I think maybe some type of park and ride system might be used? Say if your in Letrim have a bunch of buses in Carrick on Shannon so anyone in Letrim just has to travel their to their jump on to go to the game. If we could sell some tickets on the bus for the impulse buyer who'll go if its a nice day etc then we could probably get more punters to. A free drink/discount drink voucher never hurts. I know for the big games it might not be possible but if we get a seed 4 team whose not well known it might be worth investigating.

ConnachtCows wrote:

Creedence wrote:

ummm, wrote: It's hard to say what the Aironi turnout would have been if we played them on a wet Friday night, instead of in bright sunshine at the end of a family fun day, though.

But for all the positivity about getting into the HEC it seemed fans were solely excited about Toulouse and nothing else.

I think there was a HEC novelty factor and a Toulouse factor. If we'ed played Gloucester first it might have evened out somewhat. Hard to know what will get 9000 people excited and in the door this season.

I know a huge number of people who went to that game, and had never gone before, or gone since.
It was the build up that got people excited. It was the talk of the towns.

We need that enthusiasm to be kept alive for all games.
There was so much support in Galway from bars and such. Long may it continue. Every bar in Galway seems to be behind us.

It was the national medias interest that really helped sell tickets for that game.
Positive results will help in that regard.

If the game against Quins, had been a winner takes all match, I think we would have got 9,000 in the gate again

There were also a big number of blow in's (and I don't mean that disrespectfully) from Leinster & Munster who were there for Connacht's first HEC ever game. Leinster were in Montpelier the next day and Munster had a late kick off so a good few STH's from both travelled up and across on the Friday to take in the event...

Really think it could prove massively beneficial for us to scrape a win away to Glasgow this weekend, to end this season with four wins on the trot would lay down a great marker for next season and create a great mindset amongst the players and support heading into the summer that can be built upon to promote the new season...

Glasgow are a decent side, but they are there for the taking this weekend. Pressure is all on them with Ulster & Scarlets right on their tail for a Pro12 playoff slot. Having not performed well in the HEC they'll be desperate to match Edinburgh's achievement in reaching a semi-final. But perhaps a bit too desperate (hopefully).....

Creedence wrote:

ummm, wrote: The Toulouse atmosphere was incredible, but the turnout for Gloucester was quite poor considering.

Incredible to think that more turned up for Aironi than Gloucester in the HEC, and that's before you factor in the bigger Gloucester support. Suggests to me that the prices for the HEC games should come down a notch or two next season.

I think the figures for both (HEC & Pro12) are reported differently. HEC is I believe actual attendance (people counted through the gate), while Pro12 is tickets sold (i.e. including season ticket holders regardless of whether they actually attend)....

On the flip side of that we will never again have our first ever HEC match. Even if we drew Toulouse again we wouldn't be guaranteed a bumper crowd.

In a sense, qualifying for the HC twice in two years could be seen as being bad for us because the euphoria of the first year hasn't turned to desperately waiting for our next shot at the competition. Not that I'm complaining about that, but local business and the casual fan could be forgiven for getting a bit lax.

Creedence wrote:

ummm, wrote: It's hard to say what the Aironi turnout would have been if we played them on a wet Friday night, instead of in bright sunshine at the end of a family fun day, though.

But for all the positivity about getting into the HEC it seemed fans were solely excited about Toulouse and nothing else.

I think there was a HEC novelty factor and a Toulouse factor. If we'ed played Gloucester first it might have evened out somewhat. Hard to know what will get 9000 people excited and in the door this season.

I know a huge number of people who went to that game, and had never gone before, or gone since.
It was the build up that got people excited. It was the talk of the towns.

We need that enthusiasm to be kept alive for all games.
There was so much support in Galway from bars and such. Long may it continue. Every bar in Galway seems to be behind us.

It was the national medias interest that really helped sell tickets for that game.
Positive results will help in that regard.

If the game against Quins, had been a winner takes all match, I think we would have got 9,000 in the gate again

Connacht could definitely be doing something to help people travel from throughout the province.
They need to work with the clubs from all 5 counties. Try and get buses organised from each club. Surely Connacht could do something to help subsidise buses then.
If a bus holds 56 seats, Connacht could give 6 free tickets for each full bus. The money that would have been spent can then be spent paying for the bus. Suddenly, there's a discount of €120 and 56 extra people at the game.
The clubs most have contacts in the bus industry for their own games already.
This could be replicated with schools, and companies.

They could send out advertisements to 50 different clubs, etc. If 20 take them up on it, thats an extra 1120 people at each game

ummm, wrote: It's hard to say what the Aironi turnout would have been if we played them on a wet Friday night, instead of in bright sunshine at the end of a family fun day, though.

But for all the positivity about getting into the HEC it seemed fans were solely excited about Toulouse and nothing else.

I think there was a HEC novelty factor and a Toulouse factor. If we'ed played Gloucester first it might have evened out somewhat. Hard to know what will get 9000 people excited and in the door this season.

sea_point wrote: Oor main problem is something that was identified in the recent Census, 1/4 of the population of Galway city was born outside of Ireland and a good number more are from outside the province (let alone the city).
..
and also to make them relevant to those without a strong feel for the province outside of working/studying or living there for non-natives.

Agree with your point in general regarding the practical limitations. But not sure that the bit above is true. The Connacht Rugby brand is quite new and there seems to me to be considerable support from people outside born the province. You don't seem have the sort of barrier to entry that comes with the hardened traditional support that the Galway hurlers and footballers have. More likely to find someone from Lancashire at a Connacht game than someone from Dunmore supporting the Galway hurlers for example.

There is realistically a limit of support that we can expect to draw from outsite the city, the motorway has cut journey times from some outlying areas of support, but people will still be put off by the serious traffic issues closer in to the ground which show no signs of being resolved soon.

I would like to see a geographical breakdown on where the seasonal ticket holders live. 90% must be coming from within 15miles of the city, where only about at third of the province's population live - it is impractical for most people in the province to go to games with any regularity. Some way of facilitating people from further afield with smaller packages for say 5 games, maybe distributed through the clubs might work to bridge that gap.

It's hard to say what the Aironi turnout would have been if we played them on a wet Friday night, instead of in bright sunshine at the end of a family fun day, though.

But for all the positivity about getting into the HEC it seemed fans were solely excited about Toulouse and nothing else.

ummm, wrote: The Toulouse atmosphere was incredible, but the turnout for Gloucester was quite poor considering.

Incredible to think that more turned up for Aironi than Gloucester in the HEC, and that's before you factor in the bigger Gloucester support. Suggests to me that the prices for the HEC games should come down a notch or two next season.

Fourdogs wrote: Remember numbers reached over 9,000 at the Showground for our home game with French giants Toulouse in November of last year.

Yes but that was Toulouse, they are an exception rather than the rule. We had only 5,115 and 5,420 for Glaws and Quins respectively. In the context of our first ever season in the HEC these two latter figures were poor.

The top end of season tickets will depend a lot on the draw, we need another Marquee name in our pool to maximise STH's Sales (and ideally a premium signing). If we get a soft draw with weak teams I think STH's will be pretty low, but walk up sales will be good if we win some early games..

Oor main problem is something that was identified in the recent Census, 1/4 of the population of Galway city was born outside of Ireland and a good number more are from outside the province (let alone the city).

There is realistically a limit of support that we can expect to draw from outsite the city, the motorway has cut journey times from some outlying areas of support, but people will still be put off by the serious traffic issues closer in to the ground which show no signs of being resolved soon.

The marketing team needs to really raise it's game again and to look to create solutions that will enable as many potential supporters to access the games (coaches/park and ride schemes on match days etc) and also to make them relevant to those without a strong feel for the province outside of working/studying or living there for non-natives.

To be honest if we can get to 4000-4500 season tickets this season, that would be phenomenal. Anything above that would be an exceptional achievement.

The Toulouse atmosphere was incredible, but the turnout for Gloucester was quite poor considering.

Fourdogs wrote: Remember numbers reached over 9,000 at the Showground for our home game with French giants Toulouse in November of last year.

Oh yes, I definitely remember. Some atmosphere. If we had that crowd for the Quins game, where we won, the roof may have blown off at the final whistle.

Remember numbers reached over 9,000 at the Showground for our home game with French giants Toulouse in November of last year.

its_phil wrote:

Connman wrote: We need to be aiming for 4500 this year...its very reachable!!

I'd be very shocked if we didn't get 5000.

5000 would be amazing. Could be aiming for over 7000 at some games then

Connman wrote: We need to be aiming for 4500 this year...its very reachable!!

I'd be very shocked if we didn't get 5000.