Without a doubt the internet Forum as become the most focused medium for sporting fans around the world.
The net forum based fans in the UK have a fantastic affiliation with their clubs and are active in the clubs social and welfare oragnisations, to the point where they fund raise and organise groups to assist import players who are coming to their clubs. I know of a few players who have been presented with TV's, washers or dryers, microwaves, kids cots etc when arriving in the the UK at their new club , these are presented by the FANS, and these groups formed,and live in NET forums.
There is a forum tag footy comp that runs parrallel the the UKSL, yes folks you heard it right ! before the matches the Hull Irrelgulars as they are known for example play a match against the Castleford net team, on the pitch before first grade !
The clubs overthere have embraced Footy forums for what they are, modern fan clubs and communication lines for fans who without the forums would never meet, never travel together, and never share their passion for their football club.
My question is, do NRL clubs undertsand the power , asset, and tool that net forums are ? are our NRL clubs modern enough and aware enough to realise this or are they still putting their heads in the sand with no idea just how powerful the net force is ?
The positives that can be drawn from the tool that is net forum groups are huge for a club, they can have a cheap was of gaining almost blanket focus for their number 1 demographic, their fans. Communication and information can flow freely and quickly, so much so that many UK based forums are too overloaded with club and team content for even the most ardent fan to use.
Since the well publicised issues a few years ago when some people took offence to some comments made on league forums in this country, our clubs seem to be happy to leave it at that and pretend these forums don't exist. ( i generalise, I believe one or two clubs still have forums).
In the old days, fans did their opinionating and talking out loud in the pubs after the games, during the week, at lunch in the playground. It was okay then for any fan to call the coach a nuffy, the captain past it, the hot dog stand over priced , the board a bunch of fools for letting go the star, the club cheap for not spending on advertising, The journo a clown for not giving ones club enough credit,or the ref a clown for, well, just being a ref.
Unfortunately our clubs, our game in this country seems stuck in the old days, and seeing fans talk about these things in the " modern" way, net forums, is too close to the bone, too black and white, too well thought out, and more to the point, holding too much substance.
But I ask again, how long can they keep belittling net based fans and their forums in this country, how long can they keep refusing to accept that it's part of life and will remain, and beging embracing it rather than lurking ? how long can they keep conceitedly fobbing the forums off ?
A little harnessing and the supporter base of a club can be united and given huge power to genuinely assist and be a part of the club in so many ways. Like I said, it happens in the UK, it needs to happen here. I'm not suggesting at all that forums opinion on selecting a team is saught ( although perhaps SHOULD be
) but harnessing the power of this fantasic group of sharks fans would be SO easy and so cost effective for some of the following ideas that I have listed below :-
* unifying and focusing away match travel and seating
* Organising fans tributes and thanks to players who are leaving or reaching milestones
* Organising and focusing fans that care when a player at the club finds himself in financial hardship or personal hardship through injury or otherwise
* Organising and focusing of shark fans that care about other community matters and may seek to offer some support/charity under the banner of sharks fans
* Organising and harnessing the fan base for club support when a show of support is needed, like, for example......a DA application at council. not all sharks fans are members and a far greater support base could have been reached had the club used the forums as a vehicle......it took frenzy and others to get that going here.
* informing the fans of weekly events or any weekly theme or direction ebing taken for home games, this can harness better home ground support, ie the Nulla boys song or chant of the week etc etc. I KNOW this works, in the UK the entire forum was aware that one aussie player was making a debut the coming weekend, and from the forum, they knew his nickname and the chants and things that were called out to him by aussie fans when he was here. When he ran out the place rang out with his nickname being chanted. Thats just one example.
Anyway, I'm sorry to go on about it, but I reckon the nuffies at our club need to think about biting the bullet and harnessing the bloody fantastic blue black and white support that everyone in this place bleeds for the club.
The net forum based fans in the UK have a fantastic affiliation with their clubs and are active in the clubs social and welfare oragnisations, to the point where they fund raise and organise groups to assist import players who are coming to their clubs. I know of a few players who have been presented with TV's, washers or dryers, microwaves, kids cots etc when arriving in the the UK at their new club , these are presented by the FANS, and these groups formed,and live in NET forums.
There is a forum tag footy comp that runs parrallel the the UKSL, yes folks you heard it right ! before the matches the Hull Irrelgulars as they are known for example play a match against the Castleford net team, on the pitch before first grade !
The clubs overthere have embraced Footy forums for what they are, modern fan clubs and communication lines for fans who without the forums would never meet, never travel together, and never share their passion for their football club.
My question is, do NRL clubs undertsand the power , asset, and tool that net forums are ? are our NRL clubs modern enough and aware enough to realise this or are they still putting their heads in the sand with no idea just how powerful the net force is ?
The positives that can be drawn from the tool that is net forum groups are huge for a club, they can have a cheap was of gaining almost blanket focus for their number 1 demographic, their fans. Communication and information can flow freely and quickly, so much so that many UK based forums are too overloaded with club and team content for even the most ardent fan to use.
Since the well publicised issues a few years ago when some people took offence to some comments made on league forums in this country, our clubs seem to be happy to leave it at that and pretend these forums don't exist. ( i generalise, I believe one or two clubs still have forums).
In the old days, fans did their opinionating and talking out loud in the pubs after the games, during the week, at lunch in the playground. It was okay then for any fan to call the coach a nuffy, the captain past it, the hot dog stand over priced , the board a bunch of fools for letting go the star, the club cheap for not spending on advertising, The journo a clown for not giving ones club enough credit,or the ref a clown for, well, just being a ref.
Unfortunately our clubs, our game in this country seems stuck in the old days, and seeing fans talk about these things in the " modern" way, net forums, is too close to the bone, too black and white, too well thought out, and more to the point, holding too much substance.
But I ask again, how long can they keep belittling net based fans and their forums in this country, how long can they keep refusing to accept that it's part of life and will remain, and beging embracing it rather than lurking ? how long can they keep conceitedly fobbing the forums off ?
A little harnessing and the supporter base of a club can be united and given huge power to genuinely assist and be a part of the club in so many ways. Like I said, it happens in the UK, it needs to happen here. I'm not suggesting at all that forums opinion on selecting a team is saught ( although perhaps SHOULD be
) but harnessing the power of this fantasic group of sharks fans would be SO easy and so cost effective for some of the following ideas that I have listed below :-* unifying and focusing away match travel and seating
* Organising fans tributes and thanks to players who are leaving or reaching milestones
* Organising and focusing fans that care when a player at the club finds himself in financial hardship or personal hardship through injury or otherwise
* Organising and focusing of shark fans that care about other community matters and may seek to offer some support/charity under the banner of sharks fans
* Organising and harnessing the fan base for club support when a show of support is needed, like, for example......a DA application at council. not all sharks fans are members and a far greater support base could have been reached had the club used the forums as a vehicle......it took frenzy and others to get that going here.
* informing the fans of weekly events or any weekly theme or direction ebing taken for home games, this can harness better home ground support, ie the Nulla boys song or chant of the week etc etc. I KNOW this works, in the UK the entire forum was aware that one aussie player was making a debut the coming weekend, and from the forum, they knew his nickname and the chants and things that were called out to him by aussie fans when he was here. When he ran out the place rang out with his nickname being chanted. Thats just one example.
Anyway, I'm sorry to go on about it, but I reckon the nuffies at our club need to think about biting the bullet and harnessing the bloody fantastic blue black and white support that everyone in this place bleeds for the club.
