when i was at Junior school in the early 80s we were bombarded with Hull FC stars popping to our school and taking on PE sessions , never in all that time did we gat a football player pop in . At Boulevard we never had a field so Football would be a far easier sport to co-erse bored kids into Thankfully we all organised our own football games on either Division Rd or Cunny St school , and ive only played 1 rugby game in my life :/
Bigger Stadium is the key. Once we have a stadium that holds 36,000 City can reduce prices for young supporters, hand out free tickets in schools etc. 57, Born in Hull, Never been to a rugby game in my life. Trouble is if I was a lad now I couldn't afford to go to Hull City games.
I can look at this from a personal point of view. As a kid i loved football but i had no adult influences on supporting teams (my dad wasn't into football). I remember asking for my first football kit prob about age 7 when asked what team I didn't really know but had just watched Liverpool with Barnes Beardsley Rush etc and thought they were brilliant so asked and got the Liverpool kit. It wasn't til i got a bit older i started to question my support of Liverpool and started paying some interest in city going to the odd game but really fell in love in the great escape year and haven't looked back since. When i look back i was close to being a life long Liverpool fan because nobody/ group/ from the club tried to get my support.
Certainly lost a generation to eggchasing in late 70s and 80's but conversely have attracted a whole new generation since 2002 when AP took us out of admin and into the KC. Need to build again though and will only do this by remaining in the PL for a decent period of time.
Yeah- we've just about equalised the support we lost in late 70s and 80s. But kids now have far more options than back then, so more effort is needed. Real effort. Every year. To keep them on board. Not just "Come and watch the stars at your local football ground" but a constant campaign to win their hearts and make them proud of their local club, so that they eventually become die hard fans who buy into the whole club and its identity. The club needs to reach out and show some real imagination on how it presents itself. We al know Brady is a dick but the way the club has dealt with him has been disastrous, and alienated many neutrals. Brady has positioned himself in the centre and manoeuvred Allam into the spoilt bullying rich man role. That is the perception of the average Hullensian who doesn't read beyond the headlines. A campaign to win hearts and minds is needed at all levels.
I rarely like to give Aussies too much praise however they are all over getting kids into their sporting organisations ASAP. AFL are the kings if this - free balls free tickets, exceptional marketing campaigns to parents and kids. Football is second, cricket third - rugby league and union struggle as they are perceived as sports that can injure kids more easily. But yes, the effort they make to get kids into their sport and clubs early is very impressive
City intend to start a Junior Supporters Club. The difficulty is IMO they have had to adapt to PL and that has to take priority.
That's because there's half a chance they'll fill it. When it comes to city filling a 35,000 stadium, there's no hope and Bob hope...and bob's long dead God rest his soul!
This is a really good thread. I think the points made by Agro are first class and do (at least to some extent) marry into some of the points I made in a thread the other day about player signings, where I said that team spirit was important. I'll admit that the connection may seem slim but I do believe that the impression that a team is "fighting for the City" is a key ingredient to on AND off field success. Anyway, I'm not suggesting that this factor is in any way a substitute - just an interesting side point -for the sort of professional PR campaign that people are talking about on this thread. I think it's essential to make the most of our current situation to build the support base. I can attest to the comments made by "tigerinsydney", the aussies are very good at marketing the game to kids. Not that I'd suggest adopting their entire strategy. A lot of AFL supporters claim - with much justification - that the game and the supporters experience has become a little too "slick" and sanitised.
I beliece the OSC are launching a juniors supporters club. They've also got a vote on goal music, to vote against it, go here... http://www.hullcityosc.com/ To vote for it, go here... http://www.giveyourheadashake.com/
Does the club still give passes to Schools, what got me going to watch city as a kid was I played for the school team and the master would rotate passes amongst the team, who could go and watch for half price using these passes. This got me as well as a lot of my friends started supporting, and I am still going 55 years later?
Whilst you make a few erroneous points I agree with the sentiment. Hull FC and Hull KR put Hull City to shame with their community and school outreach programs. To put RL's popularity in the city down to parents who defected from supporting city years ago grooming their kids is naive at best. We are in the best league of the most popular sport in the world, but this aspect of our club is pathetic compared to two mid-table teams in a minority sport. We have the product to sell, we just donât have people capable of selling it.
AFl is undoubtably the most watched sport in Australia, but Football and Cricket rank below Rugby League, Motor Sports and even Horse Racing in terms of attendance.
It's a start but surely that's only something that current young City fans will be interested, your not going to stop supporting Man U because suddenly there's a supporters club you can pay to join.
The evidence suggests its City who are pulling the crowds in not the tubbylards. Our average crowd since 2002 is about 18K, at least 3 times higher than BP for the previous 20 years, consistently over 10 years. Hull FC's crowd hardly grew when they moved to the KC despite disproportionate coverage by local media and all these school initiatives. RL has stagnated at both our underachieving clubs. Agree its no time to be complacent and we still need to get everyone bleeding black & amber from cradle to grave.
I'm not suggesting otherwise - but they are well ahead in terms of numbers of kids playing the sports. And the kids playing will become fans. Union and league are in trouble longer term in Australia in comparison to afl football and cricket
