Who exactly are the Yellow Fever?
DAVE BURGESS
Just what is the Yellow Fever fan club? How do you become a member? What happens to profits from their merchandise?
These questions stem from a conversation with a non-footballing friend who asked me if I was a Yellow Fever member.
I have a club membership. The membership card says Yellow Fever Zone. That’s good because I like to stand, sing, and shout my support.
It certainly makes me part of the Yellow Fever crowd but does it make me part of the fan club? Or is the club, as has been suggested to me, simply a website forum?
Well, for sure, it’s a bit more than that. Yellow Fever Ltd is a registered company with one director/shareholder and two other shareholders.
What I also know is that Yellow Fever Ltd management, or their representatives, get to decide what is written on a giant banner traditionally unfurled before games. They get to submit articles for the Nix programme. They get to organise trips to games outside Wellington. They get to represent the fans with stadium management. They get invitations to media events.
Good on them.
Then comes the Yellow Fever merchandise, primarily t-shirts such as the Retro-Ricki.
There are new t-shirt designs every season. They are sold in shops such as Ryos. They’re as classy as a Hernandez free kick. I own three different styles.
Does the merchandise make a profit and if so where does that profit go?
It’s time for the Yellow Fever to have a transparent leadership structure and to insist on memberships.
Having a website forum so fans hiding their identities can spread whatever rubbish they want doesn’t cut it as a fan club. All fans deserve a voice but they should be clearly identifiable.
Wellington Phoenix Football Club needs to play a larger part in Yellow Fever operations. For example, it should take a lead from AFL teams which hold BBQs for official fanclub members. They do that because they know without fans, there is no club.
Yellow Fever-founders rightfully received plaudits for creating a good atmosphere at the Cake Tin after the club formed in 2007. But more than six years later and the time has come to step it up a level.
I have never signed a Yellow Fever membership form or paid a membership fee. As far as I’m aware, no one else has either. Ask me and I’d do both – so long as there is transparency of operations and management.
I love the Phoenix and being part of the Fever crowd but these are valid questions that demand some clear answers
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/budgie-on-the-ball/9459134/Who-exactly-are-the-Yellow-Fever
Why do they 'demand clear answers'?
This is not a publicly run company that files reports with the SX. Get your hand off it.
Its a fan group pure and simple and some people have chosen to give it a bit of 'organisation' (read: shambles)
No one is forced to sign up, no one is forced to pay anything. I would hazard a guess that pretty much everything is done on a volunteer basis to give others enjoyment and any cash that comes in from merchandise etc, covers costs and thngs like server maintenance, domain registration, bandwidth. The podcast equipment broke - who pays for the fixing of that?
What a dickhead. Why does something that we enjoy have to be pulled down by an article like that. So what if the 'YF exec' happen to make $20k each. It does not bother me in the slightest and would not begrudge them that for the time and effort put in.
This guy should focus on writing an article thats about a real issue.