2016/17 Phoenix Fixtures - Saturday Night Fever

fixed

Wasn't that Dunedin game was actually a Brisbane Roar home game?

That could be part of the answer, is getting the FFA to talk other teams into playing a "home" game in another NZ city. When the Warriors play in Wellington it's not their home game

1 was.

But that's up to the clubs.  NRL clubs bring home games here because they sell like hot cakes, well they do when the Warriors aren't being pantsed. 

A league clubs won't do it if it's not in their best interests and the FFA wouldn't do it if booting us out is easier.

Where is the accountability within the management for leading us to this ultimatum?

Dome seems very cozy.

What the F is this shark?

If there is one thing I hate, its games outside of Wellington and not wearing yellow stripey for games in NZ.

As a member since the start of it all,  I can only state I hate the travelling circus effort. :(

 Many of us have not forgotton what we went through and lets not pretend its as precarious as some are suggesting or is that 4+3+3 just more BS. I would love to see the effort put in to promoting games in other centers repeated in Wellington because no way can people suggest the same effort is put in because it just isnt.Some of the YF guys have put more effort into promoting games than the Phoenix have.

As an aside i have attended two of the Football Festivals held in the Hutt Valley so far this season for the younger kids.You would have thought a great opportunity to get amongst the kids and promote the up coming season to heaps of their parents.But zilch nothing no sign of the Phoenix any where. Or is it strictly business know and unless their getting paid you dont bother.I await someone  to use the excuse but its the off season. 

Too much common sense and truth in your last two messages in this thread Steve.

I'm not sure what you mean by this - do you think that the club's A-league future is secure?

[Quote = the grapadura]

Would be nice to see the YF come out against the possibility of 4 games being taken on the road   but that seems unlikely give the views being expressed by some in this thread.

Not sure what people expect our home game crowds to be but its obvious they dont look at the attendances of the other main sports.The warriors base crowd seems to sit at around 12 to 14000 and until this season they have played most of their games at home. We still seem to think we should be attracting crowds just below that. What on the back of the results that have been served up to us over recent years.

Not sure how people expect the crowds to improve when we have been served up the rubbish we have and you keep the team away from home for extended periods all backed up by a limp marketing performance. No way can you say they have EVER put in a concerted effort over a season to attract fans.Sick of hearing the BS about it being good for Wellington getting people in Wellington invested in it then we get hit with the possibility of 4 games away.Feels like we have been conned along the way.

Is really one of those debates that will just go around in circles,

i have never been a fan of away home matches and have only ever travelled to one of them as it was only a 45 minute drive from home to the ring of dirt. i will not support them because i think they are wrong a home team should play at home. i do understand the reasons they need to play away matches and understand other peoples opinions on why they have to travel but as others have said you cannot grow a fan base if you have so many weeks or a month between home games.

i am not sure yet if i am going to renew my membership this coming season i may decide to go match by match instead of a season ticket, yes i know it will cost more (unless they sell $10.00 tickets after games again) and i will still go to all the games in wellington, but the home away matches i am happy to miss and watch them on the telly.

I thought the Huawei bay was always $10? But even without that, with the odd two for one game and the nix six pack it probably doesn't cost much more than a season pass.

I wonder if the club reads this forum? They'd be mad not to - it's an easy way to get the pulse of the most passionate members of the fan base.

It's clear there isn't going to be agreement on this then at least it occupies the off season.LOL

I think this has already been mentioned, it's better than no club at all. I understand the 'build a supporter base' argument and fully agree with it, but do we know this is entirely a decision from the Nix management? For all we know taking more games around NZ could have been a condition of getting the license extension. While it is completely shark for us in Wellington and I'm not happy about it, I don't really know what we as supporters can do if the major reason for taking more games away is commercial and sponsorship factors, especially in the short term. Long term, if we were getting 15k-20k per game then I don't think there would be the need to take these additional games away, or any games away for that matter. So the way I see it is if Wellington turned up in bigger numbers more regularly instead of one or two games a season, then it would put pressure on the other cities to produce similar crowds or risk not having games as all, which isn't really fair on those of us who turn up week in week out regardless

The overwhelming  message in here is we can understand the need to take some games away.

Four, as pretty well everyone has said, is stupid. Yes there may be sponsorship reasons but we just do not know. There is a void of information.

I remember a time when the Fever was not afraid to act and publicly state a position to the club. Hell if nothing else it may get a straight answer out of Dome on why it is has to happen if indeed it is happening at all.

I too am surprised at how accepting some are of this. It seems the the same old solution wheeled out every year is we have to have games away from Wellington to make money and spread the word. Well after 10 years the word should be well spread around the country and the attendances at those away games have plateaued out now, regardless of where they are being played.

Steve is right, how are you going to develop your home fan base by carrying on with the travel. This is NOT the New Zealand Phoenix. The Wellington part is meant to be our identity. If I was a sponsor, I would be livid that my brand was not getting the treatment I am paying for. Too many drinks between games with assist the fairweather fans to not be bothered and new fans not to bother starting. 

The publicity or visual efforts within and around wellington really is abysmal and some of this is the Phoenix's own fault as well as that of the local bodies whom seem keen to jump on board for a photo opportunity when it suits but not really back the club.

If the team started winning again, the fans would return but for the last two seasons we have promised a lot and failed to deliver. The normal fan reaction, regardless of what center you are in. The Kingz & Knights are a classic example. I reckon if they had started off doing really well, their hardcore would not have dropped to around 900.

Kyle, Steve's plan seems quite obvious to me...and Jeffs too. By speaking up about it and telling others on here and the club that we are not happy. It certainly better than just saying "yep" and that's it.

Good on them for speaking up. And as these two fans have been here for the very long term, one cannot question their passion, loyalty and desire to see the club and the team grow and succeed.

Here I have borrowed someone elses quote which is apt for this thread.... "We can learn from anyone and anywhere but our minds must be receptive to taking on board new ways of doing things or sometimes of not being in step with the crowd."

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

Good stuff Dale/

The way I see it that info leaked so the Nix haven't had the time to explain its context yet, and with no info have to hope that after last years shark pile that there is an actual reason for the games (maybe its literally one of the metrics, and if it is then its this or no team).

It is what it is and we will just have to see what happens.  But if enough people ask politely via that email address we may get more info.

People (not just you, Drunk Monk) realise Dome is quoted in the FFT article, right?

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/news/nix-take-four-games-road?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fourfourtwo_autopost#:fC6u70VatGVWxA

How long did negotiations go on between Welnix and FFA? 12-18 months right? Don't you think 'more games out of Wellington' would have been thrashed to death? As I said earlier, Welnix were unable to sell them a better idea to meet croud metrix. I don't agree with it either, but at the end of the day both parties agreed to it.

More games out of Wellington, or no club? Not a tough choice i'd think.

True - but when does the club that we've supported for 10 years cease to be that same club?  When we get to one game per month in Wellington?

You have a job. A job you really like, despite  it being a bit shark at times. You're  paid $14 an hour. Your boss says unless we drop your pay to $10 an hour you may not have a job. Roll over and have your tummy scratched without even questioning ??? Just be happy you have a job.

We seem happy to Write statements supporting the rights of banned fans from other clubs but are unwilling to say we think it is a bit shark that up to four games will be taken away next season.

Will it be up to five or six next season?

In three years there may be "upto four" games actually played in Wellington.

You need to get paid more

Cheers Dale

Yes i get people saying if it isnt done we may not have a club.But if thats the case then bloody well tell us. If it was part of the deal why not mention it to the fans before just seems like it something they hope not much fuss will be kicked up over it.

I agree, even on something like this, the club are again doing fans a disservice. Not even mentioned in the latest email I received 2 days ago. Domey, please don't fall into the cliche where the only news you publish is the happy happy, joy, joy news. We New Zealanders like several things, truth being one and being straight is another. Bullshark is the sole preserve of Politicians.

With ST renewals starting very shortly we want to know how much we are going to pay. This year the club might have to do 2 season ticket prices, one that includes these away home games and one that has soley the Westpac ones.

Ummm who said we haven't said anything? Sometimes a private word is better than a public one.

There is a big difference between 'accepting it' and providing the context in which the club is operating. I'd love all 13/14 games to be at home. Probably everyone does. And I'm pretty confident the Phoenix know that. But I'm aware of the commercial realities for why that won't happen.

Good response dale, but what are the club going to do about growing our local fan base? a more concentrated effort would be nice to be seen and perhaps they are but as per some of the others on here, I fail to see too much in and around the Wellington region as per se.

Thank God we have this forum where we can mention these things. Whether we agree with each other or not. 

What I find particularly interesting is the belief from many posting here that they know much, much better than Welnix (let alone the FFA) how to promote the Nix and build big crowds at the RoF. Surely these people should be sending their CVs in to the directors of marketing.

For sure. You only have to live down here to see it everywhere. But for 10 years we have been following one way of doing things and have the crowds increased? Losing games at home is not the only hindence.

So how does people giving an opinion about this subject mean they should be sending their CVs guess you sent yours to club to help with their efforts with finding coaches then.

One thing that the club has to do better is communicate with fans. How often have we as a group put a lot of effort into a campaign that's led by the club only to kind of have it peter out because the club seems to simply forget about it. Save the nix being the latest but also the Petone Stadium. Some individuals put a heck of a lot of effort into promoting the nix and the club seem to take that for granted (and I'm not talking about myself, I do next to nothing other than moan on a forum). It's kind of an insult that they expect us to rally behind their cause and then just leave us hanging.

They really have to follow through with things.

I look at how other clubs, like CCM interact with their fans - at least until the last couple of years, and it's night and day to the effort that the nix put in. Things like live streaming of training sessions before Periscope was cool. Live online interviews with players that the fans can interact with tweeting the post match press conference, pre and post game interviews streamed online. It's clear that CCM send a marketing person with the team to all games and the level of engagement is much higher because of that. 

All we get is a weekly video that, while good, is not promoted and only ever gets a few views, and tweets from someone who is watching the game on TV at home (although the banter can be quite good). The club seriously needs to up their social network game and their community involvement.  The only time we ever get live video of training sessions is if there is something news worthy going on and Simon Hampton is down there doing it, nothing official from the club.

Okay may be being picky but it would have felt better if they had come out at the time of the announcement and said we got our 4+3+3 but the price we had to pay was 4 games away. I for one wouldnt have liked it but would probably have been more accepting of it than i am know..

Also frankly sick of hearing about attendances in Wellington when we have had very average marketing a team that has at times not performed and a public that is expected to stay loyal to team that is away from home for weeks at a time.

Would love someone anyone to explain just why an under performing football team should be dragging in crowds equal to or better than either of the oval ball codes.I dont get why there is this expectation.

I am looking forward to seeing the club putting a positive spin to Wellington fans losing 4 games and how they should rejoice such an event. Not everyone can travel.

I know my own efforts severely tested my relationship with my wife. Single people would not understand the wife and children situation. And not everyone is in a position to travel a lot.

However back to the main point. Why are the club not making a concerted effort to grow the home fan base instead of threatening to take games away from home if we dont show up. Ten years of that has not gone down well with this fan.

I sometimes think the FFA line is more an excuse .... My reading of the tea leafs is FFA wanted improvements across a range of issues that can be measured i.e crowds, ratings, NZ exposure etc.

The Nix management would have presented their plan to met the agree target numbers.... I doubt very much FFA would have had any involvement on day to day operational decisions and key marketing strategies or had any involvement in developing the plan  ... moreover they would have been presented a workable plan to analysis and determine if it was possible..

I feel very much for Nix fans as the Mariners also move games and it does hit you in the gut... The key difference eeerrrr maybe to strong to say key difference but certainly a difference has been reactions in both areas... on the Coast people said more than two and we walk away ... While accepting the financial position many formed the view when is a club no longer a club ... moving games meant it was no longer a club.

It is fuelled in many ways by when Manly and North Sydney RL clubs merged to form the Northern Eagles playing half their games at Gosford and half at Manly. History shows the Northern Eagles lasted less than two years and Manly moved back to Manly.. Feeling run deep that to be a local club you have to play local ... this could explain the difference in reactions.

But back to my main point my guess is FFA would have approved the plan rather than been involved in the development of home game schedule.