Off season - what would you do?

[perfectnightmare]

Well, gutted that’s it over for another season (still going to the playoffs just won’t be the same!). Know it’s always a big gripe that we don’t get much from the club over the off season. So thought would start a discussion on whats done well, and what could be done better?

There was a discussion on the Facebook supporters group a while ago about things you would fix/change given the chance as well, so feel free to chip in with anything you’d like to see done. Same goes for the forum.

Personally I’d like to see the owners of FIA invest some money into the arena itself. Nothing mental, but things like replacing the bulbs on the clock and some improvements to the car park would be top of my list. Let’s face it, wouldn’t take much to improve the car park, probably war zones with less craters 😂 Would be good to get new banners up as well - one for the conference win last season and an 80th anniversary one would be nice. Think we missed a trick by not making a bigger deal of things this season. Finally want to plan how to get the bigger drums permanently situated and split between blocks C and G. Can’t exactly cart a bass drum up and down, hard enough with the wee drums at times!

Obviously there’s health and safety and practicality issues to be navigated. And finding the money, however I reckon crowd funding might be an option to help with the cost of some improvements. I wouldn’t miss the cost of a couple of tickets in the months counting down til it’s hockey time again.

I wouldn’t thank you for a big fancy arena, but at the same time we need to look after the barn.

Let’s hear your thoughts!

[thebluewellies]

Earlier faceoff times and even Sunday afternoon faceoff times to encourage families to the games.

[perfectnightmare]

Apr 8, 2019 16:39:38 GMT thebluewellies said:

Earlier faceoff times and even Sunday afternoon faceoff times to encourage families to the games.

Definitely agree, something we’ve said before as well

[damonauldbarn]

Yes to the earlier Sunday starts. I know teams have to come up from down south but that's what you get for staying doon there.

I was very impressed with the drum corp in the Nottingham game. Section G, ably assisted by C, had the place bouncing. More of that. Now some have started others will join in. Can anyone play the trumpet?

Inviting groups in. We have military bases throughout the Kingdom. Surely 50 regular free tickets to the service families would get some hooked on the game. Same could be said for lots of other groups looking for a night out with a difference, Young Farmers, rugby clubs..... doesn't have to be youth groups, although that's how I first went to the Flyers. Encourage them to make some noise.

We dont have the best reputation in the league. Fan Ambassadors to meet with new groups coming to games and to meet with away fans. Loads of folk were good enough to take the time and explain the rules to me when I started. That and the tactics behind Tommy Muir coming on.

The 80th anniversary might have slipped by but we are still the oldest and the barn has the most character. Market the life out of that. Kirkcaldy is hockey town and I would always take what we have over a souless arena and a rich man's toy side created 10-15 years ago.

[damonauldbarn]

Meant to say, if you started a crowd funding thing I will be good for £20

[perfectnightmare]

Some great ideas there, keep em coming folks!

Sat in C for the first time on Saturday and the atmosphere there was great. Million times better than the weekend before in block J.

[flyers2014]

To be honest I was completely disengaged with this season. The complete lack of commitment from the club to engage or excite fans becomes very tiresome season after season and as a long term fan I started to get back into football and other hobbies away from ice hockey.

I have been to a few games this season and the match night entertainment is still awful. Completely bored during breaks.

The games I did go to were pretty good so not all negative.

I would be tempted to buy into 10 game passes I thought these were great.

Why don't we have a fog horn when we score or during the end of periods?

Light bulbs on score boards an obvious fix.

I like the idea of a coordinated singing section. The drummers did well at the last few games I got to.

Still need to punt the DJ. The guy is horrendous.

Car park remains a nightmare.

[spudeeelad]

Could be wrong, but I don’t think Fife’s late Sunday fo times are caused by other clubs having to travel up as surely the same would apply for Fife and Scottish teams going the other way.

This isn’t a Fife exclusive thing. But personally, I’d like to see 2 things;
1) More Scottish triple headers. Eg.
Friday - Storm vs Clan. Saturday Storm vs Fife. Sunday Storm versus Dundee.

I’d like to see every team do this one person season. Of course the Scottish teams would have return favour so it’s not only non-Scottish teams playing 3 times. Perhaps, Fife vs Storm, then Steelers then Panthers. Guildford, Cardiff and Coventry doesn’t strike me as a particularly bad grouping either. Guildford Friday, Cardiff Saturday and Coventry Sunday.
Storm, Panthers, Steelers and Coventry would all be interchangeable in these groupings due to geographical proximity.

2nd thing I’d like to see. Is all clubs offer clubs over a certain proximity a large discount to their ST and/or supporters club members to attend said away games. For example, £10 per adult and £3 kids (versus £17:50 normally for an adult). Perhaps even first 25 get £5 per adult and £1:50 kids.

My reasoning is simple. Games against the likes of Guildford, Fife, Dundee etc frankly suck because there is little to no away fans to help make an atmosphere. Cost is obviously a big factor in this and rewarding each others’ clubs most loyal fans (in terms of putting money in via STs) by discounting I think would be beneficial to both teams.

I think the triple headers are a part of this idea. They make it more worth travelling as12 hours of car rides for 1 game is just not worth it. But 3? Definitely worth a long weekend but then game tickets alone for 3 games becomes prohibitive for many people. I think say spending 1/2 or 1/3 tickets would certainly entice more people.

[joestoyanovich]

I've been a Flyers fan for donkeys years and I have to say that I have never been as disillusioned with hockey as I am now. The main cause of this, for me anyway, is the league that we are in, I hate it.

We aren't Fife Flyers anymore we are whatever season we are in's rag tag bunch of imports who tell us it's great to be here, how they love the town, the fans, the rink and then leave at the end of the season for pastures new. Because of the amount of imports allowed any chance of developing local youngsters, certainly with our current coaches, is virtually non-existent and any real connection with the local community is lost because of this. Historically our pride and love of the Flyers has been based on our home grown talent coming through the ranks, that's all but gone now. Sorry I rant on about a scenario that probably isn't going to change.

What would I do in the off-season. Tart up the rink a wee bit, offer better PR and social media content throughout the close season, sign a new coach and implement a policy that if local players are good enough to be in the team they're good enough to play.

[amazepux]

Apr 16, 2019 13:19:41 GMT joestoyanovich said:

I've been a Flyers fan for donkeys years and I have to say that I have never been as disillusioned with hockey as I am now. The main cause of this, for me anyway, is the league that we are in, I hate it.

We aren't Fife Flyers anymore we are whatever season we are in's rag tag bunch of imports who tell us it's great to be here, how they love the town, the fans, the rink and then leave at the end of the season for pastures new. Because of the amount of imports allowed any chance of developing local youngsters, certainly with our current coaches, is virtually non-existent and any real connection with the local community is lost because of this. Historically our pride and love of the Flyers has been based on our home grown talent coming through the ranks, that's all but gone now. Sorry I rant on about a scenario that probably isn't going to change.

What would I do in the off-season. Tart up the rink a wee bit, offer better PR and social media content throughout the close season, sign a new coach and implement a policy that if local players are good enough to be in the team they're good enough to play.

Lots of good points made here and i agree that the increased import levels make it nigh impossible for the non-arena teams to take the risk of playing young brits regularly. (arena teams rarely give them much time either)
A better balance from Flyers perspective would be a max 10 import match limit (with a max 12 import roster) giving greater opportunity for Brits ( i would keep the 3 under 23 rule)
Although I disagree with your statement about our pride in the Flyers being based on local lads. That may have been the case when our local talent matched up and bettered most other teams local talent but thats not realistic in the current EIHL format. I enjoyed watching a big Neily slapshot and the antics of beachball Bobby Haig and his skillful wee bro John and the sublime skating of Gordon Latto and pace and directness of Robbo but moreso it was the enjoyment of watching Brown Stoyanovich Moria Kummu Laplante Morris Smail etc etc that did it for me.
They played in a 3 import league mostly which i dont think there is much appetite for across the fans of this league.

[amazepux]

I thought the 10 game passes were a great idea. However i think the season after they did them last they changed the ticket booking system to online therefore if you had a 10 game pass you wouldnt be able to pick a seat easily. I suppose if they had the capability on the website it could done by having a pass ID number which would decrease after every game attended.