Children zone / family area

Speaking to a couple of ladies at the club, I'm not 100% sure if people are aware but we lost the family of excellence award.
As I'm sure most of you know on here that the club has already started to work on this by introducing flag bearers, penalty takers and a child to take the ball to the referee. But the club want to go that extra bit more and provide more for children and families. An fantastic example of this is Exeter City ( https://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/fans/junior-grecians-family-zone/ )
The club would love to be able to do something very similar on match days and are asking people for their input/ideas.
Someone has mentioned getting aa second hand portacabin and placing it in the big space between the pontoon and main stand? And then similar to ECFC get a load of consoles, games and activities going in there. Reckon we could doo that at a cost of around £6,000. If the club decide to go ahead with it would you support it and contribute?

Also does anyone else have any other ideas? Obviously it is alll about space and where things could go etc.

I get the taking the family to a game. but does that not defete the object of going to a football match,, not moving the kids from there xbox at home to an xbox at a football ground ?

I'm not keen on the apparent use of the family seating in the Main Stand as a buffer or neutral zone between other Town fans and the away fans. Not an issue when we're playing Forest Green, but not great when we're playing Oldham, Bradford or Port Vale, as they'll have a go at whoever is nearest. The idea of a family zone between the Pontoon and the Main is a good one and surely it would make sense to move the kids seating to that end too.

The efforts so far this season have been very welcome and I'm behind anything that could improve it for kids.

Quoted from denni266

I get the taking the family to a game. but does that not defete the object of going to a football match,, not moving the kids from there xbox at home to an xbox at a football ground ?

Oh didn’t you know it’s the latest mantra, we mustn’t let the poor little angels get bored must we? If they can’t learn to sit still and wait for the game then why are they there?

Sorry if this offends OP but my personal opinion is that if the club wants to do stuff for kids/families then it is up to the club to do it. In all honesty I have never thought family sections either add a lot to to the atmosphere or promote extra long term support. It looks nice and sounds good on the club CV, but effective? Not to me it isn’t.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Oh didn’t you know it’s the latest mantra, we mustn’t let the poor little angels get bored must we? If they can’t learn to sit still and wait for the game then why are they there?

On that logic, you could justify closing the bars and switching off the TVs. If adults can't sit still and wait for the game then why are they there?

Quoted from lukeo

Speaking to a couple of ladies at the club, I'm not 100% sure if people are aware but we lost the family of excellence award.
As I'm sure most of you know on here that the club has already started to work on this by introducing flag bearers, penalty takers and a child to take the ball to the referee. But the club want to go that extra bit more and provide more for children and families. An fantastic example of this is Exeter City ( https://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/fans/junior-grecians-family-zone/ )
The club would love to be able to do something very similar on match days and are asking people for their input/ideas.
Someone has mentioned getting aa second hand portacabin and placing it in the big space between the pontoon and main stand? And then similar to ECFC get a load of consoles, games and activities going in there. Reckon we could doo that at a cost of around £6,000. If the club decide to go ahead with it would you support it and contribute?

Also does anyone else have any other ideas? Obviously it is alll about space and where things could go etc.

Other clubs do this but I wished we would use proper Town flags rather than what looks like large hankies

Quoted from marinerdazza

On that logic, you could justify closing the bars and switching off the TVs. If adults can't sit still and wait for the game then why are they there?

The amount of time some of them spend moaning, I do wonder about that as well!

Quoted from marinerdazza

I'm not keen on the apparent use of the family seating in the Main Stand as a buffer or neutral zone between other Town fans and the away fans. Not an issue when we're playing Forest Green, but not great when we're playing Oldham, Bradford or Port Vale, as they'll have a go at whoever is nearest. The idea of a family zone between the Pontoon and the Main is a good one and surely it would make sense to move the kids seating to that end too.

The efforts so far this season have been very welcome and I'm behind anything that could improve it for kids.

I agree with this, Dazza. For the big games, that area in the Main Stand is wholly inappropriate for kids. Between the main stand and the pontoon would be ideal and more friendly.

Quoted from arryarryarry

Other clubs do this but I wished we would use proper Town flags rather than what looks like large hankies

Something that's being looked at currently

No offence to Luke and the fans looking into this, but the club can absolutely GET TO FUUCCKK with this, and this is a perfect example of why people are fed up with the way the club is run.

It’s the club’s job to ensure the ground is fit for families and they couldn’t be arsed to put the work in. Now they’ve got well-meaning, good natured people having to dig them out the shiitt for free. People get paid for their time, effort and ideas at other clubs and in the real world, you should all recognise your worth.

The club are happy to piiss £15k down the drain in FA fines because they employ a Stadium Manager who cannot do his job - fact. That could’ve funded this nearly 3-times over. You could’ve had one in every open corner in the ground, for home & away fans. How good would that have been? But no, and I imagine £15k is just the tip of a very big iceberg in money just thrown in the bin under this regime. We’ve seen a 10% (at best) drop in season ticket sales - is anyone at the club arsed? Not from what I can see.

But it’s the CONSTANT squeezing, begging, bleeding and draining of already stretched fans that’s so galling. It’s never ending - raffles for mascot packages, scratch cards for the youth teams, £1 handling fee on every ticket, auctioning a tatty-old pool table. It’s like being on a never-ending Ryanair flight ffs.

I wouldn’t mind chucking a few quid in now & then if those at the top weren’t so disrespectful with the money we already put in. We chucked £120k at them and got told to bolllocks. I wouldn’t give them the steam off my piiss nowadays and if that hits the playing budget then it’s tough - the club needs to realise it’s a business and not a charity.

Like I said, absolutely nothing against the fans trying to help the club out here, but shame on the club for even putting people in that position to begin with.

Quoted from ska face

No offence to Luke and the fans looking into this, but the club can absolutely GET TO FUUCCKK with this, and this is a perfect example of why people are fed up with the way the club is run.

It’s the club’s job to ensure the ground is fit for families and they couldn’t be arsed to put the work in. Now they’ve got well-meaning, good natured people having to dig them out the shiitt for free. People get paid for their time, effort and ideas at other clubs and in the real world, you should all recognise your worth.

The club are happy to piiss £15k down the drain in FA fines because they employ a Stadium Manager who cannot do his job - fact. That could’ve funded this nearly 3-times over. You could’ve had one in every open corner in the ground, for home & away fans. How good would that have been? But no, and I imagine £15k is just the tip of a very big iceberg in money just thrown in the bin under this regime. We’ve seen a 10% (at best) drop in season ticket sales - is anyone at the club arsed? Not from what I can see.

But it’s the CONSTANT squeezing, begging, bleeding and draining of already stretched fans that’s so galling. It’s never ending - raffles for mascot packages, scratch cards for the youth teams, £1 handling fee on every ticket, auctioning a tatty-old pool table. It’s like being on a never-ending Ryanair flight ffs.

I wouldn’t mind chucking a few quid in now & then if those at the top weren’t so disrespectful with the money we already put in. We chucked £120k at them and got told to bolllocks. I wouldn’t give them the steam off my piiss nowadays and if that hits the playing budget then it’s tough - the club needs to realise it’s a business and not a charity.

Like I said, absolutely nothing against the fans trying to help the club out here, but shame on the club for even putting people in that position to begin with.

What a load of aggressive horse sh1t. The club is part of the community and nothing brings a better sense of community than everybody working together for a common cause and feeling part of something and the success. Not to mention that clubs all over the country that don't have the luxury of tv money or a sugar daddy have schemes run by fans and fan involvement to help with things. It's nothing new and fans in the past have had a whip around for things like stadium upgrades.

But no, it's much better to moan when the club don't do anything, then moan about it when they do.

Quoted from pen penfras

Not to mention that clubs all over the country that don't have the luxury of tv money or a sugar daddy have schemes run by fans and fan involvement to help with things. It's nothing new and fans in the past have had a whip around for things like stadium upgrades.

But no, it's much better to moan when the club don't do anything, then moan about it when they do.

Shame you didn’t tell your mates on the board this whenever Operation Promotion came up, or when they froze Kristine Green out, or when Fenty blackmailed the Trust into giving him £250,000 worth of free shares.

Quoted from pen penfras

What a load of aggressive horse sh1t. The club is part of the community and nothing brings a better sense of community than everybody working together for a common cause and feeling part of something and the success. Not to mention that clubs all over the country that don't have the luxury of tv money or a sugar daddy have schemes run by fans and fan involvement to help with things. It's nothing new and fans in the past have had a whip around for things like stadium upgrades.

But no, it's much better to moan when the club don't do anything, then moan about it when they do.

Put down the glass and try addressing a single point I’ve actually made, not some argument you’ve imagined in your own head.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Shame you didn’t tell your mates on the board this whenever Operation Promotion came up, or when they froze Kristine Green out, or when Fenty blackmailed the Trust into giving him £250,000 worth of free shares.

You mention that Fenty blackmailed the trust.
Unless you’ve got proof, I hope you’ve got s good lawyer !

Quoted from mariner tommy

You mention that Fenty blackmailed the trust.
Unless you’ve got proof, I hope you’ve got s good lawyer !

He basically said if they don't give him control he would withdraw funding. How do you interpret that? That's pretty much how most people would see a situation like that.

but how people see it, and what is actual proven fact are entirely different.
In the eyes of the law that is.

Quoted from mariner tommy

but how people see it, and what is actual proven fact are entirely different.
In the eyes of the law that is.

This is a matter of opinion.

Quoted from mariner tommy

You mention that Fenty blackmailed the trust.
Unless you’ve got proof, I hope you’ve got s good lawyer !

Actually here’s a better word, less likely to be misinterpreted by barrack room lawyers. Bullied. Not blackmail (in the performing an illegal act sense).

Quoted from lukeo

Speaking to a couple of ladies at the club, I'm not 100% sure if people are aware but we lost the family of excellence award.
As I'm sure most of you know on here that the club has already started to work on this by introducing flag bearers, penalty takers and a child to take the ball to the referee. But the club want to go that extra bit more and provide more for children and families. An fantastic example of this is Exeter City ( https://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/fans/junior-grecians-family-zone/ )
The club would love to be able to do something very similar on match days and are asking people for their input/ideas.
Someone has mentioned getting aa second hand portacabin and placing it in the big space between the pontoon and main stand? And then similar to ECFC get a load of consoles, games and activities going in there. Reckon we could doo that at a cost of around £6,000. If the club decide to go ahead with it would you support it and contribute?

Also does anyone else have any other ideas? Obviously it is alll about space and where things could go etc.

Do you work for the Club?

The majority of supporters go to the match to get away from the chains of life, kids and the wider family. Having a portacabin next to the bars packed full of consoles suggests you want kids to be palmed off to play on their own while parents have a few beers or pies etc. Doesn’t sound like progress, more like the 70’s, when the old man had few while you were left outside the boozer in your stroller.

What next? Teletubbies on the TV’s at half-time?

No I don't work and I don't even live local.. And if I'm honest I think kids go on consoles way too much. I was just having a conversation wiith a couple of people at the club and I asked if they'd be OK with me asking what people on here thought... For me I think a portacabin would be a good idea, open it say 1 - 2.30pm and maybe have a player who's not playing hang around and socialise with the kids, maybe have highlights of previous games aand just general funn games (ie board games or competitions 'spot the ball' etc)

Without getting sucked into yet another anti/Pro board type debate I'd simply say a hut full of xboxes a bad idea, but during Summer months at least could have fun activities in the corners like giant inflatable slides, those giant hamster ball things, on the pitch completions, penalties etc etc. Advertise it and get families in earlier where they spending money inside the ground (shame a lot of that goes to contracted burgervans etc though).

I remember during bill carr's reign we had similar, bungee jumps in the corners etc.

Most of all with it being a horrendous 20 or 22 quid a ticket the most important thing is to keep the offers on for kids and banging the drum in media. I go with my two boys and to be fair the fiver accompanied junior price softens the blow on the high adult price, but things like kids go free are very welcome -always end up spending on them in the ground anyway.

Encourage them in, get them hooked for the future.

To be honest I'm ALWAYS late or cutting it very fine so have no idea on the state of pre match entertainment nowadays. Back during Bill Carr's reign I used to like being one of the first in the ground and watching it gradually filling up around me and all the goings on, players training etc.

Quoted from Rik e B

To be honest I'm ALWAYS late or cutting it very fine so have no idea on the state of pre match entertainment nowadays. Back during Bill Carr's reign I used to like being one of the first in the ground and watching it gradually filling up around me and all the goings on, players training etc.

I used to get in early to climb over the gate at the front of the Pontoon to save 6d.