Nobody likes posting something negative about the club. But in its recent treatment of and evident attitude towards the International Addicks the club has behaved abysmally. Whether this reflects just ineptitude and lack of thought/consideration or a conscious – but misguided - decision to embark on a particular approach, one which would fly in the face of the goal to get more bums on seats for the coming games, I can’t say.
All Addicks will agree that the priority is to get more people into The Valley for games. We all want to see a packed house supporting the team, creating the sort of atmosphere many young supporters will not (yet) have experienced. It is for sure a chicken and egg process involving fuelling and feeding off success on the pitch, with the club expected to do all it can to attract back those who have stopped attending games and fresh supporters.
In that context, the branding of 16 home games this season as ‘themed’, which the club says allows it to “promote various causes and engage with supporters of all ages through a number of off-pitch activities”, is in principle positive. But the fact is that through its actions one of those themes, International Addicks Day, which has been run for the past couple of years and has been a great success, thanks to the efforts of the club but also the incredible enthusiasm of those heading up the IA groups, has probably been destroyed.
With no consultation with the IA groups, someone in their wisdom has decided that this season’s ‘International Supporters Day’ will be the home game against Barnsley, on a Tuesday evening (4 March). Who, for heaven’s sake, decided that a midweek fixture would be suitable for international supporters to travel to the UK to embrace? Some of us do work you know. No other themed game is a midweek fixture (the only one not a Saturday game is set for Friday 18 April, Easter weekend). So the club has basically chosen to rank all the other 15 themed games, including new creations as ‘Christmas Spirit Day’, as more important than International Addicks Day. It has gone out of its way to select the most difficult game for overseas supporters to attend, or does it just not care? Is this stupidity or plain mean?
Nobody's asking for any special treatment, just a little appreciation and consideration. To say that this is a slap in the face for all international supporters is an understatement. It indicates the club cares nothing about its overseas fan base. And it isn’t just insulting it’s short-sighted. Sure, International Addicks are not going to fill The Valley week in, week out. But in addition to spending a disproportionate amount on travel to watch games (and on getting club merchandise shipped overseas) they spread the word about Charlton, help foster a positive image of the club, and add what for any enlightened club would be considered a valued element to the support base.
It is worrying that this is not the only example of the club’s poor attitude to international supporters, which really means in turn a callous attitude towards all supporters. Communication over the future of CATV, an issue obviously of particular interest to us living overseas, was terse and curt. Perhaps efforts were made behind the scenes of which I’m not aware, but it left a bad impression, as does certain other recent examples:
https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/98362/clubs-disappointing-treatment-of-swedish-addicks.
The only reasonable response to this is what looks likely to be adopted. The club can quite frankly shove its planned International Supporters Day. Instead, the International Addicks are designating the Saturday 16 October home game against Wrexham as International Addicks Day. This game has been designated by the club as the annual ‘Red, White and Black Day’, a longstanding and entirely praiseworthy event. We International Addicks will be pleased/proud to stand alongside the initiative on the day, to help promote it and support it, while at the same time celebrating International Addicks Day with our own events and activities organised around the game. Just what happens on 4 March nobody cares (and if nobody turns up and the club then drops International Addicks Day as a theme next season we will know for sure what was the intention). .
All that said, mistakes are made. The club has ample time to accept it has screwed up, apologise to the IA groups, and to at least change the International Supporters Day to a Saturday game. I don’t think anyone’s holding their breath, which is regrettable in itself.
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