Sutton v Torquay - Match thread

[sol]

Ah the cricket 🏏 Billy.

If I could post photos on here I would show you my batting stance very Graeme Pollock (SA batsman)...

[billy]

Apr 15, 2021 18:21:06 GMT sol said:

Ah the cricket 🏏 Billy.

If I could post photos on here I would show you my batting stance very Graeme Pollock (SA batsman)...

One of the all time greats of the game.As a youngster he played for Sutton CC !

[steveb]

I got his autograph when they played Mitcham on the Cricket Green, about 1968 or so

[davef]

Snap ! Although for me it was at Arnold Long's testimonial match at Sutton CC in, I think, 1968. Also Jimmy Tarbuck (presumably playing because Harry Secombe lived over the road)

[steveb]

I was with a crowd of kids waiting for the team (who were fielding) to come out of the pavilion, wondering if we would know what one he was! The team came out with Graham in the middle of the group. He was the only tanned one and about 9 inches taller than the rest!

[Rambo]

Apr 15, 2021 20:05:10 GMT davef said:

Snap ! Although for me it was at Arnold Long's testimonial match at Sutton CC in, I think, 1968. Also Jimmy Tarbuck (presumably playing because Harry Secombe lived over the road)

I used to go to Sutton CC when it was the middle of WIMBLEDON (usually on a Sunday) , pretty sure Harry Secombe organised a fund raising organisation called SPARKS, and some of the tennis players came along, that would have been in the 70's

[jr]

Apr 15, 2021 20:16:20 GMT Rambo said:

Apr 15, 2021 20:05:10 GMT davef said:

Snap ! Although for me it was at Arnold Long's testimonial match at Sutton CC in, I think, 1968. Also Jimmy Tarbuck (presumably playing because Harry Secombe lived over the road)

I used to go to Sutton CC when it was the middle of WIMBLEDON (usually on a Sunday) , pretty sure Harry Seacombe organised a fund raising organisation called SPARKS, and some of the tennis players came along, that would have been in the 70's

Harry Secombe used to organise a charity golf day with Ronnie Corbett. Mum took me along and she got hit right between the legs by a stray golf ball. I found it hilarious!

[pinewalker]

Apr 15, 2021 21:08:57 GMT jr said:

Apr 15, 2021 20:16:20 GMT Rambo said:

I used to go to Sutton CC when it was the middle of WIMBLEDON (usually on a Sunday) , pretty sure Harry Seacombe organised a fund raising organisation called SPARKS, and some of the tennis players came along, that would have been in the 70's

Harry Secombe used to organise a charity golf day with Ronnie Corbett. Mum took me along and she got hit right between the legs by a stray golf ball. I found it hilarious!

At which the Pro commented. 'Aye, that's what I was tellin' ye. Your stance is too wide.'

[os]

There have been some valid points made regarding SUFCtv and media, in truth the output is representative of the investment which has gone into it.

There are 2 forms of investment :

1 ) Money to buy better equipment and provide a technically better service.
2 ) Time, Procedures, media training, and protocols etc.

When involved with SUFCtv there is no secret to the fact I lobbied hard for both and still hold the same view.

There are many things that could be done which don't cost money and some things which do, but IMO both are needed to some extent to provide something close to a professional service. I also understand the club wanting to put resources elsewhere and rely on getting by on the current service, after all the team costs money and without them we would not be where we are.

A couple of things to note, when interviewing a manager who has just lost one of the biggest matches of their career, you tread carefully, and you do your homework. When it comes to streaming for money you should not rely on a single connection, and you should not be broadcasting directly off of the camera, there are far better and more robust ways to do it.

[medibot]

If I had 8 months of being an "amateur". I would by definition not be an amateur any more at the end of it. I would have improved and developed my methods.

People thought it was rubbish in August.

They've held back because we know it is done for free by volunteers.

But patience runs out if nothing improves and feedback is ignored.



And the elephant in the room is that with Covid19, SUFCTV are allowed to watch the games live and we aren't.

Consequently, our only access to the games is a 720p stream that rarely comes online more than five minutes before the game, with too much zoom, blurry pans, commentary from people who often don't know anything about either side and who clearly haven't done their research.

For balance, I thought Connor Reid was very good last night and many people would have flapped and panicked with the outage.

In some cases though, commentators don't even know what some of the words they use mean.

There seems to be a general attitude to refuse to accept or react to well intentioned feedback too.

Just last night, the microphone wasn't set up properly, there's no backup internet connection to jump to in a failure so our biggest game of the season so far had a ten-minute outage which probably means we have to refund people and as far as I could tell, the entire team thought it was hilarious that 1300 paying customers couldn't see the game.

In August that would be understandable that it wasn't perfect but there have been months to improve things, lobby the club for money for improvements based on the streaming income or set up crowdfunding for equipment needed to improve things etc but the general feeling is nobody really cares and the current system is on a "that'll do" basis.

When nobody else can see a game, the complete lack of interest in improving the product by the people who can attend is infuriating.

And if you go back to the money thing. This is Sutton United, the players get paid, everybody else is a volunteer.

It's just that every other volunteer listens to feedback and tries to improve.

[Andy K]

Apr 15, 2021 21:53:12 GMT os said:

There have been some valid points made regarding SUFCtv and media, in truth the output is representative of the investment which has gone into it.

There are 2 forms of investment :

1 ) Money to buy better equipment and provide a technically better service.
2 ) Time, Procedures, media training, and protocols etc.

When involved with SUFCtv there is no secret to the fact I lobbied hard for both and still hold the same view.

There are many things that could be done which don't cost money and some things which do, but IMO both are needed to some extent to provide something close to a professional service. I also understand the club wanting to put resources elsewhere and rely on getting by on the current service, after all the team costs money and without them we would not be where we are.

A couple of things to note, when interviewing a manager who has just lost one of the biggest matches of their career, you tread carefully, and you do your homework. When it comes to streaming for money you should not rely on a single connection, and you should not be broadcasting directly off of the camera, there are far better and more robust ways to do it.

I think you are trying to cover the same ground as before. I think everyone is well aware of the financial limitations, so there really isn't any point returning to that. This is more about the people behind it. And I'm not specifically talking about the volunteers in the front line.

Let me give you a perfect example. I don't think anyone here would dispute that Paul Loughlin, our fantastic photographer, is not only brilliant at his job and possibly one of the best in his profession. Although I use the term "profession" very lightly because Paul, like so many others at the club, is a volunteer. He literally has cost the club nothing over the close to 20 years he's been doing that. He's invested in his own equipment and he's invested in improving his skills because he cares about the club and cares about what he produces.

When it comes to the volunteers at SUFCTV, what is their motivation for being part of the service? Is it something for their CV? Is it because they have pride in the club? Is it because they are a bit bored? Is it because they've been co-opted to do it by someone else? There's no right or wrong answer for that, but what does SUFCTV give back to those who do volunteer their time. As I mentioned before it doesn't seem from the outside to be a duty of care. The impression I, and I expect others get, is that these volunteers are thrown into the lions den with no real level of expectations set and when a balls up happens we get "oh but we don't have the money to do anything". Has, for example, all those on commentating or interview duty ever had even a hour session with someone like Tony Dolbear swapping hints and tips and Tony giving advice? If anyone thought that would be "impossible" due to resources then they're an idiot. With external comms the first thing you do when you have a group of people giving out a message is to make sure they are all at least heading in the same direction. It's Comms 101 that. And it's free. And it doesn't take up a huge strain on anyone's resources.

The thing is of course, the majority of people don't actually know who are the decision makers at SUFCTV. All we know is you coming on here defending them and you've said you've kind of walked away from this (paraphrasing your own words). If we are to give any feedback, the mechanisms are not there to do so. Does that mean that SUFC don't want any feedback, whether positive or negative? Who puts out the call or makes the decision to when SUFCTV are so under resourced that they need help? Who is the one who hasn't asked the fanbase for any donations or contributions to help run the service? Who is the one that didn't tell Ahmed to do his homework when interviewing a manager who has just lost one of the biggest matches of their career and to "tread carefully" (in all honesty, I think that is bunkum and a little insulting. When interviewing a manager, win or lose, you just want honesty rather than fear of upsetting them as your first priority, and Matt isn't the type to storm off in a huff or not have an interview shown).

I think it's a simple thing for SUFCTV now. Either you want our support or you don't. If SUFCTV doesn't then carry on with the closed shop. If a supporter or someone else wants to feedback then they would have to do it via the club itself, which is inefficient and actually could breed more ill feeling. Or perhaps, just perhaps, they would like more help. I would fully expect a number of viewers on Tuesday requesting refunds, and I shudder to think how much that cost the club.

[sufc1898]

Some great points by a number of people, but the subject has probably been exhausted now.

Over to SUFCTV to take it from here.

[jr]

It's interesting re the money thing as I previously spoke to one of the SUFCTV team and offered to pay for a piece of equipment they required. The offer wasn't accepted as they felt they would be able to get by.

If you need equipment etc. ask, as others have already stated on here. if you don't ask, you don't get. We're all in it together remember.

Perhaps us, as fans, are guilty too, because if feelings were made a lot stronger earlier in the season, then maybe we wouldn't have had the problems on Tuesday night. We're all learning and hopefully we can move forward and learn from the mistakes and take the constructive criticism on board.

[kpinwp]

This makes me realise that I know very little about the structural links between SUFCTV and the club proper.

But, I know more than I did, and have seen some very good opinions and discussion.

[os]

Apr 16, 2021 8:48:34 GMT Andy K said:

Apr 15, 2021 21:53:12 GMT os said:

There have been some valid points made regarding SUFCtv and media, in truth the output is representative of the investment which has gone into it.

There are 2 forms of investment :

1 ) Money to buy better equipment and provide a technically better service.
2 ) Time, Procedures, media training, and protocols etc.

When involved with SUFCtv there is no secret to the fact I lobbied hard for both and still hold the same view.

There are many things that could be done which don't cost money and some things which do, but IMO both are needed to some extent to provide something close to a professional service. I also understand the club wanting to put resources elsewhere and rely on getting by on the current service, after all the team costs money and without them we would not be where we are.

A couple of things to note, when interviewing a manager who has just lost one of the biggest matches of their career, you tread carefully, and you do your homework. When it comes to streaming for money you should not rely on a single connection, and you should not be broadcasting directly off of the camera, there are far better and more robust ways to do it.

I think you are trying to cover the same ground as before. I think everyone is well aware of the financial limitations, so there really isn't any point returning to that. This is more about the people behind it. And I'm not specifically talking about the volunteers in the front line.

Let me give you a perfect example. I don't think anyone here would dispute that Paul Loughlin, our fantastic photographer, is not only brilliant at his job and possibly one of the best in his profession. Although I use the term "profession" very lightly because Paul, like so many others at the club, is a volunteer. He literally has cost the club nothing over the close to 20 years he's been doing that. He's invested in his own equipment and he's invested in improving his skills because he cares about the club and cares about what he produces.

When it comes to the volunteers at SUFCTV, what is their motivation for being part of the service? Is it something for their CV? Is it because they have pride in the club? Is it because they are a bit bored? Is it because they've been co-opted to do it by someone else? There's no right or wrong answer for that, but what does SUFCTV give back to those who do volunteer their time. As I mentioned before it doesn't seem from the outside to be a duty of care. The impression I, and I expect others get, is that these volunteers are thrown into the lions den with no real level of expectations set and when a balls up happens we get "oh but we don't have the money to do anything". Has, for example, all those on commentating or interview duty ever had even a hour session with someone like Tony Dolbear swapping hints and tips and Tony giving advice? If anyone thought that would be "impossible" due to resources then they're an idiot. With external comms the first thing you do when you have a group of people giving out a message is to make sure they are all at least heading in the same direction. It's Comms 101 that. And it's free. And it doesn't take up a huge strain on anyone's resources.

The thing is of course, the majority of people don't actually know who are the decision makers at SUFCTV. All we know is you coming on here defending them and you've said you've kind of walked away from this (paraphrasing your own words). If we are to give any feedback, the mechanisms are not there to do so. Does that mean that SUFC don't want any feedback, whether positive or negative? Who puts out the call or makes the decision to when SUFCTV are so under resourced that they need help? Who is the one who hasn't asked the fanbase for any donations or contributions to help run the service? Who is the one that didn't tell Ahmed to do his homework when interviewing a manager who has just lost one of the biggest matches of their career and to "tread carefully" (in all honesty, I think that is bunkum and a little insulting. When interviewing a manager, win or lose, you just want honesty rather than fear of upsetting them as your first priority, and Matt isn't the type to storm off in a huff or not have an interview shown).

I think it's a simple thing for SUFCTV now. Either you want our support or you don't. If SUFCTV doesn't then carry on with the closed shop. If a supporter or someone else wants to feedback then they would have to do it via the club itself, which is inefficient and actually could breed more ill feeling. Or perhaps, just perhaps, they would like more help. I would fully expect a number of viewers on Tuesday requesting refunds, and I shudder to think how much that cost the club.

Firstly you make some valid points, secondly as mentioned we have been here before, and I really should stop bleating about a service that I am no longer involved with.

However structure and co-ordination is a big part of the problem, and is something I have continuingly pushed for, and I am desperately hoping that the powers that be will see the issue as importantly as many appear to do here, and that some structure will be put in place to resolve at least some of the issues raised.

And that was all she wrote...