Sons' sorrow

[Silverton End]

Why do our attendances seem to be getting lower? Ok, the game v Falkirk was free on TV, cannot blame anyone not wanting to shell out £18, but a 500-600 crowd v the team 2nd in the League is pretty pish. Falkirk perhaps brought 150-200 through. Where were our Season Ticket holders? The Tues before, a vital 3 points to be gained v Alloa, after giving Livi a sniff & we get a sub-500 in attendance. Even going back to our victory over Hibs, the Home End was half full, 400 seats empty. Away games used to be decent, bit of singing, the big chap wi the drum on occasion. A few banners too. Real lack of passion lately, bit sad tbh.

Don't mean to be negative on our Sons Thread, but it's a bit worrying.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

Why do our attendances seem to be getting lower? Ok, the game v Falkirk was free on TV, cannot blame anyone not wanting to shell out £18, but a 500-600 crowd v the team 2nd in the League is pretty pish. Falkirk perhaps brought 150-200 through. Where were our Season Ticket holders? The Tues before, a vital 3 points to be gained v Alloa, after giving Livi a sniff & we get a sub-500 in attendance. Even going back to our victory over Hibs, the Home End was half full, 400 seats empty. Away games used to be decent, bit of singing, the big chap wi the drum on occasion. A few banners too. Real lack of passion lately, bit sad tbh.

Don't mean to be negative on our Sons Thread, but it's a bit worrying.

What is the one thing that the masochist simultaneously craves and fears ?  Gratification, that's what, and that's what's happening here.  After decades spent trawling around the lower divisions the club is currently walking thro it's Promised Land, and now that peak DFC appears to have been reached a lot of folk have decided 'well, is that it then, I've now seen it, time to move on'.

 

We can blame prices, kick-off times, the attitude of club officials, etc., but I reckon a whole lot of folk have become very blasé indeed after fours seasons in the Championship; silly people, it will end soon enough and everyone should be getting behind the efforts right now.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

One thing that concerns me is how high a percentage of our support is made up of older guys. Fast forward 10 or 15 years and our attendance figures could be half of what they are just now.

The majority of fans who sit around me are old and you only ever see them for a Saturday, 3pm kick off. Infact the guy who sits behind me is so old he thinks it's a heinous crime to stand up as Dumbarton are breaking through on goal. So much so he thinks it's acceptable to push you down back into your seat thankfully I'm really nice guy who has resisted the temptation to back hander his falsers straight down his throat.

But aye, I think we need to focus our attention on the younger generation, who aren't scared to leave the house under the cover of darkness.

[pleslie99]

I work, that's my excuse lol

In reality tho the price is a massive thing and throughout football it really irks me, £18 is a lot to be watching a game at this level and some people will just say it's not value for money

[BallochSonsFan]

One thing that concerns me is how high a percentage of our support is made up of older guys. Fast forward 10 or 15 years and our attendance figures could be half of what they are just now.

The majority of fans who sit around me are old and you only ever see them for a Saturday, 3pm kick off. Infact the guy who sits behind me is so old he thinks it's a heinous crime to stand up as Dumbarton are breaking through on goal. So much so he thinks it's acceptable to push you down back into your seat thankfully I'm really nice guy who has resisted the temptation to back hander his falsers straight down his throat.

But aye, I think we need to focus our attention on the younger generation, who aren't scared to leave the house under the cover of darkness.

 

Thats a big problem.

 

The older fans are great and have a lot of knowledge and passion for the club. Unfortunately we can't clone them. Eventually they'll stop going for one reason or another. We need to be getting younger fans through the gates.

 

I'm not sure how you do that. Price is one issue but its not the only problem. It's expensive for a parent to take the family along to a game of football on a Saturday afternoon but even if price wasnt an issue, how many kids see football as something that should be experienced live in a football ground? It's too easy for kids to watch TV, play football on their games consoles and become enthralled to TV football. Try telling the kid who worships Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo that Kevin Cawley is also playing football. Its not football as they're used to. They can't pause the game. They can't push a button to make Cawley beat his man with some fancy footwork.

 

It would be great if the current crop of fans could take their kids, or grandkids, along to the games. To be fair there are a few who do and its brilliant to see. Unfortunately thats not enough to sustain the crowds. Eventually we need to attract new fans - either people who are fed up with the old firm (as I was) and want something different from a Saturday afternoon (which is how I ended up following Dumbarton) or people who perhaps had been put off football but who would potentially enjoy having something to do on a Saturday.

[Silverton End]

What is the one thing that the masochist simultaneously craves and fears ? Gratification, that's what, and that's what's happening here. After decades spent trawling around the lower divisions the club is currently walking thro it's Promised Land, and now that peak DFC appears to have been reached a lot of folk have decided 'well, is that it then, I've now seen it, time to move on'.

We can blame prices, kick-off times, the attitude of club officials, etc., but I reckon a whole lot of folk have become very blasé indeed after fours seasons in the Championship; silly people, it will end soon enough and everyone should be getting behind the efforts right now.

Totally agree with your analogy.

Also as the other guys have said, we need to be getting youngsters to the games. Whether it's by charging merely £2 or giving out Complementaries via schools. Last Tues evening, that Nade hat-trick may well have encouraged a few kids to want to come back & watch The Sons.

[Jan Vojáček]

Something I've always thought would work is getting people from the club to go into schools, do some football training and hand out tickets or discount vouchers.

A lot of my brothers friends - he's 14 - have started supporting Thistle over the OF because they had the free tickets for kids and publicised it well. There's plenty of schools nearby, so why can't we do something similar?

I wouldn't make it exclusive to primary schools either. If you get a group of, say, 7 or 8 14/15 year olds now then they're likely to keep coming back. Younger kids might have uninterested/hard up parents but slightly older guys can go without an adult and just with mates.

A few of our players definitely want to go into coaching when they retire, so why not ask someone like Fraz if he fancies going round some schools getting some experience and helping boost attendances.

Lets say he did a 45min/1hr PE lesson thing with primary school kids, and a more in depth almost professional like training session with secondary kids. That'd be great. Then at the end gave out tickets/discount vouchers.

Nothing to lose, and a decent amount to gain.

Like OKI said people would always hit out with the "I don't support Dumbarton. They're rubbish" line. Now we aren't "rubbish" they grumble entry prices are too high.

Pressure on my generation to have hunners of weans now!

[the snudge]

Why do our attendances seem to be getting lower? Ok, the game v Falkirk was free on TV, cannot blame anyone not wanting to shell out £18, but a 500-600 crowd v the team 2nd in the League is pretty pish. Falkirk perhaps brought 150-200 through. Where were our Season Ticket holders? The Tues before, a vital 3 points to be gained v Alloa, after giving Livi a sniff & we get a sub-500 in attendance. Even going back to our victory over Hibs, the Home End was half full, 400 seats empty. Away games used to be decent, bit of singing, the big chap wi the drum on occasion. A few banners too. Real lack of passion lately, bit sad tbh.

Don't mean to be negative on our Sons Thread, but it's a bit worrying.

The banners it was myself and another chap that had them. I don't go as much as I used to due to work/having a wean. The other fella is at uni down south now.

[Silverton End]

Something I've always thought would work is getting people from the club to go into schools, do some football training and hand out tickets or discount vouchers.

A lot of my brothers friends - he's 14 - have started supporting Thistle over the OF because they had the free tickets for kids and publicised it well. There's plenty of schools nearby, so why can't we do something similar?

I wouldn't make it exclusive to primary schools either. If you get a group of, say, 7 or 8 14/15 year olds now then they're likely to keep coming back. Younger kids might have uninterested/hard up parents but slightly older guys can go without an adult and just with mates.

A few of our players definitely want to go into coaching when they retire, so why not ask someone like Fraz if he fancies going round some schools getting some experience and helping boost attendances.

Lets say he did a 45min/1hr PE lesson thing with primary school kids, and a more in depth almost professional like training session with secondary kids. That'd be great. Then at the end gave out tickets/discount vouchers.

Nothing to lose, and a decent amount to gain.

Like OKI said people would always hit out with the "I don't support Dumbarton. They're rubbish" line. Now we aren't "rubbish" they grumble entry prices are too high.

Pressure on my generation to have hunners of weans now!

Yes.

It's what DFC used to do, back in the day.

Always looked forward to our class getting the free Complementaries once or twice a Season. 😀

It's probably a factor in plenty of our fans still following the Club.

Today's DFC are definitely missing a trick here.

[the snudge]

The complimentary tickets are the reason I'm a Dumbarton fan. We used to get them in primary school. 1993 vs Dunfermline at boghead was a freebie

[Silverton End]

The banners it was myself and another chap that had them. I don't go as much as I used to due to work/having a wean. The other fella is at uni down south now.

If you still have the banners, you could pass them onto the Supporters Bus or Sonstrust for the youngsters to use at games?

Just a thought.

The big black & gold 'Sons of The Rock' one was a cracker btw ðŸ‘

[Howlin' Wilf]

There is a downward trend to attendances and some of the reasons mentioned above are valid.

However, in the specific case of Saturday, I'd guess a 3pm kick off, with no TV coverage would have resulted in at least a doubling, if not a trebling of the attendance we got.

The only saving grace is that the missing folk in the home end were, in the main, season ticket holders so there wasn't a big loss of money from the home end. I hear that at some games there can be as few as 30 walk up punters in the home end.

I don't know what the answer is to attract more young folk. I know there is quite a healthy youth support from Helensburgh/Cardross, which has always been the case.

Good to see young guys like Fraser Clarke and Jack Crawford flying the flag and carrying on the tradition of Sons fans being smarter than the average Bear......or indeed Bhoy.

[cedrick1]

All of above are contributors to the lower clubs.

Yes club could do more in terms of boys clubs and primary schools. Difficult to get part time players along but 20 tickets per game is easy.

I still think we suffer any time there is a change fro sat 3pm as don just about every other club. Work travel always an issue at night games.

Finally I think despite better product on offer people went in lower leagues as they thought we had more of a chance to win.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

I always remember getting tickets to watch Scotland u15s or 16s at Boghead. It was great, all the boys from school there having a great time.

I was young but I remember it being really busy. If you give weans freebies they will use them and it might even encourage parents to pay in.

I have no idea regarding the ins and outs of it mind you, the local council don't seem too keen on DFC for some bizarre reason. Perhaps it's something we've attempted and been told naw.

[Boghead ranter]

I always remember getting tickets to watch Scotland u15s or 16s at Boghead. It was great, all the boys from school there having a great time.

I was young but I remember it being really busy. If you give weans freebies they will use them and it might even encourage parents to pay in.

I have no idea regarding the ins and outs of it mind you, the local council don't seem too keen on DFC for some bizarre reason. Perhaps it's something we've attempted and been told naw.

 

 

Hard to see how they could object/block us looking at ways of filling up to capacity, not as if we're going to over fill.

 

Unless, of course, we're blocked from having access into the schools, either for some council reason, or because of some interpretation of the working with minors rules.

 

That being the case, surely we could try working with youth clubs/organisations, even local football boys clubs.  Who better to get interested in football than kids who play football?  So long as they don;t all play at 3pm on a Saturday already, obviously.

[George Parr]

Do all the players in the youth setup get a free home ticket every match? Should prob have at least one of the age groups in on a comp each week.

[pleslie99]

When I was at school I got tickets for the Scotland u-15 games at bog head too. the BB's gave me tickets for Dumbarton and Scotland games, freebies galore. My boy doesn't get anything like that and he's 11. I don't think there is an easy fix, but tbh it's not just us that suffer, look at ibrox and Celtic park, they are half empty every week too whereas 10years ago they were packed every week.

[optimistic]

School tickets are a good idea, but we should be pushing for a shop in the high street, or at least a window display in another shop, or a stall in asda or Morrison's, (other shops are possibilities), we really need to improve our merchandise quickly, have online sales, open the doors to the unders games

[Jumbo Muir]

Strongly agree with the points being raised here. I was taken to my first game by my Dad as a five year old and the rest is history. The club was far friendlier then. Prices were very low for kids to get in, you could wander into Boghead on training nights to watch your heroes and chat to them whilst collecting autographs. I didn't dream of supporting anyone else.

Today's club appears to have different priorities. I'm consistently made to feel like an inconvenience when I ring the club for info. When told that I have to attend the ground, I reply that I live a 2 hour flight away, and can I arrange for pick up on match day, the impatience is palpable.

Christ, look at the online shop. I can't even buy a top or a scarf as a present.

The club appears to see itself as a business that doesn't need to open it's doors to the community to encourage future custom. A strange business model. The club in the Boghead days was far more welcoming.

[optimistic]

Anyone interested in running a shop or online sales,?

Ideas for it? I'll start, car window stickers