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Last night’s community event at the Cardiff City Stadium was a great success.

Initiated by the Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust, the event was a follow-up to a survey Trust volunteers had worked on throughout the summer months in a bid to collection information that will lead to a better understanding of the feelings of the local community towards the football club.

The results of the survey were revealed to club officials, local residents and community leaders at last night’s function, which was sponsored by Brains Brewery and supported by the British Council. (Click here for survey results)

The audience at the event, which was compered by Cardiff City Stadium announcer and Trust member Ali Yassine, listened to presentations from Julian Jenkins, the club’s Head of Customer Services and Ticketing, Steve Ellis and Marc Cahill of the club’s Football in the Community team, Supporters’ Trust’s Vice-Chairman Tim Hartley and Llywelyn Lehnert of the British Council.

Six of the club’s young stars gave up their free time to attend the function. First team players Joe Ledley, Adam Matthews, and Aaron Wildig were present, along with up-and-coming Academy starlets Aaron Morris, Zak Evans and Ibrahim Farah. The players were interviewed by Julian Jenkins in what proved to be an entertaining start to the proceedings.

Guests were then given the chance to engage in a questions and answers session with a panel that included Alan Flitcroft, the club’s Group Finance Director, Supporters’ Trust Community Officer Tracey Marsh, Cardiff City Stadium Manager Wayne Nash and Kevin Coleman from the Kick Racism out of Football campaign.

The evening was rounded off with an excellent short film produced by the club highlighting what great fun supporting Cardiff City at the new stadium can be.

The audience included representatives from the Grangetown Community Concern scheme, the Black Voluntary Sector Network Wales, the Riverside Warehouse Community Centre, the Cardiff Community Radio Station, the Welsh Football Trust, the Grangetown Hindu Centre, a variety of playgroups and youth organisations from the areas surrounding the Cardiff City Stadium, several teachers from local schools and a number of residents from the Riverside, Grangetown, Canton, Butetown and Leckwith areas.

Overall, the evening had a very positive feel to it. The club’s staff had made an effort to put together some excellent presentations and members of the audience made some interesting points about the club’s marketing and the general perception of Cardiff City amongst the local communities. Hopefully, this event will be the first of many and some of the suggestions made during the questions and answers session will be acted upon by the club’s hierarchy.

In closing, I would like to pay tribute to three people who I believe deserve special praise for their efforts with regard to this community event. They are: Ali Yassine, who did a superb job as compere; Julian Jenkins, who acted as an excellent ambassador for the club throughout the evening and Tracey Marsh who, along with her team of Trust volunteers, worked so hard to make last night’s event a reality.

Dave Sugarman
Membership Secretary
Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust

CARDIFF CITY have a vast untapped reservoir of support living close to their new stadium, a major survey has revealed.

It is one of the key findings of a questionnaire in which more than 200 local people were asked by Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust for their views and attitude to Cardiff City Football Club and watching football.

The survey found that one-third of football fans living near the stadium had never watched the Bluebirds play, despite the fact that club’s attendances have averaged more than 20,000 for their first four league games at their new home.

The findings were given at a specially-organised event on Thursday night, September 24th, organised by the Trust, partnered by the British Council.

Around 100 local people attended, along with representatives of the Trust and Cardiff City management and players. SA Brain has also provided sponsorship for the event.

The key findings include:

·         Of the 82 per cent who watched football, a total of 30 per cent said they had never watched Cardiff City play.

·         72 per cent of those interviewed intended to visit the new stadium. But of this group 36 per cent had only ever seen the Bluebirds play 2-9 times. 19 per cent had been to a match just once.

·         80 per cent of those intending to visit the new stadium have watched Cardiff City play before which means that 20 per cent are potential new supporters

·         Among the comments about what they enjoyed about watching Cardiff City were “supporting my local team” “great atmosphere” and “cheap for teenagers”.

·         Among the comments about why they didn’t watch the City were “price of tickets”, “time, family commitments”, “bad behaviour and people standing up”.

·         People were also asked what would encourage them to go to matches. Among the answers were promotion, cheaper prices and family ticket deals, free parking and ‘taster’ tickets.

Trust board member Tracey Marsh, who organised the survey and event, said: “The survey reveals that there is untapped support among football fans living around the stadium with a significant number of those questioned not having watched Cardiff City more than nine times. It is up to the football club and organisations like the Trust to encourage those people to come along more often.

“If football fans did not have a great experience at Ninian Park, which some told us was the case, then we need to highlight the fantastic state-of-the-art facilities at the new stadium.

“We organised the questionnaire to get a better understanding of the feelings of the local community towards the football club. Following this event we hope that they feel they can communicate with the club.”

Tracey Marsh said that she believed the club could offer tours of the stadium for local communities to look at the stadium’s facilities which, she hoped, would lead to many of them coming to watch matches or attend functions.

“While this event is about those living near the Cardiff City stadium, this certainly won’t be the end of our work. We want to follow it up and spread the message with events in the Valleys or the Bridgend area, where there is also an opportunity to attract new supporters.”

Tim Hartley, the Trust’s Vice Chairman, will brief the audience on the results of the questionnaire. The British Council are also showing a short film on the benefits of linking sport and the communities while Cardiff City Football Club will spell out what they hope to achieve by working in and with the community.

The publication of our new Trust magazine, Moving to a Different Beat, has been delayed slightly due to one or two minor design problems. However, the magazine should be ready for collection at the Derby County home game on Tuesday 29th September. I will send out a confirmation of that nearer the time.

Bluebirds Chairman Peter Ridsdale has kindly agreed to be interviewed for the first issue of our magazine, and I will be conducting the interview at the new stadium tomorrow afternoon.

As you have probably read in the press or on the internet, Peter was up in Merthyr early last week talking to supporters about all manner of things connected to the club. Therefore, I will be trying to avoid asking him any of the questions that were put to him on that occasion.

My questions for the Chairman are likely to be of a more general nature. However, if you have any specific questions you would like me to ask him, then please e-mail them to this address before midday on Tuesday.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Dave Sugarman
Membership Secretary

Moving to a Different Beat is the name of the Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust official magazine which we launch next month.

The magazine’s name – which came out of a suggestion by Trust member Jon Lovibond of Sheffield – follows comments made by Jonathan Owen in his excellent, short film about being a Bluebirds fan, screened before City’s 2008 FA Cup final appearance.

The 36-page magazine will be published in full colour in  A5 size and should be available from the middle of September.

Trust board member Dave Sugarman, who is leading the project, said:

“The main function of the magazine will be to keep the membership updated on the work of the Trust. We are also hoping to attract plenty of new members once City fans have read the magazine and discovered what the Trust is about.

“We are aiming to produce three issues a year. Every member over the age of sixteen will get a free copy, while non-members will be able to buy copies at just £1 each.

“Issue One, which we are intending to have ready in time for the QPR home game in mid-September, will include features on Fred Keenor, Ninian Park and the history of the Trust so far. We are also hoping to include an exclusive interview with a senior member of the club’s staff.”

THREE accomplished Welsh-based sculptors have been invited by the Trust to tender for the job of creating a statue in honour of Fred Keenor, Cardiff City’s 1927 FA Cup Final winning skipper. 

Roger Andrews, James Done and Michael Field have been asked by Trust to put forward their ideas and produce a maquette of the proposed tribute to the Cardiff-born footballer, who was also a Welsh international. 

Roger, who hails from Llantwit Major, has been commissioned to produce the statue of Sir Tasker Watkins, which will be erected outside the Millennium Stadium. 

Cardiff-based James created the tributes to comedian Tommy Cooper in Caerphilly and the full-size bronze statue of Merthyr Tydfil’s boxing legend, Johnny Owen. 

Michael, who also lives in Cardiff, produced the statue of footballer Ivor Allchurch, which stands outside the Liberty Stadium in Swansea. 

Once information has been gathered regarding the costs and a decision made on which sculptor wins the contract, the Trust will approachCardiff council for financial support. The Welsh Assembly Government and local businesses will also be asked for their backing, and a public fundraising appeal will be launched. 

The location for the statue has yet to be finalised but the most likely site remains at the Cardiff City Stadium, where land is available. 

Around 8,000 fans have already signed paper and online petitions aimed at winning public support for the tribute, which is supported by theSouth Wales Echo. 

Mike Inker, a member of the Trust’s Fred Keenor Memorial Committee, said: “The three sculptors we have asked to present their proposals have a track record of producing quality work, and we are sure that the end product will be something every Cardiff City, and indeed Wales fan, can be proud of.

“A group from the committee has met all the sculptors and have been very impressed by their enthusiasm for this project. We look forward to receiving their proposals in due course. 

“Fred Keenor and the 1927 team haven’t had the recognition their efforts justify and we’re determined to put that right. There remains a lot of work to do, including raising the necessary funds, but with City fans and the people of Cardiff and Wales behind us, we are very confident of raising the funds required,” added Mike. 

The Trust has recently received permission from the Football Association to use the image of the FA Cup as part of the statue. 

Trust board member David Craig is acting as project manager for the work.