Should Argyle be doing more to get younger people to Argyle?

I thought of this question the other day when I was speaking to someone who was in the Argyle development squad but said that he had only ever been to 2 Argyle games and he could only name one player in the first team (and that was Conor Hourihane).


If we get more children going to an Argyle match it will normally result in 1 more person going (a parent) which will ultimately mean more revenue for the club.

Whatever happened to the "kids go for a quid" with a paying adult?

Used to be quite popular at various football grounds around the country but rarely do you hear about those kind of deals these days.

aslong as they dont bring bvack forza nerde or move the family block into the devonport end again then yes absolutely the club should do more but its not just the kids its all walks of life that the club should be doing more to attract and keep.

mind you winning football helps

Winning football is all it needs, endless defeats allows fans to look for other interests.

Elias wrote:

Winning football is all it needs, endless defeats allows fans to look for other interests.

that and ridiculous prices for tickets and refreshments

Kids for a quid is good as would be handing out a bunch of free tickets (10? 20?) to local schools on a rotation basis. Schools could even raffle them to raise some cash for themselves.

Why try and attract a demographic who may or may not be interested in ten years time, when we need cash with increasingly important ramifications NOW, to ensure the club exists beyond the next two?

A football club can never do enough to attract young people. Whatever it does it could and should do more.

I think we do kind of OK in this regard to a certain extent. If a parent wants to get an ST for a kid it is only £75 (I think). I'd say this is competitive and affordable and I don't suppose reducing the cost to, say, £50 would make the deal more attractive in numbers enough to justify it. There's the family area for the little ones too which might be poorly positioned and a bit too big (at present) but it is the right concept over all. So far so good.

Where it breaks down is when the juvenile pricing ends and adult cost is charged. Going from sub £100 to over £300 is a huge jump for somebody probably still in education, probably racking up student debt, probably working in a lowly-paid job (if they are lucky enough to be working at all). So if a youngster has to save some money the £300+ for a ST is the first expense that is going to go and if a parent is expected to cough up then finding £300 is one thing but £600 another. Make that £900 if there's two kids!

So where we do quite well in attracting and catering for the very young we do precious little to try and keep 'em on the hook once they are snagged.

Maybe transitional pricing for those aged between16* and 25 could introduced with increments added each year taking the cost from juvenile to full adult over a 10 year period? Or similar. I don't have figures for this but I'm pretty sure there's a huge drop-off in attendance levels between those aged 16* and 17.




* might be 18

Should we involve the Church more?

Iggy wrote:

Should we involve the Church more?

lol

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

A football club can never do enough to attract young people. Whatever it does it could and should do more.

I think we do kind of OK in this regard to a certain extent. If a parent wants to get an ST for a kid it is only £75 (I think). I'd say this is competitive and affordable and I don't suppose reducing the cost to, say, £50 would make the deal more attractive in numbers enough to justify it. There's the family area for the little ones too which might be poorly positioned and a bit too big (at present) but it is the right concept over all. So far so good.

Where it breaks down is when the juvenile pricing ends and adult cost is charged. Going from sub £100 to over £300 is a huge jump for somebody probably still in education, probably racking up student debt, probably working in a lowly-paid job (if they are lucky enough to be working at all). So if a youngster has to save some money the £300+ for a ST is the first expense that is going to go and if a parent is expected to cough up then finding £300 is one thing but £600 another. Make that £900 if there's two kids!

So where we do quite well in attracting and catering for the very young we do precious little to try and keep 'em on the hook once they are snagged.

Maybe transitional pricing for those aged between16* and 25 could introduced with increments added each year taking the cost from juvenile to full adult over a 10 year period? Or similar. I don't have figures for this but I'm pretty sure there's a huge drop-off in attendance levels between those aged 16* and 17.




* might be 18

I had that problem this summer. My season ticket went from £59 (2013/14 season price) to £240 and being in full time education I wasn't working.

shouldnt the club be doing more to get more then just young people into the club,

I know this may sound a silly idea, but I've noticed that bodmin steam railway have a deal with first great western where you get a thru ticket from any fgw station to bodmin railway for an extra £12 on your ticket price. couldnt the club try something where if you get a train from penzance upwards and say exeter downwards you get a special combined match and train ticket.

good idea jethro,
certainly make it abit cheaper for us not praaaaper fans

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

A football club can never do enough to attract young people. Whatever it does it could and should do more.

I think we do kind of OK in this regard to a certain extent. If a parent wants to get an ST for a kid it is only £75 (I think). I'd say this is competitive and affordable and I don't suppose reducing the cost to, say, £50 would make the deal more attractive in numbers enough to justify it. There's the family area for the little ones too which might be poorly positioned and a bit too big (at present) but it is the right concept over all. So far so good.

Where it breaks down is when the juvenile pricing ends and adult cost is charged. Going from sub £100 to over £300 is a huge jump for somebody probably still in education, probably racking up student debt, probably working in a lowly-paid job (if they are lucky enough to be working at all). So if a youngster has to save some money the £300+ for a ST is the first expense that is going to go and if a parent is expected to cough up then finding £300 is one thing but £600 another. Make that £900 if there's two kids!

So where we do quite well in attracting and catering for the very young we do precious little to try and keep 'em on the hook once they are snagged.

Maybe transitional pricing for those aged between16* and 25 could introduced with increments added each year taking the cost from juvenile to full adult over a 10 year period? Or similar. I don't have figures for this but I'm pretty sure there's a huge drop-off in attendance levels between those aged 16* and 17.




* might be 18

Some things our local club does:

1. For £8 a year they can become Junior Cherries. This entitles anyone under the age of 8 to attend ANY game with a full paying adult for £1. Those between 8 and 15 pay £8 a game. I can watch Championship football with my two children for less than £33.

2. To soften the blow of the 8 year olds having to pay an extra £7 a game they give away a free replica kit on their 8th birthday.

3. Regular events are held such as family days, ground tours etc

4. The card gives a host of discounts at local businesses. Indeed we've chosen a restaurant this weekend purely because children can eat for £1 with an adult meal. Other discounts are available at cinemas, leisure centres etc

5. Flag bearers and matchday mascots are not paid for....all members go into a draw to win such opportunities.

That's without the usual community activities and visits to schools that are undertaken.

Dick Trickle wrote:

Some things our local club does:
1. For £8 a year they can become Junior Cherries. This entitles anyone under the age of 8 to attend ANY game with a full paying adult for £1. Those between 8 and 15 pay £8 a game. I can watch Championship football with my two children for less than £33.
2. To soften the blow of the 8 year olds having to pay an extra £7 a game they give away a free replica kit on their 8th birthday.
3. Regular events are held such as family days, ground tours etc
4. The card gives a host of discounts at local businesses. Indeed we've chosen a restaurant this weekend purely because children can eat for £1 with an adult meal. Other discounts are available at cinemas, leisure centres etc
5. Flag bearers and matchday mascots are not paid for....all members go into a draw to win such opportunities.
That's without the usual community activities and visits to schools that are undertaken.

WoW!!! Thats the sort of thing that may well ''keep the kids'' - must take some orgnisation though?

alannotivvy wrote:

good idea jethro,  
certainly make it abit cheaper for us not praaaaper fans

Just thinking out loud kinda thing,
not like all of us can afford train tickets and match day tickets

Can anyone afford train tickets these days ? It's cheaper to buy a car, tax, mot and insure it, fill it with rocket fuel, drive to your destination and then scrap it than to travel by train.

I have always thought that Argyle should attempt to give every schoolkid in Plymouth one free match ticket a season.

Now that child might bring a parent with them. They would have to pay. Kids might go together in groups - they have a laugh, and it becomes something they do every Saturday. They turn into lifelong Argyle fans.

A lot of tickets would not get used - however, if that is the case then Argyle have lost nothing.

So many kids grow up taking Argyle for granted, never going, just seeing it on Spotlight. It is a demographic we should be doing a LOT more about.

Jethro wrote:

shouldnt the club be doing more to get more then just young people into the club,

I know this may sound a silly idea, but I've noticed that bodmin steam railway have a deal with first great western where you get a thru ticket from any fgw station to bodmin railway for an extra £12 on your ticket price. couldnt the club try something where if you get a train from penzance upwards and say exeter downwards you get a special combined match and train ticket.

It is the apathetic city of Plymouth folk that need working on. Argyle has magnificent support from Cornwall and North Devon - once the commuters are taken away, the support from a city of more than 250,000 is paltry.

How do we make youngsters proud to support their home town club?

Oh I dunno, only 25 of those magnificent Cornish bothered to show for the audience with St James.

And 20 of those were only there for the free paaaaaaasty.

We already have the ridiculously placed family area that is rarely over a quarter full, and of those most of them are there courtesy of a freebie handed out to the schools.
The only way young types will come is by getting it right on the pitch...not half baked theories about marketing or freebies.

A winning team will bring in the fans young or old, not murals or fat blokes dancing on the pitch at halftime.

AstiSpumante wrote:

And 20 of those were only there for the free paaaaaaasty.

Was the one who requires 2 season tickets turn up?

Punchdrunk wrote:

We already have the ridiculously placed family area that is rarely over a quarter full, and of those most of them are there courtesy of a freebie handed out to the schools.
The only way young types will come is by getting it right on the pitch...not half baked theories about marketing or freebies.

You need to target the youngsters, not just assume they will come. The vast majority have never been to an Argyle game, don't care and never ever will. They are not thinking, rational adults. Winning football? Just get them at the game and let them enjoy it, let them decide to stay away.