A request from Luke has been made to share your views on Membership:
Mclaren fan through and through, say #hellotojasonisaccs with a cup of Yorkshire Tea! Partial to bit of Nottinghamshire County cricket / Notts Outlaws too
Joined December 2010
Hi, trying to find out about membership over and above the official blurb. Views from the members area, dress code, benefits of members area, and for someone who works full time (but can be flexible) is membership the right thing to do? Real user experience sought pls
Well Luke I can suggest you read some of the recent comments on this post (click or swipe) for starters.
Can anyone share why they joined Notts CCC as a member, in some cases way back when...
It's not necessarily about saving money, is it?
Please leave some nice / honest comments for Luke below...
Pre Covid great to be a member. Priority booking for Tests. Magazine. Sit where you like. No dress code.
ReplyDeleteBeen a member of Notts since the glory days when Sir Garfield( Sobers- six sixers!) signed for us way back in about 1066. Its been a great ride with lovely memories along the way. Made some good friends and Trent Bridge is a wonderful place to watch cricket- one of the top three grounds in the Country in my opinion .Membership always gave fantastic value for money- but then of course the Pandemic struck and things obviously changed - and not for the better.Things are difficult all round for all the 18 County clubs at present and the big question is this- WILL THEY ALL SURVIVE THE BIG CHANGES IN CRICKET CURRENTLY TAKING PLACE?
ReplyDeleteI will let others detail the recent problems associated with being a Notts Member. Many older members currently feel ignored and under valued.
Luke - if you are thinking of becoming a Notts member then my advice is simple. Yes ! Join up
I have been a supporter for many years and have a strong family connection to the area - it's where my Dad is from. We haven't lived in the area for my entire lifetime as a family (I am 36), but we still keep a connection. Having visited a couple of times a year in person for a period of nearly 10 years, in 2019 I decided to become a member, despite living further from Nottingham than for most of my life. Indeed, I am probably one of our most distant supporters, living in Devon - due to work commitments. For me it was always a difficult decision to know will I make enough matches to make it worthwhile - and also knowing that each trip needed some logistics planning. Every trip bore costs - unless I wanted to do it as a mad day trip, I would need a hotel, or depending on the match timings I could use a campsite with my tent. Yet I diligently managed to keep it up - always loving every time I was at Trent Bridge - it was a very special place. If you asked me in 2019, should you become a member, I would have said yes for sure. I have been deeply unimpressed however with the management of the Club through 2020 and beyond. I will always be an 'Outlaw'. Will I re-join? I may. But I want to see a statement from the Club opposing the vaccine passport scheme and opposing government restrictions on sports audiences- and keeping cricket open to all regardless of smartphone usage or private medical matters. If they don't take a stand here, it is likely I won't re-join for several years. Why to be a member? A sense of involvement and a democratic role - that has been eroded in a recent restructure however. Able to attend matches spontaneously - that has been eroded severely, and I think that is totally wrong. There should have been no political interference with sport and there should be no restrictions imposed on those who are not ill. No over the top 'just in case' syndrome. I cannot always plan when I am coming due to work, weather, traffic, and a very busy life. I do not want to claim tickets that would exclude others if I can't use the space I claim. That would be selfish. Booking systems for members for domestic games are wrong and don't work. The exclusion of QFs etc is very irritating - it adds to a sense of feeling under valued. Personally, I think members should be able to go into the ground whenever they wish and just sit in the stands for a break from busy life or visit the Radcliffe lounge not just match days. Not many membership organisations except sports clubs would exclude their members from the premises like this. Or even to use the toilets when walking past. So, clubs could do so much more to make members feel welcome here at all times and part of the community of Trent Bridge. I have many more thoughts but limited time. If you want to speak off the board post here and I will provide contact details if I can find a suitable way.
ReplyDeleteBlimey Max !
ReplyDeleteWhat a post!
Sit down and have a cup of tea!
Many good points there- I agree with 99% of it
Lets hope others on here make the effort to speak out- good or bad views of the current situation .
I can hardly believe you have been a Notts member even though based in far away Devon. Devon to TB and back - thats some day trip!
Your main grouse is the current booking system to attend TB matches. It puts people off attending - its that simple.Whats wrong with now just turning up on the day? What is the point of making admission SO COMPLICATED. I shall not be purchasing a quarter final Blast 20 if I cannot choose my own seat when I enter the ground- many others feel the same way no doubt . Why be stuck in a seat with a poor view and next to yobs? ( this has happened twice recently to my son) . Freedom to move around the ground is essential for me. Without it I will never again set foot in the place .
Are you listening Notts CCC?
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteSome interesting points here, thank you, I have been a life long fan of the ground and the team and still remember my first game when I was just out of Primary school and went to see England v West Indies (somewhere round 91 I think?) I am sure athers was playing along with Jack Russel and Gooch, I think my dad pointed out Ambrose, Walsh AND Viv himself I even think dicky bird was umpiring, though this may be a rose tinted glasses memory lol. Since then with life and growing up and full time jobs, family etc I've never thought about membership, just popped along to family days, open days, blast matches, and an occasional county game when opportunities arose. I just figured that now I had a job where I could take a few hours off on Thursday or Friday and pop along with my card to watch a few hours of cricket or perhaps now the kids are a bit older and less demanding, spend a whole Saturday watching a good ol game etc might be nice
It sounds like there may be a lot of things (political) going on with membership at the momentof whi h I am obviously not going to be aware, I did however think (and the website seemed to confirm my thoughts) that my membership would allow me to pop along when ever I had free time to a county test, and to definately get into the group stages of blast, and Royal London etc as having a guaranteed seat ie MY seat for the year and yes, if the ground is half empty, move around to a different area and get a different view? Is that not the case anymore and are there actually that many games that I can do that and make it actually worth while. It seems from reading a previous blog that actually there are barely any games to gain entry too and from posts above (unless I've miss read) even the games that are available (discounting the finals etc) you can't just walk in and sit in your seat anyway... Or is this not the case?
As you can imagine from above I imagined a simple transaction of me handing over 180 quid and getting a nice laminated card and relatively free access to a members area my own seat and no issues with strolling into a game or two without balleting and stress if pre planning site visits and work commitments
Or am I being too simple about it all.
Thanks for info given so sar
Luke
As an example, if I were into football and wanted to watch forest play, I COULD in theory buy a season ticket, this would allow me access to every single home game no questions asked (outside of any cup finals etc etc) I may not attend all the games if I can't make them but I don't need to pre plan or book ahead, I have paid my entrance fee for the year and I can pop to the pub at 2pm on a Saturday and stroll into the game at 2.55 without signing in triplicate, balleting or requesting permission beforehand becuase eivw paid my subs yes? I get that the scale is differnt and there are clearly more games at home to take advantage of with forest but the point I feel, should be the same?
ReplyDeleteLuke - the seating situation at TB just lately has been a bone of contention for many . Seats can only be got via email - even if you are a fully paid up Member. You are allocated a seat for each individual match and you are not allowed to move to another seat for a change of view or to sit with friends ellsewhere. You have to enter the ground via a designated gate. At the Eng v Pakistan match last week you were not allowed to leave the ground to buy something and then get back in. Its all the petty rules that are still in place that seem pointless because of large crowds at football matches , race meetings , pop festivals , nightclubs etc . At TB you cannot use the various lifts to get to an elevated seat and everything has to be paid for by credit card ( no cash transactions).
ReplyDeleteAll in all in makes attending matches at Trent Bridge a bit of an ordeal.The customer experience is NOT what it was and other Clubs have adopted a far less regimented approach.
Football club's have Season Ticket holders. Some County Cricket clubs (if not all) have Season Tickets for their 7 home T20 Blast games - a blundle of tickets - to save you money.
ReplyDeleteMembership is slightly different as there's more of an emotional committment to the club and its future with its rewards back to return (which are being eroded gradually). I don't think the CEO of Notts understands the difference between Season Tickets and Members and there lies the problems that members have with the direction the club is being taken. Members' influence (voting rights re: governance)is being flushed away, all in the name of equality and diversity (they say) and to meet various criteria set out by Natinal panels of pen pushers and bean counters.
Yes a mmebership does not "usually" historically require queuing to enter the ground, to have to find money for a match ticket on the day, to book a seat in advance etc. It should enable the member sit where they want - in the shade on a hot day, undercover if the rain is falling or behind the wicket for the best view in the house or to walk arounfd the ground to chat with various friends and acquaintances.
There used to be the annual handbook, free to members- now it's the magazine Covered not they there's much to cover in August so perhaps the next issue will be "Covered-up". There's priority access to International tickets that a lot of members only buy the membership in order to get - being cricket supporters rather than Notts CCC supporters (those members do cloud the issue and ought to be thought of as separate).
Gone are the days when the pavilion was the only place in the county where you could buy a pint on a Sunday afternoon between and 3 and 4.30 pm - that was certainly a big draw when I was much younger, that and the Sunday League.
Being a member felt like you belonged to the club, you could interact with players in the pavilion, get cake in the pav at tea time (my wife reminds me), that the club respected you and your feelings and valued your opinions, etc ..... things that have been absent in 2021. Yes the convenience of a season ticket but so much more than that - not just a regular punter or source of revenue and "an anonymous" that fills out a questionnaire online after every game they have attended!
Excellent posting Dave - and so true.
ReplyDeleteWith many of the comments so far on this thread and other postings you just wonder if Notts CcC are now only interested in the big spending folk who attend the one day matches . Many young people think nothing of paying £5 for a pint of lukewarm gassy beer at TB or £10 for undercooked and greasy fish n chips from the Courtyard opposite the Trent Bridge Inn . These are the " fans" Notts wish to attract in great numbers for obvious reasons.
MONEY!
The revenues generated by the customers and Members attending the 4 day matches are far less .
Worrying times ahead for lovers of traditional true cricket fans.
Can only echo all above.( good and bad)
ReplyDeleteWill add ;I buy my membership because of the county championship not in spite of it.i also think the club will be lucky to top 8000 members again. (Especially as ashes tests at Trent Bridge appears to be a thing of the past )The scheduling of county cricket is to do with the EwCB more than it is the club themselves ( although they don’t appear to be voicing the members concerns)
Thanks both, what I may have missed in my long message about walking in and sitting where I like and treating it like a season ticket is that as dave says, I do want to belong too, to feel like I have a stake in the club, a commitment, however (and obviously) part of that has to be that my money (not easy to suddenly get £180 with a young family to look after) should come a certain level of access to the ground / games, as I've already mentioned. What I'm worried about is I soend the money and after 12 months I've only been to 2 or 3 days of County games and still had to pay extra to see a t20 or one day game, does that make sense, I would get some looks from my wife lol, it needs to be worth while not just from a sense of belonging but also from a recreational point of view, and the chance to bring my sons along and get them into it! I'm sure some people may wonder why so much fuss over whether to join or not, but it means a lot to me and I want to get it right, it is after all a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteHavinf read your posts, it does look like there a lot of passion in the club members and from the few that have responded all have been very friendly and warm in tone, which in an online forum is rare. I thibk a lot of the issues may well be to do with possibly draconian rules around covid or at leasf members opinions on those to which there is always going to be those for and against, perhaps if we ever get to the point of normality again things that I am looking for in my membership, such as ease of access, ability to roam and so on will be re introduced? At the moment I am definately thinking that perhaps for next year I should become a member and give it a try for the 2022 season. There certainly hasnt been any comments to suggest this would be a bad thing to do ðŸ¤
Discontent of members with the direction of club is being steered runs longer and deeper than Covid-reactions. Try the lies, the total ignoring of members'opinions and the more lies surrounding the new competition or perhaps they were just mis-spoken to members at several forums.
DeleteWhatever happened to the members forum this year? We managed one even in lockdown!