Hey Rossie,

Yeah that is a default feature of the software package that we bought to run our membership and shop, but we never fired it up.
Just never got around to it.

4Dogs: yeah I agree, people need tangible returns and that's what the committee think as well. We want people to WANT to join, and we need to figure out how to give some REAL value for members.
Already we have agreement that Clan members will have priority access to tickets... at the very least after the STHs have had a chance. However I feel like a STH with CC membership should get first bite even ahead of "ordinary" STHs. I will ask for that to be considered by the branch.

i see that they is a facility for a draw/lotto on the match travel tab(for some reason) on the top of the page.I dont remember it ever being advertised tho but i could have missed it.

Actually a lot of the points and ideas raised on this thread are covered under the various tabs on top of the page but you have to go rooting to get theinformation.

ConnachtCows wrote: There will definitely need to be some clarity around what our money will go towards in the future, if people are going to pay to be a Clan Member.

I can see both sides of the argument, but for me, living in Dublin, I cant see any benefit to paying any extra.

I live in Drogheda and would have to generally agree with CC. Our Clan membership is included in the ST price but does that mean we could have got the ST for €20 less (without the CM) or did we get the CM free because we purchased a ST.

I only make about 50% of the games and in real terms, it would be cheaper for me not to have a ST and just get tickets for the games I can get to but I want to be part of something, not just a spectator.

DIOM has made a good point as well "Having it free, means people are NOT making a choice to join. They are not committing anything to it, and so they not only feel the need to make the most of it, but they also don't appreciate what it achieves"

I am sure someone has worked out what it would cost to go to every game the ST included if you had to pay for each one on its own. That is a actual benefit of the ST. The discount's are another, the free pint's, a third.

If we can show that by paying for your Clan Membership you get something in return then I do not think anyone will have a problem. It does not even have to have any monetary value.

Take the IRFU Supporters Club for example. One big benefit it gives me is access to purchase tickets before they go on general sale. I still have to pay for them, I do not get any sort of discount, I just get the option to buy them early.

If Clan membership meant you got priority access to tickets for social events or away match tickets through the Branch (still paying full price) then I can see people jumping at the chance to join the Clan even if they are not ST holders.

Think we need to separate the 2. We get real benefits from the ST on its own. Hopefully we can develop the Clam Membership to the same extent.

Some threads just catch the interest of members more than others and this seems to be one of them.

Diom- I stand corrected on the swipe card issue but the old fashioned way i described could still be a runner.

I understand and appreciate the work being done at commitee level and also know very well the lack of support available to commitees in all their forms. As a former club official(gaa) i am familiar with both the workload and frustrations experienced by commitees. I suppose the big difference was that i met the club members almost daily and many are friends where clan members mainly communicate here.

Imo for the vast majority of connacht supporters/clan members it is almost exclusively about the Matchday and this website which is why the suggestions i made earlier were exclusively matchday related. Members who dont hold season tickets predominantly but not exclusively live outside the Galway catchment area and can only attend on limited occasions. The events organised by the clan all occur afaik in galway city and thats fair enough as thats where most members reside but are not relevent to these members. In fact the clan(website aside)is a club for Galway members atm for obvious reasons and it will take some time to expand beyond that if ever. This is not unique as MRSC is predominantly cork/limk based and afaik Leinsterfans Dublin based.

The main reason fans join supporters clubs is access to tickets. Everything else the club offers grows on the member in time(some more than others).I joined Mrsc to have access to Heineken cup tickets as at that time they were impossible to get if you werent a rfc member or member of mrsc. The rules of that club are that if you are a full member you must purchase a season ticket.
Connacht dont have the support base atm to justify a position of this nature( debatable whether mrsc can still justify it)but if it continues to grow it may come in in the future.

That is why i think the current position of purchasing a season ticket automatically grants membership to the clan is a positive thing in many ways. I would imagine that the number of active contributing members(other than forum contributers) is small relative to actual membership in all clubs. Thats certainly true of any club i have ever been a member of.

From a clan finances point of view perhaps a lotto/draw type of fundraiser could be organised via this website which imo is probably underutilised.If every member was emailed advertising a lotto/draw type monthly competition on an agreed Direct debit monthly of say 4 or 5 euro it might find more favour than the current proposal of charging membership on top of Season ticket sub. This email could also outline the aims, achievements etc of the club, where profits will go and of course prizes on offer. Its just a thought to add to the debate.

You're right about people not appreciating what it achieves, nor what goes in to running it. But that's the way with people. Arseholes the lot of 'em!

From my perspective I can't get an ST so I definitely want to be a Clan member. I wear the hurt of losing seasons with pride, it's easy to be a Leinster fan.

ConnachtCows wrote: There will definitely need to be some clarity around what our money will go towards in the future, if people are going to pay to be a Clan Member.

I can see both sides of the argument, but for me, living in Dublin, I cant see any benefit to paying any extra.

Of course... No one is forcing anyone to pay for something that would not be worth it. It is up to us to make sure that the Connacht Clan is worth it.
Having it free, means people are NOT making a choice to join. They are not committing anything to it, and so they not only feel the need to make the most of it, but they also don't appreciate what it achieves. I do think that a level system should be in place but I would rather a leveling that could not be bought.

For example... come on the the HEC away trip +50pts, attend every home match in a season +100pts, +10pts for every Clan event you attend, +15pts for every article you submit for the website etc...
Those points could then be cashed in for cheaper merchandise (Clan and Connacht), you could access options to buy special pins etc... Just to build up a sense of community and to imbue a sense of worth to participation.

Rossie: It would not be a small change in software, it would be a system integration issue. Cards would need to have their barcodes understood, they would need to know how to update/access Clan member information, the membership information would need to be stored in a query-able database etc... And then there are issues over information privacy, as you are letting a company access personal information.
Not saying that it cannot be done, but we have limited resources and there are quicker ways to try and achieve similar results.

There will definitely need to be some clarity around what our money will go towards in the future, if people are going to pay to be a Clan Member.

I can see both sides of the argument, but for me, living in Dublin, I cant see any benefit to paying any extra.

the clan membership cards would be printed in the same way as the season ticket cards which i assume have the clan membership card on one side and season ticket on other. The bar code is already there and the barcode readers are already in place which i assume means that a small change to the sofware is all that it would require. However i dont know how much it costs but if it was too expesive it could always be done the old fashioned way where a card similar to the fixtures card could be issued at first entry/purchase and stamped every time of entry and when sufficient stamps accumalated free entry is gained.

What i do know is that on 5 or 6 occasions last season crowds which were significantly larger than our ave attendance attended the sportsground including the record overall attendance and the record pro12 attendance. these extra people werent season ticket holders, clan members or regular attenders and the ideas i put forward are ways of inticing them back and hopefully eventually turning them into season ticket holders.

Hmmmm, maybe I should have dropped back in on this sooner.

In relation to "what it got you" last year: a new website, the newletter (as often as I could manage it), some events with good prizes, chances to meet the players at a few of the events, including two forums, two prize-givings, a table quiz and arranged meet up in Buskers for away HEC matches.
Now we are all aware that these were not high-budget star-studded affairs, but this was all done for what we could scrounge ourselves. We had good will from Connacht but that was it, and it all got off the ground and running in a couple of months before the season started last year. Bear in mind that we don't have a very active membership either, and most of the work was done by a very small group of people.

As for the future direction of the Connacht Clan: Yes we know that if we charge that there will have to be tangible benefits. That is being put together and the final details of what that package would be are not finalised. However these are touted as access to exclusive media, the ability to purchase exclusive items, discounts with sponsors etc... The process is on-going.
There are still discussions over whether there is a tiered membership systems or not.

S_P: I agree there is a need for something more than a financial aspect to a supporters club. We would love to be able to organise as well as Quinssa but I'm sure that you'll find it is a more established club, with a more active membership. They had over 100 people at their AGM this year, with a far larger base of supporters to draw upon as well. We don't aim any lower than this but it will take a while for us to get there.

BN2: Yes that's a good idea about sending a letter with the STs. Will suggest it.

As for membership cards that you swipe at the point of sale! I can't imagine that being a realistic option. The cost of implementing a system like that would be very high... as is actually printing the cards I imagine.

Anyway thanks for the suggestions lads.
If any of you would like to help make any of them a reality please get in contact. There is plenty of room on the committee if any one would like to make the suggestions in person.

Also I believe when season tickets are being sent out there should be details on the Connacht Clan with maybe a letter drafted outlining what the clan is about, what you can do for the clan, who to contact etc. as imo I'd say a small proportion of Connacht Supporters know that there is an actual Connacht Clan Supporters Group.

I think this is a good idea.

Any changes to clan memberships subs and how they are paid will have to wait until next season as as Swifty has pointed out Season Tickets have already been sold for this coming season with clan membership included in the price so that should be the end of the matter for this season anyway.

Also as Swifty pointed out the Branch themselves are carrying out almost all of the Functions that a supporters club offer which will make a separate sub for clan membership difficult to justify to a new fan base.

A suggestion i would have for non season ticket clan memberships is perhaps discounted Ticket prices for to either A. non interpro league games and/or B. to Bohermore or college road terraces or c. free entry every 4th or 5th game(non interpro/euro)which would operate as a loyalty reward scheme.(even the barber is offering a free haircut this way these days).
The clan membership card would be issued by the branch to the member and would be swiped at ticket office or number entered on line and discount automatically applied at point of sale.

As any profit the clan make will make its way back to connacht and they are in the brand development/Growth process atm suggestion of this nature may find some favour.

To me the Clan Membership should be an optional when signing up for a season ticket, but it should require the STH to opt out rather than add in. There should be a small stipend added to the season ticket price (€20 or so) to provide a base budget to the Clan Commitee to cover the cost of setting up a number of member events through the season.

Sp if you choose to not to take up Clan Membership you basically just pay for acccess to all the Games (Senior & A), and you should probably get a reduced Elverys discount (maybe 10% for STH's and 15% for Clan Members). Everything else should be tied to Clan Membership whether as a STH or a non-STH member.

Bottom line is a STH is the choice of an individual, by signing up to the Clan you are committing to a community and it's objectives.

As I have stated many times previously, I do feel that the Clan Committee need to sit down and define theirs for each season clearly and most importantly communicate it back out to the supporters. You cannot expect people to buy into a group for which there are no clear objectives or that does not communicate back to them, and I don't just mean financially (volunteers are just as important as money)....

One of the major objectives for a lot Rugby Supporter Clubs is the support of their clubs Academy by way of bursaries for players (to be put towards study costs or developmental trips i.e. an academy player arranging a short sabbatical with a Super Rugby Team during our off season. Given the number of Foriegn players we have had in the last decade we should have contacts in place through former players who could help put a program in place.

One example of a small but effecitve supportres club is Quinnsa one of several Quins supporters groups, they have a website which details clearly their objecitves and achievements...

Achievements: www.quinssa.org.uk/achievements.htm

Academy Support: www.quinssa.org.uk/academy.htm

Without being too negative, I cant see any benefit of paying to join the Clan. I cant think of any benefit last season.
There would need to be something very special, for me to pay to join the Clan, when I already have paid for my Season Ticket membership

Borders no.2 wrote: I think as often the case with these things a compromise might be best. I think anyone who buys a Season Ticket should be a member of the clan and get certain benefits:
Regular E-Mail Updates
Connacht Flag or something like that
Whatever else is incorporated into the season ticket

I believe there should be a standard clan membership for those who can't purchase a season ticket with certaing benefits.

However, there could be an additional option for a Clan Gold membership or something along those lines which would get you something extra:
Priority tickets for certain games
.

I agree with Borders no.2

What are the actually benifits of the "Clan membership" over those we already get as a ST holder.???

How about 2 levels of Clan Membership as "Borders no.2" suggests. Standard and Gold. Standard at €20 as now and new Gold level at higher price with added benifits (TBC). As a ST purchaser you could get the Standard Clan membership included in your ticket price and if you pay the difference you can get Gold. Benifits would have to be worth the extra spend.

Don't wanna be on a downer here, but I just want to make the point that as an ST ticket holder last year (and this) I can honestly say I don't know what clan membership got me, or if I ever had it. This site is great, as was the one meet and greet with the players in the bar that I could get to, but otherwise I don't know what benefits I got that weren't from the season ticket itself. Again, not a criticism, just personal input.

I think as often the case with these things a compromise might be best. I think anyone who buys a Season Ticket should be a member of the clan and get certain benefits:
Regular E-Mail Updates
Connacht Flag or something like that
Whatever else is incorporated into the season ticket

I believe there should be a standard clan membership for those who can't purchase a season ticket with certaing benefits.

However, there could be an additional option for a Clan Gold membership or something along those lines which would get you something extra:
Priority tickets for certain games
An extra set of complementary tickets for Rabo game and all B&I Cup games.
Discount for certain shops

I think there certainly needs to be something defined for people to buy a separate subscription.

Also I believe when season tickets are being sent out there should be details on the Connacht Clan with maybe a letter drafted outlining what the clan is about, what you can do for the clan, who to contact etc. as imo I'd say a small proportion of Connacht Supporters know that there is an actual Connacht Clan Supporters Group.