 09:27 When you attend the game today at Spotland you wil receive a book of vouchers that could enable you to become the club's first 'Superfan'. Here's Scrutator's view on the scheme. Supporters attending today will be baffled as to the literature they received upon entry at Spotland. To recap, each supporter has been given a book of five vouchers which entitles the holder to attend next week’s match v Chesterfield for £10. It is part of a recent series of initiatives by the club to attract more Rochdalians through the turnstiles. We all moan about this town being apathetic to its two professional sporting teams and it is. But, who can blame them? Why should they have spent their life paying good money to watch a traditionally bad team? All of which leads me to think that the initiatives are well timed. We might be better on our travels, but results aside we have shown we are capable of playing some really good football at home. Do not forget the performances we put in against Norwich and Stoke earlier this season. We need more of that to support the efforts of others in trying to bring more people to games. Rather than moan at those who choose not to come to matches, we fans can go one better now. We can stop moaning and can actually ask these people to come to the Chesterfield match – a fixture that is historically entertaining. We can extend a welcoming arm to these people backed up with a discount offer from the club. If they still choose not to give us a go, then we can moan like mad at them. But, we have got to do our bit first! In trying to encourage the fans to drag along anybody and everybody, the club have made this initiative into a competition where the fan who brings the most new faces into Spotland will become the club’s official SUPERFAN 2008. This means fans need to write down their details on the back of each voucher they hand out and a count up will reveal the winner the following week. The prize is mouthwatering. There are 12 elements to it, and they are: 1. SUPERFAN will have their own squad number for next season. This will also mean they have their own pen pic to appear in programmes when Dale play away. All this will come as a shock to the average Rochdale supporter. For so many years the club has been dormant in its attempts to woo the Rochdale public. The attitude that results alone dictate attendances is outdated. We have to accept that the era when that was true has disappeared and other leisure attractions compete with Rochdale for the masses looking for something to do on a Saturday. For those fans wanting to win, the ticket office has an inexhaustible supply of vouchers, but the general theme is that it would be nice if each supporter could bring 5 people with them to the match and introduce them to the traditional habits of a matchday at Spotland…..like leaving ten minutes beforehand when we go 2-0 down!! The attendance at the Chesterfield match will be an indicator of where we are at as a club in this town. We fans have become a sales team of 2500. If we cannot between us drive up the crowd when the team is playing well, then it will be time to go back to the Drawing Board! But if we add say 500, or even 1000, then it will be a success, especially if we win. No doubt other clubs will look to copy the scheme which is surely the first of its type in football. And when they’re all at it in five year’s time, we can proudly say that it was first done at Rochdale. And what is more important is that Rochdale did it best. So don’t throw away the literature the club gave you. Use it and bring your mates next week and let’s try and fill the ground up!
Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
   Derby County Polls[ Vote here ] |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.