Meeting attended by: Craig Hadley (Chair), Barry Ross (Secretary), Lynda Courts (Treasurer), and eleven other members (names withheld for privacy).
Apologies: Carol Smith (Vice-Chair) and Ellie Yates (Community Lead)
Introductions, Achievements, Financial Report, Objectives, Questions from floor, Committee Elections, Any Other Business
Meeting started by CH who welcomed everyone to the AGM and introduced the current committee to those present.
CH updated all about the group activities over the last 12 months.
In November we supported Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign in connection with the club. We helped hand out the laces as well as supporting the cause by wearing as many colours as possible.
We continued to run our pre-game meetups, this year at The George before home games. We didn’t publicise as much as last season because there was so much else going on in the Kop car park this season, which allowed supporters to meet there.
The newsletter has continued to be a big hit. BR has made sure we regularly email it to our members, and it’s always packed full of information.
Group members have increased during the season from around 90 to over 120.
This year we increased our fundraising activities for the group. As we don’t currently charge a membership fee it’s important to do what we can to raise money for projects. We took the money we raised from raffling Lucy Jones’ shirt last season towards sponsoring Neve Herron this season. As a result, we were able to raffle Neve’s signed shirt and a place at the sponsor’s lunch and raise £145. We also had two hospitality prizes to give away in the fantastic Alliance Lounge which raised £214 and a signed team poster we raffled off for £70. Overall, we raised £429 to help fund future activities.
We produced some limited edition merchandise to commemorate Harriet Scott’s time at Blues, in conjunction with Laura Burton who allowed us to use her photograph for the shirt design. Blues player Lucy Quinn was seen wearing it on matchday.
We may not have achieved our away coach trips this year but the supporters that have travelled have been incredible. A lot of familiar faces popping up in photos at every away game this year and that’s great to see. I know the players appreciate it.
We’ve worked closely with the marketing team in trying to create a better atmosphere at St Andrew’s. As part of that we were given a drum to generate more noise at matches. None of us really have musical backgrounds, Steve and Yvonne excluded, so it’s been a bit of a learning curve. Big thanks to LC and BR for giving it a go this season.
The club kindly gave us a dedicated match fixture earlier this season. As part of that they produced some glossy songbooks that we were given to hand out. We were also interviewed by the stadium announcer during half-time about the group and how to join.
We’ve continued to showcase the talents of our members including photographer Laura Burton who won supporter of the season, Sadie the Bluenoses’ Vlog and Stephen Gill who has a regular blog following matches.
We’ve continued open communications with the club on issues/queries we have had throughout the year. Special thanks to Ayesha, Sam, Kyle, Harrison and Sarah in that regard.
We’ve continued to work with the Football Supporters Association to have a voice on national issues in the women’s game.
Updating our supporters group website with the latest and relevant information such as squad numbers, new songs etc.
Continued to update our extensive database of match stats to help highlight player milestones such as Lucy Quinn reaching 100 games for the club this year.
And finally… We organised two tables of Blues Women supporters at this year’s Player Awards. Credit to BR for organising this as it’s the first time since it became a combined event that we’ve had this level of interest from the fans.
CH passed over to LC who went over the accounts for the supporters group.
£20 had been spent on re-registering the group with the local council to allow us to continue organising online raffles.
£429.22 had been raised through our sponsored player, Neve Herron, shirt raffle & sponsors lunch, 2 places to enjoy Alliance Lounge hospitality on a match day and a team signed poster (kindly organised by Christie Harrison-Murray)
Our current funds stand at a healthy £995.95.
CH went over the objectives the group set at last year’s AGM and spoke on the progress of each of them.
Continue to look into ways we can help attract more fans to the Blues games (Ongoing)
Gauge interest in carpools for next season and aim to do at least one away coach trip (partly done)
Continue to produce a regular newsletter, sponsor a player and run meet-ups pre-match (Done)
Work with the club to setup twice yearly meetings to discuss any ongoing issues we may have as a group (Blues Matters – Ongoing)
Look to create more merchandise for the supporters’ group that will help us to be more visible (Ongoing)
Organise a supporter’s group table at the player’s awards next year (Done)
Push for representation at every Blues forum as we are often forgotten about in lieu of other groups. Focus still on the men’s team over the women’s (Ongoing)
CH went on to list the objectives for the upcoming year.
Work closely with those on the Blues Matters working group to help boost attendances at women’s matches.
Work with the club, particularly Zainab, to run away coaches next season to a number of matches.
Continue to produce a regular newsletter and run pre-game meetups.
Look to create more merchandise for the supporters’ group that will help us to be more visible.
Work with the club in the process of transitioning from the Official Supporters Group to become part of the wider Official Supporters Club and everything that entails.
CH opened the floor to ideas on what the group would like to see them do in the next year and we discussed the following:
Programme sales inside the ground rather than just in the club shop.
Free programmes at the first home game to increase interest in them.
Space in programmes for player autographs.
Supporters group page in the programme to increase awareness of our group.
Full fixture list, results, appearances, goals etc in programme.
Postcards for all players to buy as a set in the shop.
Supporters Group table in Kop car park before games to promote the group.
Which fan park or parks will be open before Women’s games?
Safe access to Kop car park. Cars & pedestrians currently jostling to get in. Open gates next to the club shop to allow safer access for pedestrians.
Look at having our own Supporters Player of the Season award.
Players Awards – Feedback
Why are only Men players on the VIP tables? Why not both?
Why are the Men players at the front and the Women’s team on 2 tables halfway down the hall?
Too long winded, especially the talking at the beginning.
Comedian before the awards didn’t work and he didn’t go down very well.
Having Amy Merricks pick the raffle was seen by some as demeaning.
Price is too high for many supporters, especially those who would like to bring their children.
Could we organise our own Women Players Award event?
A number of us did enjoy the awards night but then we had been previously and knew what to expect.
We all agreed that it is aimed at sponsors and VIPs and not the main fan base.
All of the points discussed including the Player Awards will be fed back to the club.
CH explained how the committee election process would work.
CH said that he was stepping down as chair and called for anyone else who would like to take over. BR put himself forward and was unopposed, so BR was voted in as the new chair.
CS, LC and EY all stood for their current roles with no one opposing them so were voted back in.
With BR moving to chair, the secretary role was now vacant. Craig Davies put himself forward and was unopposed so voted in.
The position of social secretary was vacant, but nobody stepped forward during the meeting. However, after the meeting Claire Bennett asked what it entailed and volunteered for the role. Therefore, Claire will become our new social secretary.
A vote of thanks was given by the attendees to CH for setting up the group and all the hard work that he has put in to get it to where it is now.
CH asked if there could be a round of applause for our newly elected committee members.
CH thanked everyone who attended the meeting. He hoped that they found it interesting and looked to support us in what we hope to achieve going forward.
CH brought the meeting to a close and wished everyone a safe journey home.
