I'll agree with pretty much everything that's been said here. I had planned to make it to all the away interpros. Couldn't make it to Ulster as I had a family do (and the Clan had an event), was at a good friends wedding for the Leinster game (and given how close it was to Christmas, it was always going to be a dodgy one. Clan also had an event for this) and didn't make it to the Ulster game, partly because I couldn't stomach the travel/cost, partly because I felt more than a bit miffed that the fixture was being moved, and partly because the Clan was having an event in Galway.

I know some people put in miles more effort to get to games than I do (sea_point and fourdogs I know put in some serious mileage, I'm sure many others do too!), but sometimes life gets in the way, sometimes cost gets in the way, and sometimes you just want to watch the game in your local or on your couch. A terrible outlook, I know, but we've all been the same way.

There's lots of good suggestions in the thread for trying to better organise buses etc. but I do think that the experience that the Clan, the branch and others have had is that it simply isn't economical. Some want to stay for a day or two, some want to get up and straight back down on a bus, some want to get there under their own steam, and the numbers for the busses simply aren't there (again, in our experience). I was delighted to see that Sheridans had put the bus on, hopefully it's something that can be built on.

Need to remember that the sort of crowds we were bringing to HEC away games at Quins, Toulouse, Parma and Biarritz were only achieved for Parker Pen/Amlin /1/$ Finals and Semi's, and as someone who has driven down to West Wales on many, many occasions over the last decade for Celtic League games where the only reward was a hot tea or coffee after a abject performance before climbing back into my car to do the 200 mile return leg I can fully understand why.

Putting it into perspective, between our win in Northampton in 1997 and our win in Dax in 2008 I probably went to about 40+ games and all of them were lost, and a good few we barely showed up...

The 50 point losses to Llanelli, the 75 point loss to London Irish, the 50 point losses to Sale & Cardiff, a couple of 40 pointers against Saints, Ulster. Yep I was there. I had some cracking nights despite the losses but the losses still hurt, badly.

I for one am not going to criticise too many supporters who don't go the extra mile for every away game, especially with the limited/difficult transport options that the west of Ireland offers..

And for the Musgrave game, there is a big part of me that would completely object to giving Munster a single penny in revenue after they completely sh*fted us over the venue...

I went down to Cork for game, made a weekend of it, match was a joke but had bit of craic with the Munster fans in fairness.. Couldn't go to the away games in Dublin and Belfast due to work but managed to get away to Parma for the HEC game (Barman expecting 10 or 12 fans- enter 100+ thirsty Connacht fans literally drinking place dry )

Alot of the away games in Cardiff and Edinburgh are on Friday nights aswell which make its very difficult to get to

just off top of my head few reasons away game support pretty low
Price - simply people mightn't be able afford it
Interest- not long ago where few hundred at a home game be average crowd
Hassle- public transport ain't great
Performances- we don't exactly have a great record on the road which may deter people from heading to them

I do believe there will start to be growing away contingent of fans over the coming seasons but for the moment it is pretty minuscule

I had never heard about it, but at Christmas I was driving out of Westport and I passed the Connacht Bus which was picking up fans for our home game (Christmas or New Years, can't really remember)

So it did run, but it doesn't sound like it was publicised

I had earmarked the leinster and munster away games, didnt go to the leinster game in the end as the cost of tickets was daft, didnt go to the munster game as it was in cork, felt that it was a deliberate ploy to stop connacht fans going in numbers and to put us off.

Also if you travel with a child u18. you run the risk of being thrown out of or denied entry into the pub that the clan goes to after the game. Im not advocating underage drinking but it is a concern that you travel down with a good gang and then have to head back to your guest house and watch the late late on your own. Its a bit silly to think that he can drink himself into a coma in the field beside the pub ,but cant have a miwadi with his dad in the pub it self. ( i realise this is not the clans fault ).

I would like to see at least a bus organised for the interpros, I thought the deal for the cork game organised by the pub was good value and was tempted.

BTW what happened the plan to run a bus from various locations to the sportsground during the season, i heard nothing about it in the end.

ConnachtCows wrote: Its easy for people to talk about the lack of an away support base, but the fact is, a lot fans already travel a good distance for the home matches. I come down from Dublin most weekends when we have a home match, and I know I'm not alone.

The cost of going to an away game is quite high, and the time spent traveling is quite great as well. You're also giving up a large portion of your free time, which isnt easy for people with families.

Finally, planning an away trip isnt too easy either, with the way both Rabo and the ERC release fixture dates and times.

I try to go to a few away games each season, but unless there is a couple of people I know heading along, its not too appealing

Like CC I travel to most home games (from Drogheda) and have made all ERC away and some Rabo away games.
Biggest challenge I see is the delays from ERC and Rabo in confirming the exact dates and times of matches. I think we only got a few weeks notice for the exact time of the Quinn's HC game this year.

As far as I can see the Clan get little support from Branch and the committee have to try and fit in time between family and job, not easy as they get little or no thanks for what they do.

We are all "last min men" and the lack of info on the dates does not help. If we all could even give them an idea (no confirmation needed) of what games we might go to, it might help a little.

But then again, suggestions here are only going to be read by the forum members, and these people are already the one's travelling

swift4prez wrote: with only 2 home games left, maybe the clan should meet during the summer and get together a plan and ask the branch can they have 2 or 3 pages in the match day programme, you could fit alot on 2 or 3 pages,

ie plans for up coming away trip.
advertising for clan app,
plans for meet ups for heineken cup match's,
competitions where the clan can make money.
tshirts and huddies
etc etc even voting for hall of fame etc

Before I'm accused of being the App pimp, I'd change that to 'Advertising for various Clan initiatives'

with only 2 home games left, maybe the clan should meet during the summer and get together a plan and ask the branch can they have 2 or 3 pages in the match day programme, you could fit alot on 2 or 3 pages,

ie plans for up coming away trip.
advertising for clan app,
plans for meet ups for heineken cup match's,
competitions where the clan can make money.
tshirts and huddies
etc etc even voting for hall of fame etc

ummm, wrote: According to Forbes Android have 49.4% market share for the three months ending in January, iOS came in second with 45.9%. Microsoft & Blackberry pick up the remaining scraps. Those are US stats, but I imagine it wouldn't be much different elsewhere.

I would say US figures probably don't reflect Irish market share, not everyone can afford a €600 phone, android phones start at €70.
Anyway, there are lots of reasons that iOS apps appear first, it's just a bit ridiculous to overlook the dominant OS in this kind of product. Anyway before this turns into an Android vs. Apple debate, the Clan forum hasn't had much uptake either unfortunately so in order to get the word out, facebook and twitter would have the widest reach, in my opinion. Feck it, it's easy to see why people don't go to away matches, so it has to be made as easy and cheap as possible to go in order to see an increase, a couple of buses down and back the same night definitely wouldn't have cost the earth.

For me an away match IS Galway

Its easy for people to talk about the lack of an away support base, but the fact is, a lot fans already travel a good distance for the home matches. I come down from Dublin most weekends when we have a home match, and I know I'm not alone.

The cost of going to an away game is quite high, and the time spent traveling is quite great as well. You're also giving up a large portion of your free time, which isnt easy for people with families.

Finally, planning an away trip isnt too easy either, with the way both Rabo and the ERC release fixture dates and times.

I try to go to a few away games each season, but unless there is a couple of people I know heading along, its not too appealing

According to Forbes Android have 49.4% market share for the three months ending in January, iOS came in second with 45.9%. Microsoft & Blackberry pick up the remaining scraps. Those are US stats, but I imagine it wouldn't be much different elsewhere.

On that basis alone if everyone at a Connacht match has a smart phone (they wouldn't) then there are potentially 2,000 - 2,500 iPhone users. Our App has reached less than a 10th of that. The Clan twitter account has 1,550 followers, but a fraction have noticed the app.

Getting news out to Connacht fans, be it the App, buses to away matches etc probably isn't seen by the branch as their job (and the App certainly isn't), but it would be nice to use a match as an opportunity to make annoucements and see what effect that has on energising the fans and get them up for making the trek to Cork or where ever. I don't get to our home games, maybe someone else can say if this has been happening.

The matchday experience has improved greatly compared to only a few short years ago, but the fans still turn up, watch a match & go home, many none the wiser of all the different things they're missing out on.

70% market share or so, I think I read.
So you could have triple the users if it was ported to android.
Full Disclosure: I'm an android man.

And more people would know about the App! Not even hit 200 people yet. I know Android has a bigger market share, but still, quite surprised at the trickle of downloads.

rossie wrote: i think another point to be considered is how new many of connacht supporters are to the team. crowds and season ticket holders have tripled in 2 seasons. these fans have no culture/ habit of travelling to support the team. the clan itself is only 2 yrs old and isnt getting logistical or financial support afaik from the branch. it could be organised jointly but imo it has to be led by branch. they are the ones with 23000 facebook likes afterall. the running of bus on day cud be managed by clan commitee members or volunteers but promotion etc by branch liaison officer. its only 3 games a year to start with anyway.

Facebook Likes are meaningless, more than half of those could be from supporters of other teams.

The key is the Season Ticket Holder Database, access to that for the clan would mean that events could be planned and marketed based on the demographics of our actual fan-base...

rossie wrote: 149 euro for belfast trip does sound expensive. daytrip bus should be a starting point and can be built on from there.

That Ulster game was on a Friday evening, coming back down from Belfast the same night would have been a definite non-runner. Also, it left Galway around 12, which meant most people would have had to take a full day off work, which is also a factor.