Monthly Meeting, Supporters Bar, Ashton Gate, Bristol BS3 2EJ
Thursday 5 September 2019, 7.30pm
Present Board – Stuart Rogers SR (chair), Miles Hendy MH (vice-chair), Mike Adams MA (minutes), Jon Darch JD, Marie Day MD, Terry Hamlin TH, James Nicholls JN
Members – Diane Rowland DR, Wendy Rowland WR A&S Police – Dave Walker DW
Apologies Jon Watts JW, Trina Watts TW, John Croker JC, Ryan Corrigan RC (BCFC), Julie Hayward JH (Police)
1. Minutes & actions from last meeting
- Ask the Chairman – Dave Barton has the suggested dates but no reply so far [ongoing]
- Asset of Community Value – the new registration has been made
- AGM date – going ahead as agreed
- Fans for the Future – only four dates remain untaken; in the second half of the season – see website
- Website rebuild – this has been completed
- Survey – questions have been agreed; now requires setting up
- Newsletter – agreed to include the survey and available final addition of names on Atyeo statue
- Beezer – Seven board members were amongst the 200+ attendees at the funeral, which was a fitting and humorous tribute. The hearse passed through Ashton Gate before a short service at the crematorium, then back to the Sports Bar for a drink and some more memories to complete the day.
- Supporters Club 70th Anniversary – agreed to buy cake [actions MA (Marina), MD (cake), SR (publicity)
2. SLO, Ryan Corrigan
RC gave apologies but communicated answers to his actions at a pre-meeting with SR:
- Late season cards – refunds would be made to those who missed games as a result. No apology had been made to those affected.
- Multi envelopes to one address – third party system was not programmed to separate them
- Ticketing facilities midweek – no current plans; this could change with the new Arena development
- Away coach bookings – no follow up from the club on this so far
- Reusable beakers –ongoing project. We suggest offerings cups for fans to purchase [action SR]
- Block of cheap tickets – publicity will accompany sales
- Home section in Atyeo – would only happen currently if circa 6,000 match tickets were sold
- SC buy-back scheme – would be investigated if SC cap sold out; promotion would be a factor
- Presence on OTIB –the SLO is possibly under instruction not to engage with fans on OTIB [action SR]
3. Supporters Bar
The new membership system is working more smoothly; limited space & prices are continuing issues
4. Legal and Police
- Legal case – Almost a year to the day, the 10 claimants are expected to be made an offer to settle the case on the eve of the court date. It is up to the claimants if they choose to take the offer, which is the advice they are receiving from the lawyers acting on their behalf. We await further details.
- Park Street incident in August – some City and Rovers fans will be attending Crown Court
- Millwall incident two seasons ago – 12 people will attend Crown Court for sentencing in December
- Swansea incident last season – 13 fans have been sent to prison; terms from 12 weeks to six months
- The Luckwell incident pre-Millwall match last season – ongoing investigation
- Smoke release – ongoing investigation
- Upcoming Swansea game plan – eight PSUs and police presence in corner of incident last season
5. Heritage
With ‘Heritage’ being added to our main purposes, MA outlined his continuing work with former players and in the matchday programme. Our player database was aligned with BCFC’s early in Matt Parsons tenure as SLO. MA is in regular touch with a nucleus of former players who for instance request tickets for matches. He helped to co-ordinate Chris Garland’s 70th birthday party and is currently liaising with BCFC in connection with Steve Stacey’s visit from Australia in early September to mid-October. MA provides a BCSCT presence in the matchday programme. Though direct references to our activities are rare, our info email address is used for replies as it has been for some years. The regular history/heritage articles continue this season on page 45 around the ‘Celebrating 125 years’ theme. A new innovation on page 53 this season is ‘Your Memories’ designed to encourage fans to get involved.
6. AOB
- Fan representative on SAG – this matter is being taken up at their conference [DW ongoing]
- Wigan match, Sunday October 27 – 16 tickets from £16 are on offer [JD to include in Newsletter]
- Persistent Standing, Club statement 31 August 2019 – a reminder of existing regulations, nothing new
AGREED – to fund 50 rail-seats in the Singing Section if AGL make this a condition of going ahead.
7. Meetings for rest of 2019 Wednesdays: 9 October, 6 November, none in December