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[Comment From Tiger1978]
Cain, for home games at the MCG, what are the non-reserved seating areas for RFC members?
This is largely dependent on the crowd, we would recommend level 3 at the Punt Rd end as this ensures that the noise coming from our reserved seat members - combined with our GA members is as loud as possible. Generally most of level 3 is available and depending on the crowd, sometimes there are bays available on ground level. [Comment From Russell]
Of the 6k who haven't re-signed do you know how many are perrenial late subscribers and we'd therefore expect to come on over the next few weeks?
To be honest, no, during the off-season we updated our CRM to a far more sophisticated model. We have only had this in place since October and would expect the reporting to be far more advanced in future years. [Comment From 40YR Member]
Thanks for the response Cain. Some feedback form a lot of my mates who are Platinum, Gold and silver members is that we are all disappointed that our scarves or caps don't reflect this. I think it's important to be publicly recognised and not have to fork out more hard earned to enable that to be.
Further to my previous comments, we also agree that it is important that long serving members are recognised and we have continued to do this through the lanyards, and have in 2011 introduced a range of member category-specific jackets in to the retail store. This gives members the opportunity to be recognised without making shorter term members feel lesser valued. [Comment From Tori]
If I can only afford one and can't attend games, is it better to donate to the Fighting Tiger Fund or sign up as a member?
Brendon Gale has continually noted that the most important thing our supporters can do is become members of the club. In the event they have a little extra and can contribute to the FTF, then that would be fantastic. We would love to have you on board as member in 2011. You can contact the membership department anytime on 1300 742 466 [Comment From Guest]
Hi Cain, I have bought the following to the clubs attention prior & seems nothing is done about it? RFC has a huge Greek following & does not seek to find out when Orthodox Easter falls as it has a major effect on the gate; I strongly recommend you look into it; Nick. R
Thanks for the feedback, I will look into this, however please note that we don't have any influence over the scheduling of games across holidays or religious festivities. [Comment From MV]
Are past players involved with the memberships still? Such as Richo, Nathan Brown, Joel Bowden...or is the club trying to move people towards connecting more with the current stars?
Whilst current players are paid employees of the club, it makes them far easier to access for assistance with membership campaigns. I'm sure Richmond supporters would realsie that Richo is still very heavily involved with the club and less than an hour ago he actually recorded a personal message that will go out to all members in the lead up to this weeks first home game of the season against Hawthorn. [Comment From Membership Monster]
I did a comparison to 2009 and we are only about 200 behind the 2009 figure on the exact same date of April 6 2011: 43,324 2009: 43,537 Remember we only won 1 game by midseason that year, so the more games we win the more we will smash the record of 46,200 or so. I'll try and persuade the Richmond guy at work to get a membership. Let's break the 50K tigers. Woohoo Woohoo
I do the exact same daily comparisons and have noted a significant closing of the gap between 2009 and 2011 daily figures. There is no doubt that continued strong on-field performances will give us the best chance of hitting 50,000 and I want to stress again that the membership department are being relentless in their pursuit of members, irrespective of on-field performance. [Comment From johnno]
Can you guarantee me that unlike previous years that my reserved seat will be with other richmond supporters and not where the general public can buy tickets
Hard for me to make that guarantee without having more detail, however can I suggest you call Jess Hanks on 1300 742 466 and ask her as she will be able to look up your seating location and determine whether or not there is public seating availability close to you. [Comment From Peter]
Hi Cain, Im living in Noosa now and have barracked for the tigers for over 45 years. realistically my son and i will only get to the GC and brisbane game up here. Is there a discounted membership we can join?
Yes, thre are 'Country/ Interstate' memberships which include ticketing to RFC matches in your home state, we have also introduced a junior country/interstate membership for 2011. We weould love to have you and your son sign up, send me your details to 'membership@richmondfc.com.au' and we will have somebody call you. [Comment From Andrew]
Cain, I've got an 11-game general admission membership and social club membership. However, due to work commitments I'm now permanently in Brisbane and unlikely to get to any more than 2 games. That means, next year I most likely wont renew the social club membership and would probably have to downgrade the club membership to a 3-game option. However, I also hold an AFL memership (due to the family have a number of different supporters). Would the club get more out of me nominating Richmond as my preferred team for AFL membership or just purchasing a 3-game membership?
The club receive $131 from the AFL for each AFL member, so compared with the 3 game membershp the club would fare better. However there is also the option of a country/interstate social club membership which will provide you ticketing to Brisbane games, access to the social club should you happen to be in Melbourne and your GF ticket guarantee. That ticket is $295. [Comment From davo]
june is the cut off,how many members roughly joined from now until june last year
To be honest, I havent been doing too many comparisons with 2010. My comparisons have been more against 2009 where we broke our membership record. [Comment From David]
Cain, are you planning any further incentives to get interstate members to join up. At the moment we are paying $100+ often to see only one game.
I see your point, however what most supporters would not realise is that the club are forced to pay full rack rates for our interstate members to attend interstate games. As an example, a Perth member who goes to watch Richmond at Subiaco Oval is provided a ticket by the club at a cost of $45 to the RFC. When this $45 is subtracted from the $124 cost of C/I membership, we are left with around the same margin as a 3 game member. When RFC happen to play two games in a particular state, the margin is mostly eroded entirely. [Comment From trev]
what is the other replacement home game? and if it hasn't been decided yet how long before the game will it be announced and by what means will it be announced?
The other replacement game is against Melbourne, which is Round 22 at the MCG. We will communicate this further to our members via email. [Comment From 40YR Member]
Cain, the question of how you come up with the slogan was a good one. Have you considered running a competition amongst members for the 2012 slogan? The prize could be a fully paid 3121 membership for the year or perhaps 5 years of a standard access 16 membership if there was an entry good enough to be used by the club.
Great idea. Let me think about the best way to do this.
June 30 [Comment From 40YR Member]
Are you saying the $75 grand final guarantee will continue to be available forever more for those who had purchased it previously? I opted out and bought a social club membership because I was told by the club that the GF guarantee would not be available from 2012 onwards. Can you please clarify this?
Over time the GF ticket guarntee pricing will be brought in line with social club pricing. Those who have purchased GF ticket guarantees in the past and continue to purchase them will always have priority, however you can expect the price to go up over the next 3-5 years.
1:52 [Comment From KiwiTiger]
Do we have many overseas based members? Are there any other NZ based members or am I in a very lonely club?
Not many, I'm not infront of our membership computer right now so cant tell you exactly how many members we have in NZ however I would hazzard a guess to say it wouldn't be many. [Comment From Andrew]
With two teams in Qld, WA, SA and NSW - wouldn't it be a benefit to the club to offer a membership option for interstate supporters so they can attend both Richmond games in their state?
We do, you can check out the Country/Interstate membership section of the website. [Comment From RT]
Hi Cain, Will the social club also be open before games? If so, only to holders of a social club membership? If not, would you consider also making this available...
The social club will be open prior to the Round 3/4 games, as we recognise that social club members will be keen to check out the new facility at the ME Bank Centre. Pre-game functions are still being discussed internally and as soon as decisions are made, social club members will be notified. Clearly it is in the best interest of the club to have that facility full as often as possible. [Comment From Mark]
In the past the audited AFL number has been a fair bit lower then the number that RFC has said that we have, will this be the same or will every one of the 43,000 odd members we have at this point be counted? Also what steps will be taken to ensure the new members we get sign up again and it isn't just a one off thing for them
The AFL report on ticketed members which means there will be a slight difference between our number and their number. Your question about retention of first year members is a very good one and the membership team have for the first time in 2011 implemented a nurture program for these first year members to ensure we have the very best chance of retaining them, and they have the very best chance of getting the most out of their membership. [Comment From Fred]
Hi Cain, I understand that you are able to get a cheaper country membership If you join your local supporters group. Is this correct? as I joined without letting your membership department I was a country supporters group member
Yes this is correct, we discount these Country/Interstate memberships by $20. Give the membership department a call on 1300 742 466 and mention we had the chat on this forum and we will try and come up with a solution for you for this year. [Comment From AR]
As a Bronze member we are entitled to 2 x Guest passes to the Social Club. Didn't arrive in membership pack. When will these be sent out?
Ash from our Membership department will contact all Bronze members about this in the coming month. [Comment From Membership Monster]
i was assuming that all non ticketed memberships had 3 games attached to them this year so they'd be ticketed also, hence we'd have 43,500 ticketed right now. I bet Hawthorn and Collingwood do that the cheeky bastards lol. While I'm on the hawks, has the club considered mailing out membership cards like the hawks do prior to payment being made? Could persuade the hesitant types towards getting one since they have the card already but just need to pay at the official site to activate it
We have considered this, and may try this in 2011. [Comment From John1976]
Cain do you know if clubs like Collingwood and Hawthorn include non-ticketed members as part of their totals??
I am not sure what other clubs do, but each club will always have their own unique circumstances Hawthorn for example have more than 10,000 members in Tasmania. Other clubs also allow extra children as part of family memberships. Whilst the membership number is important, the revenue generated from membership is of far greater importance as is the amount of supporters who attend and watch our games. Supporters might like to know that the round 1 and 2 Richmond games have been the most popular games on TV and have also drawn very strong crowds. Another great reflection of the enormous support for our club.
[Comment From Con]
75,000 members by 2014, where will we find those extra 30,000 members and how could we fit them all into the MCG when we make finals?
We have around 100,000 past members who have chosen for one reason or another not to renew their membership over the last 10-15 years. I suggest they might be a good place to start. This will create challenges around access to games, however these are challenges that many international sports already face so we will be certain to ensure that we understand those challenges and are in the best possible position to deal with them. [Comment From Jools]
I think the club is doing a fantastic job getting information out this year through social media and fan forums, so well done!
Thanks a lot. [Comment From Nigel]
The cocktail party that members get to go to each year is always on a Wednesday, any chance of changing this to a Friday or Saturday night
The cost of changing this to a Friday or Saturday at Crown is prohibitive. [Comment From John]
Let's say I'm planning a day at the footy, my family are all 11 game members and it's an away game. Would it benefit the club more to donate all the money on tickets/food to the FTF rather than at the game and simply make a BBQ at home with the kids and watch it on TV?
Well, yes it would, however we want to ensure you have the best possible experience at the game so please put the well being of you and your family first and if you have anything left over and would like to donate then that would be appreciated. [Comment From Trev]
As a member i don't receive e-mails from dimma or the club how can i sign up for that?
Trev, check your mail prefernces in your Ticketmaster account, and if you still don't recieve them email your address to 'digital@richmondfc.com.au'
Thanks a lot for today guys, its been a lot of fun.
Thanks,
Cain http://www.richmondfc.com.au/theclub/cainliddlechat/tabid/16923/default.aspx
