Vodafone withdraw sponsorship and this happens, real Newbury Blues Options

[Iommi]

Jersey 122 - 10 Newbury

[user23]

You know that's the first time perhaps ever I've seen Newbury Blues mentioned on here and it's to point out how bad they are now.

Is there something about forums like this that attract pessimists?

[On the edge]

I can't see what the result has got to do with Vodafone?

Anyway a result like this will do what it usually does and spur them on. Happens in the best regulated circles!

[Iommi]

You know that's the first time perhaps ever I've seen Newbury Blues mentioned on here and it's to point out how bad they are now. Is there something about forums like this that attract pessimists?

You know full well that we have discussed, even if only briefly, Newbury Blues. As for the item, that score line is a news worthy score. It is amazing Newbury's fall from grace. Perhaps that is because it was built on flimsy foundations. I remember when Newbury was a small but enthusiastic rugby side. Then one-day someone had a vision for greatness and a large amount of money was injected in to it, which included moving from its home. It had its fringe benefits, but sadly however, protestations from the locals meant the club-house was simply unfit for purpose and is badly sited. Funding gets withdrawn as crowds fail to meet expectation and Newbury start their ominous slide down the league!

...it seems like an allegory for something else that springs to mind!

I can't see what the result has got to do with Vodafone?

Surely even you understand the value in sponsorship?

Anyway a result like this will do what it usually does and spur them on. Happens in the best regulated circles!

I think that has been hoped for after every record breaking trouncing we've had so far!

[On the edge]

............ I remember when Newbury was a small but enthusiastic rugby side.......

Well, here's hoping for a return. Money has ruined most sports - League Football is simply plc v plc! Might as well follow the Stock Exchange.

As for the value of sponsorship - I'd hazzard its lost its value now - all its doing is pushing up rates. There is far too much. I have a sneaking admiration for Vodafone not playing to the gallery and giving out hard earned corporate cash where it's most appreciated.

[Iommi]

I have a sneaking admiration for Vodafone not playing to the gallery and giving out hard earned corporate cash where it's most appreciated.

I'm not sure I understand... is this a typing error?

[On the edge]

I'm not sure I understand... is this a typing error?

Simply the key sponsor, so when Vodafone pulled - the rest fell. Probably for a different thread, Vodafone's withdrawal seemed to coincide with lots of mewling from certain quarters locally that they weren't doing enough and should be handing out to anyone who called and said 'Newbury'. Big question now I suspect is how to repair the damage - what needs to be done to drum up support from us the people they are the local club at least.

[Strafin]

The Blues got beat 100 - 0 a coupe of weeks ago as well, I heard it on the radio. Newbury Sound do an excellent round up of all the local sports results.

[Richard Garvie]

Rule number one of sport club management - never rely on one source of income. Chelsea / Man City will find this out in due course, on a similar scale to Newbury Blues see Weymouth, Salisbury, AFC Newbury, Rushden & Diamonds when they were in League 1... Clubs need a viable business model to support the level at which they play.

[spartacus]

The Blues got beat 100 - 0 a coupe of weeks ago as well, I heard it on the radio. Newbury Sound do an excellent round up of all the local sports results.

Depressing but true... Against Sarfend
There have been other close calls for the big 100... (. you lose track once the scoreboard flips past 50...) They started the season with an 83-0 spanking and have since also been on the end of an 81-7 hit by Richmond, a 94-0 by Ealing, a 74-22 by Taunton .... and now the 122 - 10 by Jersey.

I've been a Blues member for over ten years now and despite our fall from the heady heights when we were competing just below the Premiership Giants, have stuck with them... but it's not much fun this season (or last) in truth....

I haven't been to a single away game this season, whereas I went to them all last season even though we were poor value in terms of entertainment really.....

However there's much more to this than just Vodafone pulling sponsorship, but it's not for this forum..... there just seems to be a general apathy present in the town when it comes to supporting our local sports teams... Newbury FC have faced similar near death experiences because the support in numbers by locals isn't there to keep cash registers from gathering dust......

Suffice to say, the glory days when VF money was sloshing through the door may have clouded the judgement of whether some of the substantial funds should have been put aside for a rainy day. Club committees also found it difficult to argue with the likes of Ben Ryan and other coaches when they demanded those little extra 'perks' to entice players to come to this town.... Sadly HMRC are now picking at the books and pulling apart some of the more 'questionable' accounting practices... Cue one massive tax bill and the necessity to start playing our rugby in sackcloth Blues tops

Anyway... Blues supporters have our own forum where we go for our group sulks...

I don't blame Vodafone for this though.. The general structure of the game below England Elite level is not supported by the RFU and it's the blazered old farts at Twickenham (who should be doing something about supporting Community Rugby teams) who have pulled funding for clubs below the top two national leagues who should be hanging their collective heads in shame.... EVERY team is suffering apart from the chosen few at the top table where money is no object...

Trouble is..the old farts don't care as long as they get their 'perks'.....
Rant over...

[Iommi]

BTW - I never meant this to be an anti-Vodafone thread, only that once the bank-rolling stops, the performance goes through the floor...regrettably. In truth I think we were punching way above our weight and water is simply finding its level. It is sad that only a few hundred would attend a match when we wuz good, let alone now, so it is no-wonder Vodafone would question its prudences in paying what it did.

[spartacus]

It is sad that only a few hundred would attend a match when we wuz good, let alone now, so it is no-wonder Vodafone would question its prudences in paying what it did.

That used to speak volumes to me and reinforce the idea that Newbury-ites just weren't that connected with local sport.... Those that followed a ball (be it round or egg-shaped) went to the Madjeski Stadium for their fix...

Even when we played Northampton Saints... or Harlequins.... when they dropped out of the Premiership for a season..... The crowds were largely made up of the visiting support… Could hardly even break the apathy for these one-off occasions....

All rather sad really....

[user23]

That used to speak volumes to me and reinforce the idea that Newbury-ites just weren't that connected with local sport.... Those that followed a ball (be it round or egg-shaped) went to the Madjeski Stadium for their fix...

Even when we played Northampton Saints... or Harlequins.... when they dropped out of the Premiership for a season..... The crowds were largely made up of the visiting support… Could hardly even break the apathy for these one-off occasions....

All rather sad really....

Is it something inherent in some Newbrarians, that they're unwilling to support their town?

[scott]

the blues fall from grace has been coming for a long time. I am a long term player/supporter of rugby, i live within a mile of NRFC but do i go and watch? no. £10 to watch that shower is a joke. the business that is NRFC need to start thinking outside of the box. go round the schools, promote rugby, give free tickets to the kids to come and watch. there will soon be an influx of dads that will pay to get in with their kids. When the standard of playing comes up to my expectations, i will watch them on a saturday afternoon. until then, i will go to madejski and watch irish, or watch whatever match is on sky.

Not a jab at the current squad, i understand its very much a youth team with a few old heads, this isnt how you grow a club to winning ways. investment must come, either from inside NRFC or by employing a business manager to get sponsorship.

Oh and the irony that they are now sponsored by an online joke shop? classic.

[Richard Garvie]

I think you raise a good point. The club seem to need a restructure and a blueprint of how to get where they need to get to. Are you saying that they don't have a business manager already? I thought that would be essential if the club wants to become more supported by not just local people but local business. The days of people giving you money for nothing are long gone. Ask AFC Newbury / Local radio stations / charities. If you want money these days, you need to earn it and give people a return on investment.

[spartacus]

Dear, oh dear, oh dear scott...... <shakes head in despair> Perhaps you need to get your facts right scott me old son....

NRFC need to start thinking outside of the box. go round the schools, promote rugby, give free tickets to the kids to come and watch. there will soon be an influx of dads that will pay to get in with their kids.

Newbury have had players working as community coaches for a number of seasons now... Even this season, despite all the financial strain on the club, there are I believe two players (captain Martin Freeman and one of the props Tom Fidler) still working as community coaches. Their role involves going out to local schools and encouraging participation in the game....

Free tickets to the kids to come and watch? Been there, still doing it! .....For the past five seasons at least (possibly considerably more) UNDER 16's GET IN FREE!! They do not have to be with a paying adult. They can just walk in.....

DESPITE these positive measures to try and get more footfall through the turnstiles there just isn't the local interest in local sport.... that 'influx of dads that will pay' have not materialised...

Unfortunately, like you, too many Newburians would rather snigger behind their hands about the dire position their own town club is in and go off to pay THREE TIMES AS MUCH (wots that all abaht?!) to watch the Cockney Micks in a seated stadium where you are so far removed from the playing surface you struggle to know what's going on.... (and all this while having to listen to that endless tuneless chant of "da, da, dum-de-de da, da-da-de-dum ...OIRISH!"

Yes the team are completely outclassed just now.... but they HAVE been up there.... Don't tell me you're a long term supporter of rugby and then come out with that cobblers....

Are you saying that they don't have a business manager already?

The problem with business managers is that they don't tend to offer their services for free... Not full time anyways... We have 'parents of' and other people with plenty of business acumen who are desperately struggling to keep the club viable... But a club that isn't paying players, and has shaken every coffer upside down and confirmed there isn't a spare shekel anywhere, will not be able to employ a business manager... That's la-la land as far as Blues are concerned....

Oh and the irony that they are now sponsored by an online joke shop? classic.

Spare us the benefit of your humour scott. Joker's Masquerade is a local business based at Kennet Side in Newbury and is a pretty big operation (albeit in a pretty niche market I'll admit..) A large local company sponsoring it's local sports team and the local sports team promoting a local business... that's what a sponsoring model is all about isn't it?

Anyhoo.... Joker's have been with Blues for a few seasons now and have been good sponsors in a time when sponsors are becoming an endangered species....

[Richard Garvie]

So who runs the blues?

[spartacus]

An unpaid band of volunteers... with plenty of gaps at the committee table and those that are there having to multi-task as a result.

[scott]

Spartacus, my whole point is made by you saying

"Free tickets to the kids to come and watch? Been there, still doing it! .....For the past five seasons at least (possibly considerably more) UNDER 16's GET IN FREE!! They do not have to be with a paying adult. They can just walk in....."

I live under 1 mile away from the club, have played for and against newbury and i did not know this... is that my fault? no. The Club need to employ a someone to help!

I know who jokers are, they are a local big business and hats off to them for investing some of their profits back to the local sports teams, it was more a tongue in cheek comment about the nature and name of their business and the current state of NRFC.