Won [ Sat 10th Aug ] v Lye Town, KO 3pm NPLD1M HOME

[AFCRD_Dan]

Was great to get the win, a clean sheet as well!

A solid team performance, the players did what was needed. As Pigman said we would never have held on to a 1-0 at this point last season. The players we have now seem to be a lot more street smart, whereas under Nunn he seemed to want to get the fair play award, and we got bullied by teams.

[Dazzler]

Match highlights and interviews with AFCRDTV

[train]

Awesome day, awesome win, well well deserved.

Is the Premiership Fantasy football league going to be done, because it’s always cool fun that is.

[rickthediamond]

The attendance for this game was really disappointing, especially considering our triumph in the FA Cup on the Tuesday. Attendances seemed to be down across the board to be fair though, probably due to people being away.

However, in the 4 games we’ve now played against Corby, and with them being the benchmark for attendances in our league, I’ve noticed that we seem to be lacking fans that are aged roughly between mid teens and mid 20s. Corby seemingly has many fans in that age range. Happy to admit that this is my age range, but there is not many of us at Diamonds from what I can tell anyway. Having grown up in a nearby village to Irthlingborough and not in Rushden, I’m unable to say for certain but I do expect that people my age in Rushden probably support a premier league team and as such don’t have an appetite for local non league football. The two are definitely not mutually exclusive though. I don’t know if the club has any data on the demographics of who comes through the gate, and if they do I’m happy to be proved wrong, but it seems to me that we need to figure out a way to encourage young adults to come and support the club. It’s a difficult one really because as someone around that age I should be able to think of suggestions, but for me it has always been so straight forward, I’ve supported the club my whole life.

What is great to see is that there is a lot of much younger supporters coming to our games, who will hopefully continue to support our club as they grow up. That is very promising for sure.

[Dbsl]

A good point and one I raised in my Board Q&A responses. I am really hoping someone will come on to the Board or comit to helping me engage with the younger generation and encourage their attendance but also help to build the club for the future. I am 66 and one of the youngest on the Volunteer Working Group. A few weeks we had a 70 and 80 year old on top of the shop roof repairing it. Unfortunately over time this group for various reasons won't be able to do the work they currently do. We need younger people coming forward to help. You are the future of the Club and without volunteers the Club may cease to exist.

If you have any ideas on attracting younger people or if you could spare an hour or two to volunteer email me at david.bland@afc-diamonds.com

[oliv272]

I think looking at other clubs that have been successful with this is a good start, Farnham FC is one example I can think of that get really good attendances and a lot of young people turn up.

Collaborating with more YouTubers/Influencers just like Ellis Away Days would have a huge impact on the mid teens to early 20s as well and being a bit more creative/bold with our social media output.

[Dbsl]

Thanks Oliv I will investigate

[BartonRaz]

I think looking at other clubs that have been successful with this is a good start, Farnham FC is one example I can think of that get really good attendances and a lot of young people turn up.

Collaborating with more YouTubers/Influencers just like Ellis Away Days would have a huge impact on the mid teens to early 20s as well and being a bit more creative/bold with our social media output.

I had a bit of back and forth with one of their Directors on social media last week after he was critical about Step 4 crowds last weekend. Ours was well below what we'd hoped and expected, but did you see others? Real Bedford got about 250. Wellingborough under 200 despite getting 3/400+ regularly last season. St. Neots couldn't hit 200 (league below but they were flying).

It was the Community Shield and also, Sky were showing a lot of games on TV that day (maybe all of them?). I think it's too easy to blame holidays.

He recently listed a load of the things Farnham have done to generate engagement in the Club. I had a look through them and we do 90% of them. It is worth bearing in mind though that the chap at Farnham is the founder of a social media agency employing over 400 people. So he is literally an expert in the field but not only that, probably has the cash to invest in it himself for the club's benefit.

One of the first things I did when I came on to the board was establish a (small) marketing budget and since then, we are doing social media adverts before every game. We spend about £50 a week on targeted ads because that's all we can afford. Multiply that by 10 and it would REALLY impact on the number on the gate and also the general reach of the Club, but we can't. I happen to think these are working generally and attendance figures last season would back that up, but it's slow growth.

Generally the fanbase is of a certain age. We all know that. We sell more concession season tickets than adult season tickets.

The age group that Cameron sits in is a definite gap for sure and is the group we really need to tackle. The age group just above that which Rob and I sit in is quite prominent around the Club as we were all kids growing up during the glory years at Nene Park. The age group below it I'd like to think we are doing a good job at tackling as part of the much better relationship with have with the Community Section these days.

If anyone has any ideas about how we can be more creative and bold with socials then I'm all ears. Video content perhaps. But these things require volunteers and time, and I give up any more of mine between my 'real' job and this club, I think I literally wouldn't see my family!

[therushden]

Are we having new season tickets this year? Or are we using last years?

[rickthediamond]

I think looking at other clubs that have been successful with this is a good start, Farnham FC is one example I can think of that get really good attendances and a lot of young people turn up.

Collaborating with more YouTubers/Influencers just like Ellis Away Days would have a huge impact on the mid teens to early 20s as well and being a bit more creative/bold with our social media output.

I definitely agree with this. But as pointed out by Alex, Farnham are experts at this and having connections with the Sidemen certainly helps!

Apologies for going over old ground, but I do think Hayden Road hampers our ability to draw certain age groups to our games. There is a sentimental value with many of our current fans for obvious reasons, and I myself like Hayden Road specifically for its history. But putting myself in the shoes of a young football fan in Rushden who hasn’t been to one of our games before, the ground is not much of an attraction. We are obviously going to be at Hayden Road for the foreseeable future, or at least it seems that way, I think it would be great to try and find cost effectives ways to either spruce up the ground or improve the atmosphere. Easier said than done of course. I’ve always thought it would be great to have some tin cover of some description down the birch road end. One of the things that I loved so much growing up was our songs and the atmosphere we created, but as soon as you swap ends at Hayden Road you can wave any atmosphere goodbye. The singing/atmosphere is clearly a big draw for the young Corby fans that have been singing their hearts out in every game we’ve played against them!

Something I’ve been thinking recently is that the club should really have a Facebook supporters group. I won’t go into great depth on this one because I’m sure many people won’t like this suggestion. However, Corby’s has over 4k members, K*ttering’s has over 2.5k. I think younger people are much more likely to engage on there instead of on this forum, and anyway it’s normally the same 10-20 of us on here lol. I’m not trying to sound the death knell of this forum, it should be protected at all costs. It is my opinion that we should have a social media supporters group too though, I’m fairly certain it would help foster more engagement and ideas within the fanbase.