50/50 & Matchday Programmes
Now that RC and co have moved on, I wonder whether there is an appetite for a return of the more traditional minor matchday ‘rituals’ that they never really ‘got’ and were quick (albeit for understandable reasons) to get rid of.
Like the 50/50 halftime draw and the matchday programme. Certainly two things I’d welcome back.
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I certainly like the idea of the 50/50 but the match day program is probably dead in the water. It’s a loss maker. But hey if someone’s the appetite to write it. Then let them do it. But I doubt they’d make any money out of it for the work needed to put into it!.
The death of the 50/50 baffled me then and still baffles me now.
Most of us who wrote for the match programme in the 90s and 00s did so in return for a home matchday pass that got us into the ground - nothing more than that. However, Alan Hutchinson thought we were a bit too 'independent of thought' and dumped the bulk of supporters writing for the programme to be replaced by an agency. Costs spiralled, the coverage became ever-more generic and the Couhigs were almost certainly right to kill that particular project. A fan-led programme would be fun, but I suspect the sales would still be below break-even.
I don’t understand why an 8-20 page offering cannot be produced for a couple of quid/inclusion in admission fee.
I’d rather create a downloadable matchday Gasroom programme, with different bits covered by different users ie “The Visitors Who’s Who Section” by Micra etc and so on. So a kind of online crossover between a fanzine, matchday programme and online forum. A couple of quid to purchase and the profit goes to a local junior school each week. Perhaps get a different company to sponsor each match for a nominal set amount which again goes to said school / organisation etc. If fans did it before then why not now?
Most fanzines have gone these days too haven’t they? We should be thankful for get several issues of The Wanderer every season.
I get programmes these days probably are uneconomical to produce....
The 50/50 draw going seems an odd one though to me... the only good I see from this happening is that no-one scares the shit out of me walking up Hillbottom Rd..... waiting until I'm face to face with them before yelling 50/50 MATCHDAY DRAW!!!! 🤣
Yes, I remember the guy who did that. I think he sent me a Facebook friend request about ten years ago and, when I twigged who it was, I rejected it. After that, I felt uncomfortable every time I walked towards him but I used to say a cheery “hello there” and nothing was ever said. I bumped into him again during the pandemic when he was a volunteer at Wycombe hospital giving out face masks as you walked in.
Me neither the quarters draw seems to be going well but this is just free money.
Maybe a bit trickier now people carry cash less but it was one of those odd ones where people were happy to buy every week, made sure they had change, used to buy off the same people for years.
I never won it but kind of assumed it would always be there and I would win at some stage. Feel a bit like I'd been paying into some pension scheme for years and it was removed before it paid out. It added to the half time atmosphere too as you had to decide wether to stay and listen when the tannoy wasn't good enough to cover the whole stand.
I'm sure the programme is just as much about the time and effort to put it together than the money, it's full of adverts and supports sponsorships and whatever the club are selling.
What I heard was that there was a conflict between the status of volunteers who received nothing for their services and the 50/50 sellers who got a rake off, albeit a small one for selling the tickets. The Couhigs normal approach was to simplify where there might be a complication and the 50/50 draw was a casualty of this philosophy. Shame, I used to like making paper aeroplanes out of the tickets.
The 50/50 could work as an online draw. Free to advertise at the ground, over Twitter, the app and the tannoy.
Instead of a programme, a monthly mag/fanzine could work, people contributing articles and loads of nostalgia from the club archives. The Wanderer fanzine is good but you can never have too much to read.
Makes some sense of you are counting on people to paint, garden and clean. Not having to pay for all that is probably bigger saving than the draw made.
In a vaguely related topic, who was the person that used to sell badges? Don't remember them there all last season.
Terry, he's an AFC Wimbledon supporter, apparently he could only get to Adams Park because AFC were normally away when we were at home, now it seems that the two clubs are usually at home on the same day, so that's basically put an end to it.
Was it the simplification strategy that made Adams Park ‘cash less’? Which in turn possibly led to the demise of 50/50.
As I understand it the instigation of a cash less ground was predicted on a concern that the club may have been experiencing some ‘shrinkage’ on cash bar sales.
I think the reason AP went cashless was to prevent the possibility of employees putting hands in the till.
Not more down to the sweeping change in the country post covid? Mixed in with many other reasons like not having theft /errors / slower transactions / needing to hold / transport money etc?
It’s a cost saving thing, dealing with cash is expensive and comes with risks (one of which is internal fraud.)
Time saving too, it's much quicker to tap your phone or card than to get the right money out or wait for change.
Predicated, perhaps?