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Topic Originator: Dumpster
Date: Sun 7 Sep 09:04
Spotted this article in today’s online Scottish Sunday Times regarding the end of the match day programme at DAFC and other clubs. A good read
Slow death of football ritual: clubs blow final whistle on matchday programmes
https://www.thetimes.com/article/b156b904-46bc-4d0d-832c-cf1c66ab6fae?shareToken=94be013d2658763a1fb7528fca027276
It’s behind a paywall but hopefully those interested can access it
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Topic Originator: veteraneastender
Date: Sun 7 Sep 09:10
Dismal sales = only one outcome.
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Topic Originator: jake89
Date: Sun 7 Sep 10:01
It`s a shame but if people aren`t buying them then what hope is there? I`m impressed by the Ahoy Ahoy fanzine though it`s admittedly not released for every match. I was too young for the 90s fanzines but they looked really good.
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Topic Originator: neils
Date: Sun 7 Sep 10:02
Good article.
Pity we stopped, it`s dependent on who puts it together, we had a really good programme for years, then the last couple of times I bought one was really bad quality, even though that probably takes a lot of work.
Cowdenbeath had a belter , takes ages to read, but as the article says, numbers are down not surprisingly.
Nothing to read at HT now when I go.......
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Topic Originator: buffy
Date: Sun 7 Sep 10:12
Posted on Club website and here 1st August
End of an Era
”Buffy’s Buns are the finest in Fife”, J. Spence 2019”
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Topic Originator: 68guns
Date: Mon 8 Sep 08:24
To put the matchday programme at Dunfermline, and dismal sales, into perspective. The programme at East end was actually given away free to upwards of 270 people every week so the sales of not much more than 50 - 100 was for supporters that actually bought the programme rather than be given a free programme.
I believe the time that it took out of employees weeks to produce was intrusive to their work load as well and took them away from their duties.
It may be that an independent programme similar to Hibs or a few other clubs is in the pipeline.
The cowdenbeath programme that was mentioned prints 100 issues for most games and makes a profit although that will be because it is volunteers who produce it and only take money out to cover costs.
Dunfermline is a club that have a large proportion of programme and memorabilia collectors, possibly due to success in the sixties and the exotic European travel, and hopefully something will happen to continue this tradition.
I`d imagine if it does reappear it will be along the cowdenbeath route of volunteers and a limited print run.
Heres hoping anyway.
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Topic Originator: 1985Par
Date: Mon 8 Sep 12:49
I was an avid collector of programmes going back to the 80`s and i would pour over them from cover to cover. A few graining black and white photos of the previous weeks game the only photographic record. And then programmes started to become "matchday magazines" but I don`t think people actually wanted a magazine, a glossy and expensive thing, full of not very much. I think if the matchday programme was paired back and cheap to produce with some team news, a couple of interviews and a few pictures ( ie what it was) I think people would buy it again - I know i would. Just something to mull over before the game and at halftime and as some sort of tangible record of having attended the match. Price about £2.
Post Edited (Mon 08 Sep 12:49)
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Topic Originator: neils
Date: Mon 8 Sep 13:02
Really depends on who is writing it
Before it was excellent, really good articles, memory lane etc. etc. but I would imagine it takes an awful lot of work -good work too, it`s not enough just to fill the pages.
The last few times I bought it was dreadful, no one`s fault, but am assuming was patched together by others
I think the club has to stop it, but left the door open for suggestions. I don`t have any suggestions other than any ex journalists or good writers around that much might want to take this up-enthusiastic volunteers probably not what`s needed, but I would imagine it`s a lot of work.
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Topic Originator: Bandy
Date: Mon 8 Sep 15:03
Quote:
neils, Mon 8 Sept 13:02
Really depends on who is writing it
Before it was excellent, really good articles, memory lane etc. etc. but I would imagine it takes an awful lot of work -good work too, it`s not enough just to fill the pages.
The last few times I bought it was dreadful, no one`s fault, but am assuming was patched together by others
I think the club has to stop it, but left the door open for suggestions. I don`t have any suggestions other than any ex journalists or good writers around that much might want to take this up-enthusiastic volunteers probably not what`s needed, but I would imagine it`s a lot of work.
Where`s sammer these days? Beautiful writer.
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Topic Originator: AdamAntsParsStripe
Date: Mon 8 Sep 16:46
The internet age has rendered print to the graveyard which comes as unfair to older people especially who still buy them and newspapers but unfortunately that’s just the way the world is going for them.
Zwei Pints Bier und ein Päckchen Chips bitte
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Topic Originator: neils
Date: Mon 8 Sep 16:47
That`s exactly the type! He used to punt on here, beautiful stuff, I`m thinking he wrote in the programme?
There were a few features in it that were worth the cover price alone, took ages to read it.
Hard to replicate.
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Topic Originator: auldpar
Date: Mon 8 Sep 18:55
I was part of the programme team pre-covid and it was a decent programme and won a few awards although obviously I`m biased! It was produced entirely by unpaid volunteers (one exception being Craig Brown who supplied photos on request). I was responsible for 3 pages focusing on fans and I introduced Sammer`s articles to the programme. It took up a lot of my time and editor Duncan Simpson`s standards were high. We stopped producing it during covid and by the time it was re-started Duncan decided to retire after 3 or 4 decades of involvement. Unfortunately, nobody bothered to tell me and I only found out from David in the club shop. It was never the same after that and the decision to stop didn`t surprise me.
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Topic Originator: neils
Date: Mon 8 Sep 20:32
These were absolutely tremendous programmes, almost like a magazine!
But you confirmed, it takes a few good quality people to produce, and once you lose them, pretty hard to replace -i agree it never recovered.
I`m pretty sure I was in one of your features auldpar! It was when I was working in Curacao, with a few pictures in my Pars top in various locations! It appeared in my neck of the programmes-fame at last....
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Topic Originator: AdamAntsParsStripe
Date: Mon 8 Sep 22:05
Quote:
neils, Mon 8 Sep 20:32
These were absolutely tremendous programmes, almost like a magazine!
But you confirmed, it takes a few good quality people to produce, and once you lose them, pretty hard to replace -i agree it never recovered.
I`m pretty sure I was in one of your features auldpar! It was when I was working in Curacao, with a few pictures in my Pars top in various locations! It appeared in my neck of the programmes-fame at last....
I got a couple of features too thanks to the auld yin.
Zwei Pints Bier und ein Päckchen Chips bitte
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Topic Originator: Fethiyespar
Date: Tue 9 Sep 08:19
Quote:
AdamAntsParsStripe, Mon 8 Sept 22:05
Quote:
neils, Mon 8 Sep 20:32
These were absolutely tremendous programmes, almost like a magazine!
But you confirmed, it takes a few good quality people to produce, and once you lose them, pretty hard to replace -i agree it never recovered.
I`m pretty sure I was in one of your features auldpar! It was when I was working in Curacao, with a few pictures in my Pars top in various locations! It appeared in my neck of the programmes-fame at last....
I got a couple of features too thanks to the auld yin.
I was featured in the Faraway Fans page a few years ago.
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Topic Originator: Specky Ginger
Date: Tue 9 Sep 09:09
As a Rovers fan, I`m really sorry to hear the Pars have stopped printing a programme as they`ve produced some crackers over the years.
A lot of clubs claim it loses money, but I often wonder how exactly they do their accounts - do they offset advertising revenue against printing costs and do if they put 100 freebies into hospitality, do they count that as £300 of programme revenue and £300 of hospitality expenditure?
I suspect not.
Rovers are apparently struggling for sales at present as well, but like the Pars, they do very little to promote the programme in the lead up to a game. East Fife and Cowden promote theirs through social media and as a result sell as many as clubs with much bigger attendances.
I`m not saying it would have been a game changer, but there was never anyone selling programmes outside the away end at East End. Over the last few seasons, I managed to get one from your club shop when I was at the ground in plenty of time, but ended up ordering all the others direct from Curtis Sport.
Hopefully enough folk come together to restart it soon and hopefully enough folk buy it to keep it viable. After all, it`s a unique souvenir from each and every game and for less than the price of a pie, far less a pint.
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Topic Originator: wee eck
Date: Tue 9 Sep 09:45
Usually the reason I didn`t buy a programme was because I never encountered a seller either outside or inside the ground.
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Topic Originator: Buster_Brown
Date: Tue 9 Sep 09:59
Quote:
wee eck, Tue 9 Sep 09:45
Usually the reason I didn`t buy a programme was because I never encountered a seller either outside or inside the ground.
This has been an ongoing problem for me, and also the 50/50 draw tickets (although I now play this online, when I remember). When I go to EEP, I always have change in my pocket for a programme and 3 draw tickets and maybe a couple of extra coins for buckets collections, but often wouldn’t see anyone.
After Covid, when I did manage to pick up a programme (I’ve said this before), I always found it was just a copy and paste job from the clubs website. One thing I always bought the programme for was the managers notes (some times I don’t think they did write it, but hey ho, it’s just a hunch), the player interviews and the fan sections or the quirky other articles that would pop up, but all of that disappeared and it just became a print copy of what I had already read. So when I did see people selling it, I stoppped bothering over the last 2-3 years.
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Topic Originator: wee eck
Date: Tue 9 Sep 10:10
The main thing I miss is the centre-page spread showing the fixtures, results, appearances, scorers, etc. I haven`t found all this information replicated together anywhere online.
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Topic Originator: jake89
Date: Tue 9 Sep 11:27
Quote:
Buster_Brown, Tue 9 Sept 09:59
Quote:
wee eck, Tue 9 Sep 09:45
Usually the reason I didn`t buy a programme was because I never encountered a seller either outside or inside the ground.
This has been an ongoing problem for me, and also the 50/50 draw tickets (although I now play this online, when I remember). When I go to EEP, I always have change in my pocket for a programme and 3 draw tickets and maybe a couple of extra coins for buckets collections, but often wouldn’t see anyone.
After Covid, when I did manage to pick up a programme (I’ve said this before), I always found it was just a copy and paste job from the clubs website. One thing I always bought the programme for was the managers notes (some times I don’t think they did write it, but hey ho, it’s just a hunch), the player interviews and the fan sections or the quirky other articles that would pop up, but all of that disappeared and it just became a print copy of what I had already read. So when I did see people selling it, I stoppped bothering over the last 2-3 years.
The website is effectively the modern version of the match programme. The reason uptake is so low is you can read this forum or the club website or any football website from your phone. Back in the day the programme was something to pass the time at halftime. Now you just bring your phone out.
Though I have to say I`m not a fan of the club website. Some of it is obviously out of date (e.g. pics of Andy Tod jr where he looks 16/17) and it`s quite clunky to navigate.
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Topic Originator: fcda
Date: Tue 9 Sep 19:01
Probably hard to justify nowadays writing an article that is exclusive to the programme. They`d want to maximise the audience to get the most engagement which means putting it online, thereby reducing the attractiveness of the physical programme. Vicious circle.
I like the idea of a more fanzine-like approach and also keeping it small.
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Topic Originator: Roobz
Date: Wed 10 Sep 18:40
I bought a programme every time I could get one. Unfortunately 2 weeks out of 3 when I arrived at the ground 20-25 minutes before kick off, the guy selling them outside the ticket office had sold out.
I have no idea how many they produced but it’s no surprise if sales are poor if there are nine left before the majority of the crowd get there
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