The Wrong Brand?

[Bundy]

In light of the poor crowd on Sunday arvo of 10k, I keep hearing excuses like 'the people of the Shire don't care' or similar. I can't cop that as an excuse. As a local area, a place to come from, a place to grow up, and a place to raise a family, I find no prouder people anywhere than those from 'The Shire'. There are Shire's all over the world but only one 'The Shire' and in it, whether it be for the right or wrong reasons, is one of the best know beach areas in the country, CRONULLA.

People of the Shire that travel overseas will know, when someone asks them where they live, regardless of what part of 'The Shire' they live in, they'll generally answer 'Cronulla'. Because people know, people associate with it.

All this, yet we are trying to get some of the proudest, most local centric people you'll find anywhere, to associate with the term 'Sharks'. Sharks this, Sharks that. I believe if our Club was referred to as Cronulla more often, or Cronulla Sutherland, the locals would grow to be more fond of them. At the moment it's too easy for the fairweathers to throw away the 'Sharks'. I don't they'd be so quick to dispose of something branded 'Cronulla'.

Am I completely off track here? Or can anyone else see the merits of what I'm saying? I hope I have explained my point clearly enough?

Americans use mascots and slogans seemingly very successfully but realistically, their population is so big it'd be almost impossible not to draw a crowd at any sport. The story that the LA Galaxy soccer team made their $52mil back that they paid for Beckham in jersey sales before a ball was kicked proves that.

Take a look at the English Soccer teams (sorry, I still call it soccer).

Chelsea FC - Anyone know where they're from?
You guessed it, Cheslea.

Manchester United?
Newcastle?
Arsenal? Woolich Arsenal is the town.

 

[IronShark]

That's a good point Bundy, I tend to agree that we need to tap into some of that "Shire Pride".

I have been pondering for awhile the idea of changing our name to the "Sutherland Shire Sharks" - it gets the "Shire" in the name on the upside. The downside is we lose the "Cronulla", which presents the problem of whether we keep singing "Up, Up, Cronulla" or change it to "Up, Up, The Shire" or "Up, Up, the Sharkies"

Personally, I like "Cronulla Sutherland" but we are generally referred to as Cronulla - and we are more than just one suburb. After the riots, there are also some negative connatations with "Cronulla" and I think that may be to blame for some of the gloating we are seeing directed towards our team by the rest of the community. They seem to be very pleased that we are failing.

This is quite out of character for Australians, who usually love the underdog, the battler. If we are anything, we are certainly the battlers, we definitely aren't the "silvertails" like Manly or the Roosters; and we aren't corporate giants, like Melbourne or the Broncos. However, we don't seem to get that "underdog" support that teams like Penrith and the Raiders get. If anything, people seem to enjoy our failure. Is this a symptom of the "Cronulla Riots" hangover?

Not sure if "Cronulla" is part of the problem or part of the solution. Is a name change incorporating "The Shire" worth investigating?

 

[slide rule]

That's a good point Bundy, I tend to agree that we need to tap into some of that "Shire Pride".

I have been pondering for awhile the idea of changing our name to the "Sutherland Shire Sharks" - it gets the "Shire" in the name on the upside. The downside is we lose the "Cronulla", which presents the problem of whether we keep singing "Up, Up, Cronulla" or change it to "Up, Up, The Shire" or "Up, Up, the Sharkies"

Personally, I like "Cronulla Sutherland" but we are generally referred to as Cronulla - and we are more than just one suburb. After the riots, there are also some negative connatations with "Cronulla" and I think that may be to blame for some of the gloating we are seeing directed towards our team by the rest of the community. They seem to be very pleased that we are failing.

This is quite out of character for Australians, who usually love the underdog, the battler. If we are anything, we are certainly the battlers, we definitely aren't the "silvertails" like Manly or the Roosters; and we aren't corporate giants, like Melbourne or the Broncos. However, we don't seem to get that "underdog" support that teams like Penrith and the Raiders get. If anything, people seem to enjoy our failure. Is this a symptom of the "Cronulla Riots" hangover?

Not sure if "Cronulla" is part of the problem or part of the solution. Is a name change incorporating "The Shire" worth investigating?

I think there are equally negative connotations around the name "The Shire" though.

It's usually from people who think they are tremendously worldly but have never actually been to the area. :take that

 

[Mark^Bastard]

My opinion, and I'm not trying to be a a wanker or anything, but this whole thread so far is just clutching at straws.

Look at the Roosters crowd from last Monday night. Yeah we should be getting more but we haven't got less than 10k this season from memory and most of that seems to be a core.

If you want to get the non-core casual people coming then you have to look at the rain and other inconveniences. You also have to start winning games to attract these people and play attractive footy.

IMO I wouldn't be whinging too much about small crowds. Things could be a lot worse given the rain, the bad results, the non-entertaining footy we've played since the Lang days, all the negative press etc.

 

[Murphy]

hate to say thought the penrith travellers out did the cssc yestaday they made some noise
i think mr bastard hit on the head bad results are the key my fiances dad has a box at penriff and when they playing poor or outside the 8 no one turns out but when they on they come out of the woodwork

 

[Ramzyv1]

My opinion, and I'm not trying to be a a wanker or anything, but this whole thread so far is just clutching at straws.

Look at the Roosters crowd from last Monday night. Yeah we should be getting more but we haven't got less than 10k this season from memory and most of that seems to be a core.

If you want to get the non-core casual people coming then you have to look at the rain and other inconveniences. You also have to start winning games to attract these people and play attractive footy.

IMO I wouldn't be whinging too much about small crowds. Things could be a lot worse given the rain, the bad results, the non-entertaining footy we've played since the Lang days, all the negative press etc.

I still think this latest crowd is an embarrassment and I do think its a big deal but other than that I completely agree with you. We are looking for these really complicated reasons when quite simply this is the worst side we have ever fielded (in terms of results) and we have had rain for every home game this year at some point in the day which effects our main numbers of fans who are either young families or casual fans who dont care about the Sharks enough to sit through a loss in the rain (which is somewhat understandable even though I wouldnt do it). We just have to understand that we have a really passionate 8,000-10,000 fans who will always turn up and then the rest will come back when we get better or we play the Dragons.

I do think that connecting with the community and maintaining this relationship is very important for this team though and luckily this is a key goal for our new board who are taking many actions in this area.

 

[slide rule]

The crowd at Gosford for the Roosters v Knights game was only 10,018.

Does anyone else think that is totally unacceptable for an area looking to gain admission into the competition?

If they can't be bothered turning up for a one-off game, what hope do they have attracting a crowd week in, week out?

 

[Murphy]

apart from yestaday i thought our crowds this year were up on last???

 

[Mark^Bastard]

The crowd at Gosford for the Roosters v Knights game was only 10,018.

Does anyone else think that is totally unacceptable for an area looking to gain admission into the competition?

If they can't be bothered turning up for a one-off game, what hope do they have attracting a crowd week in, week out?

I agree completely mate.

Hypothetically lets say the Sharks fold and the NRL has to go and look at what area needs an NRL team based on supporters in the area etc.

I honestly believe that although the Central Coast Bears would be putting their hand up, you'd find that the Shire actually would have a better case for having a team in its area.

Because of this I don't want the Central Coast bid to work.

Realistically the only single thing their bid has over somewhere else is that they have a stadium already.

 

[Gil]

I believe they have to relaunch the brand again, (needs a boost). Same logo.

Go to the schools offer free kids tickets with paying adults,
make every game a family day,
encourage people to get of their bean bags and get down to Shark Park.

Just think a extra 1000 kids + 700 or so paying adults (that's alot of beer and ice cream)

I remember the late 90's, advertisements everywhere, family atmosphere, etc etc.
You don't see alot of that anymore.
If people won't put them selves in front of the Sharks, then put the Sharks in front of the people.

Sell, Sell, Sell, Sell. (the brand to the people that is)

 

[Mark^Bastard]

It needs to be trendy to be a Sharks fan in the shire. A 20 year old bloke should feel ashamed if he isn't at a Sharks game and is watching it instead at Northies or whatever.

This is something the club can't always achieve. Everyone needs to talk that mate they know that's lazy to get off his arse and get to the games.

 

[Ramzyv1]

The crowd at Gosford for the Roosters v Knights game was only 10,018.

Does anyone else think that is totally unacceptable for an area looking to gain admission into the competition?

If they can't be bothered turning up for a one-off game, what hope do they have attracting a crowd week in, week out?

Fair point but on the other hand you just get the idea that they are sick of other teams trying to cash in on their area and they just want their own Central Coast team to be created, in this case it will be the revival of the Bears as we all know. This mixed with the impression the media is giving that it is only a matter of time (likely 2014) that they will have the bears they probably feel like they dont need to turn up for teams they dont care about anymore because they will have their own team soon.

I still agree with what ur saying but this could be a likely cause.

 

[IronShark]

Good points raised by everyone. I don't think what Bundy and I were saying is that a name change will be a magic solution, just pondering whether "re-branding" slightly might help with the whole process of getting the Sharks to "Re-Connect" with the community in the Sutherland Shire, which is what we have been trying to do.

Sure, better weather, better result etc will always bring in the crowds but is there something more we can do to get people in the Shire to take another look at the Sharks?

 

[El Coconuto]

At the end of the day, it comes back to the footy. Whether it's 'The Sharks' or 'The Shire Sharks' or the 'Cronulla Sharks' is irrelevant if the product on the field is terrible. It's really a simple equation: win games, win your fans back. Little else matters to the fickle.

 

[fitz]

I noticed a VERY different demographic at the game yesterday than at the previous evening and night games this year.

Yesterday, there were heaps of kids and young families on the Hill. In front of me, there was couple who had held their son's 7th Birthday party at the footy. (Great idea BTW... and something that the Club should REALLY look at doing in a formalised way - having a Reefy's party zone like they have at Swimming Pools and MacDonalds etc.,). At the same time, Drunk's Corner was pretty much empty and there was about a third of the people normally in front of the Talon and Renown Excavations signs.

Interesting... so on arvo games... the kids and families come... in the evenings the 18 - 25s come. So where were the 18 - 25s yesterday afternoon??? At BBQs? Watching it in Pubs or Clubs? Also... great to see a LOT more women at the ground yesterday.

 

[El Coconuto]

(PS: I wrote all that before seeing Iron's last post. Apologies that it seems like a double dip post now )

 

[Mark^Bastard]

Sutherland Shire
Population: 215,084
Density: 642.0/km² (1,662.8/sq mi)

Central Coast
Population: 297,956 [1] (9th)
Density: 168.6/km² (436.7/sq mi)

They have the edge on population but look at the difference in density. Then think about the Shire being closer to all Sydney stadiums and hence away supporters being more likely to travel to Sutherland than the central coast, and I think Sutherland has a much better case for a team than the Central Coast.

The complacency spoken of above by Ramzy can be said about the Sharks too. The Shire has had the Sharks for 43 years and is in some ways taking them for granted IMO. Just like the Rabbitohs fans did.

Sure, better weather, better result etc will always bring in the crowds but is there something more we can do to get people in the Shire to take another look at the Sharks?

Winning is obvious and I think that's evident by the amount of Sharks fans that were at the SFS for our last game in 2008.

But let's say we were an average team that may or may not make the 8 in any given year, but had kept players like Preston Campbell in our roster. Genuine crowd favourites and great ambassadors of the game on and off the field. I think that would be good for crowd attendance. Ferguson is good for it. We need to stop signing nuffies like Tautai who don't give anything at all on or off the field and start seriously thinking about the marketability of players as well as their ability on the field.

It's one of the reasons I want Rogers back for one more year too (assuming we don't get Gasnier).

Hopefully with guys like Gardner and Kelly coming through we can have some more crowd favourites.

 

[fitz]

Oh yeah... there's another thing...

If the Club says it's going to "Engage" and "Connect" then they have to get people Engaged and Connected.

Playing good footy and winning games goes a long way to doing that but I can't help but feel that there is about a third of the team making an effort and giving it their all and then a LOT of passengers making up the numbers.

Now more than ever we need to put some energy into "BELIEVE"

 

[Mark^Bastard]

Those 'believe' posters would look great held up at games actually.

They look good, but the actual players may see their own face with 'believe' written on it and it may pump them up and let them know we specifically believe in each individual.

 

[RisingUp]

The crowd at Gosford for the Roosters v Knights game was only 10,018.

Even worse, the warriors had just over 10,000 this weekend - and they have a whole country to lure fans from. So next time they get up us for lame crowds they should take a look at these one city (entire country) clubs who fail to attract fans in huge numbers week in week out.