Day: January 20, 2004

Tuesday, 20 January 2004 12:00 AM

South Melbourne Chief Executive Mark Patterson will present his club’s case for acceptance into the Victorian Premier League at a meeting of clubs to be held tonight.

There has been growing debate amongst some of the Victorian Clubs about the planned move of Victoria’s two national league teams, South Melbourne and the Melbourne Knights, as the face of soccer undergoes significant change at both the National and State level.

“The South Melbourne Soccer Club is extremely serious about its plans to participate at State level and we believe that any opposition will be withdrawn once the benefits of our involvement is more clearly understood by the member clubs, particularly the financial benefits that will result for all concerned” said Patterson today.

South Melbourne is confident it will be admitted into the revamped National competition and believes its Victorian participation will add value, profile and improved crowds to the Victorian competition, regardless of what occurs at the National level.

“Unfortunately there has been far too much misinformation and scare mongering in the debate about South’s intentions and I am delighted that we have been given the opportunity to explain our position. I am sure we can provide the other clubs with confidence that the move is advantageous for the game and that it would simply be narrow minded and backward not to see that the positives of such a move far out weigh any negatives” Patterson went on to say.

South Melbourne believes other clubs will benefit in a variety of ways including

· Improved revenues from increased crowds
· The potential to gain access to South Melbourne players and resources for junior development purposes
· Access to use Bob Jane Stadium
· Improved player career path options and compensation payments to Premier League clubs

Patterson said that he was confident that the clubs would support South’s move once the issues and benefits had been discussed in an open forum. “The debate to date has only been based on media speculation and reporting which has not provided any of the parties with a real opportunity to talk through the issues properly” he said.

“We ought to all be exploring these issues from a position of ‘how to achieve progressive change’, as opposed to taking a stance of ‘why change shouldn’t occur’ ” Patterson explained.

The VSF meeting will be held tonight.

Tuesday, 20 January 2004 12:00 AM

New technology that will operate an access control, turnstile and customer relationship program will be utilized at Bob Jane Stadium this week when South Melbourne takes on Perth Glory on Australia Day.

The system that has been developed over the past five months will enable the club to improve the access to the ground by all patrons and at the same time allow the club to operate a more sophisticated relationship with its supporters and members. Through this system, the club can implement a customer-relationship management program that will benefit its members, sponsors and general customers.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Patterson identified this opportunity on his arrival at the club and believes that there are enormous marketing opportunities available to South Melbourne.

“The introduction of this technology is part of a process to improve our infrastructure and customer service capabilities, particularly as we strive for inclusion in the revamped National competition next year where the level of professionalism will require us to be equipped with such technology. The technology will also operate in conjunction with the on-line ticketing program that was initiated last year” said Chief Executive Officer Mark Patterson.

The system will be truly tested when South takes on table leader Perth Glory at Bob Jane Stadium this Monday at 6.00pm.

“We have tested the access control system over recent weeks to record all member entries and we are ready to expand this system to include all match day and corporate ticketing as from this week’s big match against Perth Glory” Mr. Patterson said.

“The benefits will accrue to all our stakeholders as we begin to better understand the needs of our customers and at the same time be in a position to accurately monitor crowds and revenue. In addition we will also be investigating marketing activities such as loyalty programs for our merchandising and social venue operations” said Patterson.

The club commissioned the services of BEC Systems a company that specializes in access control and database software systems. BEC developed the software and installed the specially designed turnstile apparatus that has enabled the club to meet its specific objectives. “We have been delighted to assist South Melbourne in the development of the system and believe it will enable the club to achieve excellent results in crowd monitoring and control as well as recording valuable marketing data”, said BEC Managing Director Jeff Ottery.

The system has been powered through the generous support provided by Daytec Australia.

An added benefit will be that all hirers of the stadium will have the confidence that the access system is of the latest technological standards and will provide them with excellent customer data and access controls.