Phoenix Programmes

Hi guys, can I have a bit of clarification here please:

Do the Nix actually have MATCH DAY programmes on sale match day?  

I attended three Nix games (1st, 2 Reserve) while home.  I got complementary match day programmes at the ASBP games but could only find a SEASON programme when I went to the cake tin and I did look high and low for a Match programme with no luck.

They used to but I think it's just a season one now.

They've only done a season one this season. There were one off ones done for Auckland and Christchurch but even then I'm not sure how much the content differs.

That's very poor for a professional team when even amateur ASB Premiership clubs have a program for every game.

If Canterbury United (where I live) can bother to put one out with their much smaller budget, why not the Phoenix? 

There's something very half-hearted about this Phoenix campaign - just when they should be making more of an effort to attract the fans and add value to games.

The lack of an effort to strengthen a squad that is much weaker than last season's is the main failing though...

No January transfer signings is so half-hearted, the management might as well lie down and have a nap the rest of the season...

Was it the Nix's choice? Do other A League clubs have weekly match programmes this season?

Has anyone sighted a match programme this year?  I seem to keep missing them.

There was one that covered 2 games and that was it.

Too be honest how many of them actually sold? If the Nix weren't making money on them I don't fault them for not selling them anymore, personally I never brought them and would only maybe buy a programme at events for special occasion/games.

I think programmes are a bit of an outdated concept as before they use to be used to tell stories about the clubs and players and things like that but now a days with everyone having smart phones on them and Nix putting stuff out on social media are they really needed? Its a bit different to your local team where randoms can turn up to watch and follow there clubs and the social media isn't used compared to A-league clubs (I do realise some local clubs use Social Media very well). With the Nix, you can find out on Facebook and Twitter etc what the game line up is going to be and it is less likely to be wrong than a programme printed a day ahead of time. 

Stories about the players are posted all the time, you can watch videos on Facebook or Snapchat on what they are doing, its not that the club is being slack, its just that they are moving with the times.

In the US, for example, there is a generic programme obviously put together by the league [I'm talking NFL here] with a match specific insert in the middle. I would buy one because it was a one off visit but you wouldn't think the regular punter would bother buying one would you? These things had huge national advertisements etc so probably paid for themselves. I can't remember if they cost or were free but I would have bought one anyway as a one off.

Maybe they should be doing Annuals, with a collection of stories, pics, results etc etc at the end of the season. I'd buy that for a dollar.

There have been several programmes this season; The one on opening day covered first 2 home games (Melb City & Syd), pretty sure there was one for the Newcastle game (which also was supposed to cover Victory). We then had 2 months without a game a Westpac, and for Adelaide, CCM & Victory,  there were individual match programmes. These were much simpler - 1 article, kids puzzle, & team lists on back, and the whole thing unfolds into a poster. 

Not to be seen at Brisbane game, which gave me a bad feeling; had worn lucky undies & T-Shirt from previous wins, but no programme. #SackTheNix

Hot take: Programmes are an outdated concept and I don't blame the club for saving costs by not producing them.

I agree and Capital Football has a regulation that all Central League and Capital Premier Clubs must produce a programme and some clubs spend a fortune producing about 30 copies of which about 20 are left laying about in clubrooms.

 So unless a club has either a contact who can print them for bugger all or else it can derive heaps of income from advertising, they are in my opinion a waste of money.

I find them very useful at club, Chatham cup and ss premiership games. 

Don't know if you are aware of what Eastern Suburbs do in the SSP .

At the gate you get a rudimentary programme with team sheets , welcome and coachs comment.

On an App or on the web you can download the whole programme which has a bit more club specific info and a real interesting series on their history by Paul Rennell.

Not sure I like it or not as I am a bit of an anorak and collect programmes.

Go to their website and you can get the programme downloaded.

At club and SS Prem level, I'd be happy with just an A5 sheet of paper with the two squads on them.

No need for all the coaches comment bullshark that only drives the cost of producing them up. Put that sort of content up on the club websites.

So do I need to burn my anorak Patrick ?

I read an article on In The Back Of The Net about how nz football needs to be more hipster. I would definitely put printed programmes in the hipster column these days, you watch them make a comeback!

I really enjoyed writing the YF piece each home game when they did Nix programmes.

They were going to do monthly ones but then scrapped the idea after the first one.

I agree with Tegal though - it's super useful to have team lists at Chatham Cup and local games particularly for live tweeting or match write ups. Maybe a whole programme is a bit much but I like it. I like reading the cringy coach comments and the update of where all the clubs teams are sitting.

I'd love to see a match day programme with a song sheet in it!

ironically that was originally a column for the Eastern Suburbs match program!

I love match programs (shamless plug for the piece I wrote on them last season)

at the A-League level and other bigger leagues I can understand the move away from them as Social media becomes much more prevalent, and also the leagues start to supply templates so they all look the same, just with different colours and they will always peddle the official line. The Premier league in england pioneered this which was part of the reason for the explosion of fanzines in the 90's.

At local level they are still great and I think needed. I have noticed a lot of clubs have started to make them into club magazines rather than just for the first team. But they are quite labour intensive so you need someone keen to be doing it (and using the contacts in your club to get design and printing done for free also helps) 

I still think the Phoenix should produce an A4 version of the team lineups, it would be reasonably easy to get a sponsor and hand out for free to people as they entered

I actually weirdly really enjoy reading the write ups of other teams in the clubs too, including social teams. It's really interesting and gives a great feel for the club as a whole, instead of just the first team. I think Island Bay do it, but not many others do that I can think of from the top of my head, which is a shame (I understand the cost and time it takes, so that's not a criticism). 

I still find it hard to think that A League clubs are moving away from them.  Yes you get lots of info on the net but you can't beat sitting down and reading one while waiting for the game to start.  I get the same enjoyment out of reading one from a top tier league (Prem, Bundesliga) right down to my home town club Ngaruawahia AFC.

I think the Nix and posswible other A League sides are a bit lazy when it comes to the match day experience football aside...

Also, if virtually all pro clubs in Europe, even in places like Finland with their small budgets and crowds can put out something cheap and half decent, then the Nix should be able to do it too.  

Lets not forget its an easy revenue stream.  I went to four matches  and a play-off final in 2016, where all the programmes sold out, so if done right will pay for itself.

I think you and about 6 other people get this enjoyment. I'd say the reason they've stopped doing them is because not enough people actually bought and read them. Simple as that. You can get the same enjoyment sitting down and looking at the lineup on twitter, seeing the players warm up on snapchat, discuss the match on the YF forum or Facebook groups. 

A fair few older fans like them, they give you something to read before the game, halftime and at work during your lunch break.

clearly not enough older fans like them. 

They're typically not very accurate though. Getting accurate team lists seems to be a step too far for local clubs (I understand the reasons behind it).

additionally you need people to sell or distribute them at the game

maybe the programs need to be free then - it's still an important part of any club I reckon and length isn't an issue as you can link to online versions but it's engagement with fans that's special to match day.

maybe the problem isn't that they are not very good, but more that people don't want to pay for them?

I don't see the benefit when that information (and much more) is made available online. I see a lot of wasted time and money as people take them and don't read them, or not that many are given out anyway. Plus you have to employ people to hand them out. 

I don't see how they are so important to a club? Except maybe as a memento for a special occasion - like a home playoff perhaps. 

iirc they were $5. Anybody who would get any meaningful worth out of them would've purchased one at that price. So giving them out for free shouldn't make much of a difference. 

I guess we agree to disagree.

On the cost - $5 is kind of pointless, it's not gonna be a revenue stream or cover costs so why sell them?  If it was a extensive magazine then sure charge but if it's 4 pages of A4 folded in half then naaa.

Employ kids from local clubs each match day to hand them out - pay them in tickets or grass root grants to the club - creating the program would take no time at all once a template is done - like you say most of the data is online already so no real work required.

not everyone wants to use their phone - yes it might be 50/50 or even 60/40 in favor of electronic media but what do the 40% do?  

This isn't a criticism of the Nix but just a comparison of printed vs social media - sometimes you can move with the times too fast.

I'd say it's a lot more than 60/40 split. 

If things are free people take them without thinking, even if they don't get all that much enjoyment out of them. It's literally wasted money. Making them $1 would probably be better. But I still don't see thousands buying them. I suspect the reason the nix stopped doing them, is because nobody was interested in them. Nobody was buying them, nobody was mentioning them as integral to their matchday experience in all of those surveys they did. 

Some local clubs put their programmes on their web sites which will become the norm in the next few years.

that would at least make it easier for them to change the programme if they get their team lists wrong. 

$3 for the programme this season was good value for money as it had the full squads etc in it. Tracey's articles last season were good to read and I also liked Piney's input.

When they are free I'll get them and read them before a match.  When they cost money I only buy them when I have no idea who the line-up is like central league matches or for once off deals like the football United tour.

Not everyone is online.  Let's not alienate our older generation of fans.  Nor our younger ones who don't have their own cellphone or computer for that matter.

For me,  print 100, make it one sheet of A3 and sell them at the Phoenix store on match day.  No added person needs to be employed, nor do they have to stand out in the rain with said  match programme.