[iwhat your club can do for you but what you can do for your club''[/i

I understand the sense of pessimism on here but as LOYAL Supporters we can still try to move things forward .

we need to build the Giants support

The issue is not about Football we are very unlikely to attract Football fans to the club. We need to attract kids and their parents and keep them. This can be done with some imagination, commitment and pro active action by the club.

this is an extract of an email i sent to the club ( one of many i keep sending) . there are lots more ideas . it just needs someone to act on them. ultimately it will come down to the fans to make this work. i think it can be done.

''In an attempt to address this I was wondering if the club would consider setting up a campaign based on Fans working voluntarily for the club to promote some initiatives. These are some suggestions I would like to make .
1/ Leafletting at various shopping centres, bus stations, village centres on a regular basis advertising upcoming games and or initiatives i.e. Friday evening at the bus station or Saturday mornings at the market place.

2/ Fans who would volunteer 45 minutes to do face painting for kids at EVERY home game.

3/ People to run stalls outside the main entrances to the stands selling KIDS sweets ( similar to the situation at Castleford).
.

All of these things could be done at MINIMAL cost to the club and would only require someone to facilitate /organise things.
In respect of 1 above the only cost would be printing a few thousand leaflets or flyers which could be given out.
2 Would require the purchase of some face paints.
3 the initial purchase of kids sweets ( I so think that this would be a good idea I am willing to put up £200 to purchase the sweets and then hopefully it would become a self financing project). A couple of trestle tables and somewhere to store them would be helpful
.
Of the suggestions above 3 of them are specifically aimed at CHILDREN who I believe are the future of the club and anything that makes them a part of what is going on or makes it more entertaining for them at games ( and their parents) can only be a good idea.

The idea would be to set up a system of volunteers who could regularly undertake these suggestions ( and other ideas which may come to light)''

If anyone else has any ideas bombard the club with them. Maybe this could be the focus of a Supporters CLUB.

Let us not all give up now no matter how flat we feel. I do not want to go back to the bad old days. If we do then i want to be able to say at least i tried to make the club go forward.

Teach them well and let them lead the way.




Seriously though, now (when the team are struggling) is exactly the right time to get ideas like that off the ground to engage the loyal supporters and ensure that new fans (especially kids) are aware of the club and remain interested despite a lack of success.

Good luck with your ideas, hope they take off and work well for you!

Some very good ideas. I can ask around people who may want to help you.

Some great ideas. We, as a family, would be happy to help where we can. Whilst we have followed RL for many years, we have only recently started coming down to watch giants play, following one of my children bringing home a leaflet from school about the 7,s scheme. This certainly worked to get us involved, & we also know of other families who have started supporting in this way. This along with other schemes offered in schools have been very successful in our area. We need to build the atmosphere at games to keep supporters coming back. Our children love Big G, making banners, & our daughter has joined the cheerleading squad. We have been to most away matches so far this year & thought it was a great family atmosphere at Crusaders where they had an area with entertainers, stalls, & a BBQ & merchandise such as flags were given to all children. We think the best way to move forward now is to start a supporters club so we can approach the club in a professional & co-ordinated way. Then we can propose these & other ideas such as getting all our fans sitting in one stand to maximise the noise we make, & scatter the away supporters in the other stands. We just need to arrange a first meeting to get the supporters club going. Have it somewhere where people will want to come (with families). PS. my daughter loves the idea of having a sweet stall.

Maybe you should be directing your suggestions to the Supporters Association?

If you get some leaflets i will happily put them through letter boxes around my area (lindley) we could ask the club for some money to get some made then get them handed out. I am very willing to help with anything. Time for us fans to take this club to the next level.

This IS progressing - albeit slowly.

I also spoke with DG after Wire's training session.

Have you spoken to the guy who's email address I sent you? He would be a useful local contact as someone who has done it himself.