SEASON TICKET HOLDERS FORUM
Thanks to all those Season Ticket Holders who came along to our forum evening on Thursday 10 January at Kingston Park.
The event began with a full run through of the club’s Vision and Values strategy presentation by Paul Varley and Dean Richards. Dean explained his Vision for the future of Newcastle Falcons on the pitch, where he sees his squad and how he hopes to build upon the facilities available at Kingston Park.
Paul then talked through the club’s off the field vision, considering all of our interactions with fans, businesses and the local community and the many things we hope to do to improve the experiences those groups have when dealing with the club. Full details of that strategy will be available on this website very soon.
Following on from the presentation, the session was opened out to attendees for their questions and feedback, and no subject was left uncovered! Every question was answered, with Season Ticket Holders giving their feedback not only on their dealing with the club, but also on one another’s questions.
Hot topics included the value of Season Tickets, with many attendees agreed that they are happen for tickets to be given away cheaply or for free to the community if it encourages more fans to come along to Kingston Park and cheer the team to victory; the match day experience, which Paul agreed needed to change so that the club can offer faster service and better food in both the West and South stand bars; and kit and merchandising – both of which we will be working on over the coming months to ensure we have products that both fans and players alike are proud to wear.
On the pitch, the biggest talking point was the timing of fixtures, with a quick straw poll revealing that roughly one third of attendees preferred Friday matches, one third preferred Sunday matches and the third group had no real preference, suggesting that a balance between the two is the most sensible way forward when scheduling future fixtures.
Dean also answered questions on the visibility of our Academy, agreeing that fans should have more opportunity to hear more about the Academy squad, and to see the team play wherever possible; on squad rotation within the first team and on the exciting and winning brand of rugby that Dean hopes to build within the club.
In answer to further questions, Dean also talked of his plans to not only attract world-class players to Kingston Park, but also to keep the players we already have in our first team and Academy alike. He said: “A big part of doing that is winning and playing good rugby. But we also need to build a club and a culture here that players enjoy coming to and want to stay at.”
A big thank you to all those who came along to Thursday’s forum and apologies to all those who were unable to attend. We plan to work increasingly closely with our Season Ticket Holders so hope to welcome you to similar sessions in future.
If you are a Season Ticket Holder who did not receive the e-newsletter inviting you along to this session, please contact ceryn.rowntree@newcastle-falcons.co.uk to ensure we have the correct email address for you.
