Happy to see Coach publicly acknowledging and recognizing the fans.
However, if in fact he actually did make that distinction regarding "real" fans, he hadda be careful with that.
Just as it had people at de game who had to be told that T&T were playing in red and Jamaica in yellow (how "real" dem fans is?), it probably also had some die hards who had to miss de game due to other commitments. Doh make dem any less "real"
Just thanking the fans would be sufficient. Is a slippery slope once yuh start to get een to who real and who not.
I doh believe that's a slippery slope at all, the truth is we as Trinis only appreciate big occasions, as somebody say, if was Brazil we played the place would have been full. It's shameful that after some good results, is only a hand of people showed up. On the flip side, as much as I know the new regime trying, there are some things that they have got to continue looking into - parking is a massive issue, it's disheartening driving an hour and change to come to the game reaching at least 45 mins before kick off and then be told by the "long hair rasta" outside the main gate that "you cyah park in here padner" only to see a man in a Range pull up and they fighting to open the gate for him. Disturbing as well knowing that the car park inside virtually empty...simple things like that could turn fans away. Parking outside the Stadium is a nightmare. The same situation occurred against New Zeland...nevertheless a good result makes these frustrations ah little easier to digest...wishing the team continued success!
Oh yeah, I forgot about that!
Add parking at the stadium or lack of for the general public trying to attend the game to the list of things the TTFA needs to sort out if they want better attendance. Why make coming to support the team so frustrating and inconvenient for Joe Public?
So here is the list of things the TTFA need to sort out for better attendance at our next home games:-1. Better advertising of the game to create more hype.
2. Tickets for the match should be made available at least 2 weeks before the game with a cheaper early bird purchase option to get ticket sales rolling as they do for many big carnival fetes.
3. New T&T Football Team T-shirt Tops should be available at various outlets nationwide and there can even be a ticket purchase package that includes the T-Shirt and a discount family tickets package as well.
4. Parking at the stadium should be easy and convenient for all and not just those with the right connections so the stadium car park should be full by game time and not practically empty while fans who drove to the game get snubbed and turned away to find parking elsewhere.
5. Stadium toilets should all be clean and available for use and maybe even supervised during the event to prevent misuse.
6. Variety of reasonably priced refreshments should be available to the public.
7. Part of proceeds from games can go to the Heart of the Warrior fund to look after any other national players past and current who may need medical help due to accident or injury.
8. Teams need to continue playing with heart and putting on a good show for the public with positive results.
9. Line up matches against Cuba, Haiti, Panama and Venezuela for next year 2014 from early, announce match dates and make tickets available asap minimum of 2 weeks before the home game.
10. Find different ways to create more hype and buzz around all our home games and to get the public accustomed to coming out once again to full stadiums with a great atmosphere.
11. Die-hard Warrior fans must learn to support their home team more vocally and also how to make it uncomfortable for visiting teams especially for when World Cup qualification comes around.
