Facts: Swansea City, newly promoted to the football Premiership have sold 15,000 of their seats for the forthcoming season, meanwhile the Ospreys, playing "top flight rugby" can only manage to sell just under 4,000.
Swansea will be watched by sellout crowds at every home game, making the Liberty Stadium a very supporter friendly place to be. The very next week, the same stadium will be 3/4's empty while a few hardy souls file in to watch the best that rugby here in Wales has to offer outside of the national squad.
Conclusion: Success so obviously breeds success, Swansea City are proof positive of that, but all too often we've made the excuse that either the ticket price is too high, or people just don't have the money to afford to go, that has now been blown out of the water by the Swans fans.
Supporters are out there but until and unless the Ospreys get real success, then their support base will remain small.
Agree or not, please feel free to comment.
Not asking you to, but this site after initial teething problems is quiet compared to others and it would be nice to see more debate going on.
Where are they now?
posted on 24/6/11
Ashes,
6 years ago Leinster rugby was being run by just a few people out of a porta-cabin (i think thats what its called)
and with an average attendance that rarely broke 2500
While our rivals munster were enjoying HC and Domestic success we were in no-mans-land with no end in sight. While the french wolves were sniffing at the door trying to bait Brian O'Driscoll to go to Toulouse and others.
Now were a European powerhouse and you are quite correct to say that success breeds success.
The question i would ask about the O's is why they have not had that success? With a list of world class players turning up for training each day they have been massively under-performing and i have to say from my point of view the book stops with the management.
That group of players under the right manager could have won a HC by now or at the very least multiple Domestic titles with solid simi or even final appearances in the HC.
The day Henson left i thought
'mmm they will kick on from here now, the bad apple is gone'
then the beat us in dublin in the final and i was sure i was right but sadly, they have gone backwards again.
I can only lay blame at the feet of the manager/management staff. They are way off the mark with a very very talented group of players.
posted on 24/6/11
Ding
Hi
Got to say there is a strong thrust to your argument, one that is hard to argue against, and I'm not about to.
It's a mystery to most O's fans, from the outset we were PROMISED european glory sooner rather than later, and in truth, early on it looked like coming.
Can't fault your view of Henson either, management made a bad error of judgement when they allowed him leniency over the Heineken cup week affair where he failed to train. That sent out the wrong message to the whole squad, a legacy that lives on.
God knows what it's doing to the Welsh squad.
One mitigating factor is that the Ospreys like the other Welsh regions have really only been existing for 8 years now, teams like Leinster and munster to be fair have been around for years.
That said the proof is there for us all to see, great marketing and success will quickly bring the crowds in, the model surely has to be Man utd, one without the other will not work, and it may not be guaranteed if both are present but we will find out one day.
After the world cup there has been a rumour that yet another coach will be brought in, the rumour mill says Steve Hansen.
posted on 24/6/11
Oh dear,
Steve Hansen... his C.V does not read very well. Graham Henry's lap dog comes to mind. Makes a great cup of tea i hear
What's the story with the management at the O's anyway. From what i have seen its a rubrics cube. Interesting at the start, but ultimately rather irritating.
I suppose the board must be in a difficult position. Its hard to get a good coach, and maybe they are affraid to bring the hammer down and make the big changes that are necessary. They must have given out some Iron clad contract too because alot of top teams would wipe the slate clean and fire every one if the results had been so poor.
posted on 24/6/11
Yeah Steve Hansen fails to ring too many bells.
The story with the management is that Andrew Hall has been promoted as has Scott Johnson, this then leaves a hole in the middle while Holley ( ever since the region started) continues along with Humphries at the sharp end.
The story goes that the whole management team have been given one more season to get it right. Will the hammer fall then, not on them all, I'm sure of that, the most vulnerable being Johnson ( no contract) and Holley.
It's my belief that most Ospreys fans would applaud the supportive attitude of the board both to players and coaches, but what's also clear is that the same board have become increasingly frustrated and that's manifested itself in the clearout that we now see.
The clock is ticking.
posted on 24/6/11
The story with the management is that Andrew Hall>>>>
blocking stopped me from typing his real name???
posted on 25/6/11
You know, i had thought that this past season was the 'last chance to get it right season' and I have to say that i have never seen anything from Scott Johnson that i like. He comes across as a bit of a sneer when interviewed, like he's thinking
'im just gona pay lips service here and waffle on for a bit, while later i'll go home and wipe my back side with the Iron Clad Contract they gave me.'
The man must have some serious dirt on someone thats allowed him to keep his job. Or maybe im being very harsh.
A coach i rate very highly -> Michael Cheika
And if the situation continues to deteriorate in Paris he is likely to be looking for employment very soon.
You ought to march in to the O's head office and demand the board try to hire him hahaha.
On a serious note, hes a stern manager, no BS with him, he will bring in good staff with him and he will get the team moving in the right direction and all together as one.
Not the most inventive guy in the world but a proven winner.
Thats what the O's need me thinks. They have the talent thats for sure! just need someone to focus it.
If they do get a good manager they will be a team to be feared.
posted on 25/6/11
Thing is that famously Johnson doesn't have a contract, he often brags about the fact too.
therefore it should be easy to be rid of him, however the other three H,H&H look far harder to be rid of, and that basically is the whole coaching team.
Many O's fans would love to see either Ruddock enticed back, as an ex-Whites coach he would fit in well with the Whites fans, or failing him, another ex-Whites coach, John Plumtree.
The latter has hinted on several occasions that he would be favourable to such an idea, BUT, it would be a move too far for many from within the Neath fold who would see this as more evidence of the Swansea RFC taking over the Ospreys.
So if/when a new coach does com e in it looks as though it'll have be someone either Ospreys trained or a neutral.
posted on 25/6/11
Ashes
Too much politicking going on mate. Maybe that then, is the root of the problem. politics.
I do rate ruddock, but there is a bit of bad blood with himself and the WRU, seems quite at home here in ireland too.
Who would you prefer yourself? Neutral, or one of the above? and on realistic terms who do you think you could get?
I heard Jake White's name mentioned before but thats not a realistic result is it.
posted on 26/6/11
Personally I'd prefer a neutral, someone like a Chieka would suit fine, we need a hard nose to toughen up those players we have now.
The politics was and is always going to be a problem, especially between Neath and Swansea, two proud town teams that disliked each other before the link up, and still do.
Over time, realistically 10 more years, those animosities may well dissipate, but only if the Ospreys get more successful.