Geezers, Clubs and The Internet

By Keith Jenner
January 22 2004

Most people reading this article will be Quins supporters, but there is more to it these days isn't there? You might also be a Club Member, or Diamond Geezer, or a member of Quinssa or of the HSC, or even a Mighty Quin.

If you are reading this then it is likely that you are a regular on this site, but you may be a lurker or perhaps you also contribute by posting on the message board or writing match reports or other articles. There are other options available on the internet and some people choose not to use this site and rely on the official site instead.

You might also be a member of Harlequins or, if you are under 16, of The Mighty Quins. The options can be quite confusing, especially for newcomers, and questions about some aspect of club membership are posted on the message board quite regularly, so I thought I would explore all the various groups, clubs and resources which are available to Quins supporters. Hopefully this will help to clear up a few misconceptions regarding these organisations and groups.

Club Membership

If you are a Club, Premier or Gold Season Ticket holder and are over 16 then you are also a Quins member. You can also apply for membership separately. However, it appears that many people aren't sure what this actually is, and for good reason: as the situation is quite unclear. What follows is my understanding of the situation regarding Quins membership. If anyone is aware of any errors then please let us know on the message board.

Firstly, being a Quins member does not mean that you have any ownership or rights over the Club. Harlequin Football Club is a Limited company and it has nothing to do with us as Quins members. The days when the club was owned by its members passed on the advent of professionalism.

Probably the most popular misconception regarding Quins membership is that we are members of a supporters club. This is certainly not the case as there is no “official” supporters club provided by Harlequins.

So, what are we members of then? To be honest I'm not sure, but probably nothing at all. I believe (although I may be wrong) that the term “member” is used because it gives the customer (i.e. us) a feeling of belonging, but there is not actually a club, or if there is a club then it has no assets or activities. This is pure speculation on my part, but there may be some requirement to have members for the purposes of the international ticket ballots.

Anyway, it really doesn't matter what benefits Quins membership doesn't give does it. We are much more interested in what we do get. The benefits are listed on the official site. Obviously the main one is the opportunity to apply for international tickets, but we also get discounted ticket prices, use of the West Stand bar, the meet the players evening among other things.

For the Under 16's there is The Mighty Quins which is basically a junior version of the full membership. Again, the benefits are listed on the official site, and include the popular Training Days, the chance to be a mascot as well as gifts and competitions.

Basically, Quins Membership should be considered as I believe it is intended by the management, a package of benefits which are offered to supporters, and no more than that. If you want a supporters club or anything else like that then you have to look elsewhere.


Supporters Clubs

At present there are two supporters clubs, neither of which are official ones. The longest established club is The Harlequin Supporters Club (HSC), but there are questions about its future and membership has been closed for some time. As a result, there is not a lot more to say about it at this point.

The other supporters club is Quinssa (www.quinssa.org.uk). This was set up during the 2002/03 season by some regulars who use this site.

Quinssa has quickly established itself and membership numbers are encouraging. Probably the main service provided to members is the provision of coaches to away games, and advice for travel to European matches, but the club offers much more. Recently, Quinssa organised an Evening with Tony Spreadbury which was attended by both members and non-members and was enjoyed by many. There has also been the Balloon Race and the Quinssa have produced a 2004 calendar which is hanging on many walls.

The most common misconception about Quinssa is that it represents just a small proportion of the Quins supporters, i.e. Diamond Geezers and people who use this internet site. This is so untrue that it is basically laughable. A brief look at the aims on the Quinssa web site show that the organisation is there to support Harlequins and to represent the interests of the supporters. Perhaps the most important quote is the following:

“We don't believe in creating artificial divisions between different Quins fans, and Quinssa coaches, travel arrangements, surveys, websites and many of our social events and other activities will be open to all supporters of Quins. We are here to bring supporters together, not to separate them”

I am pleased to say that in my experience this is the way the club is being run, and I can see no reason why this won't continue.

Perhaps the main reason why Quinssa is seen as representing a small “clique” is that it was started by people who use this message board. Had the committee decided not to openly recruit members at matches and through other methods then it may have stayed as an unrepresentative group. However, to their credit, the committee have gone on to increase the membership amongst all sections of the Harlequins supporters and this has resulted in a much more representative membership.

If you have decided to ignore Quinssa because you believe that they only represent a small section of the membership, then perhaps you should consider whether it is yourself who is perpetuating these supposed divisions amongst the supporter base.

Finally, the question is often asked why the Club doesn't run its own “Official Supporters Club”. I'm not sure of the official position on this one, but the most obvious reason is that as there is an unofficial one, there is no requirement for the Club to run one as well. Had Quinssa not filled the gap then maybe the management would have stepped in, but this proved unnecessary.


Diamond Geezers

This is probably the most misunderstood of the groups. There is no formal “Diamond Geezers” group and a look at the description of a Diamond Geezer on the website (www.diamondgeezers.org.uk) reveals that it is all just a bit of fun.

A couple of seasons back, a Quins fan (can anyone remember who it was?) bought a pair of multicoloured chefs trousers and wore them to an away match. The trousers were the subject of much comment over the following week and soon a number of people were wearing them. At the time, a large number of new supporters had started coming to Harlequins and a lot of these new supporters were rather more vocal than the typical Harlequins supporter. The name “Diamond Geezer” was coined to describe these supporters and the trousers were the uniform.

If you want to be a Diamond Geezer, there is no application form to complete and no membership fee to pay. Just get yourself a pair of ridiculous trousers and you've done it. Many different Quins fans have done just this, and the Diamond Geezers now represent a massive cross section of the Harlequins fanbase.

The Diamond Geezer website has lots of entertaining Quins related items, such as lookalikes and jokes. It also has an extensive photo gallery from various places (mainly away trips) and includes some useful local information for people planning a visit to Quins.

Basically, the Diamond Geezer concept is just a bit of fun, which you can get involved with if you fancy. If you don't want to wear the trousers then you can still have a laugh with the web-site and chat with fellow supporters at matches.


Web-Sites

Nowadays, many people use the internet to get information, and Harlequins is no different. If you are reading this article then you obviously know about the Comeallwithin internet site. However, we will look at the Official Site first.

The Harlequins official site has recently undergone a revamp and it is very useful for news from the club. There are details of the squad members and some brief historical information. A weekly highlight is “Scotty Speaks” which is usually posted on a Thursday and features Mike Scott's thoughts. The site is usually the first place to get team news for forthcoming matches and usually has match previews and reports.

There is a message board on the official site, but this tends to be pretty quiet. Most Quins related message board traffic is on comeallwithin. Personally, I find the official message board quite difficult to follow, and as the usage has fallen significantly since the revamp, I assume that I am not the only one.

The official website serves its purpose well. However, many supporters find that this site (comeallwithin) contains more information and views than the official one.

Comeallwithin isn't just a message board. It features lots of invaluable Quins related information, such as squad profiles, fixture lists, match previews and reviews. As the site is unofficial, it includes a wide variety of opinions and there is more scope for criticism. The match previews are amongst the best that can be found on the internet for any team, and give far more information than those on the official site. The reports, which are shared out amongst the contributors are usually an entertaining and informative read.

The site is made much more interesting because of the relaxed editorial policy. As long as an article isn't offensive then it will be posted (I believe that no article has yet been turned down). This allows some interesting views to be aired and I believe makes the reports more interesting than those on the official site.

Many people use this site purely for the message board. It is one of the most popular message boards amongst the Rugby Clubs on Sportnetwork and again includes some very interesting views.

In common with all internet boards, there are some unavoidable problems. One of the main issues is that newcomers can sometimes feel like they are being excluded. This is very difficult to avoid, as people are more likely to respond to the postings of people that they know.

Another problem is that sometimes some threads stray wildly off of their original topic, sometimes going from a fairly serious discussion to an in-joke. Unfortunately, this is again very difficult to avoid, and is not exclusive to this particular message board. It generally arises because of two different and sometimes conflicting uses for the board. Some people want to have some serious discussions about different aspects of Rugby and Harlequins, whilst others are looking for some fun “banter”. These are both legitimate uses for a message board, but sometimes they can conflict.

There are however, many excellent aspects of the message board. As all the Premiership teams are represented on Sportnetwork, it is easy to see what other supporters are talking about and join in if you wish. This wouldn't be possible using the official websites. The users of the site represent many different views and some interesting debates can arise.

Some people believe that we should use the official message board rather than the one on Sportnetwork, but I believe that this one has significant advantages over the official board. Whatever the rights or wrongs, it now appears that the Comeallwithin message board is the one where most discussions take place and if it is a shame that some people exclude themselves from these discussions.

One criticism which is sometimes made is that if somebody posts on the Comeallwithin board then they get “flamed” by the users here. I don't actually think that this is the case. If people post a comment on a public message board they must expect others to argue against their point, but unfortunately some people have assumed that people are ganging up on them (even when there have been as many supportive replies as disagreeing ones). I would suggest to people who don't like people disagreeing with them that perhaps internet message boards aren't the best place for them.


So, as Quins supporters we have a wide variety of resources to find out information about the club, help us to support the team and just have a chat about things. They all serve their purposes and I don't believe that the people who run them have any motives other than to make supporting Quins as easy and enjoyable as possible.

It is our choice what resources we use, and which ones we don't. If you don't believe that a particular club or web-site is for you then you can ignore it. I believe that, as Quinssa continues to grow, people will realise that these clubs and web-sites are run for their benefit and any apprehensions which they may have about them will disappear. With the help of these groups, we can all get on with what we should be doing, which is supporting Harlequins, and having fun doing so.