Supporters Group Meeting - Sat, January 7 @ 7 PM: Richmond Arms

Hey, I couldn't make it. I had another last minute compromise I had to attend to. Sorry, but am looking forward to this

 

What a great night! Almost 25 people showed, and we got a lot of meet and greet introductions out of the way.

Super stoked that Mr. Oliver Luck himself apologized that he couldn't make it but called the Richmond Arms and arranged to purchase the first 20 beers. That kind of gesture will go a long way to endearing the supporters to the organization, but to come from the top almost brought a tear to my eye.

We've got a great group of supporters - even though Serio couldn't make it.

We'll be posting notes and more information soon, but sounds like we're target Feb 11th as the next meeting date for those of you that want to plan ahead.

 

Ah, well, such is life - could just as easily have been me stuck not going...

Several photos taken during the meeting (please note the free beers scattered all over the tables here - Thanks, Mr. Luck!):







Continued in the next post...

 

CeltTexan arrived fashionably late, and really held our attention with what he had to say (or was that the beer doing its work at this point?):



And to wind up the first official Houston MLS Team Supporter's Group meeting, a group shot of those in attendance (including the guy who wandered in off the street at the mention of "free beer"):



Please note that an alternative "parting shot" is being posted on the Dallas boards at this time...

A quick pic of the post-meeting party outside:

 

First, Thanks to Oliver Luck for the free beers.
Also, Cheers to the best supporters club in the MLS!
(Notice all the smiles in the last photo.)

I am impressed these pictures made it up here before I could even make it home and register a name here.

Well done.

 

Congratulations to everyone on making the first meeting a success. Good to hear Mr. Luck wants this to be a success. I was looking forward to meeting the rest of you soccer junkies, I'm so bummed that I couldn't make it...had to be a good dad and help out with my son (as I am at this time...you'd be surprised at what you can do with one free hand and a baby in the other).
I'm sure someone will post an update on the proceedings...I can already hear the chants.
Rep to fordfjord for getting pics up so quickly and for officially kicking off the rivalry with FC Dallas.

 

We know you don't lie - but that you just meant that you'd get it done tonight - meaning the night of the day that you get home - so as I see it - you've still got 5 more hours to sleep off the shenanagins, then another 10 hours to get the yahoo group up.
;-)


I myself am off to a recruiting breakfast - hopefully to sell another 4 season tickets to new soccer fans and sign up at least 2 more supporters. I figure if I get 5 people a week to buy 2 season tickets - I'll have sold more than 100 season tickets by the start of the season, and recruited another 50 supporters.

Now if I can just get ahold of the wine dealer next door...

 

I would also like to thank Mr. Luck. Very thoughtful. Definitely nothing I expected.

I had a great time meeting each of you last night. An unbelievable level of commitment from everyone there. I know this will be a success. Looking forward to the next time we get together.

Pics up before I got home from What-A-Burger? I am impressed!

 

Plus - it's that much more time for me and Stephen and a few others to pull together a web site. I've got a server/domain we can use already until we come up with a name.

I hope they show colors/jerseys at the announcement next week.

 

Hey, Numero Dos, have you got a decent image of that announcement that CeltTexan is holding? I could only get so much resolution out of the pics that I had, and I felt it would be an injustice to post what I ended up with...

 

Yep, I'm working on posting it now. Rep to you for posting the pics, but I think you should put the Dallas version here, too!

 

Great meeting last night! It's nice to be able to put faces to names. Thanks again to Oliver Luck for the beer.

I can't wait till the kickaround. See everyone at the next meeting!

 

hmmm....nothing is showing up.

 

It's here:

http://www.furyfc.com/Photos 26.htm

Not sure why it's not posting in this thread. Maybe too big?

 

Definately too big....also, it needs to be in jpg format, not htm.

resize it to about 400 pixels wide, save as jpg, then post the url with image tags

 

Done.



Should have put this in last night, as well: FC Dallas page link here.

 

Recap of 1/7/06 Meeting:

Next Meeting:

We will meet again Feb. 11. Time and location to be announced here on BigSoccer at least one week in advance. I will talk to 2 soccer friends who own centrally-located bars to see if they have an interest in hosting. Others are also talking to bar-owners.

Staying in Touch:

Yanks02 is putting together a Yahoo user group from the sign-up list last night. FuBoy has website design abilities and has volunteered to take the lead on our web presence once we get it up and running. In the meantime, we will use BigSoccer as our main contact point. I will be starting several threads re: issues we discussed so that people can keep discussing them here.

Board Elections:

We will likely have a President, V.P., Secretary, Treasurer, and Event Coordinator (Tailgating and Watch Parties). We’ll start a thread to see if we need other Board Positions and to discuss responsibilities.

Interim Leadership:

Yanks02 and CeltTexan are going to do some leg work on the front end, because of their experience with other supporters groups. CeltTexan has contacts with the team and with UofH, and he and Yanks02 will let both know that we exist, and start to open discussions about what we can do to help the team, and the basics of getting us up and running (i.e., talking to UofH about a dedicated section for us, talking about tailgating—what’s allowed and what isn’t, etc.).

Dues/Membership:

Based on what other supporters groups do, we will likely charge $10 to $20 per member. You will get a membership card and hopefully a t-shirt and other goodies (we’ll work on a sponsor to help fund t-shirts once we have a name). Likely, dues will be split-rate for under-21 and 21-and-over, as our costs will be tailgate-cost-driven.

Mentality:

We briefly discussed whether we’d be family-friendly or drunk and cussing. Drunk and cussing won in a landslide. Obviously, this is tongue-in-cheek, and we plan to be respectful to the other fans, the team, and the venue, but we do want to be a beer-friendly vocal supporters group. Robertson Stadium sets up well for that, as the end zone seats are separate from the sideline seats, which will give us a buffer from the delicate-eared children and soccer moms.

Shirts/Scarves:

Once we have a name, we’ll explore this further. We will try to line up a sponsor (St. Arnold’s, Fiesta?, Soccer4All?), as well as a distributor. Soccer4All might be a good distributor, because they have locations all over town. We definitely want scarves, and we’ll talk about that soon. If you know someone with graphic design or other helpful abilities, let us know.

Club Name:

I’ve started a poll on BigSoccer to discuss whether the supporters club name should be team-related, city-related, or something else. Bayou City Bullies, H-Town Hoologans, and NorthEnders were some suggestions (the last one, assuming we can get the North end of Robertson stadium, with the skyline behind us).

Banner/Flag/Big Jersey:

We’ll coordinate with the front office on this. More ideas later when we have an identity.

Cup w/ Dallas; Travel to Dallas:

The sentiment was more or less universal that we’ll get a group together to go to at least one game in Dallas. In addition, we’ll get a rivalry Cup started, and will start a thread soon re: name, funding, etc. We may talk to our “friends” on the F*C* Dallas thread re: this.

Kick Around:

I’ll get this organized, hopefully for a Saturday at Bear Creek. We’ll want to do this fairly regularly as a fun social thing. Details will follow soon.

Networking:

If you know anyone that can help us or the team (ex. a contact in a large youth league, a contact within the front office, a contact in the media), let Yanks02 and CeltTexan know. Between now and next meeting (Feb 11) your job is to get the word out, convince other people to buy season tickets, and bring a friend to the next meeting.

Red Card/Yellow Card System:

Self-Policing might not be a bad idea. Once we get a Board of Directors, we can set up a system to make sure no one strays too far from the plan and hurts our relations with other fans, the team or U of H.

That’s all I have time for now. We had a fun and productive first meeting. I’ll start some threads re: topics soon. See you guys next time.

Numero Dos

p.s.-Thanks to Oliver Luck for the free beer.

 

Thanks for the pic and the recap.

 

I think everyone has pretty much covered all the vitals...especially Numero Dos. Just wanted to say it was great meeting everyone and looking forward to the upcoming season.

And thank you Mr. Luck for the free beers...got the evening started off right.

 

Kick The Tires And Light The Fires..........it's On Amigos!

 

yanks02 and Numero Dos,
I sent you both a PM regarding one of your issues outlined in your meeting.

Get back with me when you can.

Thanks,
fireman451

 

Did anyone get a rough head count? Sorry, I just stumbled back into Big Soccer tonight but am usually at the Arsenal boards. I would like to help out with the supporters club. Please let me know what is needed.
Craig