Need a rant.
Throughout the past 18 months, one entity I think the game, the club, and the players have forgotten here is the goodwill - the fans. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and when I read a direct quote from Daly Cherry-Evans today, it really struck home.
When asked about the fans, Daly claimed, and in his words, "they are not of a concern to me". Well thank you Daly, you've certainly put things into perspective for me.
This week, Tom Symonds claimed, when talking about Foz leaving, "the club, and his team mates know what he means to our success, and that's all that matters". I questioned Tom on that front, and asked, "what about the fans, Tom?", and all I heard in reply was crickets.
Jamie Buhrer was quite vocal this week as well, sticking up for his mate. Well kudos for that. He mentioned how he felt, he mentioned how the club felt. He mentioned how DCE felt. Not once did he consider how the fans felt.
Justin Horo this week hit instagram, after DCE released this statement “I play this game for obviously my family, I play it for myself and more importantly I play it for my teammates and my coach and unless any of those groups of individuals want me gone, I won’t be going anywhere,” he said.". Horo claimed he wanted to get back in the team for DCE. He wanted to get back into the team for himself. Not once did he mention the fans, or club success.
Kieran Foran has oft been quoted as claiming that there are days he wakes and feels he doesn't want to be here. He talks about "his brothers", and he talks about how poor of a coach Toovey is compared to Brad Arthur. He talks about the medical and professional staff as key motivations. Never a mention of the fans.
Joe Kelly through this whole process has been thoroughly non-existent to fans and paying members. I wrote Joe a massive e-mail, and it was cut off at the pass, and a membership manager replied to me (albeit a fantastic reply - see below) - my issue with this, is while Tom's E-mail is great on the surface, his club, his players, his coaching staff act completely different.
The club presently I feel (and the players) have a massive divide and disconnect with the paying members and fans. They are doing nothing to settle the uneasy feeling. Someone wrote earlier on these boards, "when does a club, stop becoming a club" - well that has a lot of merit. My answer, is when you don't feel like your part of the community. Frankly, the attitudes of the Horo, Symonds, Buhrer, Foran, DCE, Watmough, Hasler, Arthur and others, go a long way to destroying that culture.
On the FLIPSIDE, as I can't just be one sided, there ARE some glowing lights for Manly. Enter Matt Ballin. Wow, what an inspiration. Talking about what the fans mean to him. Talking about how he loves the place. “I think I owe that to the club and the fans who have supported me and to myself and my reputation.". Thank you Matt. THIS, my friends, is the reason I return as a member. THIS, is the reason I support my club.
Sadly, this kind of attitude is dying fast in the game, as the players these days seem pompous, self righteous, "fans are not of a concern to me" types of arse-holes, who care nothing for anything but themselves.
I hate the AFL with a passion. But the NRL could do a lot worse than learn from their community awareness, and fan buy in schemes, even at grass roots levels. They just do it all so much better.
Rant /
Hi Ryan,
Thank you for your email.
We value and appreciate all our members/supporters feedback, as without your input to the club it would not be what it is today.
The recruitment and retention plan for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles has, and continues to be, one of the best in the NRL. The NRL’s salary cap was put in place to even the playing field, yet we continue to be successful year upon year.
It’s because of this success that it’s only natural that other NRL Clubs would wish to target some of our very best players and why behind the scenes the club is working on the retention of our very best players.
In the same respect, it’s that same success and winning culture behind why so many players also want to join our great club.
So while different players, staff, management and coaches will naturally come and go over the years, the one thing that will always remain a necessary constant is you – the loyal member/fan. Without your support through membership, tickets, merchandise and events we would fail to exist.
We currently have a new management team in place who is striving to continue the clubs success and further grow our Membership base and game day attendances.
We have the most loyal and passionate supporter base in the NRL and we sincerely hope that you remain a part of the Manly family for many more years to come.
Kind regards,
Tom Jamsek – Membership, Ticketing & Match Operations Manager
Kaspersky Manly Warringah Sea Eagles
Tom Jamsek came over from Souths. Paul Grzanka (his boss) ex Souths. Luke Byrne starting next week ex Souths. Joe Kelly - Souths. Just saying.
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