Fans Forum

[Blind side johnny]

Announced for Nov 21st at 7.00 pm. Anyone with searching questions should attend.

Also the club are asking fans to fill in a short survey about your matchday experience - link in the article.

FANS FORUM DATE ANNOUNCED – Dewsbury Rams RLFC

[Wakefield Ram]

Sent my form in. 

[Blind side johnny]

I see that Batley are also holding their shirt launch on the same evening. I don't know how Coolie will be able to be in two places at the same time.

[coolie]

3 hours ago, Blind side johnny said:

I see that Batley are also holding their shirt launch on the same evening. I don't know how Coolie will be able to be in two places at the same time.

I'll manage it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't you worry your pretty little head

[Sir Jekyll Stocking]

7 hours ago, Blind side johnny said:

I see that Batley are also holding their shirt launch on the same evening. I don't know how Coolie will be able to be in two places at the same time.

We have better pies at Mount Pleasant...

[Crown Flatter]

15 minutes ago, Sir Jekyll Stocking said:

We have better pies at Mount Pleasant...

Thought you got rid of thpthe Pudsey Pie Maker because they outsold the incumbent provider?

[coolie]

26 minutes ago, Sir Jekyll Stocking said:

We have better pies at Mount Pleasant...

Fell out with Bently's pies

Very nice product

But putting them up from £2 to £2.40 was the last straw and now off my shopping list

[Keep The Faith]

29 minutes ago, Crown Flatter said:

Thought you got rid of thpthe Pudsey Pie Maker because they outsold the incumbent provider?

Mr haigh’s was never out of the club 

they just used the pudsey pie maker for hospitality 

[Hugh Jarce]

How did things go last night?

It's been very quiet on here before the meeting, which was a surprise, but no comments on what happened either.

[creditwhereitsdews]

Club is losing 150k a year.

Ground is being valued so that it can be included in IMG calculations, taking us to a grade B. Mr Sawyer stressed he is against IMG's role in the game.

Our highest paid player is on 8k a year.

North Wales at home due to be First fixture, subject to confirmation. Cornwall away in July which will cost the club 10k (though why we don't just go there and back in a day on coach like Cornwall themselves do is beyond me). Pre-season games should be against Batley, Bradford and Featherstone. 

We are duel-reging with Wakefield as well as Batley (who wanted us to be their dual reg team!).

[graham fisher]

3 hours ago, Hugh Jarce said:

How did things go last night?

It's been very quiet on here before the meeting, which was a surprise, but no comments on what happened either.

Obviously the main talking points were the finances of the club,apparently we lost 150k last season,in fact Mark said out of all the clubs throughout the game theirs only Newcastle showing a profit,I know I couldn’t believe either. Mark also mentioned is dislike towards IMG and the chancellor Rachel Reeves,the latter for what it will mean to clubs like ours with NI contributions going up in April. Season tickets are going on sale hopefully from 1st December priced £150,family ticket two adults and two kids all living in the same address £270. Electric scoreboard and floodlights hopefully getting sorted soon,tannoy system we’ll have to put up with for another 12 months. Meet the players and shirt launch is Friday 6th December. 

[Blind side johnny]

Do we know yet when the season will start?

[Hugh Jarce]

Thanks for the update CWiD & GF, after that season to have lost £150k is.......well I don't know what to say and that's a first.

Did Mark seem confident about our future? Is he still committed?

 

 

[creditwhereitsdews]

Yes he still seemed committed – much to his wife's annoyance by the sound of things!

He also mentioned the club's ageing, dwindling fanbase. With such little direction and leadership coming from those at the top of the sport, I think it's up to us remaining fans to bang the drum for the club. Drag other people along to matches, sponsor players, join the Amber Ribbon etc.

[Hugh Jarce]

47 minutes ago, creditwhereitsdews said:

Yes he still seemed committed – much to his wife's annoyance by the sound of things!

He also mentioned the club's ageing, dwindling fanbase. With such little direction and leadership coming from those at the top of the sport, I think it's up to us remaining fans to bang the drum for the club. Drag other people along to matches, sponsor players, join the Amber Ribbon etc.

I could imagine his family will be p..... off, I don't think they are RL fans, and to see £150k disappear each year is probably a choker.

We need to partner with local amateur RL clubs offering fee kids tickets and training (have the training sessions before the game), or even other sports clubs (football, netball, hockey, whatever) offering our facilities for end of season award nights (then give free tickets for the upcoming game/season)

I know it sound like we are just devaluing tickets by giving them away, but if we don't do something we won't get anything!

Maybe even start our own kids teams, we had them years ago from 7 year olds through to open age.

We need to change something, or the club will fold in a few years.

[NickD]

Def could do with another club using the ground.    Something like Leeds Utd ladies team would have been good.   Think they’re at Garforth which can’t be much better than our gaff.     We have best training pitch around too.   Pity we can’t get more professional t  et amd to make use of it. 

[Hugh Jarce]

6 minutes ago, NickD said:

Def could do with another club using the ground.    Something like Leeds Utd ladies team would have been good.   Think they’re at Garforth which can’t be much better than our gaff.     We have best training pitch around too.   Pity we can’t get more professional t  et amd to make use of it. 

I fully agree, we should speak to Emley & Ossett, both teams are playing well in their division but if they are promoted their facilities are not good enough.

The locals are not happy with the noise made when the training pitches are being used, hence the restrictions place upon the club. Cannot be used Saturday & Sunday afternoons.

 

[coolie]

Found it interesting that Halifax had offered the players back to us, tells me they don't figure in their plans

 

 

Be careful what you wish for when jumping ship mid season

[NickD]

5 hours ago, Hugh Jarce said:

I fully agree, we should speak to Emley & Ossett, both teams are playing well in their division but if they are promoted their facilities are not good enough.

The locals are not happy with the noise made when the training pitches are being used, hence the restrictions place upon the club. Cannot be used Saturday & Sunday afternoons.

 

ridiculous.  we were there before the houses were built!!!

[graham fisher]

7 hours ago, Hugh Jarce said:

Thanks for the update CWiD & GF, after that season to have lost £150k is.......well I don't know what to say and that's a first.

Did Mark seem confident about our future? Is he still committed?

 

 

You’re welcome. It was a decent turnout for a very cold Thursday evening. What really does worry me though is that we’ve got a aging fan base.

Mark did say it was getting harder financially,not very long ago our funding was around 220/240k it’s now 33k. He also said that he’d welcome anyone that wants to invest or even buy the club,but he also said he wouldn’t just walk away.

[graham fisher]

7 hours ago, Blind side johnny said:

Do we know yet when the season will start?

I don’t think they mentioned that. It looks like we’ve got NWC at home first game though.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

9 hours ago, creditwhereitsdews said:

Ground is being valued so that it can be included in IMG calculations,

Isn't the ground on a (very) long term lease rather than owned?

[Wakefield Ram]

18 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

Isn't the ground on a (very) long term lease rather than owned?

Think it was something like 125 year lease. 

[Blind side johnny]

13 hours ago, graham fisher said:

You’re welcome. It was a decent turnout for a very cold Thursday evening. What really does worry me though is that we’ve got a aging fan base.

 

For many years the Championship and C1 have been known as the old men's leagues. Actually encouraging a younger audience to attend has proven very difficult everywhere. Even getting school teams of local clubs to play pre-match games is fraught with difficulties now with safeguarding issues being quite a difficult hurdle to overcome.

Even giving tickets away, as the club has done for many years, only saw something like a 5% takeup. In other words most were just thrown away. Fundamentally there is a need for RL to be seen as an exciting prospect to watch, and it hasn't been that for 20+ years.

[Blind side johnny]

13 hours ago, Wakefield Ram said:

Think it was something like 125 year lease. 

99 I believe, and even a long-term lease has a value. The fixtures and fittings belong to the club as do the all-weather pitches.