Dover Athletic Supporters Club

[the harrisons]

I have been asked by the Supporters Club Board to throw open the question as to what we as supporters want from our Supporters Club.

To me the Supporters Club should have a duel role, one being to enhance the experience of being a supporter of Dover Athletic. An example of this would be the coaches that are now being run to all away games. This has been a major step forward this year and largely down to the effort put in by Leigh. I should also mention now that we have received some donations towards the running of these coaches from Nick Cunningham and The Special Carrier Limited for which we are very gratefull. This has allowed us to offer the reduced price for the Havant game and something we will do again possibly for the Lewes game but i can't confirm that yet.

The second role is to help the Club in anyway we can. At the end of the day the football club is why we are here and if we want it to carry on moving forward we must do our bit. There is many ways we can help. One is by volunteering on matchdays etc. Many of our members already do and it is vital that this continues. The second way is financially. Over the years as The Trust we have put alot of money into the club and we still have our shareholding but we must continue to help where possible. I had a discussion with Jim P this morning and one of the things mentioned was our physio and club doctor would really like an ultrasound machine, this would greatly help with the treatment of injuries, its not something that the football club can look at buying at the moment but i will put it to the Supporters Club that perhaps thats something we could aim to buy.

So please fire back any views so we can take them on board and look at how we operate.

I should of cause mention that Supporters Club membership is only £8 a year. Forms downloadable from the Supporters section of the club website.



Paul H

[dachshund]

Do we know how much an ultrasound machine would cost? (I'm not offering to buy one btw but it would be good to know the extent of the challenge).

[Champ at work]

What would be good, is if everyone could come up with ideas on how to go about raising the funds for the machine, something different to the usual Raffle. With all the supporters the club has got, I'm sure there must be some good ideas out there?

[the harrisons]

They are looking into it at the moment but i believe about £2000.


Paul

[dachshund]

I'd be more than happy to contribute to that perhaps on an £x per month by standing order basis in the same way we helped raise the cash for the CS.

Maximising the fitness of the players is critical to our ongoing success.

[Champ at work]

Like you say Bob, maybe we can have a fund raiser like the centre spot fund was run, with updates on the Supporters club website every week on the total raised?

[Jason Mcfarlane]

fundraisers are good.... i cant put money in like some people can, because i dont earn much, but maybe a fundraising event, but what... i remember doing the walk to folkestone, bt the closest in our league is bloody bromley, aint walking there...

[the harrisons]

It would be good to come up with something though Jason. The good thing with fundraisers is it lets you bring in money from a differant source. Those that can't afford to help directly can help with there effort instead. Its the age old problem of trying to come up with any new ideas.

[reidy007]

how about hit the bar comp where ervey one pays a couple of quid to enter?

[Jason Mcfarlane]

Ohhh i mean, i will try and think of some idea's.. but it would have to involve lots of people to make some cash...

[Champ at work]

NIck cunningham came to me with a great idea earlier, based on what Oxford Utd fans have done this season by raising the funds to buy a player for their club. Would be something that should interest every fan out there, and something we could possibly get behind.

[Barry61]

WHAT IS IT CHAMP

[Champ at work]

:idea: WHAT IS IT CHAMP

Have another read BArry, the idea is in the post somewhere! I'm sure you will be able to work it out mate!

[anguspm]

Back to the original question: what we as supporters want from our Supporters Club

My personal belief is that aside from the fundraising and match travel the SC should be assuming a role in raising the DAFC profile. For those supporters that don't have money to spare, time and energy could be dedicated to simply raising the "brand awareness" in both the town and surrounding areas. Be it something as easy as putting up posters to actively promoting events (not just the matches but also the CS) to companies / businesses. Yes, the club has a commercial side but what 200 supporters can accomplish should be as much if not more than 1 professional person.

RK came on here a few days talking about the banner up at Tescos and the fact his staff put it up / take it down. Now if supporters said "Hey, we can do that, RK can keep his employees in profitable employment and perhaps we could convince him to print a second banner that we could put up inside the town". Theres also the need of someone talking to the council and businesses about the possibility of their providing an advertising spot within the town - something the supporters club could get involved with. What I'm getting at here is letting the professionals within the club negotiate the major sponsorship deals but those small good ideas that fall by the wayside within the club due to lack of manpower or are too low on the list of priorities, could be taken up by a small army of dedicated supporters.

[Champ at work]

Back to the original question: what we as supporters want from our Supporters Club

My personal belief is that aside from the fundraising and match travel the SC should be assuming a role in raising the DAFC profile. For those supporters that don't have money to spare, time and energy could be dedicated to simply raising the "brand awareness" in both the town and surrounding areas. Be it something as easy as putting up posters to actively promoting events (not just the matches but also the CS) to companies / businesses. Yes, the club has a commercial side but what 200 supporters can accomplish should be as much if not more than 1 professional person.

RK came on here a few days talking about the banner up at Tescos and the fact his staff put it up / take it down. Now if supporters said "Hey, we can do that, RK can keep his employees in profitable employment and perhaps we could convince him to print a second banner that we could put up inside the town". Theres also the need of someone talking to the council and businesses about the possibility of their providing an advertising spot within the town - something the supporters club could get involved with. What I'm getting at here is letting the professionals within the club negotiate the major sponsorship deals but those small good ideas that fall by the wayside within the club due to lack of manpower or are too low on the list of priorities, could be taken up by a small army of dedicated supporters.

All the things you have mentioned Angus, have been talked about and as far as I'm aware there are plans to get us advertised more in the town. We have spoken to the council (I think) about getting something on the big screen in the market square, but I'm not sure how far that has gone. As for teh dign at Tesco, I've got no problem with doing that myself, and im sure others would volunteer to do it, so if Roger is reading this, give me a call.

[anguspm]

Glad to hear it Champ, as you well know I'm out of the loop with these things so sometimes the ideas are not new.

[the harrisons]

I will put the full details of this up on the Supporters Club web site when i get the chance later but Nick Cunningham who as i stated earlier has kindly donated to the Supporters Club already has now told us that

"Any one who uses my company for any works will be given a cheque of minimum 8 % per cent of bill before vat , payable to dover supporters club for the benefit of our great team"

This is a great offer from Nick and he can be contacted as follows.

Nick Cunningham Domestic and Commercial Plumbing and Heating Engineers
Email; enquiries@nickcunningham-plumbing.co.uk
Phone; 07976 202655
Web site; http://www.nick-cunningham-plumbing-hea ... ers.co.uk/


Paul

[dean m]

I mentioned to Champ a couple of weeks ago the idea of a players/managers/fans reunion type evening at the Centre spot with a small admission charge,The idea of such an evening being for a piece of medical kit would appeal to ex players i would have thorght.A decent group and some old memories would make for a good money making evening.

[Champ at work]

I mentioned to Champ a couple of weeks ago the idea of a players/managers/fans reunion type evening at the Centre spot with a small admission charge,The idea of such an evening being for a piece of medical kit would appeal to ex players i would have thorght.A decent group and some old memories would make for a good money making evening.

Was going to put this to the comitee at the next meeting. I'm sure it wont be too hard to get hold of ex-players, I've got a few numbers of my own. Could be a really good night if it comes off!

[dean m]

I reckon old BB could be good for this one he seems to have kept contacts and knows everyone.