Plymouth Albion emotional rollercoaster as league rugby returns to Brickfields

Well, what an emotional rollercoaster the primary sport of the season was, writes Ellie Venables, Plymouth Albion’s finance director.

I wakened final Saturday in a belter of a temper, the solar was shining, and I used to be so excited for National League rugby to lastly return to Brickfields.

It was additionally the St Luke’s Men’s Health Walk so the membership was open vivid and early to see off people who had been eagerly awaiting the superb charitable occasion.

For these of you that don’t know, the occasion begins and finishes at Albion after a 10-kilometre loop round Plymouth – conveniently hitting most of the native pubs. I actually, bought to the membership at round 10am and my goodness the time flew.

On Saturday, I used to be accountable for the ticket workplace, making certain that our new ticketing system, Eventbrite, was working accurately and beneath management.

Obviously, after a very good 18 months of nothing on the membership, there have been a number of teething errors, however I have a look at these as a chance to enhance issues sooner or later.

That being mentioned, Eventbrite was a hit. It was really easy to scan in these pre-bought tickets, so it appears to be like like one thing that’s going to keep for the foreseeable future.

This not solely is healthier from a well being and security viewpoint, but additionally makes the doorway into the membership extra seamless and subsequently faster to get the supporters to the beer!

Something that did abruptly happen to me in the course of the day was this: why on earth are we printing out tickets for VPs and season ticket holders?

We try to be extra eco pleasant across the membership, making an attempt to cut back paper (as effectively as litter) and in flip decreasing our carbon footprint, as effectively as prices.

It additionally made me realise that our loyal VPs and season tickets holders had been having to queue up with others that had been shopping for tickets on the day, after they have already been organised and pre-bought their tickets.

Anyway, I’m rambling. Liz (Venables/mum), Nicola (Westlake) and I put our heads collectively to search an answer and we predict we could have it, hopefully making the entry to the membership a a lot smoother course of and in flip decreasing the queues on the day.



A crowd of greater than 2,000 attended Plymouth Albion’s opening sport of the 2021/22 season in opposition to Rosslyn Park at Brickfields on Saturday, September 4, 2021 – Photo: Erin Black/Plymouth Live

This being mentioned, Liz will probably be contacting the VPs and season ticket holders within the subsequent week in regards to the potential modifications being made.

Aside from the ticket workplace, the remainder of the day ran comparatively easily provided that it was going to be our largest gate of 2021.

An enormous 2,088 supporters turned up to the sport, so thanks to each one among you, it actually makes all of the stress price whereas while you see everybody having a very good time.

I’ve had some superb suggestions from the hospitality aspect additionally, and tables have now began coming in thick and quick now that the phrase is getting round. So if you need to ebook, please do get in contact.

Our subsequent dwelling sport is one other robust sport in opposition to Rams Rugby, who’re additionally combating for promotion, so please be sure to come down and provides the boys your help – it actually does make a distinction.

On the pitch, it wasn’t as ‘hunky dory’ as we might have appreciated, dropping 37-8 was a bitter capsule to swallow, particularly as we went into the altering rooms 11-8 down at half time.

Rosslyn Park had been all the time going to be a tough opponent, with the draw of a very good job/ wage in London, they entice some severely good gamers.

However, we even have few key gamers out injured already, one thing I’m placing down to the boys not being match match, as they haven’t performed aggressive rugby in so lengthy, one thing that may’t be helped.

We’ve additionally bought to do not forget that this workforce might be over 50 per cent new faces, that means that it’s going to take time for them to gel and work collectively how they want to.

Remember what occurred in the course of the 2019/20 season, we completed 2019 mid-bottom desk and got here out all weapons blazing for the second half – we nonetheless have 28 extra video games to go!

In this column I will probably be speaking of my experiences at Albion and would love to hear some questions you might have on what goes on behind the scenes and I’d love to hear some suggestions.

Email me on [email protected]. Until then keep Safe! Ellie.

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