Introduction

The aim of this survey was to collect information on the Shelbourne FC Community and to query fans on the match day experience at Tolka Park. The survey was for any Shelbourne FC supporter who had come to a game at Tolka Park including lapsed fans and casual attendees. This survey was produced with the help of The !"#$ Trust. Survey design and data analysis was performed on a voluntary basis by members of the Trust. %n addition some data analysis was done with the aid of students from &'% (aynooth. The survey data was collected and analysed on the Survey(onkey platform. )ll word clouds were constructed using worditout.com. This brief report will outline some of the ma*or results of the survey and issue some simple and practical recommendations. +e encourage fans to share this report online through social media and we would like to thank all Shelbourne FC fans who participated in the Fans, Survey.

(artin -rehan )uthor. Committee (ember of The !"#$ Trust

Results
Response count
$// clicked through to the survey. 011 completed the survey a 1$.23 completion rate.

Demographics
Age

+eighted mean age45

0$."2 years

4using !1 and 66 as mid7points for 'nder !" and 6$ or older respectively.

Gender

Too few female fans filled in the survey to make their opinions generalisable.

Location

How fans attend games

Travel to Tolka:
) ma*ority of fans do not travel to games by public transport. 8us seems to be the predominant method of travel to games if a fan uses public transport.

Away days:
963 of fans surveyed rarely or never attend away games close to home. That rises to $!3 of fans when we consider away games further afield.

Why fans attend games

Lapsed fans:
:nly $ of 60 were fans of the club for less than $ years. :nly # of 60 said they never attended matches suggest ;lapsed< to them means they attend less or significantly less games than they used to. :nly 2 of these fans thing Shelbourne FC links in well with the community. :nly $ of these fans are satisfied with the level and standard of communication between the board of Shelbourne FC and supporters.

 =uestion asking lapsed fans why they don,t attend matches any more was not particularly revealing. Some people mentioned family commitments work commitments emigration and distance being an issue. Some concern about ticket prices but section later in report suggests most fans are happy with ticket prices.

Tradition versus location:

%n general fans coming from a Shels ;tradition< have followed the club for longer than those who live or lived close to Tolka Park. :nly 2$ people or !/3 of the respondents have been following Shels for less than $ years. :nly !13 of respondents indicated they sometimes or always attend games alone.

Ticket rices:
(ost fans are not dissatisfied with current ticket prices. Satisfaction levels are almost identical for both match7day tickets and season tickets $/3 of fans are satisfied with former and $$3 with the latter.

!ommunications

"oard communication # Generational gap:

2".$3 of fans surveyed are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the level and standard of communication between board and supporters.

 Compare that to the !#3 of fans who are satisfied or very satisfied. The 9nd diagram shows the clear generational gap.

How do you feel the board of Shelbourne FC could improve communications with the fans?

$erchandise
(ore than $/3 of respondents sometimes or regularly purchase merchandise in the club shop. 8y far the three most important factors for all respondents were cost range of goods on offer and quality of the merchandise.

rogramme
6/3 of respondents either regularly or sometimes purchase the programme. +ith 9!3 saying they never do. Those who regularly purchased the programme seemed to not particularly value one aspect of it over others. >owever those who never purchase it focus on the cost and quality of articles. Those who do buy praise the friendliness of programme sellers.

$atch#Day %&periences # ositives

%n the quantitative questions most factors were rated positively especially ease of travel to stadium friendliness of volunteer.stewards and opportunities to buy merchandise.

So when you think about your most recent match day at Tolka Park what off the pitch e!perience did you like most?

$atch#Day %&periences ' (egatives

"hat one thin# could we do to improve your match day e!perience?

Clear that the most important negative factor in the match7day experience is the provision of clean and functional toilet facilities.

 )lmost 1/3 of fans rated Tolka Park as having poor or very poor toilet facilities. %n contrast no other factor was ranked above 0$3 in the poor and very poor categories. Fans seem torn on issue of abusive language at games. Slight generational gap again younger fans less concerned about this older fans more concerned.

!ommunity

"hat could Shelbourne FC do to improve links with the local community?

Conclusion
Demographics:
Too few female fans utilised the survey to generalise their opinions.

The survey suggests that the significant numbers of our fans now reside in &orth ?ublin and Fingal. %n addition to this one of the most significant factors in =.6 is the 0!3 of respondents who say proximity to Tolka Park was a factor in them becoming a Shels fan.

How fans attend games:

+e have a large amount of data on the bus routes Shels fans use to come to games at Tolka. 063 of fans surveyed travel to games by bus.

Why fans attend games:

Tradition is clearly important over $/3 of the fans questioned became fans of Shels because of a tradition of support in their family or friends.

c.9$3 of the respondents have been following Shels for !/ years or less. %t is hard to draw conclusions from this but anecdotal evidence and realism would suggest that the club no longer attracts new fans in significant numbers.

 The survey was filled in by less than 1/ fans who described themselves as lapsed. )nother factor that indicates that this survey was filled in by more ;hardcore< fans is that large number of respondents who indicated they attend away games. This would tend to suggest that the survey may be more representative of fans who attend almost all our games as opposed to the casual or lapsed fan.

:nly !13 of respondents indicated they sometimes or always attend games alone. The social side of attending Shels games is backed up by the qualitative data. People probably attend Shels games to socialise with friends and family.

Fans surveyed are happy with current ticket prices.

!ommunications
>alf of the people surveyed are not happy with communications from the board to the fans. :f these younger fans are much more dissatisfied than older fans. The club should not see this as baseless criticism but as hard data that some fans voice genuine concerns.

%t is clear from the word cloud in the communications section that respondents desire information and they want to access that information through fans, forums the club website and social media.

The club website is by far the most utilised source of news on the club 1$3 of respondents use it. The survey highlights the importance of social media. )ge was a factor in determining usage of social media with younger fans much more likely to use the club,s facebook and twitter accounts.

$erchandise

 %t is clear that the most significant factors here are cost and the range and quality of goods on offer. Positives are that the location of the shop is not a factor. This probably means most people consider the shop to be well located inside the ground.

:ver $/3 of respondents purchase goods in the shop on a semi7regular basis. ) reasonable conclusion is that merchandise will sell in the shop if it is good quality and sold at a cheap price.

rogramme
Plenty of respondents claim to purchase the programme regularly or sometimes.

Praise for the friendliness of the programme sellers is a positive. Criticisms included the format being obsolete and the programme containing too many advertisements.

$atch#Day %&periences ' ositives

%t is clear that the overwhelming factors in en*oyment of games at Tolka Park are the atmosphere supporters generate and the socialising that occurs around match nights.

The factor atmosphere includes singing chanting pyro and the vibrancy of the &ew Stand.

The socialising of respondents seems to be heavily orientated around the bar seeing friends and family on a regular basis and the friendly atmosphere that exists in Tolka.

$atch#Day %&periences # (egatives

The main negative concern for respondents attending games at Tolka Park are the toilet facilities. The vast ma*ority of fans consider them poor or very poor in standard. )ll stakeholders at Shelbourne FC are aware of this issue and fans also appreciate the immense difficulties of providing long term solutions to this problem.

!ommunity
0 times more respondents than not think that the club does not link in well with the local community.

The figures about where surveyed fans live indicate that the club should focus its efforts in the &orth ?ublin vicinity.

Three factors that emerge from the qualitative data as important to surveyed fans in embedding ourselves in the community are5 attracting children and families to games@ engaging with the club,s schoolboy system@ and free season ticket promotions to encourage people to games.

Recommendations
Demographics:
The club should consider separate measures to survey the opinions of female fans and those fans who attend games with young children Asomething which this survey failed to account for.B.

How fans attend games:

)n in7depth analysis of the most popular bus routes Shels fans use to travel to Tolka Park and an ad campaign targeting those routes would be beneficial. :ther types of public transport do not seem to have the numbers to make a campaign worthwhile.

Why fans attend games:

) more concerted effort should be made to examine the reasons lapsed fans no longer attend games. ) separate survey with fewer questions taking less time to complete and targeted specifically at this demographic could suffice.

The bar and the social side of attending games appears to be a very important factor in why people attend games the club should focus on maintaining the facilities in the bar at a decent standard and promoting the bar as a social outlet for Shels fans.

 :n the issue of ticket prices respondents in the survey are happy with current price levels but fans should be regularly surveyed on this issue in the future.

!ommunications
1$3 of respondents use the Shelbourne FC official website. This highlights the need for the work on updating the website to a modern format to be fast7tracked. The club have prioritised this issue and at time of publication hope to have a new website operational soon.

'sage of social media channels is higher amongst younger respondents. +e recommend that a Shelbourne FC facebook page be set up and content to be transferred over to this page away from the ;friend< page that currently exists. This task is not particularly difficult and carries few risks.

This will allow content on the website to be delivered to more people and will also allow for the use of facebook advertising credits to be utilised to promote events posts and fundraising opportunities. )nother benefit is the ability of a user to simultaneously use their own facebook account and the page whereas the current format requires separate logins.

The club should commit in con*unction with fans groups to more regular fans, forums. %t may be an idea to rotate the hosting of these forums between The !"#$ Trust SS?8riogCid ?earg and Deds %ndependent.

$erchandise
)s noted in the conclusion it is reasonable to assume that merchandise will sell in the shop if it is good quality and sold at a cheap price. The club should liaise with fans groups to explore common low7cost merchandising opportunities.

rogramme
The format of the programme with the modern prevalence of digital media and the opinions of respondents appears outdated. The club should work with the SS?- and The !"#$ Trust on ways to re7invent the club,s programme. &ew ways of generating revenue should be explored whilst still providing interesting content and fulfilling the F)%,s licensing requirements on programmes.

$atch#Day %&periences ' ositives

The club should recognise the contribution that fans in the &ew Stand make to the atmosphere in Tolka Park. The club should consult the fans on how best to lobby the F)% on the issues of singing chanting and pyro.

:n the issue of socialising the recommendations in the "hy fans attend #ames section are valid here as well.

$atch#Day %&periences ' (egatives

Toilet facilities are a ma*or negative factor in the match7day experience. Everyone at Shelbourne FC is aware of this. )ll stakeholders on this issue should come together and attempt to find a long7term solution to providing clean and functional toilet facilities in Tolka Park.

 The issue of abusive language at games is divisive more research into this issue needed and there is a real need to consult with fans. This issue has never been successfully dealt with by fans fans, groups or the club.

!ommunity
Free season ticket promotions coaching sessions in local schools and communities and other such activities must continue to be formalised and promoted as well as emphasis placed on demonstrating to fans and the local community that these activities are under way.

)ll these activities should be linked into ongoing co7operation with The !"#$ Trust and other fans groups.