Feedback wanted: Dunedin Nix v Heart 3 March 2013 Forsyth Barr Stadium

In case anyone wants to feel heard with regards any (and all) aspects of the match in Dunedin last weekend, please post your comments here. Or if you prefer you can email me at dunedinphoenix (at) icloud (dot) com

There is going to be a comprehensive review of this, and I will direct management to this thread so that you can feed back directly if:

- you are from Dunedin (irrespective of whether your attended or not)
- you travelled to the game from out of town
- you are a Season ticket holder and did not travel for the game

Aspects you might want to comment on include (not a exhaustive list):

- The Sunday 4:30pm match timing
- Marketing around the match
- Reasons you did not attend the match if you didn't
- Any aspects around ticketing that you might have comments on
- Activities around the weekend including March to the Match and the pre-/post-match venues
- General thoughts on Dunedin's hosting of the match
- Any comments good and bad about the Stadium itself 

I've opened this thread for the sake of transparency so that you have a way to feed back directly if you think this improves your chances of being heard by those conducting the review.

Hi Ahmad, my opinion doesn't count for a hell of a lot as I'm not a season ticket holder but I have been to every game this season and most of the last three. My only small bit of feedback is that I didn't attend the game due to cost. I would have loved to attend but logistics were significantly more difficult to organise than they would have been had the game been in Christchurch or Auckland. I know there were flight specials at various points but I wasn't able to book at that point and had the game been in Christchurch or Auckland I could have just booked a couple of weeks out.

Obviously a pretty minor piece of feedback especially given that I don't have a season ticket but just thought I'd add my ten cents. For what it's worth I think you're an absolute legend for the amount of effort you've put in to organising everything down there. Huge kudos to you mate.

Any and all comments are welcome mate, and thanks for kicking this off. I will be directing those in charge to this thread so if you want to be heard, this is the place to do it. Thanks for posting.

Season ticket holder, didn't make the game. Thought the game would have been better suited to a Saturday, so people like myself could have traveled Saturday morning and left Sunday sometime. Could not afford miss a days work by flying back Monday.

Big ups to you mate for all your effort.

Cheers crewemad - much appreciated. Keep the feedback coming in. By Wednesday afternoon if you can. But if you can't don't be put off posting.

Also any comments about the pre/post match venues would be great too.

Some thoughts from me:

Overall a fantastic weekend> 

Things that worked.

1) Stadium. A brilliant place to watch football

2) Tight grouping of the fever Diehards at the match.  meant 40 or 50 made pretty good noise.

3) March to the Match was fun way of getting to the match but there seemed to be nobody around as soon as we got off George St, another route past shops maybe more effective?

4) Pre and Post match venues really good, despite Alibi closing when they did! Great drinks specials

5) The OFOF seemed to go off well as did the Saturday walk with Nixie

6) Jags were brilliant.

Things a little bit on the downside

1) Sunday afternoon would have deterred quite a few same time on a Saturday probably better.

2)I did not see much publicity at all around the town in terms of posters.

3) Quite a long walk from Ground to town. Especially for us old folk!  Option of buses back to Octagon maybe? Luckily it was not raining.

As I said overall awesome weekend, would have been great to see more there but things often conspire against that and it seems to get a good crowd all the stars and moon have to be in  perfect alignment. 

Absolutely something that is possible depending on numbers. Due to March to the Match I didn't even really give that enough thought sorry! If I had got a bus back I might have made it back to the Octagon in time for the Asian tourist bus - can anyone explain this to me?? LOL

A bus arrived and started reversing to park at the octagon, and we all started chanting 'Park that bus! Park that bus!'. The driver parked it perfectly, we started cheering and then the first tourist hopped off the bus with a fist-pump and saluted the crowd. From that point onwards, we cheered loudly as each of the tourists stepped off the bus, and they got right into it too. Was bloody hilarious. Bear in mind that we had all had a bit to drink by this stage, and it was hilarious., and I guess it was a 'be there moment' .

For what it’s worth here is my opinion on some of things that contributed to a disappointing crowd.

1.  Marketing/Media: The marketing of the game seemed very limited; I saw very little advertisement around the city, especially around the University Campus (where I work). There was also very little in the media prior to the game that I saw.

2.  Ticketing: No Zoo, the Yellow Fever Zone advertised (from memory) in a corner. The Zoo marketed as cheap “student” party
area, seems to me, to be the key to attracting a decent crowd. It worked brilliantly for the Warriors game, I would never sit there but talking to others who were there it was essentially about people being there to be part of an event, with many not concerned about the game at all. A shame the North Stand wasn’t able to be used, there has been good feedback about the Speights’ Stand, but the North Stand is one of the best places to watch football from. If the Zoo as cheap party zone (especially for students) the All Whites game could
suffer the same fate.

3.  Lack of involvement from the local football community: As the game is outside the local season there was little opportunity
for the game to be marketed through local clubs.

4.  Late Sunday afternoon game: Traditionally this is a bad time for Dunedin crowds, and even worse those out of town (the 15,000 crowd was bolstered by people from across the lower South Island). Saturday night, even Saturday afternoon would be perfect.

5.  Other events on down here: Warriors, Concerts, Test Match, All Whites, and dare say it Rugby are all on (and have generated a far bigger buzz)

6.  3rd game in 18 months: The novelty factor had probably worn off and I think with Christchurch getting far fewer events Dunedin casual fans are a lot more blasé about events (also see point 5)

7.  Nix performances of late: Although we played well on the day, recent performances from the team have been a tough watch.

8.  Public Apathy: The biggest let down is the apathy of the public. This is not just here, it seems Kiwi crowds only turn up in numbers to watch winners and sometimes only if it suits.

Some of these are not controllable and some aren’t easily fixed but all contributed in my opinion to a poor crowd.

It wasn’t all negative, the prices were reasonable, the venue is great (even though the best Football stand I have ever been in was closed), the team played well and got a result and my personal highlight the great effort by the team interacting with fans after the game.

I also think there will be a few people kicking themsleves that they didn't go

 A few of us did a roadie from chch down on the sunday morning (left about 1030), chilled around town for a bit then headed back. home by 1am.

Stadium is awesome, would've been nice to see another 1500 there at least.

Highlight was the seagull chant.

Have to wonder if tickets were too pricey for the students - from what I saw it was very much an older crowd with their wee kids. - note: maybe that was just in the bit where we were sitting.

Saturday trip would've been better - hit the clubs on the saturday night to celebrate winning the game and somehow make it home sunday.

Very few students were attracted to the football. The week after O-week, money issues starting and had been to many events already.
While I did go along, I think the main problem was that the phoenix had not won in weeks prior to this game. Since there was no novelty of the game, we wanted to watch a game when the team played well. Had they been in form in previous games, id have expected many more people. 
As above has pointed out, Sunday afternoon in Dunedin does not work - its a recovery day and the lack of advertising to non footballers meant few people were keen to go in advance.

Do you know what the student ticket price was? It was $15 if you didn't know.

LOL I think you may have confused me with another tall pale and handsome young male.

Further thoughts via email from someone that travelled from Wellington (name withheld as I haven't asked for permission to post):

The whole weekend was fab.  The only disappointment was the crowd.  Didnt seem to be marketed to the students or part of O week.

Pubs were great meeting points, the stadium was good.

Thanks again.  Hope we will see you next year.

More thoughts via email (name again withheld):

- The Jaguars transfers - superb. The only way to get to and from Mosgiel airport.

- Ticketing - Don't know. A guy called Ahmad took care of this for me.

- Marketing around the match - Ambivalent. Because I committed to going in October I didn't pay much attention to the marketing.

- Timing of the match itself (Sunday 4:30pm vs. another time/day) - A Saturday would make travelling to and from regional rounds/Nix on the road games easier. I had to take two half days off work to attend the match.

- How easy or difficult it was for you to make the journey and whether this influenced your decision to travel - it was not that easy. We wanted to do the Taieri Gorge Rail journey and see the match this visit. Last time it was basically just the game. Much better experience taking a bit longer in Dunedin. We loved the first visit so much that as soon as the fixture was announced we decided we were going.

- General thoughts on Dunedin's hosting of the match - Dundein did not seem to be promoting the game very much at all. The crowd was disappointing. A lot of locals we spoke to on the Friday and Saturday, and even the Sunday seemed surprised to learn there was a Phoenix game on at the Stadium.

- Any comments good and bad about the Stadium itself - the Stadium is fantastic. The best spectator experience I have ever had at a football match.

- The pre-match venue (Alibi Bar on the corner) or the post-match venue (Craft Bar) in the Octagon Both Alibi and Craft were erxcellent. They really looked after us and were ideally located.

- Whether the Octagon was the "right" place to hold the pre-/post-match functions - The Octagon is not only the "right" place, it is the "only" place. If the "official" locationn was ever not in the Octagon, I think I'd not go to the "official" place, and go to the Octagon anyway.

Anything is invited and I stress that criticism and negative comments are just as welcome as compliments. We are looking at every aspect and would like to know your thoughts.The regional rounds concept is broken. It is a fantastic concept that is being butchered by crazy juristictional issues around implementation. To work, BOTH the FFA and the club need to be responsible for promoting the game. Having the club in a position where they say "it's not up to us to promote the game. It's the FFA's game, they get the gate, not us, so we don't have any incentive to promote the game" is mental. The FFA need to make it worth the club's while to get in behind the regional round and make the game as big an event as possible.

Do we know if they offered any student deals?

Do they still offer the student deals for the Highlanders games? Mates used to go on about paying $15 which got you a ticket to the game and a jug (at the Cook?) beforehand and then beers at the game as well. Do the Highlanders still do that? Did the Phoenix?

It seems to me that if you go to Dunedin you are going after the student market. If they didn't offer anything to entice the students then someone needs a bollocking.

I was advised yesterday that the Polytech was offering $10 tickets. I don't know exactly how it worked by I talked to the Polytech Students' Association and was advised that the association purchased them for $15 and sold them for $10 as subsidised tickets - they apparently do this with other sports too.

I was told that they sold 20-30 "but could have sold this 2-3 times over". I didn't fully understand what she meant by this but in the end I deduced that they took orders and then bought the tickets - after buying them they continued to field enquiries about the tickets.

Those Highlanders $15 tickets and a jug are pub deals. For example Craft (our post-match venue) puts a bus on to Highlanders games and if you buy a beer voucher, you get a free return bus trip to the game. I guess each pub offers their own deal.

Of course the difference with Highlanders and football is the size of the market. When every second pub in Dunedin is an "official Highlanders supporters" establishment, and we struggle to find a single one to show Phoenix games, then we are always going to be on the back foot. 

Craft will be putting on a bus for the All Whites - not because this is the AWs and not "just the Phoenix", but because they only do buses for Friday and Saturday night games. Other bars may (and will) offer various different deals but this is yet another reason why the Sunday 4:30pm timing put Dunedin on the back foot from the outset.

I wasn't privy to the overall marketing strategy, so don't know what they specifically did for students. However I can say that there were posters in the FBS O-Week tent when they pushed for all events (Highlanders/Warriors/Phoenix), and there was a brief promo on campus involving some players but this was at 2:15-3:30pm on a Friday after all the foot traffic on Uni campus had almost died off completely.

To be honest if I had been in charge I wouldn't have thought about these "student deals" either as I consider $15 pretty bloody decent. That said I guess it is a competitive market and if other sports are offering $15 with free beers then I can see why it is something that would need to be looked at. I would be pretty certain that these free beers aren't coming out of the pocket of Highlanders HQ - perhaps it was something the Phoenix could and should have looked at with a group of pubs around the city, targeting the student population.

Does Wellington have the equivalent of these Highlander pub deals running for the Phoenix there?

Re student prices, people have to understand that students would calculate the cost of the night based on the cost of beer as well. Without beer it's a $15 difference between watching live and watching at the game. With the cost of 6 or so beers as well you're looking at probably another $40 at least, so the game actually costs about $50 to $60. When many O-Week events are heavily subsidised, having the game at this time of year might actually be far less of an attraction than some people assume.