What's a fan for?

 

But there's almost no consensus about the role of the fan.

 

What's a fan for?

 

What are the fans for in the professional era? What exactly should we expect from the club, and what can the club expect of us? At the end of the day, what exactly is the point of us – are we the raison-d'être…. or are we just a harmless, but irritating distraction?

 

Now, at this moment, I imagine some of you are wondering what an earth  I am on about?  Perhaps a few examples might help.

 

Make up your own mind about the following questions, and the answers might help you identify in your mind, what being a fan is all about:

 

-          are the club entitled to change the venue of a home game without reference or apology to season ticket holders?

-          is it part of a player's job to sign autographs for the kids or is it done as a favour? What about for the signing them for the corporate suits?

-          is it reasonable, or outrageous, for fans to want to play on the pitch (when the weather is good and the pitch is firm)?

-          is it reasonable, or outrageous for the corporate sponsors to want to hold a 7-aside tournament for their staff on the pitch?

-          during a game are the team entitled to expect unreserved support from true fans?

-          If so, are there any circumstances where the team might forfeit this right? 

-          What about the CEO, can he expect the same?

-          is it acceptable for fans to leave the ground before the end of the game?

-          is it reasonable for fans to come on to the CAW message board and demand that the club's management respond to their views in the same forum?

 

All of these issues have been discussed on the board and– to put it mildly – opinions differ. This is because (I believe) there are two fundamentally different understandings of what a fan is in the modern, professional era. These are Fan, Follower and the Fan, Customer

 

The Fan, Follower:

 

The fan as a follower is a paradigm born of loyalty, and tradition – a fan is a fan, is just a fan. The Club exists and carries with it a century of tradition, it was here before us, and it will be here after we've gone, The supporter is but a fellow traveller for a short time, follower, passionate, loyal and often blind. Ask not what the Club does for you, but what you can do for the club. You could compare it with being a follower of the Queen – you owe her loyalty and in return she owes you, well not very much.

 

In Rugby, of course, up until 1996 that's exactly how it was.  Thirty years ago the men playing for Harlequins were amateurs, playing for themselves, and most definitely NOT to please the fans (of whom there were but few). Certainly the players didn't owe the fans anything (other than the common courtesies to which we owe all human being).   Rugby was a sport, and we were but spectators.

 

Surprisingly – because this model puts the fan at the very bottom of the food chain – many  fans subscribe to it still. Or to something like it. It's a deferential view (at its worst a sycophantic one) and you can see it on the message boards all the time: a general feeling that it's improper to criticise the players, and presumptuous to question the management. 

 

Confusingly, although this view of the role fan is to some extent a hangover from the amateur era, it is sometimes mixed in with a cynical world-view of professionalism: 'Get real, everyone, you can't expect the club to pay much attention to it fans: this is a business now, the club are just interested in money" 

 

The Fan as Customer.

 

On the contrary, say some (OK, I say) you couldn't be more wrong. It's precisely because the sport is a professional, and that the club is a business now, that the old paradigm has crumbled. You see we fans have been catapulted to new and exciting role because we're not the spectators anymore: we're the customers.  And the customer – as any fule kno - is king.

 

 

This is quite a leap, and it's not surprising that many people have failed to make it – because it has at its heart a Very Big Idea. It's this. Professional sport is not really about sport any more, it's about entertainment – It's theatre, it's circus, it's a theme park. And in the world of entertainment we're not the crowd anymore: we're the audience.

 

In this paradigm, everything is turned on it's head and not even the clubs themselves fully appreciate this yet.

 

An example: imagine you've booked a weekend with your family in Centre Parcs. Imagine this cost you £800, and you're expecting to spend at least another £200 while you're there. That's a cool Grand. Now imagine that after you've booked, they write to you and say that they are 'delighted and excited' to announce that on Sunday afternoon the pool is closed for refurbishment. Refurbishment that was planned some time ago and, gushingly, you will be bussed down to the Olympic-Sized competition pool in the National Swimming Centre nearby.  Well, you say, an Olympic pool is all very well, but there's no wave machine, no slide for the kids, and… you get my drift.   Wouldn't you expect – wouldn't they give you in fact, an apology, a discount, a gift, and the offer of a change of date or your money back instead?

 

 

The Club

 

Rugby has been professional for nearly ten years, and while some have made the transition, others are only just waking up to the change. 

 

In fact, though it may forget from time to time, Harlequins are ahead of the curve, and though many of the fans don't realise it yet, we're customers already. Don't believe me? Consider the Club's core values. If you're not familiar with them (they are written down) you might want to take a guess……ready?

 

OK, did you guess something like Play to win? Play with style, Respect for the opponents. Hard but fair? Respect for the shirt?  If so, the you believe in the club as a self-standing entity and the fan as follower.

 

If you guessed something like – Inclusive, Accessible, High Quality, Family Oriented  and Community Based (the actual answers) then you understand that the club is there for the fans, not the other way round.

 

Something that – ironically enough – many fans are only just beginning to understand.