Mid West Rhinos Ideas

[MidWest Rhinos]

Hi everyone

Sincere apologies for not replying to your kind words in the Rhinos v Eagles thread, covering the back to back home games has kept me busy.

I was very happy to see how well received the new MWR social media presence was. We are really trying to engage with people who are interested in cricket and get them to come to the ground and watch. I've spoken to a number of the guys and they often say that it's disheartening when they get a hundred or take 5 and the only people who see it are the players and ground staff. I've only be here for a few weeks but it became apparent very quickly that there was no engagement with the people who really count, the public. I've met a number of cricket crazy people in Kwekwe and when I tell them to come watch the Rhinos they react with confusion and ask who are the Rhinos? They simply have no idea that pro cricket is played in the town.

So we are now trying a number of new things to engage with people. We have a Facebook page, Twitter page, Youtube channel and a website (if I can find the time to finish it...) We are also running a competition to win a Rhinos shirt that has generated a lot of interest and one of the other thoughts was saying to people, come down to the club and the 50th entrant gets a free lunch. It's just simple stuff like that to get people coming to watch. It may work, it may not but at least we are trying something different.

My question to you all though is, what do you want to see? What kind of things should we also be doing?

This is all new and is a learning curve for us so we need input from the cricket fans as to what it is they want. I'm hoping that this thread will help to generate serious positive discussion that could be used to make changes that will not only benefit cricket in Kwekwe but in Zimbabwe as well.

Thanks for reading and look forward to hearing what you have to say!

[aydee]

Everything you have done so far at the franchise level has been excellent. If there was reliable daily highlights, or even better live streams, I think that would be the end goal. Look at what the ECB do with the County Championship highlights, or what the WICB do. They show a stream from one fixed camera, and combine it with the radio commentary for the game.

As has also been suggested before, shining some light on the cricket played below franchise level would be excellent. Club cricket (scorecards, logs, photos), Rhinos junior teams. This would be excellent. I guess also making sure there is some reasonably regular content during the off season. Interviews maybe. Focus on development efforts. Giving a review of the performances of any Rhinos players who are playing in the UK during the off-season.

Sound doable?

[jaybro]

Living in Australia obviously the free lunch isn't any use to me but love your work mate keep it up .....

Highlights and interviews with the players for me mate I really liked the Bradly Wadlan interview ......

Maybe you can ask the fans on Twitter or FB what questions they would like u to ask the players before u interview them which will be popular IMO ......

[Ming]

How about a live webcam during matches?

[brmtaylor.com admin]

... one of the other thoughts was saying to people, come down to the club and the 50th entrant gets a free lunch. It's just simple stuff like that to get people coming to watch. It may work, it may not but at least we are trying something different.

I think that's a really good idea. Does Kwekwe Sports Club have a pub area like HSC so you can have a meal on the boundary edge?
I'd probably even go along to a Sheffield Shield game if a prize like that was on offer

Family days are quite big here in Australia for football clubs. Get people down to the ground, let them run on the field and have a bit of fun. Have some of the guys run some small coaching clinics, that sort of thing. Maybe something like that could work for cricket.

The shirt idea is good as well. The important thing to remember about Zimbabwean cricket is that there's a huge supporter base outside the country (probably 80% of this forum is made up of people outside Zim) - you'll be golden if you can find a way to tap into that huge (relatively speaking) market. For example, if you could sell Rhinos shirts online you'll probably get a few buyers. If you could sell Zimbabwe ODI shirts online, then you'll do very well - this site has been online since 2007 and to this day we've never been able to get anywhere with ODI shirts. Hell, I couldn't even get one when I was in Zimbabwe! So there's probably a tidy profit to be made there if you can find a way.

As for upping the attendance figures, it's so hard anywhere in the world to get people along to domestic First Class and 50 over games. T20 is the only way in that I can think of. In the absence of ZC sanctioned matches, maybe Rhinos could consider hosting an annual charity legends match or something similar? Get some recently retired big names like Ray Price, Stuart Carlisle, Doug Marillier etc (maybe even a couple of current internationals) to donate their time. Rhinos vs Zimbabwe Legends... Charge $5 a ticket, give half the gate proceeds to a local charity and the other half is for the franchise.

I think it would be easier to sell an "event" like that to the general public than a regularly scheduled FC match for example. You might even be able to use that event as a platform to inform the public about the Rhinos upcoming fixtures, how to get involved in playing/coaching/umpiring cricket, etc.

[grant]

I was very happy to see how well received the new MWR social media presence was. We are really trying to engage with people who are interested in cricket and get them to come to the ground and watch. I've spoken to a number of the guys and they often say that it's disheartening when they get a hundred or take 5 and the only people who see it are the players and ground staff. I've only be here for a few weeks but it became apparent very quickly that there was no engagement with the people who really count, the public. I've met a number of cricket crazy people in Kwekwe and when I tell them to come watch the Rhinos they react with confusion and ask who are the Rhinos? They simply have no idea that pro cricket is played in the town.

So we are now trying a number of new things to engage with people. We have a Facebook page, Twitter page, Youtube channel and a website (if I can find the time to finish it...) We are also running a competition to win a Rhinos shirt that has generated a lot of interest and one of the other thoughts was saying to people, come down to the club and the 50th entrant gets a free lunch. It's just simple stuff like that to get people coming to watch. It may work, it may not but at least we are trying something different.

Great!

The important thing to remember about Zimbabwean cricket is that there's a huge supporter base outside the country (probably 80% of this forum is made up of people outside Zim) - you'll be golden if you can find a way to tap into that huge (relatively speaking) market.

The support base inside the country is also huge. Maybe many of those guys are not on this forum.
On facebook :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/zimcric ... s/?fref=nf
https://www.facebook.com/CricZim

A lot of these guys probably don't know about the official ZC and Mid West Rhinos pages :
https://www.facebook.com/downforcricket
https://www.facebook.com/midwestrhinoscricket
Maybe that's why these pages don't have many likes

Highlights and interviews with the players for me mate I really liked the Bradly Wadlan interview ......

Agree with that
Most of us haven't seen how the guys (who haven't represented the national team yet) play....

This Afghanistan Cricket Board facebook page is very well maintained.... https://www.facebook.com/AfghanistanCri ... rdOfficial
They regularly upload images and short highlights of matches that are not televised.
(P.S. - May not help you much as most of the content of the page is in Pashto)

[zimbos_05]

Hmm, my journalism degree going to come in here now. Hahah

Everything you have done now seems to be on track. Engaging in this forum is a good start.

I think the social media presence has to be engaging. Give people a reason to talk on social media and to follow too. Once you build up a base then you can do things like player interviews via twitter or facebook where fans ask the questions and the players answer.

Take a look at other teams and clubs and get ideas from them. South Africa cricket has a really nice youtube channel. It isnt just player interviews and matches, it is also behind the scenes, and slightly unique. Their AB birthday video was different. Also nice to see how the players respond to the videos. They dont just shy away and actually get involved. Makes the fans feel more involved. If you only know the players on the field, you only see them as cricketers. If you know them off the field, you see them as one of you, you feel closer to them.

I like the shirt and free lunch idea. I think you could go one further and whoever wins the shirt, find out who their favourite Rhino player is. Then maybe get that player to deliver the shirt to their workplace or home. Have a nice little chat and you could upload the video on facebook.

Why not take some of the guys and go in to the streets and have impromptu games with kids and stuff on the street.

Another idea would be to have events at the game to entice people to come. Chance to win something if you catch a six one handed maybe. Have a kids section on the side. One thing they did in Australia a lot was have like special seats at the ground. So they would pick out two random people from the crowd and they would get nice plush seats like on the boundary line or int he dugout. And they would get free drinks and some finger food. Like a first class experience.

In my experience i think people will come if they feel a connection to the club and its players. Maybe going out more and getting a bit more active in the community. Making the people feel as if you play for them will make them want to come to watch.

Im probably rambling on a bit now, so im just going to stop now. Hahah

[grant]

And here's the Cricket Ireland youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/user/cricketirelandtv/featured

[brmtaylor.com admin]

On the YouTube videos... please make sure you use a tripod and cover the microphone. The ZC videos aren't bad but they look a bit amateurish. Any mobile phone these days is capable of high quality video, but if you hold it in one hand and let wind blow into the microphone that means little. But stick a phone on a tripod, cover the microphone from whichever direction the wind is coming and the video will look a million bucks.

The important thing to remember about Zimbabwean cricket is that there's a huge supporter base outside the country (probably 80% of this forum is made up of people outside Zim) - you'll be golden if you can find a way to tap into that huge (relatively speaking) market.

The support base inside the country is also huge. Maybe many of those guys are not on this forum.
On facebook :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/zimcric ... s/?fref=nf
https://www.facebook.com/CricZim

A lot of these guys probably don't know about the official ZC and Mid West Rhinos pages :
https://www.facebook.com/downforcricket
https://www.facebook.com/midwestrhinoscricket
Maybe that's why these pages don't have many likes

Absolutely you need to build up grassroots support for long term prosperity. But from a short term commercial perspective the overseas market would be more lucrative to tap into (disposable income, etc)... merchandise sales, membership drives, sponsor-a-player schemes... these are all things that don't discriminate by location and have much higher margins than gate fees. Whoever corners the overseas market first will flourish IMO (ZC have missed a trick by not doing this themselves).

Why not take some of the guys and go in to the streets and have impromptu games with kids and stuff on the street.

That's a good idea. Genuine community engagement is always a smart thing to do.

[ZIMDOGGY]

I like to see more player transparency with the player info.
We at the forum are always guessing as to players whereabouts.
Always guessing.
Is ph moor retuening to zimbabwe?

Why has trenchard been absent ?

Who is this player and how did he pop into the squad?
Etc etc

Hardky an issue restricted ti the rhinos though