The BWSA

[sluffy]

There are committed fans that are hooligans.

There are committed fans that are racist.

Just because people are committed fans doesn't necessarily mean they are good for a club.

Maybe the more relevant issue in this case should be - if there are all these ‘committed fans’ who are already existing members of the BWSA - (Christ knows they've advertised themselves enough over the last twelve months on all the various BWFC forums - often not delivering what they promised!) - then why aren't they filling the vacancies from within by means of elections - instead of having to seek people who are not even members to join up and go straight on to their committee?

Sounds to me that all may not be well at the BWSA!

[bobo the clown]

I buy a season ticket every year. I will never join BWSA - I don't have any space in my life to do that.

But I certainly don't feel hostile to these genuine supporters, nor do i feel they need to be greeted with aggression...

These are committed fans - welcome them?

Well, it's not yet July & twice this year I've agreed with William !

Sloughy, I can read your words, but don't fancy reading wrongly between the lines. So, instead of the constant inferences we get on here about BWSA, caan someone actually statee what their issues are ?

[Athers]

Would probably be good for them if people who haven't been members before get a seat or two on their committee.

As an outsider I'm not sure what their goals are other than getting some players down for a chat... I suspect things like the direct debit scheme have been decisions made after advice from a consultant rather than the BWSA...

[CAPSLOCK]

I believe they claim the credit for Fanzone

Which is a bit like me claiming credit for Magners reporting record profits

Other than that, I can't see anything they've achieved, though I know from experience that it takes years for them to realise that often the punters do know best

[TKIZ!]

Look I have very little interest in the BWSA, not for me. But at least they are trying.

As for ST discounts its absolute bollocks to suggest an OFFER is discriminatory against non ST Holders. Its like a supermarket offer "buy a pint of coke and get a glass half price". Its not discriminating non coke drinkers its just a fooking offer.

And whilst we're at it, seeing as ST holders are the ones who stump up large sums before a ball is kicked before a player is signed and thus commit for the season ahead before anyone knows what sort of a season it would be I don't see why the club shouldn't give them the odd offer here or there (and indeed the BWSA) as part to say thanks for their custom and then secondly as an inducement to keep their custom for the next year. So any ST holder offers are quite welcome and IMO a very good business strategy!

Whilst I can see your point and I don't want to argue with you BWFCi because you seem fairly rational, I would say that non-ST holders also put a fair wedge of money into the clubs coffers. Whilst the club offer incentives to the ST holders, which I agree with totally I think that a supposedly impartial group should offer all fans the same rate for membership.

Just because we're not all ST holders doesn't make us 2nd class Wanderers fans.

[keveh]

People are actually complaining about the difference of a fiver over a year, and by the sounds of it its the people who wont be joining.

I think people are complaining for the sake of being able to complain about the BWSA, they've had bad press in the past and people will never get rid of those thoughts.

Have you not thought that people signing up and helping out straight away is an effort to try and change the BWSA? Surely the more people involved the better? What's the point in complaining when you have no intention of ever joining and trying to change things for the good of the fans?

Like I said, complaining for the sake of complaining.

[TKIZ!]

People are actually complaining about the difference of a fiver over a year, and by the sounds of it its the people who wont be joining.

I think people are complaining for the sake of being able to complain about the BWSA, they've had bad press in the past and people will never get rid of those thoughts.

Have you not thought that people signing up and helping out straight away is an effort to try and change the BWSA? Surely the more people involved the better? What's the point in complaining when you have no intention of ever joining and trying to change things for the good of the fans?

Like I said, complaining for the sake of complaining.

Apologies Keveh, I'm not trying to cause an argue for arguements sake, it might be only a fiver but if BWSA is for everyone then it should be the same flat rate, I may not pay out for a season ticket but on the whole in my time as a Wanderers fan I think I've paid out a fair whack to.

The club rewards ST holders and that in my opinion is great, they should be rewarded for their loyalty but the BWSA is a group for the fans, it should the same price across the board.

[keveh]

I understand what people are saying, but the way that some people are putting their point across is laughable.

[CrazyHorse]

Look I have very little interest in the BWSA, not for me. But at least they are trying.

As for ST discounts its absolute bollocks to suggest an OFFER is discriminatory against non ST Holders. Its like a supermarket offer "buy a pint of coke and get a glass half price". Its not discriminating non coke drinkers its just a fooking offer.

And whilst we're at it, seeing as ST holders are the ones who stump up large sums before a ball is kicked before a player is signed and thus commit for the season ahead before anyone knows what sort of a season it would be I don't see why the club shouldn't give them the odd offer here or there (and indeed the BWSA) as part to say thanks for their custom and then secondly as an inducement to keep their custom for the next year. So any ST holder offers are quite welcome and IMO a very good business strategy!

Actually I was just pointing out the hypocracy of them being on the fans side yet not treating all fans equally.
I was hoping to get a rise from BWSA, but I seem to have got one from you instead. So job done.

[a1]

its not claimed to be equal. youre mithering over a £5er.

i know you can nearly buy a pint from a pub with it , but still.

me, i'll save at least one fiver by not being arsed.

[BWSA]

Wow… didn’t realize the fuss discounting membership would cause!

Ok let me answer a few points raised, We joined the bwsa committee in October, to find there where very few members due to the association having been in a steady decline for a number of years,

We where also quite aware of the perception the bwsa had amongst the majority of supporter, ( we also had that same view!) after joining, it soon became apparent that we needed to increase the membership, so we looked into how we could do this,
we were aware the club had over 12000 season ticket holders last year, yet the bwsa struggled to get 100 people to a social evening, so we approached the club and asked them if we could ‘tap’ into their database to recruit new members

The club agreed to do this on our behalf and we set a 'half price' offer to all season ticket holders (as an incentive to the very people who maybe held those perceptions) I can tell you now that this offer has been a resounding success! attracting more new members to date, than we had the whole of last year,(99% of those, new members)

We will also be offering the same deal to existing members as a thank you for their support last year. (Application packs will be sent out in the next few days)

The bwsa is an independent association and receives no money what-so-ever from the club, so all funds have to be raised via membership or raffle’s etc, we don’t charge 'double' to none season ticket holders, it’s been £10 membership for as long as I can remember, (we’ve discounted the fee to Season ticket holders and existing members)

The benefits of a strong supporters club

Judging by some of the comments on here there seems to be a negative view on anything to do with the bwsa or even supporters clubs!
I’ve had a few discussions on different forums regarding the need for such an association in the past 12mths and I believe there is more need now than ever before, (the reason we have more on-line fans forums than any other club is probably a direct result of not having a strong supporters club)

At the moment The-Wanderer, Wanderersways, bwfcforum and bolton banter etc don’t have any say or influence what-so-ever on our club, we can come on here and complain about this, that and the other and hope that in 4 or 5 years down the line someone from the club will pick up what has been said and act on it(fanzone)

Our support (away from the ground) is fragmented and incoherent which isn’t good for us as supporter or the club (who would rather deal with us for free than pay thousands to consultancy firms)

Like it or not, the bwsa is the only supporters club endorsed and recognised by the club and as such has a direct line to the bwfc hierarchy and currently holds regular meeting (these will be increased to monthly this season)

We take inspiration from other supporters clubs like Sunderland who have over 30,000 members and have a massive say in how their club is run (and save the club thousands in consultancy fees, because the club do ask them about direct debit issues etc) and even Blackpool who have a very strong membership and therefore have a strong presence within their club!

If we as an association want to be more pro-active in supporter related activities.. ie running the fanzone, putting on discounted travel to away games, organising various events around the region and have more of a say in how our club is run, we need to grow our membership, committee and volunteer numbers,

So we would urge all supporters to join!

Heres a scenario I always use, “ we’re playing Machester Utd next season, the club announce the fanzone will be closed for that game, understandably they need the room for the hospitality and can’t pass up that opportunity for the extra revenue!
We go and ask the club to put up a marquee on the grass verge to accommodate the fanzone, what do you think their answer would be and do you think the answer would be the same if we had 20,000 members?

[sluffy]

Heres a scenario I always use, “ we’re playing Machester Utd next season, the club announce the fanzone will be closed for that game, understandably they need the room for the hospitality and can’t pass up that opportunity for the extra revenue!

We go and ask the club to put up a marquee on the grass verge to accommodate the fanzone, what do you think their answer would be and do you think the answer would be the same if we had 20,000 members?

Yes, the answer would be the same even if the BWSA had a million members.

Issues such as planning permission, health and safety, security and public liability insurance all have to be considered - I'm fairly certain that such a proposal would not be granted.

Even if it could be - will the BWSA be paying for it - I thought not.

So you are asking the club (£93 million in debt), to fork out thousands more to run an event for what - a couple of hours - and take a massive loss!

What do you really expect the club to say?

As for supporters Associations - I bet Eddie Davies takes as much notice of you as the Glazer's listen to the Green and White protesters at United - and there's far, far more of them than members at the BWSA!

Also as an aside, do you think the club (whose Chairman is a prominent FA board member) would be happy that one of the current BWSA committee members deliberately breaks FA / Premier League copyright on their own BWFC forum every week of the season?

[keveh]

Sluffy, let's just get this straight once and for all:

NOBODY GIVES A FLYING FK ABOUT FIXTURES AND RESULTS ON A WEBSITE

Sorry for derailing but God knows how many times that has been mentioned, until you report it and somebody actually gets fined, shut the hell up.

[BWSA]

What do you really expect the club to say?

This has already been raised, costing's done and may be implemented sooner than you think

As for supporters Associations - I bet Eddie Davies takes as much notice of you as the Glazer's listen to the Green and White protesters at United - and there's far, far more of them than members at the BWSA!

The difference being the Glazer's arn't Utd fans, Eddie is and having met him at the Player of the Year event, I know for a fact he is fully behind the bwsa and activity encourages supporters to join!

Also as an aside, do you think the club (whose Chairman is a prominent FA board member) would be happy that one of the current BWSA committee members deliberately breaks FA / Premier League copyright on their own BWFC forum every week of the season?

That has nothing to do with the bwsa, we don't have a forum, we 'piggy back' all the other excellent forums such as this one to get our message across

[Lord Kangana]

Everybody needs to calm the f*ck down here really.

Do you want to join the BWSA? Then do so.

Do you not? I've not noticed anyone being forced at gunpoint to do so, so far.

[jimbo_bwfc]

Also as an aside, do you think the club (whose Chairman is a prominent FA board member) would be happy that one of the current BWSA committee members deliberately breaks FA / Premier League copyright on their own BWFC forum every week of the season?

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[CAPSLOCK]

Does the bwsa have a manifesto?

[Worthy4England]

Everybody needs to calm the f*ck down here really.

Do you want to join the BWSA? Then do so.

Do you not? I've not noticed anyone being forced at gunpoint to do so, so far.

Yessir.

Really don't see the problem.

[Bruce Rioja]

People are actually complaining about the difference of a fiver over a year.

So why offer it then? and it's not the amount - what I want to know is why do they offer a discount to STH's? As I said earlier, it's of absolutely no consequence to their organisation as to whether their members hold season tickets or just go whenever they can afford to.

This organisation calls itself the Bolton Wanderers Supporters Association doesn't it? So how come it differentiates? I'm not complaining, I just require an answer - and you're not the man to give it, clearly.

[josh8]

People are actually complaining about the difference of a fiver over a year.

So why offer it then? and it's not the amount - what I want to know is why do they offer a discount to STH's? As I said earlier, it's of absolutely no consequence to their organisation as to whether their members hold season tickets or just go whenever they can afford to.

This organisation calls itself the Bolton Wanderers Supporters Association doesn't it? So how come it differentiates? I'm not complaining, I just require an answer - and you're not the man to give it, clearly.

Which other explanation do you want...?

The BWSA where presented with an opportunity of a lifetime...to present its self to over 20,000 prospective season ticket holders... the decision was taken to discount the membership to STH'S as an incentive, it's already turning out to be the smartest move the association has taken in over 10yrs and is set to see its membership numbers at an all time high... Can't see what your problem is....?

People moaned that the bwsa wasn't representative of its members or it didn't have any members... now people are moaning that they're recruiting new members and having the audacity to ask them to be more proactive and representative....?


I think keveh was right, when he said people are moaning for the sake of it....!!