Darlo Uncovered

Now we're more or less settled in at Blackwell, is there any chance we could get chapter and verse on exactly what our deal with the rugby club is? How are costs shared, who has which priorities, who gets what from the takings, what rights if any have we to share in the catering provision -- right down to minor questions like how come rugby club members can park right outside but we can't, and why their meetings take over the bar even on our matchdays, etc etc etc? What's the logic behind Darlo members not being allowed to join the rugby club?
I sometimes wonder if we get anything much from the "merger" apart from the right to use pitches and ancillary facilities once a week...
This isn't intended to cause any rancour between the two clubs, I'd just like to know.

jonn wrote:Now we're more or less settled in at Blackwell, is there any chance we could get chapter and verse on exactly what our deal with the rugby club is? How are costs shared, who has which priorities, who gets what from the takings, what rights if any have we to share in the catering provision -- right down to minor questions like how come rugby club members can park right outside but we can't, and why their meetings take over the bar even on our matchdays, etc etc etc? What's the logic behind Darlo members not being allowed to join the rugby club?
I sometimes wonder if we get anything much from the "merger" apart from the right to use pitches and ancillary facilities once a week...
This isn't intended to cause any rancour between the two clubs, I'd just like to know.

Not intended to cause any rancour-----.Bullshit.

jonn wrote:Now we're more or less settled in at Blackwell, is there any chance we could get chapter and verse on exactly what our deal with the rugby club is? How are costs shared, who has which priorities, who gets what from the takings, what rights if any have we to share in the catering provision -- right down to minor questions like how come rugby club members can park right outside but we can't, and why their meetings take over the bar even on our matchdays, etc etc etc? What's the logic behind Darlo members not being allowed to join the rugby club?
I sometimes wonder if we get anything much from the "merger" apart from the right to use pitches and ancillary facilities once a week...
This isn't intended to cause any rancour between the two clubs, I'd just like to know.

What merger? DFC have a licence to play home games at BM. Don't ever recall anyone suggesting before there had been a merger

Emdubya wrote:

jonn wrote:Now we're more or less settled in at Blackwell, is there any chance we could get chapter and verse on exactly what our deal with the rugby club is? How are costs shared, who has which priorities, who gets what from the takings, what rights if any have we to share in the catering provision -- right down to minor questions like how come rugby club members can park right outside but we can't, and why their meetings take over the bar even on our matchdays, etc etc etc? What's the logic behind Darlo members not being allowed to join the rugby club?
I sometimes wonder if we get anything much from the "merger" apart from the right to use pitches and ancillary facilities once a week...
This isn't intended to cause any rancour between the two clubs, I'd just like to know.

Not intended to cause any rancour-----.Bullshit.

the original post whiffs of chimp for me...

jonn wrote:Now we're more or less settled in at Blackwell, is there any chance we could get chapter and verse on exactly what our deal with the rugby club is? How are costs shared, who has which priorities, who gets what from the takings, what rights if any have we to share in the catering provision -- right down to minor questions like how come rugby club members can park right outside but we can't, and why their meetings take over the bar even on our matchdays, etc etc etc? What's the logic behind Darlo members not being allowed to join the rugby club?
I sometimes wonder if we get anything much from the "merger" apart from the right to use pitches and ancillary facilities once a week...
This isn't intended to cause any rancour between the two clubs, I'd just like to know.

As much as I'd like to know a lot more than we do, including what, if anything, is in the contract about getting out of the contract if needed... now really isn't the time to be answering any questions around the details of the contract... we've just seen another monumental effort by the fans to raise money for the roof, the last thing we want is any information becoming public, fueling negativity about the ground. I'm all for transparency but not now.

I'm surprised and frankly a bit hurt by the reaction to my post, not least the suggestion that I'm an opposition supporter trying to cause dissension among the ranks. I've been a Darlo supporter for almost 50 years and have put a good four-figure sum into the club in the past couple of years - and am still giving hundreds a month.
I'm simply surprised that we know nothing about the deal we've done with the rugby club, who I've nothing against. The reaction here suggests that if it were made known we'd face a lot of embarrassing questions, which does nothing to ease my curiosity. If we've nothing to hide, why hide it? If we have, okay, there may be very good reasons for keeping it secret, but an explanation of some kind would help.
At the very least, it would just be good to know why, when I spend money on a burger at the ground, Darlo doesn't get a penny of it. Or do we? We just don't know.

I think the fact that this kind of info is not forthcoming, probably means that the info would not go down well with fans if revealed.

It's clearly commercially sensitive. It would provide details over cost based and split of revenues which no sensible company would ever do.

When you spent money on a burger at Heritage Park the club didn't get a penny of it - did you complain then?

When you spent money on a beer at Heritage Park the club didn't get a penny out of it - did you complain or ask then?

Why are people so fixated on revenues from a burger? The rugby club will have bought the supplies for the sales. They will have a mark up on it which takes into account their staff costs to prepare it etc. to arrive at the price they are prepared to sell it for for the effort of purchasing it and providing the service.

If we want to make 50p on a burger then we have to add 50p to the price of the burger - when that happened there was uproar that the football fans are being charged different to rugby fans.

Assume we get nothing from beer and food and anything we do get is a bonus. It ain't worth anything anyway. We pay the rugby club a fee for their service providing hospitality and we charge a mark up on top (that is worth money), we get percentage of advertising that we source (again worth it) and we keep 100% of gate receipts and raffle ticket etc. (That is our main source of revenue and always will be unless we get FL again).

Stop fretting over stuff that is immaterial. I know people think that burger sales at football grounds is some sort of gold mine but it really truly isn't.

lo36789 wrote:
Stop fretting over stuff that is immaterial. I know people think that burger sales at football grounds is some sort of gold mine but it really truly isn't.

and often why many clubs get other companies to come in and sell food on their behalf - pass the headache / overheads onto someone else.

I haven’t been to Blackwell yet because I’m yet to hear the deal the club have, and I won’t be attending until I know. I have a strong dislike towards the rugby club, long story short they have a real chip on their shoulder about us being there and this had been flagged up in their meetings (could explain why they don’t want any members from the football club), hence some of the obstacles they throw in our way. I put money into the club via other means, so the rugby club can’t get their dirty little hands on it.

I can assure anyone that the rugby club do not make money from people attending games by simply paying through the turnstile. Please do not let that put you off coming we need as many people to come as possible more than ever now our income streams are limited and we don't have a benefactor.

Look at things the same as if we were hiring a room to put an event on- you pay a fee to hire the venue and then retain all of your ticket money. The venue then profits from food and drink sales and sometimes you can negotiate a small portion of the profit.

divas wrote:I can assure anyone that the rugby club do not make money from people attending games by simply paying through the turnstile. Please do not let that put you off coming we need as many people to come as possible more than ever now our income streams are limited and we don't have a benefactor.

Look at things the same as if we were hiring a room to put an event on- you pay a fee to hire the venue and then retain all of your ticket money. The venue then profits from food and drink sales and sometimes you can negotiate a small portion of the profit.

Your analogy is ok to a point, however if when you hire the venue you would not normally have to give them a new carpet (pitch) for them to use and build your own seats, stands , paved walkways again for them to use , let’s face it the rugby club have us all ends up, is there another solution, at the moment sadly not.

If you were putting on a bespoke event that required equipment that the venue would not normally need then you would have to pay for/provide it. A band for instance.

In an ideal world DRFC would have had a 5,000 capacity ground with 2,000 seats that we could have rented but they didn't do we had to / have to do it ourselves.

However that is largely irrelevant when the point was trying to persuade fans that the rugby club won't make anything if they are only spending admission money. Personally I don't see the need to make the commercials known but if it is generally a cause of people staying away then it needs to be given more consideration - sadly from experience we know that some folk do just find any excuse not to come (I'm not implying that the poster above is in that category since they've contributed but I do find it odd that you would not support the club you love just in case you financial support the rugby club at the same time - its that sort of attitude on the rugby club side that many get upset by)

RonJeremy wrote: I have a strong dislike towards the rugby club, long story short they have a real chip on their shoulder

The irony in this sentence is astounding.

If 'they' had a chip on their shoulder about 'us' being there then why did they agree to rent their ground out to us?

Spyman wrote:

RonJeremy wrote: I have a strong dislike towards the rugby club, long story short they have a real chip on their shoulder

The irony in this sentence is astounding.

If 'they' had a chip on their shoulder about 'us' being there then why did they agree to rent their ground out to us?

I would imagine a significant rental income with little outlay may have come into the equation.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

QUAKERMAN2 wrote:

Spyman wrote:

RonJeremy wrote: I have a strong dislike towards the rugby club, long story short they have a real chip on their shoulder

The irony in this sentence is astounding.

If 'they' had a chip on their shoulder about 'us' being there then why did they agree to rent their ground out to us?

I would imagine a significant rental income with little outlay may have come into the equation.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

Many forget the rugby club had to remortgage to build the changing rooms and equipment store

divas wrote:

QUAKERMAN2 wrote:

Spyman wrote:

RonJeremy wrote: I have a strong dislike towards the rugby club, long story short they have a real chip on their shoulder

The irony in this sentence is astounding.

If 'they' had a chip on their shoulder about 'us' being there then why did they agree to rent their ground out to us?

I would imagine a significant rental income with little outlay may have come into the equation.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

Many forget the rugby club had to remortgage to build the changing rooms and equipment store

Which is known as speculate to accumulate.

lo36789 wrote:It's clearly commercially sensitive. It would provide details over cost based and split of revenues which no sensible company would ever do.

When you spent money on a burger at Heritage Park the club didn't get a penny of it - did you complain then?

When you spent money on a beer at Heritage Park the club didn't get a penny out of it - did you complain or ask then?

Why are people so fixated on revenues from a burger? The rugby club will have bought the supplies for the sales. They will have a mark up on it which takes into account their staff costs to prepare it etc. to arrive at the price they are prepared to sell it for for the effort of purchasing it and providing the service.

If we want to make 50p on a burger then we have to add 50p to the price of the burger - when that happened there was uproar that the football fans are being charged different to rugby fans.

Assume we get nothing from beer and food and anything we do get is a bonus. It ain't worth anything anyway. We pay the rugby club a fee for their service providing hospitality and we charge a mark up on top (that is worth money), we get percentage of advertising that we source (again worth it) and we keep 100% of gate receipts and raffle ticket etc. (That is our main source of revenue and always will be unless we get FL again).

Stop fretting over stuff that is immaterial. I know people think that burger sales at football grounds is some sort of gold mine but it really truly isn't.

We have to get on with the Rugby boys, whenever Ive been to BM they have been fine with me.

Ground will be brilliant when completed.

MCFCDarlo3 wrote: Ground will be brilliant when completed.

Do you know something I don't?!

Now, my imagination isn't very good, but I am struggling to imagine that BM will ever be a brilliant football ground. It will of course get better than it is, but I can't see how it'll ever be a particularly great place to watch football - I can't see how we'll get any proper height in, and the pipe means it's probably always going to feel a bit barren.

But it is what it is. It won't stop me going and it won't stop me contributing to the various fundraisers. And maybe I'm wrong and BM will develop into a brilliant ground.

I wonder if the future of BM will be talked about at the meeting in a couple of weeks.

al_quaker wrote:

MCFCDarlo3 wrote: Ground will be brilliant when completed.

Do you know something I don't?!

Now, my imagination isn't very good, but I am struggling to imagine that BM will ever be a brilliant football ground. It will of course get better than it is, but I can't see how it'll ever be a particularly great place to watch football - I can't see how we'll get any proper height in, and the pipe means it's probably always going to feel a bit barren.

But it is what it is. It won't stop me going and it won't stop me contributing to the various fundraisers. And maybe I'm wrong and BM will develop into a brilliant ground.

I wonder if the future of BM will be talked about at the meeting in a couple of weeks.

I like it and as you say it will only get better. A covered terrace at the away end would make such a difference.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Yes an away terrace will certainly help. But of course for big games when we most need it, we, as home fans, probably won't be able to use it Unless of course we can segregate elsewhere.

Now if there was some sort of agreement with the rugby club about replacing the clubhouse with a Feethams style East Stand at somepoint in the future, then I'd feel about 10000 times more positive about BM, even though financing it would be a huge challenge. But I'm fairly sure I'm living in fantasy land there

I've not heard of the terracing at the away end being terraced. But if it was built then you could always get the home fans to change ends and use the larger terrace as the home end.

al_quaker wrote:Yes an away terrace will certainly help. But of course for big games when we most need it, we, as home fans, probably won't be able to use it Unless of course we can segregate elsewhere.

Now if there was some sort of agreement with the rugby club about replacing the clubhouse with a Feethams style East Stand at somepoint in the future, then I'd feel about 10000 times more positive about BM, even though financing it would be a huge challenge. But I'm fairly sure I'm living in fantasy land there

We may be but you never know.

Darlo_Pete wrote:I've not heard of the terracing at the away end being terraced. But if it was built then you could always get the home fans to change ends and use the larger terrace as the home end.

I just took it as the next logical step ( pipe allowing ) as cant see much happening clubhouse side due to costs. Could be segregated im sure.

al_quaker wrote:

MCFCDarlo3 wrote: Ground will be brilliant when completed.

Do you know something I don't?!

Now, my imagination isn't very good, but I am struggling to imagine that BM will ever be a brilliant football ground. It will of course get better than it is, but I can't see how it'll ever be a particularly great place to watch football - I can't see how we'll get any proper height in, and the pipe means it's probably always going to feel a bit barren.

But it is what it is. It won't stop me going and it won't stop me contributing to the various fundraisers. And maybe I'm wrong and BM will develop into a brilliant ground.

I wonder if the future of BM will be talked about at the meeting in a couple of weeks.

I should imagine it will be one of the main points... I have to be honest I don't like BM... I can't ever see it getting to a point where mind changes either... the pipe, the rugby club, the whole experience... I'll always go, and I'll always give to DFC, but it'll never be home... I don't agree with staying away because of the ground but I can understand why some take that stance and I know that many do take that stance and for numerous reasons...

Darlo_Pete wrote:I've not heard of the terracing at the away end being terraced. But if it was built then you could always get the home fans to change ends and use the larger terrace as the home end.

Was this not something that was called out as the 'next step'?

lo36789 wrote:

Darlo_Pete wrote:I've not heard of the terracing at the away end being terraced. But if it was built then you could always get the home fans to change ends and use the larger terrace as the home end.

Was this not something that was called out as the 'next step'?

'The next steps' for DFC

That could be the fundraising pitch.

I'll get my coat

lo36789 wrote:

Darlo_Pete wrote:I've not heard of the terracing at the away end being terraced. But if it was built then you could always get the home fans to change ends and use the larger terrace as the home end.

Was this not something that was called out as the 'next step'?

Yes to build terracing I agree, but this is the first time I've heard it suggested that the new terracing may be covered.

Having it covered if it could be afforded would be extremely useful and hopefully attract more of the floating fans on a miserable day/families.

Having it covered if it could be afforded would be extremely useful and hopefully attract more of the floating fans on a miserable day/families. I am fully aware however that to attract some of the excuse brigade on a miserable day you'd have to send a personal escort to their house with an umbrella and walk them under cover.