Loyalist New Agenda discussion

montgjules · 07-08-2005, 12:35 PM

I just talked to Glenn on the phone about some newsletter stuff. He's way ahead of us, as always. Official word in the newsletter this afternoon, or after I have time to type more. (Putting twins down for nap right now.)

Feel free to talk ideas tomorrow, actual meeting planned later this month.

SoccerPrime · 07-08-2005, 12:36 PM

Good news Jules.

🙂

Aerick · 07-08-2005, 12:51 PM

It's a bit humbling to read everything that transpired during the organization of the Loyalists. If you haven't read it, it's a good idea to do so before tomorrow, as it gives you the perspective of everything that has already been done to get us to the point we are at today.

Exciting stuff to be a part of. 🙂

Dadof3 · 07-08-2005, 02:12 PM

sorry for missing much of what has happened the last few weeks...[work :verymad: ]

After reading all of the different rant/argument/mutiny threads, it appears that we do have problems in communication, approachability and leadership.

Despite the fact that I joined up with the loyalists in the beginning, attended what I could, and tried to get to tailgates, I have also felt that the Loyalists, as a whole, portray themselves as the true "believers" who want to wall themselves from everyone else.

I know this is a harsh criticism and that is not and never has been the intent of the Loyalists. Unfortunately, even with the best intentions, it is hard to control impressions in a group demographics.

The RCB issue should have been a huge clue that something was wrong, and when people like Montjules and others point out that they feel "left out" emotionally at Loyalist gatherings, there has been a monumental failure by the group to reach our collective goal...the best possible support of ReAL.

In the past, I, like RCB persons, have made suggestions re how to get more folks involved in the chanting/singing...some of which have been repeated here. I also received NO feedback from the leadership and no action re my suggestions. All this did was marginalize me from the group...[speaking of marginalization, my wife and I still have not received our t-shirts and no-one has communicated with us how or when to get them]. If you have the feeling that a group does not want you to belong, you lose support for the group. [Interesting that some of these same feelings were expressed by the RCB guys].

Unfortunately, it seems clear that those in charge of the Loyalists have either been unwilling to fix, unable to fix, or unaware of these problems. Let me be clear...I am not calling for new leadership, and I like our leaders personally. I am very concerned, however, that our leaders do not have the type of personalities to step out of their comfort zone and introduce themselves to interested persons, sell the Loyalists to people they do not know, and think out of the box to create more support during the game and for the Loyalists in general.

Now, I have broken my #1 rule re criticism...if you are going to complain, you had better have a plan, and you had better volunteer to implement said plan. I think the meeting on Sat to get these issues on the table will help. I think the Loyalists do a nice job in the stadium. I also think RCB is correct, the Loyalists can do and be so much more.

Scot

montgjules · 07-08-2005, 03:09 PM

Scot,

Thank you so much for your comments. I think the Loyalists should look at criticism as an opportunity for growth. It's easy to think defensively or make excuses, but that won't improve things. So I'm going to keep things positive and take some initiative. I'm be starting a new thread to continue this topic and whatnot in a few minutes.

Dadof3 · 07-08-2005, 04:02 PM

I copied my post from above and posted it in the RCB forum to see if I got it right. (I'm always worried that I've lost it somewhere along the road)

It appears that I did pretty much hit their concerns on the nose. FWIW.

Scot

Stucki · 07-08-2005, 04:14 PM

One of the reasons that nobody knew anything about meetings is because we haven't had any. The tailgates were supposed to serve the purpose of informal meetings, but not enough of the Loyalists have been able to make those.

MomOf8 · 07-08-2005, 04:37 PM

Okay, I just have one argument for Dadof3. IF you are going to join a 'group', then you too should be willing to go out of your way to introduce yourself. I plan on doing just that, when I finally get the chance to meet some of the other members.

You do have a valid point though, so don't think I'm picking on you.

DadOf8 · 07-08-2005, 05:18 PM

I think those are valid arguments DadOf3. Just so you know, I got my shirt at the tailgate and Glenn (The President) went out of his way to welcome me. I'm not saying that you're wrong, because your perception of things is the way that they really happened. Please give us a chance to make it better this time. I'm kind of a silent type myself, I have a hard time introducting myself to new people and I apologize if I didn't introduce myself to you. Another thing people don't know about me is that I'm hard of hearing so a lot of times you might think I'm ignoring you but in reality I didn't hear you. The Loyalists is going to work out fine, the fact that we're discussing our problems is a good first step towards making this work out. I think right now we need to quit looking at the past, we can't change that. We need a clear vision of what we want as a group and we need to know what we need to do to get there. If we can't do that, then we will fail. I don't think that it's really that hard to sit down and do these things. I know all of us have other commitments; work, callings in church, family, etc. and the last thing we want is one more commitment. The great thing about the Loyalists is that you can be as involved as you want to be.

I for one am glad you're a Loyalist and next time you're at a game, please come to me and introduce yourself if I haven't introduced myself first.

RSLfrontrowfan · 07-11-2005, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RSLfrontrowfan

My comments aren't meant to be antagonistic (so don't take them that way), simply another perspective from someone on the "outside".

Quote:

Originally Posted by RSLfrontrowfan

I'm talking about dozens of people who have been turned off and feel the loyalists (in the loyalist section) are, to quote one, "uninviting elitists".

Quote:

Originally Posted by the cup

I'm getting tired of people calling the Loyalists "uninviting" or "elite."

And if there are people out there that want to start another group, that's cool. All great soccer teams have 4 or 5 supporter groups. But this crying about being left out is crazy. Our website is clearly visable on our banners and there are simple instructions there on how to join the group.

But I'm sure as hell not going to wipe anyone's butt to make them feel welcome. Nobody wiped my butt when I joined up. I'm a big boy now and I don't need anyone to clean me. I had never met any of the current Loyalists. I just walked up and joined. What was so hard about that?

Yeah, what are people thinking? How could anyone possibly construe comments like the butt wipe talk above as anything other than inviting?! Maybe we should use that verbiage as the loyalist welcome message on our loyalist sign-up/recruiting materials. All in favor say "I"!

In my defense when I have spoken to people who have been turned off, I tell these people that as individuals most loyalists are very inviting and nice people, but for me it's not hard to see where some of their concerns stem from (see above, see RCB). All it takes for some people to get turned off is one smart @$$ comment from a loyalist and all it takes is about 30 seconds to find one of those on these forums (see above). Some people have thin skin and when they come to these forums as visitors, it's easy to see how they'd be turned-off.

Flame away 😠 ! 🕺