Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

RaboDirect Pro12 & Heineken Match Discussion, Referee Retribution, and Player Powwow

Moderators: pedro52, chappo, Ron, Loops

Forum rules
The Edinburgh Rugby Supporters Club is run by fans for fans. Please keep your comments on topic and treat other posters with respect.

Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby bm22 on Wed May 17, 2017 6:04 pm

I have a few preliminary results from the Supporters' Club survey on the match day experience at Myreside and BT Murrayfield. In every factor measured BT Murrayfield was given a higher rating than Myreside. The closest factor was Atmosphere During the Match; Myreside had an average rating of 4.2; BT Murrayfield had an average rating of 4.4.

-229 usable responses were collected with 92% of respondents currently attending Edinburgh Rugby matches.

-Over 62% of responses were from people that have been attending ER matches for 6 seasons or more so a large number of responses are from the longer term supporter base of the club.

-70% of the respondents that currently attend ER matches were season ticket holders.

Myreside (192 responses)

-Pre-Match factors were rated between 3.0 and 4.4 out of 10 ; Public Transport the highest, The Castle and Stadium Facilities the lowest (excluding Hospitality & Business Club).

-During the Match factors were rated between 2.6 (Scoreboard) and 4.8 (Seating Areas).

-After the Match factors were rated between 3.0 (The Castle) and 4.1 (Opportunity to Meet Players) (excluding Hospitality and Business Club).

-31% of Myreside attendees state they are likely to recommend to others; 53% say they are unlikely to recommend.

-Club Atmosphere at Myreside was rated at 3.6/10 with Season Ticket holders rating slightly lower and single match ticket purchasers rating higher.

-Overall Myreside was given a rating of 3.7/10, again with STHs slightly lower and single match ticket purchasers higher

BT Murrayfield (216 responses)

-Pre-Match factors were rated between 6.8 and 8.5 out of 10. Public Transport the highest; Food & Drink Provision the lowest (excluding Hospitality and Business Club)

-During the Match factors were rated from 4.4 (Atmosphere) to 8.7 (Scoreboard & Big Screen)

-After the match factors were rated from 7.0 (Food & Drink) to 8.5 (Public Transport)

-80% of attendees are likely to recommend BT Murrayfield for an Edinburgh match. 10% are unlikely to recommend.

-Club Atmosphere at BT Murrayfield was rated at 5.3/10. STHs rated higher and single match tickets lower.

-Overall BT Murrayfield was given a rating of 6.8/10 again with STHs higher and single match ticket purchasers lower.

There is plenty of data in the survey results that should be useful for providing feedback. I am in the process of producing a full report that will be posted to this site.
bm22
One cap wonder
 
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2010 6:25 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby EWT spoons on Thu May 18, 2017 9:28 am

I completed the survey and I'm not sure the questions/results are going to tell you much.

It seems the survey is comparing the two stadiums and on that measure Murrayfield is going to score higher across the board because it's an international standard stadium. If it's facilities were worse than a school ground then we would have some serious issues in Scottish Rugby.

You can't fairly compare the two in terms of the facilities they provide, because there is no contrast. Based on a like for like comparison Myerside is going to fail on nearly every measure.

Unless the purpose of the survey was to make Myerside look bad, in which case it is likely to succeed, but I don't believe that was the intention.

Not trying to knock your work as I think it was a good idea to have the survey, I just don't think a comparison of the two is going to provide any useful info
EWT spoons
International
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2011 2:00 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby Tichtheid on Thu May 18, 2017 9:44 am

I think it's a useful exercise to compare the two, to see if the good things from Murrayfield can be replicated and even improved on at Myreside. The one thing that there is little that can be done is on access to the ground, otherwise things such as facilities and catering, meeting the players etc can be improved anywhere.

The atmosphere will come when Edinburgh start winning, the location is irrelevant wrt that.
Tichtheid
World Cup Star
 
Posts: 2862
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2012 7:51 pm
Location: Alba Bheag

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby biffer on Thu May 18, 2017 9:52 am

EWT spoons wrote:I completed the survey and I'm not sure the questions/results are going to tell you much.

It seems the survey is comparing the two stadiums and on that measure Murrayfield is going to score higher across the board because it's an international standard stadium. If it's facilities were worse than a school ground then we would have some serious issues in Scottish Rugby.

You can't fairly compare the two in terms of the facilities they provide, because there is no contrast. Based on a like for like comparison Myerside is going to fail on nearly every measure.

Unless the purpose of the survey was to make Myerside look bad, in which case it is likely to succeed, but I don't believe that was the intention.

Not trying to knock your work as I think it was a good idea to have the survey, I just don't think a comparison of the two is going to provide any useful info


Spot on.
Don't mention Rory Hutton. I did once but I think I got away with it.
biffer
World Cup Star
 
Posts: 4216
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:07 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby Weegie on Thu May 18, 2017 10:00 am

biffer wrote:
EWT spoons wrote:I completed the survey and I'm not sure the questions/results are going to tell you much.

It seems the survey is comparing the two stadiums and on that measure Murrayfield is going to score higher across the board because it's an international standard stadium. If it's facilities were worse than a school ground then we would have some serious issues in Scottish Rugby.

You can't fairly compare the two in terms of the facilities they provide, because there is no contrast. Based on a like for like comparison Myerside is going to fail on nearly every measure.

Unless the purpose of the survey was to make Myerside look bad, in which case it is likely to succeed, but I don't believe that was the intention.

Not trying to knock your work as I think it was a good idea to have the survey, I just don't think a comparison of the two is going to provide any useful info


Spot on.


+1.

In addition, the performances on the pitch at Myreside were poor. That meant the crowds were quiet (and small) so it was lacking atmosphere. If the place was jumping with the crowd roaring on a good performance on the pitch, the atmosphere would be better than Murrayfield.

As a long term season ticket holder I like Murrayfield because it is comfortable, convenient and has good facilities. Myreside fails on every comparison, but it should generate more atmosphere if the team perform. Even though it is less convenient, I'd rather stay at Myreside, take action to fix the fixable, and get a buzz on the pitch.
Weegie
World Cup Star
 
Posts: 1156
Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:45 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby biffer on Thu May 18, 2017 11:44 am

Weegie wrote:

In addition, the performances on the pitch at Myreside were poor. That meant the crowds were quiet (and small) so it was lacking atmosphere. If the place was jumping with the crowd roaring on a good performance on the pitch, the atmosphere would be better than Murrayfield.

As a long term season ticket holder I like Murrayfield because it is comfortable, convenient and has good facilities. Myreside fails on every comparison, but it should generate more atmosphere if the team perform. Even though it is less convenient, I'd rather stay at Myreside, take action to fix the fixable, and get a buzz on the pitch.


The confort and facilities at Myreside are things that can be improved as well. If the move is more long term then investment will be needed but on a shared model between SRU and GW.
Don't mention Rory Hutton. I did once but I think I got away with it.
biffer
World Cup Star
 
Posts: 4216
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:07 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby bm22 on Thu May 18, 2017 4:19 pm

Before the start of last season Edinburgh Rugby committed to taking

"...the things that work well for supporters from BT Murrayfield and try to replicate that at Myreside."

One of the things that data from this survey can help with is showing what "works well" at BT Murrayfield and seeing if the same things work well at Myreside. It helps in both holding ER to account and helps provide real data on what matters to people. Regardless of team performance.

Many of the things that are coming out of the survey are things that are within the control of ER. I would suggest that the performance of the team is something outwith their control; having, for example, a scoreboard that people can actually see is very easily sorted. If proper effort had been put in at Myreside it might never have been an issue. Or maybe they just didn't know that people like the fact they can see the scoreboard at Murrayfield and dislike the fact that they can't at Myreside. Well now we have data showing it. That's the purpose of the survey.

I don't think that anyone doubts that if Edinburgh suddenly started winning all their matches we'd have people streaming through the turnstiles every week and the rest of the experience would be insignificant. To me, basing your business model around winning matches is unrealistic and foolish. Edinburgh need to do other things to encourage and keep people coming to their matches, regardless of performance.

A stat that I haven't put in the summary is that for both Myreside and Murrayfield around 25% of attendees at matches stated that socialising was the most important factor in deciding whether to go to a match or not. ER need to know things like that; if they make the social atmosphere worse, and performance doesn't pick up are those people going to keep coming?

Additionally, Myreside was a trial and ER were wanting to measure whether it was a success or not. Without having a baseline to compare it to, how can you judge if it was a success or not? Again, for example, if you want to improve the 'club atmosphere' how do you know if you have done it without getting ratings for both places?
bm22
One cap wonder
 
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2010 6:25 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby EWT spoons on Thu May 18, 2017 5:26 pm

I would suggest performance of the team is absolutely within their control, they hire the coaches, they recruit the players, if they are not being held accountable for the performances that generates then we may as well turn off the lights and go home, because why even bother.

I agree having some baselines make sense, pointing out that the travel options to a 67k capacity international stadium with a multi million pound tram network (using ‘network’ loosely) serving it, are better than to a school is not really a useful comparison.

I can see what you were trying to achieve but Murrayfield’s baseline is going to be higher than the majority of stadiums out there in terms of facilities, pitch, transport links etc. You’d be better trying to get a view of what works in a stadium similar to Myerside. Say for example Scotstoun, it’s sold out pretty much every week, it’s closer to Myerside in terms of size & facilities. Find out what is working for them (I would imagine the product on the pitch being key) and then using that to make recommendations. Telling Edinburgh rugby, people want the same facilities as Murrayfield at Myerside isn’t really a help or even likely to happen for obvious reasons.

At least in my opinion anyway.
EWT spoons
International
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2011 2:00 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby joe soap on Thu May 18, 2017 7:19 pm

EWT spoons wrote:I would suggest performance of the team is absolutely within their control, they hire the coaches, they recruit the players, if they are not being held accountable for the performances that generates then we may as well turn off the lights and go home, because why even bother.

I agree having some baselines make sense, pointing out that the travel options to a 67k capacity international stadium with a multi million pound tram network (using ‘network’ loosely) serving it, are better than to a school is not really a useful comparison.

I can see what you were trying to achieve but Murrayfield’s baseline is going to be higher than the majority of stadiums out there in terms of facilities, pitch, transport links etc. You’d be better trying to get a view of what works in a stadium similar to Myerside. Say for example Scotstoun, it’s sold out pretty much every week, it’s closer to Myerside in terms of size & facilities. Find out what is working for them (I would imagine the product on the pitch being key) and then using that to make recommendations. Telling Edinburgh rugby, people want the same facilities as Murrayfield at Myerside isn’t really a help or even likely to happen for obvious reasons.

At least in my opinion anyway.


fixing the team maybe well be within their control, but it isn't as easy or straightforward as many of the other issues. But otherwise I think you sum this up extremely well.

Its a comparison doomed to fail. Moreover, there are those who will never be "happy" unless they get the 5 star treatment at Murrayfield. Edinburgh fans have been spoilt by being at Murrayfield in terms off facilities.

Ideally would never have been there in the first place, but we are where we are and the need to get has been glaringly obvious for years - unless you are more interested in comforts than results
joe soap
World Cup Star
 
Posts: 1253
Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2011 10:23 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby bm22 on Thu May 18, 2017 7:25 pm

I think that it would unhelpful going to ER and telling them that we'll all be so much happier if the team start winning.

The Supporters' club need to be able to represent the views of supporters and collecting data like this is a fairly practical solution to this.

It is the job of Edinburgh Rugby to go to other grounds and find out what works and what doesn't, not the Supporters' Club.

We as supporters can only give opinions on the options that have been presented to us and the best that the supporters' club can do is represent those opinions. It would appear that on average supporters prefer Murrayfield on every measure on this survey.

I am actually surprised that Myreside has been rated so negatively across the board. Ratings for Myreside were given first, so these ratings are not a reaction to the rating for Murrayfield. Murrayfield may be higher due to this effect, but it doesn't explain why every single factor measured here for Myreside has an average score below 5, or why so few people would be likely to recommend Myreside.

Having seen the results of the survey in full, I personally think that if ER cannot make matches at Myreside feel more like a rugby club than matches at Murrayfield, in the opinions of people that go to those matches, then there is something very wrong.
bm22
One cap wonder
 
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2010 6:25 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby bignose on Thu May 18, 2017 9:37 pm

So the survey pretty clearly said that Murrayfield is preferred over Myreside and the next stream of comments are all along the lines of "Of course it is, but we have to stick with Myreside" and "That's not a fair comparison, Murrayfield is obviously better and we shouldn't compare on that basis".

Really?
bignose
World Cup Star
 
Posts: 995
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:32 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby New Gunner on Thu May 18, 2017 9:43 pm

Fair points Bignose, common sense suggests you're right. I'll have a stab at a defence...

It's interesting, I've considered myself pretty pro-Myreside through the process, yet my scores were strongly in favour of Murrayfield. As someone said above, I think that reflects the fact that I recognise Myreside is the poor relation in stadium and access terms, but also that personal inconvenience is a price I'm willing to pay for the club to have a shot at building a home and identity away from the shadow of the SRU.

It doesn't help that we've played SteveWalsh during the trial, lost games we should have won, and the weather was rank for at least half the matches. There were plenty complaints on the Glasgow forum about Scotstoun after the 1872 win, but they're packing it out anyway because they are in contention in two competitions (or even one). Season ticket prices are going up 18%, yet they'll probably continue to sell out because people really won't want to give up a ST they might not get back (and maybe they also recognise that the funds aren't being hived off in profit but reinvested into the team). We could never create that demand and anxiety over giving up your seat at Murrayfield, regardless of how well the team performs.

We've heard it all before, but let's say RC gets the team playing with a hard edge but some flair too, and we're in contention for top 6, or even in future years for the play offs. I would far rather the club was creating a demand from filling the ground and people snapping up STs in case they can't get in at Myreside than rattle around in Murrayfield with any fan knowing there will always be room for them, and no capacity for the club to increase revenues by raising prices on the back of a successful and more expensive squad.
New Gunner
World Cup Star
 
Posts: 618
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2014 9:53 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby joe soap on Thu May 18, 2017 10:37 pm

bignose wrote:So the survey pretty clearly said that Murrayfield is preferred over Myreside and the next stream of comments are all along the lines of "Of course it is, but we have to stick with Myreside" and "That's not a fair comparison, Murrayfield is obviously better and we shouldn't compare on that basis".

Really?


its a pointless comparison.
If you don't think Edinburgh need to move, fair enough, I disagree but every opinion is valid. If you think they need to move from Murrayfield, then criticising the facilities etc is fair game, but the comparison with Murrayfield will always produce the same results and Edinburgh would never ever move from Murrayfield unless some kind soul stumps up enough cash to build a purpose build purpose built stadium probably within spitting distance of Murrayfield.
good luck with that
joe soap
World Cup Star
 
Posts: 1253
Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2011 10:23 pm

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby Martin Bell on Thu May 18, 2017 10:38 pm

I think it was a worthwhile exercise and hopefully the results are useful to the club in looking at how they can improve things for next season. I also think it's fair to recall that this was a trial only, so the facilities were inevitably going to be a bit Heath Robinson and errors would be made, but hopefully can be learned from so that facilities can be upgraded.

I disagree with the argument that Murrayfield, being big and an international stadium, is inevitably going to score higher than Mon Repos. Looking at things like bar, food offering, chances to meet players and so on, there's no reason why something excellent cannot be delivered there too. It'd be different, true, but every bit as good, if not better. Like NG and others, I scored Mon Repos lower, in my case because I didn't think the facilities were as good as they could have been.

I only went to two of the trial matches. The matches I missed I could have gone to with a bit of nifty scheduling, but I decided I'd rather watch them live in The Gaelic in some comfort. Given that the weather was biblical for one - which is not going to change in future - that was a good move. Having just spent a fair bit of cash on three Scotland season passes, I am seriously wondering whether I should renew my Edinburgh ST. And I have been an ST holder for a long, long time.

I may be getting old, but I am not excited by the prospect of paying nearly £200 to stand on a terracing where, in many areas, you can't see all of the pitch and where in winter you're exposed to everything the elements can throw at you. I was all for giving the trial a fair go, but without some pretty substantial improvements, probably I'll pay up as some kind of donation to the cause but just not go to many matches.
Proud former sponsor of McKane legend @m4gnet_ and future Glasgow legend Rory Darge and current sponsor of @Muncaster_Ben
#lovinthescrummin
User avatar
Martin Bell
World Cup Star
 
Posts: 1424
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:27 pm
Location: @TheEmbraExpress

Re: Supporters' Club Survey - Results Highlights

Postby bignose on Fri May 19, 2017 8:15 am

Martin Bell wrote:I may be getting old, but I am not excited by the prospect of paying nearly £200 to stand on a terracing where, in many areas, you can't see all of the pitch and where in winter you're exposed to everything the elements can throw at you. I was all for giving the trial a fair go, but without some pretty substantial improvements, probably I'll pay up as some kind of donation to the cause but just not go to many matches.



And this is a fairly serious issue. If anyone not-quite-seriously committed to the cause sits down and does a "reverse what have the Romans" analysis of Myreside, how many of them are going to stump up the money?

One of the key questions for the club is actually "how much money do we save by being at Myreside?". If it's not very much, then staying there would be insane. If it's a lot, then does that compensate for the loss of ticket sales that I think are inevitable given the current off-field (and on-field) offering.
bignose
World Cup Star
 
Posts: 995
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:32 pm

Next

Return to Edinburgh Rugby Forum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 42 guests