Controversial Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer has revealed that the club will be providing free entry to all fans for the fixture against the Central Coast Mariners on Sunday December 19.
The move comes after the club received record low crowds over the past few home games, on occasions struggling to reach the two thousand figure mark.
These attendances are not only embarrassing; they are detrimental to the image of the A-League and further illustrate the growing concern amongst the football public.
Nevertheless, it is great to see a proactive approach in an attempt to win over the Gold Coast public and redeem some credibility back towards the fledgling club.
The Gold Coast United supporters club is optimistic about Clive Palmer’s endorsement and are massive advocates of this marketing strategy.
“This is our last chance to prove to Clive and the entire A-League that the Gold Coast is worthy of having an A-League team,” said the supporters club.
After Jason Culina recently voiced his concerns regarding the crowd nightmare, Palmer considered that it is now or never for the embattled club.
The billionaire owner is optimistic that there is a potential market for football on the Gold Coast and is eager to test out the region.
“It will show us how many football people are out there and it’s our gift to the Gold Coast community. We just want them to come along and watch a team which I believe will win the championship this season.
“It’s also a great way for the public to enjoy some free entertainment. For this game I’m happy to take the cap off the crowds and see what we get there,” Palmer said.
Palmer also feels that opening the gates to the public is the least he could do for all the exceptional, committed and vigorous work Frank Lowy has done towards the unsuccessful 2022 World Cup bid.
“I felt it was something we should do to highlight the fact that while Frank was unsuccessful, he has put so much into the game and the game goes on.
“Frank put a great effort in and he certainly brought our game to an international arena and audience and he deserves some appreciation. It’s a way of showing gratitude to a great Australian,” Palmer said.
It’s a fantastic initiative by the club, paying their respects to a man who has done so much for football in this country. If it weren’t for Frank Lowy and his admirable passion for the game, the existence of the A-League would be questionable.
Although Palmer’s idea seems fantastic, the major problem with the Gold Coast marketing philosophy is letting people know when the games are on.
It’s great having free entry to the game, however if the Gold Coast consumers aren’t aware of this proposal by the club, then it is rather meaningless. The club needs to take a proactive approach and promote this marketing opportunity within their relevant geographic region.
Print media outlets like the Gold Coast Bulletin must be utilised, television advertisements, internet advertising on the goldcoast.com.au website for instance and other various media channels need to be consumed. Once consumers are well aware of the club’s proposal, we should start to see an impact on the crowd figures.
It is known that the free entry scheme is said to cost Palmer around $100,000. Hopefully this is a wake up call and helps the club realise that an attendance average of 2812 fans is vastly unacceptable in a national competition.
One would imagine that a crowd of 10,000-15,000 would be the minimum requirement, given entry is free. If the club cannot achieve this, then Gold Coast United may become a club of the past.
Hopefully Clive Palmer’s arrogance hasn’t deterred away too many potential supporters. Capping crowds to 5000 and demonstrating a distant emotional connection towards the local community will never encourage potential fans to support the club.
Amid the growing controversy surrounding the troubled club, December 19 is set to be a pivotal day in the history of Gold Coast United. It’s great to have a club with an abundance of money; conversely without a solid fan base existence in a saturated market place seems rather impulsive.
Let’s hope football on the Gold Coast is here to stay.
Daniel
Guest
Problem could be solved by showing A-League games on free to air tv. Every other sport in Australia does that. You have Friday night footy. Why cant ONE show A-League games rather then repeats of basketball games, of all things. Might lead to more interest generated in the sport which would in turn lead to bigger crowds.
free tickets
Guest
Anything less than 10,000 will be a disappointment Anything less than 5,000 will be an embarassment... I think GCU and Fury's days are numbered. I suspect one will survive though, just to ensure a 10 team comp.
M1tch
Roar Guru
The brand of GCu is tainted..get rid of Clive and re-brand and supporters will come back or become interested
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Aka well said, people don't want to support a team that is one person's play thing. It is not the same as Europe where they want some billionaire in charge because that brings unlimited spending in leagues without salary caps. If GCU and Clive want to see the reaction to people with the free entry game on the 19th they would definitely need more than 15,000 IMO to justify that anyone on the coast cares about this team. Tinkler has gone the right way about it, CP has a lot learn.
Aka
Guest
I think those are good ideas. The problem is that Clive from the outset decided that he would get the best team in the league and then believed and still believes that people should be willing to pay to see his team. Whereas the reality seems to be, looking at Adelaide (last season) and Fury that fans will support the team even when they are the worst performers in the league if they can relate to the team being their team. What tinkler did at Newcastle was brilliant. The first thing he said when he bought the franchise was that he didn't want to own a football club. i.e. It was not his club - he wanted the community to have the club. The free game will not work in my opinion because whether it's free to watch or not people don't want to go and see Clive's team. And even if it is a test and community knows the club will fold if they don't attend they won't care, because they don't care if Clive's team folds. They would care if their team was folding.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
You would have to say that Clive Palmer and GCU have failed on many fronts with this club, the biggest mistake that they have made to date is not engaging the community. For any start up franchise to have great support they need to be constantly interacting with their local community. The club started with an arrogant attitude claiming they will win everything and sort of expected the fans will just show up, which they did not and have not since. The other issues with closing the stands then opening the stands did not help the relationship with the limited fans that they had available. Some initiatives they could consider would be that for every adult ticket sold you get a free childrens ticket (as PJ mentioned the price is out of proportion with what they should be charging) and to get the local business community involved big Clive should consider removing his company names from the kits (why do you need to advertise a mining company worth billions?)and have local GC Business advertise for free. You could have a different shirt sponsor for the home and away kits and also two secondary sponsors for the shorts. It wont be any different to now because he is not making money by having his own company on there but at least it starts the engagement with the GC business locals. Maybe give away some mini soccer balls at the conclusion of the games? Anyone else have some thoughts for this club? GCU should probably have taken a leaf from the Titans and Suns on how to build a club from the ground up, and they still have time to implement so policies to get the community back onside. Im a Victory member and have been since season one and it will be a sad day for the A-League if clubs start folding and the league shrinks back to a 10 or 9 team comp. The league does need to grow but it needs to be sustainable growth and from the outside looking in GCU folds when Palmer leaves.
pj
Guest
My issue with this is the feeling that this horse has already bolted. GCU have been suffering crowd issues for over a year now and whilst I can see tangible benefit for offering the game on the 19th for free for that afternoon, the cynic in me suggests that they will come for some free entertainment but not when it costs them a minimum of $25 for an adult ticket, up to $49 depending on where you chose to sit. The A-league is still a fledgling league in some markets and needs to be priced accordingly. A night out for a family of four costs over $100 in most cases, even using the cheapest ticket pricing (family tix in the lowest category is $72 @ Skilled, plus food and bev and merchandise...) and with the lack of community engagement, many cannot justify these prices. I can't see that throwing the gates open for one night will make tangible changes to ongoing participation, more so if it's still priced prohibitively for many. But, I hope I'm proved wrong, not just for GCU but for the entire league.
Andyroo
Guest
I agree with you about the perception of value, but one week before Xmas is the best time to do it and a bit of a special case.
Cpaaa
Roar Pro
letting people in for free is not what i expected This seems like a one night stand type of deal. Free entry once ... but is there a plan and marketing strategy for us to get to the next home match? Does clive even have a marketing strategy? one would think not. The least that we could pay would be giving you our email adress. Free entry for your email, sounds like a fair deal to me. But for Free Clive, this is still not classed as, engaging with the community. You still havnt asked your friends from "the beach" now have you. Im disappointed Clive. Thanks Clive, ill see you on the 19th, but im still not feeling the love!
GC Bulletin
Guest
Hey it worked for the Crushers in 97. Oh, hang on a sec...
Chris
Guest
Free entry is the ultimate test of how many (potential) supporters a club has. You are right Robbie - if they can't get 10,000+ for a free game there is little hope in the future. This could either be a new beginning or the beginning of the end.
Aka
Guest
I think Palmer is trying to gauge the potential of the club. If he makes it free and only the diehards turn up again then that will tell him the club has little potential for growth in support. If that turns out to be the case I can't see him sticking around.
Billo
Guest
The trouble with making something free is that it gives the impression that it isn't worth paying for. The fans will expect to get in free every time, and those who have been prepared to pay for admission will feel cheated, and will be reluctant to pay again. Gold Coast may have fallen too far to be recoverable, unfortunately.
Tony Dinoso
Guest
I like your style Robbie