Whoever he was, I don't recall him actually asking a question? I DO recall him going off on a personal statement dismissing everything the panel had said, but did anyone actually hear a question asked? The reason he was handed the mike in the first place?

Wow. That seems to have stirred up a bit debate.

Personally I came away from the forum feeling very positive, it was just the way PH held up what appeared to be research carried out across the whole of SL and used it as some sort of guiding light as to what we, as a club, should do that concerned me.

Yes, we need to strengthen the playing side of things and get a team who are able to be competetive again. That goes without saying. But what made us stand out from other clubs and more successful at what we did with the whole 'Bullpower' thing was the fact that it wasn't just confined to the pitch. You could get to the game two hours before kick off and watch T'Pau or Bony M. Yes, I appreciate that these things cost money but they also generate money - it's just a case of getting the balance right, the clubs financial health permitting of couse.

To paraphrase what the other guy on the panel said about the beer (can't remember his name I'm afraid) - what's right for some clubs might not be right for Bradford.

WE only had T'pau for the WCC though. The club put the boat out big-time for those matches, but unfortunately the performances on the park were not up to the same standard. And, ultimately, that's the point?

The build up to the Auckland (was it?) game with T'pau sticks in my mind as the best ever build up to a game at Odsal. I was getting excited and had shivers going down my spine. And that was just watching Carol Decker...

But could the club even then have afforded to do that every week? 10k midweek game against basement club Cas? Hmm...

I think there's a lot of romanticising going on about the standards of acts that used to form part of the pre-match entertainment at Odsal, the likes of T'Pau and Bony M were very much exceptions, although it was undoubtedly a lot better than it is now it was a sum of parts thing rather than one individual thing that created the buzz.

Surely the drop off in crowds in recent years has shown that attracting (and relying on) people for whom rugby isn't the main reason for going to a game doesn't make good long term sense? Improvement off the field has to be complemented by what is happening on the field or it will make no difference whatsoever.

The acts don't need to be top drawer, they just need to be entertaining and somewhat relevant. The Groups that play an assortment of Rock songs are ok as are the retro groups. The bald black guy we've had several times does a good job as do some of the kids troops. Local car and bike clubs add to any parade. We've had a local bag-pipe band. It takes all sorts and mix and match each week and you have some variety. The formula for success isn't complicated, the trick is not to make it too repetative. There's the old Fancy dress days most clubs have done this, beach party etc. How would a Bulls Summer Fayre go down, could be arranged one week in the Summer when we've played on a Friday. We have the best venue for that if we can get the weather....

Sorry for the double post, only meant to edit the spelling...

Yeah, we had Tony Hadley (ex Spandau Ballet) once too, I remember him being very good, though I think you're correct in saying that entertainment is unlikely to attract many non rugby fans to the stadium, except in one particular area; youngsters.

The bands do one thing though, particularly 'name' bands, and that is they make a buzz around the place and people take notice; the fact that a well known act is on at the stadium does have the effect of getting into the consciousness of the public, whether they are actually attracted to the game or not. If I'm honest though, the bands are of little interest to me, and personally, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest if they went, but of course, others would come to a different conclusion.

Coming back to the youngsters, the one area in which I feel the club is wrong to cut back, is in the things put on for the kids. Face painting, riding the bucking bronco, singing/dancing competitions, bouncy castles and similar activities, allied to a strong presence in the schools, along with the free tickets, were something which made the game unmissable to the younger children, who, incidentally, often brought full price paying parents with them. Many of those attracted, back in those days, are now regular fans, the free junior tickets I received as a season ticket holder were also put to good use; two of the youngsters I gave them to are now regular adult paying customers, with the cost of the 'freebies' being recouped several times over. All little seeds, ripening and being harvested.

Anybody know Simac67?

Gurus Beard is the same person.

There's a blast from the past! I thought he had his own forum nowadays?

Meh, Simac came to another forum I use, where he was put out of buisness as a troll.
He's never run his own forum.

No

yes

You'd do it one of three ways:
1. Plan your ents budget equally across the season with the view that each fixture is as important as another.
2. You plan your ents based upon who you're playing and budget according to both the crowd and the money you'd expect to get back, especially if you can get decent numbers of fans in early and spending.
3. You wait for the fixtures to come out and plan the ents targeting certain games as key - for example do you have a 'family day' one Sunday or get a decent set up for one of the lower key games to drum up a bigger crowd.

I appreciate that the budget the club has to spend dictates the sort of entertainment you can put on and a decision has to be made as to how you spend the budget, but it was one of the things that made Odsal, and Bradford, different to what other clubs offered.

It did.

But then, others copied us and so we lost our Unique Selling Proposition.

We need another USP now.

A couple of years ago, I went to a Rugby Yawnion match in Christchurch, between Christchurch and Wellington. The ground was packed, and the pre-match (and in-match) entertainment was at least as good as what we saw at Odsal at its best. Even had loads of horses galloping around. And the place was FULL of kids and banners and all the things that we used to see at Odsal, only on an even bigger scale. Seemed this was a relatively recent innovation with the Super 14 (or summat) competition.

Got me thinking if only we could get back to that at Odsal.

But it was new there, and there is sod all competition with anything in Christchurch - its really the only game in town, and a town that is a long way from anywhere.

I really can't see we'd be able to recreate what we had - it was due to a unique combination of circumstances. But maybe, with a whole new generation now, something developed from that could be done?

But we need SOMETHING to get the kids and the families back, regardless of what it is.

Yup, and entertainment has evolved globally but nor does that mean that it should be stopped because others do it, merely reinvented and surpassed. I think we've more than covered the how's why's and wherefore's. If anyone is interested the "stating the bleedin obvious" survey the RFL plagiarised, it can be obtained from: www.sportswise.info/newssection. ... itemid=363

Yup, and entertainment has evolved globally but nor does that mean that it should be stopped because others do it, merely reinvented and surpassed. I think we've more than covered the how's why's and wherefore's. If anyone is interested the "stating the bleedin obvious" survey the RFL plagiarised, it can be obtained from: www.sportswise.info/newssection. ... itemid=363

The "Matchday experience" and how to handle it is a very, very difficult thing to answer.

We already know what has worked in the past and the club will know what cost and benefit any of this actually was. Due to the budgeting constraints and the current economic climate the club has to be sensible in what it does and can offer in addition to the actual game.

As previous posters have pointed out, the club may need to manage it's budget to suit particular games and the idea that some matchday entertainment may encourage families to come to certain games.

The main problem we have is the weather and the vast open spaces and the lack of covered areas. This however, can also be our unique selling point when the weather is great.

In terms of what seems to have worked well in the past in encouraging kids, could the club spend some money to obtain their own bouncy castle/s rather than pay an outside individual to come in to provide this? The cost for a VERY large bouncy castle appears to be around the £1,500 mark - and this may be customised in club colours and badges (I've only had a brief look on t'internet). This could also be used to take around schools when the players do training sessions with them and a bit of fun for the players to teach some tackling on the inflatable!

For players not on first team duty, there could be an autograph tent (or plonk them in the big beer tent). Kids get to meet a first team player, get their shirt signed and maybe a photo taken with them. Granted you could end up with the same / similar players sat there a lot of weeks if they're injured, but I'm sure there'd be many on here who would be interested in talking to a player to see how the injury is coming along and when they expected to be back etc. Can't see this costing the club anything. Kids love being able to see their idols up close and personal. If we'd of had a tent with Lesley sat signing photos on a matchday when he wasn't playing he'd have been swamped.

I've always thought that the club could use the local junior sides a little bit better too. Each home game could be allocated to a different local junior club who are given free tickets for the kids in all age groups and they play on the pitch at half-time after joining in the Bullman parade prior to the game. These kids could be encouraged to bring banners to advertise the club and they all get the opportunity to tell their friends about how great it was to go around and play on the pitch. Any youngsters wanting to take up the game will see a junior side every week that they could potentially play for.

Going slightly off topic now, but one other thing that I know the club can do nothing/very little about is the timing of the Challenge cup semis and final. It's a shame that the Challenge cup is placed where it is as potentially, when the weather is supposed to be at its best in late July and August, all SL clubs lose out on two weekends of possible great weather to host home games. This would effect us more than others as we do have a "fair weather" support to some degree, where as at, Wigan for example, the weather probably plays less of a factor in a persons attendance due to the covered stadia.

I know the "game" benefits from the better weather and these games being shown on terrestrial TV in blazing sunshine and the Wembley weekend is a great one for those who go year on year, but for me, I'd have the final earlier in the season - I'm not saying place it in March or anything silly like that but we could advertise the game as the "Major" sporting final of the summer by having the final just 4-6 weeks earlier?

Some good points in there BB - they also cost very little.

Look no further my friend...

[urlhttp://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/bring-wiggy-back-to-odsal.html[/url

This fell on deaf ears so it's clear that the club don't care about this.

Was that black guy, Seal?

The day MC Wiggy played Odsal will live in infamy.

No MC Wiggy from "The Hit man and her".

But the spaces and setup at Odsal allows us to do something other clubs can't - get them into the ground spending money rather than in local pubs or arriving half an hour before KO.

I was reading about a new motorclub in Bradford called the Rotating Ferrets Motorclub - why not see if they can bring some of their motors (or from some other MC's) along for a pre-match parade? On the British Rally Forum they're always bemoaning the lack of exposure the sport gets so it could be mutually benefitial. You could have an area at the top set up so people can look at the cars close up beforehand and then get them down to the bottom for either a pre-game parade or for half time. Maybe even get some of them sideways!

Not at them prices!

But we were PROMISED at the forum that the club were going to look at the prices!

We were assured that although they felt the price of the beer was on a per with other sporting establishments and their margin and remained the same, that maybe they needed to review it as it might not be cheap enough for Bradford. Personally I think if they dropped their margin and sold it cheaper they might sell more and make more.

I wonder if anyones tried to go into partnership with someone like Wetherspoons? We provide the facilities and staff and they provide discounted Ale. Wetherspoons @ Odsal.

Wonder what the Prophet of Doom at the forum made of [url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbulls/8325423.Cain_sets_tone_for_Bradford_Bulls_U20s_to_surprise_Warriors/=#800000this?[/url