By LISC
April 15 2003

Minutes of the meeting between LISRFC & London Irish Supporters Club held on Tuesday 8TH APRIL 2003 at London Irish Rugby Club, The Avenue, Sunbury Those attending:

LISR - Conor O’Shea, Managing Director

LISC - Patrick Tahany, Annette Delaney, Sarah Newton,
Pauline O’Connor, Alan Murphy, Chris Tampsett, Ken Emerson, Ken Armstrong, Claire Gosney.

Apologies were received from Paddy Green and Chris Weldon.

Absent, Trevor Dolan.

The meeting started at approximately 9.10pm.



St. Patrick’s Day 2003
Feedback Summary


On the whole, a fantastic day. The open air event was a huge success – in no small part due to the weather! The bands laid on were very good and the crowds were massive.

There were, however, aspects that didn’t work so well, and some of the suggestions for improvement were collected from the Sportnetwork site and have been collated below.


The top four recommendations for improvement from this year’s event:

1. More food and drink outlets required.

2. More choice of food and drink

3. Guinness bars located too close to the stage and each other

4. Service at bars inside the stadium was too slow

In a little more detail:

More food and drink outlets required.

The crux of the feedback for this issue is the number of Guinness wagons and burger sellers. To have only two Guinness outlets outside was bad enough. To compound the issue by locating them right next to the stage was, for some, a deterrent. That meant that not only were there queues of up to 30 minutes but that customers, both potential and actual, had to fight their way through those enjoying the band.

The North Stand bars were open but again the service was very, very slow and the crowds made them as inaccessible as the two Guinness wagons.

On the food front, there were three burger vans open until 7.30 when two of them closed – having sold out. The remaining van had only burgers available until it also closed down.

More choice of food and drink.

While supporters recognise that Guinness are our sponsors, there are a relatively large number of supporters who don’t like it! For future events, can the club arrange for additional retailers outside the ground to be selling alternative drinks, particularly requested is wine and more soft drink.

On the subject of food, the choice outside the ground was burger, cheeseburger, (either with or without chips), Hotdog (with or without chips) or chips; until 7.30pm when it was burger, cheeseburger or hotdog without the chip option. For occasions such as this it



would be nice to have a little more choice and the logistics needn’t be a nightmare. Some suggestions made on the day were ‘Baked Spud Wagons’, sandwich vans and a hog roast.

Guinness bars located too close to the stage and each other

The location of the Guinness wagons has already been referred to. However, the positioning of both wagons very close together was a serious problem for many of the supporters. It may well be that the wagons were situated so close together for ease of barrel changing but it seems if that was the case the benefits may well have been outweighed by the loss of revenue.

A number of supporters couldn’t face queuing for so long and so went into town. A further number were deterred from drinking any more by the thought of queuing and of having to wade through a sea of bodies for the privilege. In addition, the position of the Guinness outlets made it very hard for people determined to obtain a drink to identify the end of the queue.

Service at bars inside the stadium was too slow.

Again, this has already been touched upon but some of the times reported are worthy of particular mention.

South Stand - maximum time reported was 45 minutes
East Stand - maximum time reported was over 30 minutes

There were no times quoted about the time taken in the North Stand Bar after the game.

A recurring suggestion for improvement was the mobile lager sellers (like those we had at the Heineken Cup games) and a similar arrangement for wine and soft drink if such a concept exists. Also suggested was the token method, whereby tokens are sold in various places away from bars and then tokens are exchanged for (specified) drink – taking away the time required to pay at the bar.






Supporters’ Debrief on the St Patrick’s Day Celebrations

The committee outlined their main conclusions from the comments they had been given by the supporters (copy attached). Conor welcomed the views and advised that he was already aware of the shortcomings in the food and drink, the location of same and the quality and quantities available, although a number of the issues were beyond the club’s ability to control, being facilities provided by the stadium. The committee stressed that despite the result of the game and the comments they had passed on, most people had enjoyed the day out, particularly those who had come for the first time.

Next year there will be no league action around St Patrick’s day because of the six nations competition. Conor reported that the club realised the value of a party to celebrate St Patrick’s day and it was keen to build on this year’s success and have a similar event next year. It will therefore be considering a number of alternatives nearer the date.



Payment Plan for Season Tickets

Conor confirmed that direct debit payments were not a viable option due to the restrictions applied by the Club’s bankers. Although technically it could provide a standing order facility, it was unwilling to commit to the resources needed to run such a scheme at this time. However, if the committee could demonstrate a groundswell of opinion that would enable more season tickets to be sold, the club would have to reconsider it.

Conor recognised that many people would not purchase or renew their Season Tickets until after the end of the season.

Last Game of the Season

Date and Venue – This is currently as set down by the RFU, 10th May at Madejski Stadium. However, the date may change if Reading FC end up in 5th or 6th position in the league they will be in the play-offs and will play at home.

Party Arrangements – The committee asked the club to organise a massive end of season party, along the lines of the St Patrick’s day event. The club confirmed that it was already looking at the possibility but one of the key unknowns at this time was the likely size of the crowd. The committee agreed to do whatever they could to publicise the event if it goes ahead, and provided a number of suggestions how this might be done. Meanwhile the committee reported that they hoped to arrange an end of season pre-match party but as yet the venue has not been finalised.


Presentations –

Player of the Season Award from the Supporters Club – The committee reported that they wished to award this after the Bristol match. Voting will open shortly both electronically and by paper (voting slips to be circulated with the next edition of the eXile Files which should be distributed within a few days). Conor was asked to remind Ryan to bring back the trophy so that this can be engraved and polished!

New Player of the Season Award – This is a new award kindly donated by Tony and Maureen Byrne of St. Clare’s Travel who will pick the recipient. This will also be presented after the Bristol match.

The ‘Alternative’ Awards - A Nomination Form for these awards will appear in the next issue of the eXile Files.

AOB

While thanking supporters for the immense efforts they had made in aid of the JC fund, Conor reminded the committee, and supporters as a whole, of the corporate hospitality opportunities available at the JC Ball at The Hilton on 3rd May 2003. Although the event was well supported, there were still a few tables available and the fund would make even more money if these could be taken.

There are great prizes on offer, one of which is a Dinner for four with 4 celebrities - the celebrities being Conor O’Shea, Brian O’Driscoll, Richard Dunwoody and Barry McGuigan.

The committee promised to publicise this event among their contacts and said they had no doubt that supporters would be keen to do the same.

There being no further matters for discussion the chairman thanked Conor for giving up his time and the meeting closed at 10.00pm



St. Patrick’s Day 2003
Feedback Summary


On the whole, a fantastic day. The open air event was a huge success – in no small part due to the weather! The bands laid on were very good and the crowds were massive.

There were, however, aspects that didn’t work so well, and some of the suggestions for improvement were collected from the Sportnetwork site and have been collated below.


The top four recommendations for improvement from this year’s event:

1. More food and drink outlets required.

2. More choice of food and drink

3. Guinness bars located too close to the stage and each other

4. Service at bars inside the stadium was too slow

In a little more detail:

More food and drink outlets required.

The crux of the feedback for this issue is the number of Guinness wagons and burger sellers. To have only two Guinness outlets outside was bad enough. To compound the issue by locating them right next to the stage was, for some, a deterrent. That meant that not only were there queues of up to 30 minutes but that customers, both potential and actual, had to fight their way through those enjoying the band.

The North Stand bars were open but again the service was very, very slow and the crowds made them as inaccessible as the two Guinness wagons.

On the food front, there were three burger vans open until 7.30 when two of them closed – having sold out. The remaining van had only burgers available until it also closed down.

More choice of food and drink.

While supporters recognise that Guinness are our sponsors, there are a relatively large number of supporters who don’t like it! For future events, can the club arrange for additional retailers outside the ground to be selling alternative drinks, particularly requested is wine and more soft drink.

On the subject of food, the choice outside the ground was burger, cheeseburger, (either with or without chips), Hotdog (with or without chips) or chips; until 7.30pm when it was burger, cheeseburger or hotdog without the chip option. For occasions such as this it



would be nice to have a little more choice and the logistics needn’t be a nightmare. Some suggestions made on the day were ‘Baked Spud Wagons’, sandwich vans and a hog roast.

Guinness bars located too close to the stage and each other

The location of the Guinness wagons has already been referred to. However, the positioning of both wagons very close together was a serious problem for many of the supporters. It may well be that the wagons were situated so close together for ease of barrel changing but it seems if that was the case the benefits may well have been outweighed by the loss of revenue.

A number of supporters couldn’t face queuing for so long and so went into town. A further number were deterred from drinking any more by the thought of queuing and of having to wade through a sea of bodies for the privilege. In addition, the position of the Guinness outlets made it very hard for people determined to obtain a drink to identify the end of the queue.

Service at bars inside the stadium was too slow.

Again, this has already been touched upon but some of the times reported are worthy of particular mention.

South Stand - maximum time reported was 45 minutes
East Stand - maximum time reported was over 30 minutes

There were no times quoted about the time taken in the North Stand Bar after the game.

A recurring suggestion for improvement was the mobile lager sellers (like those we had at the Heineken Cup games) and a similar arrangement for wine and soft drink if such a concept exists. Also suggested was the token method, whereby tokens are sold in various places away from bars and then tokens are exchanged for (specified) drink – taking away the time required to pay at the bar.