Boycott

[forameus]

19 minutes ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

There's a lot to be annoyed with the SFA at but that's not something they control. This whole "week of football" stuff is a total nonsense though. Sadly it's probably meant more money for UEFA by spreading the games across more kick off slots so it's here to stay.

 

Yeah, it's a bit harsh to put any kind of blame on the SFA for this.  I can't imagine they're particularly delighted about it either - given the choice, they'd probably have all their games 3pm on Saturday too.

25 minutes ago, kenny131 said:

A half empty hampden still keeps the blazers in free dinners and wine. They wont care unless about 3k turn up there only after money and what they can get out of us.

Kenny's back! 

They'll have already coined a fair bit in on season tickets.  For those, they probably don't give a shiny shit how many of them actually turn up.  Beyond that, they probably get far more in sponsorship than they do on gate receipts.  It's not as if we have regular 50k+ attendances that would give a sudden drop bigger impact.  Attendances and interest have waned for a while.

[sjc]

Despite Hampden rarely being full these days, Scotland is still a relatively well supported National team comparatively.

Any boycott would need to be well supported and over a long period of time.

[drs]

Hamish Husband is always quick to tell us he speaks for all of the Scotland fans, time for him to open his mouth and get all those acolytes out protesting outside Hampden.

[DA Baracus]

Is Hamish Husband actually a real person?

I always thought it was just some sort of made up name for an imaginary spokesman

[TheScarf]

Like an ombudsman.

[nsr]

Surely in the 21st century nobody is still called Hamish.

[sjc]

13 minutes ago, nsr said:

Surely in the 21st century nobody is still called Hamish.

You'd be surprised. I worked with a young lad called Bernard a few years ago.

[GordonS]

From the late 80s I used to go to almost every home game, then from the mid 2000s I stopped going to friendlies because the team and management clearly weren't taking them seriously at all. I was an SSC member from about 2003 to 2011-ish. I was still going to every competitive game until the mental price hike in 2014. I remember watching the Georgia game on TV and feeling pretty bitter.

In the Euro 2016 qualifiers I only went to the Germany and Poland games; I haven't been since and can't see me going back until an awful lot changes. The SFA's utter inability to develop football in Scotland, the ticket prices, the terrible football, but also how shit it is to sit in the family section behind the goals at Hampden, miles away from the pitch and on a low rake. 

Then at the Poland game, for the first time in decades at a football game I didn't feel we were completely safe. There were Polish cnuts with flares everywhere, and at seats for which they didn't have tickets. I saw one family go home before the match had even kicked off because of a gang of Poles at the seats. The stewards had lost control of the ground and one that I spoke to looked genuinely scared. I was also raging at loads of ignorant adults in the family section without kids, standing and preventing kids from being able to see.

So yeah, I've been doing a one-family boycott for three and a half years and I can't see it changing any time soon. I'll sign up if there's something to sign up to, because I really miss it and I'd definitely be there for every game if things improve.

[Malcolm Malcolm]

I see Hamish Husband is an after dinner speaker. Imagine how disappointed you'd be that you had to listen to someone speak on the basis that they attend football games. After dinner speaking is a load of shite.

One a more serious note, I used to go to almost every home game but I haven't been in years. It's sort of an informal boycott as a response to incompetence and overpricing.

Edited March 25, 2019 by Malcolm Malcolm

[BFTD]

For a boycott to be successful, my first thought is that the SFA need to be made aware of exactly what is being demanded of them. They can explain away low crowds with whatever excuses they fancy - the b*****dised Challenge Cup is a good example of this, with the SPFL hailing it as a success, despite it being a failure in every metric they claim to be important. If a fan group explicitly states exactly why they aren't going, what needs to change for the boycott to end, and has publicly made the SFA undeniably aware, then it becomes more difficult for them to gladhand the press and deflect the dissatisfaction of their "customers" (as unpleasant a phrase as that is).

Oh, and I wouldn't make the sacking of Alex McLeish the main demand, or even a consideration at all. We all know his replacement will be from an utterly uninspiring list of known quantities, the prime criteria of their appointment being, "which of the names in our book need a bit of cash at the moment?". If that doesn't change, it barely matters who's holding the poisoned chalice.

[DA Baracus]

A campaign against and to the sponsors, who will take notice, is probably the most effective route.

[Gordopolis]

How's about a boycott and a picket line outside Hampden on matchdays? Always wanted to have a shot in a picket line.

[Monkey Tennis]

It's a good idea, but there are some challenges round it.

I think there's a resistance among some on a 'my country right or wrong' type basis.  I remember someone on here suggesting a boycott in response to how the SFA were handling the Rangers situation, and he got his head bitten off. 

Gates are in decline anyway and as some have said, many tickets have effectively already been bought, reducing the direct financial impact of people not turning up.

Having said all that though, it's worth pursuing.  I think the point about it needing to be concerted is valid, but that makes it difficult to do on a big scale.

There's also the issue that genuinely big play-off games are on the horizon, so such action might be short lived.   I'm very much in the "do something Mutley" camp though, because the latest brand of crapness really Is thoroughly unacceptable.

[Newbornbairn]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DAFC.]

Mass walk out. Mass boycott. Throwing shite on to the pitch. All the kind of stuff that require baws and guile, which won’t happen. Scottish people we’re talking about here. Just like when we voted No in 2014.

[DAFC.]

Don’t go to the games anyway, I may add. Never again after the Levein debacle.

[velo army]

I like the idea of the balls protest. Some good ideas here.

I was planning on making it a single demand type of boycott, and the sacking of McLeish is a decent place to start seeing as it's so badly needed and was such a shitty appointment in the first place.

It's why I was asking people to PM me so that we can have a bit of a brainstorm. So far I have London Bairn. More are obviously welcome.

 

[BFTD]

3 hours ago, Monkey Tennis said:

  I remember someone on here suggesting a boycott in response to how the SFA were handling the Rangers situation, and he got his head bitten off. 

Did his name rhyme with 'Spunky Menace', by any chance?  

[Monkey Tennis]

6 hours ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

Did his name rhyme with 'Spunky Menace', by any chance?  

Nope.  I think it was a Thistle fan, but I'm not sure.

The chap whose username you've dreamt up a frankly alarming rhyme for however, did agree with his logic.

[Stellaboz]

Hit them where it hurts.

In the balls.