If people want to tell the Phoenix of their dislike (I'm sure they are aware of it), their email address is phoenixadmin@wellingtonphoenix.com
Just went to send an email and this is what I got.....
"This email message cannot be delivered to phoenixadmin@wellingtonphoenix.com because the email address is no longer valid."
I kid you not.
Addendum, just went to the official site and it still has this address down as the contact address. Jesus wept.
PS, Here's what i had typed up to send. hopefully tomorrow I can get a proper email address to send it to......
"Below (in bold) is an email sent to you at the Phoenix from a long standing and passionate fan – Dave Lucas. I cannot disagree with a word of it and I wish to, in as strong a terms as allowed, to also register my complete disgust at the clubs handling of fixtures and fans. 4 “Home” games on the circus tour is 4 too many. It reads like a book – “How to lose friends and alienate Fans”.
Sorry but having not missed a game yet (121 in New Zealand) I fear my record is about to come to an end. Last season I took annual leave for every “home game” we had here, often to my wife’s annoyance. And to be honest, our home form was so abysmal that even I wondered if it was worth the effort and expense. Whether at Westpac or in the other centre’s. As a father with two children and a wife, the financial travelling costs tested the marriage. Not every Nix fan whom likes to attend the games, is a single high earner. Sadly, the player performances did not match the efforts put in at great expense and travel time (I drove to Auckland and happily took the Nix banners up there).
I have noticed that our attendances in our games in other centre’s have declined over the last few years and I now seriously question the novelty factor. It has worn off. If, after 10 years, other centre’s have not heard of the Phoenix, then something is seriously amiss. If our sponsors want to have more games in Auckland, let them start up a team up there. Sure we need sponsorship but what would the club rather have? Happy loyal fans or money? Winning will bring fans back, Sponsors come and go on a whim. I really hope the club have not sold out to 30 pieces of silver. Otherwise change the club name to the New Zealand Phoenix and play each home game at a different centre.
The amount of effort and one dimensional thinking over the last 7 years is amazing. Fans have been constantly threatened (& that is exactly what is was) with, “If the attendance’s do not improve we will move games to other centre’s”. The club could always try and build the Wellington fan base more. The $10 tickets were a good idea, the $10 parking under the stadium was a good idea – till it went up 50% last season. Everyone knows that Westpac stadium is shark except for Fran Wilde, so the club are going to have to come up with ways of getting bums on seats.
The YF have been doing their bit with the “Save the Nix” membership campaign. And to be honest, having extra games away from home is a kick in the teeth. Those memberships will be going to waste and I can predict, that they will drop as a result.
Another issue is the ridiculously long gaps between games at Westpac. The club did not capitalise on it when we did have a game every two weeks at the latter part of last season.
As if it isn’t hard enough putting up with 7pm Sunday night games usually on holiday weekends or when Bathurst is on.
Dave Lucas is right. Time for a concentrated effort on getting the locals there. We have 4 more years to get the base numbers up, playing these circus games is NOT going to achieve that.
Should I end up missing my attendance continuum, it will be a very sad day for me personally. I believe I am currently the only fan with 100% attendance. Something I am proud of, especially for the WELLINGTON Phoenix. It is not always about money and sponsors. It is always about fans otherwise you might as well grab the money and play in an empty stadium and save some on catering etc.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Wardle
PPS: here's what I got when I hit "send"...
Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:
phoenixadmin@wellingtonphoenix.com/
The format of the e-mail address isn't correct. A correct address looks like
this: someone@example.com. Please
check the recipient's e-mail address and try to resend the message.
