Centenary celebrations.

Discussion of all things related to the club and first team
Tony
Posts: 1304
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:57 pm

The Beveree is big enough to accommodate Step 1 albeit that it would be an expensive project to make the necessary changes. The only other ground in the borough that would qualify would be the Stoop but not sure that is a realistic option.
Lord Elpus
Posts: 643
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:09 pm

TW2-Beaver wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 10:14 pm Apologies in advance to Shepperton Supporter for turning his thread into a debate on the club name, but its a subject I'm passionate about and feel deserves a discussion in this our centenary year.

I'm with Lord Elpus on this one. The name is an absolute disaster. Even the club itself often (embarrassingly) get it wrong after 20 years (think hamptonfc.net / "and" instead of "&"). In my view the main arguments for changing it back are:

1) It failed to do what was intended
Crowds did not increase. Money from borough-wide businesses was not forthcoming.

2) It makes no sense
As the Lord pointed out, Hampton is within Richmond Borough, not external to it, so the name makes no sense at all (the reason for this bizarre name is that it was a compromise after the initial bonkers proposal of "Richmond Borough FC" was rightly rejected. The entire idea should have been dropped though... not a bodge job where the bad idea gets merged with the existing name).

3) External factors could make the name redundant
Imagine if the club had been called "Hampton & Twickenham Borough" before 1965. Well, when the powers that be redrew the boundaries, we would have been left with the name of a borough that no longer existed. The same could well happen to Richmond Borough in future. Boundary review well overdue...

4) Lack of historical links
We are a Middlesex club, affiliated to our county FA. We even have the Middlesex seaxes in our club crest. We participate in the Middlesex Senior Cup. Richmond is in Surrey. You could make an argument that Richmond is the London Borough with the least links between east and west (ever tried taking public transport from Richmond to Hampton?!), logically if any borough is for the chop in the future, it may well be Richmond.

5) Brand awareness
Having a ridiculously long name makes it difficult to establish brand awareness. I have been asked before what the "HRBFC" on my shirt stands for... they have lost interest by the second word. As mentioned above, even official club channels can't get it right. Hampton is far easier to brand. Anyway, we play in Hampton. That is what people need to know about our club! We are Hampton. We are still the borough's senior club and we absolutely should promote that fact. This isn't about being insular or going backwards. Brentford have plenty of supporters in their wider borough (and ours!) but their marketing team know they don't need to call themselves "Brentford & Hounslow Borough" to achieve that. Its not how it works.
Couldn't have put it better, for me this completely hits the nail on the head.
Whoryer
Posts: 102
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2021 1:24 pm

Yes I agree with everything said the club should go back to being called Hampton FC.I always thought it was the council that insisted the club included its name in the club name?
Shepperton Supporter
Posts: 1605
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 10:18 pm

Tony wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 10:11 am The Beveree is big enough to accommodate Step 1 albeit that it would be an expensive project to make the necessary changes. The only other ground in the borough that would qualify would be the Stoop but not sure that is a realistic option.
We seem to have gone off in a bit of a tangent, but it does not matter as it gets conversation and debate stimulated. Hope we don’t lose sight of the original theme!
Someone mentioned as potential grounds, the Hampton Rangers ground in Oldfield Road. It certainly is big enough for probably two pitches as it stretches down to having direct access to the A308. Think the ground is owned by the Water Board. Would in many ways be ideal, but the costs if feasible, would be enormous.
Brit
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:49 pm

I cannot see a 'like' button so just to add I fully support going back to Hampton FC
Lord Elpus
Posts: 643
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:09 pm

Whoryer wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 10:33 am Yes I agree with everything said the club should go back to being called Hampton FC.I always thought it was the council that insisted the club included its name in the club name?
To put it briefly, the board at the time wanted to try to attract more support and investment from the wider local area and believe me it could have been worse...I think it was originally proposed that we be called Richmond Borough, which unsurprisingly went down very badly with supporters!
Mick
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2021 2:22 pm

Totally agree with everyone on changing the name back.

How we can can bring ourselves to sing a round of "oh Middlesex" with Richmond in the name (especially against a surrey team) is beyond me!
HamptonMad
Posts: 873
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:56 pm

Hampton fc. For me. Hampton is in Middlesex. Richmond over the Thames in Surrey.
Rob Overfield
Posts: 120
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2021 8:49 am
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Jamie wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 9:54 am
The club does need to interact better. Look at other clubs going public with how they voted out of the three options of the recent decision to pause the season - I haven't seen "HRBFC" do that, and why not?
Does it really matter? Other clubs have also chosen to play fast and loose with the lockdown restrictions, namely organise friendlies, not covered under Elite Sport. Just because other clubs have done such things doesn’t mean the Beavers have to follow everyone else. Did you not listen to the podcast last week, that discussion implied that the club had not been in favour of loans or the National League’s option.
Jamie
Posts: 469
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:51 am

Rob Overfield wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 8:59 pm
Jamie wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 9:54 am
The club does need to interact better. Look at other clubs going public with how they voted out of the three options of the recent decision to pause the season - I haven't seen "HRBFC" do that, and why not?
Does it really matter? Other clubs have also chosen to play fast and loose with the lockdown restrictions, namely organise friendlies, not covered under Elite Sport. Just because other clubs have done such things doesn’t mean the Beavers have to follow everyone else. Did you not listen to the podcast last week, that discussion implied that the club had not been in favour of loans or the National League’s option.
No I didnt listen to the podcast.
I have since read the recap on thr website (great work by the media team to provide that for those not having time to listen).

Not sure on your first point. The 2 week pause is nothing to do with safety or Covid, as mentioned in the write up of the podcast. Its purely politically and because clubs aren't going to carry on without the assurances of funding.
With flexible furlough now available I would assume the players and coaches have been furlough for most of jot all of the 2 week period.

Of course clubs can play friendlies if they are step 2 and classed as "elite" as friendlies fall under the same as matches or training.

The thing HRBFC have in their favour is Richard Parsons is on the league board/committee, so he is no doubt fighting hard in the best interests of the member clubs and its good the see Jacques as chairman clearly saying he won't jeopardise the clubs future with loans.

So, I applaud the club for a good and concise update, they took a couple of days the clarify their position, but I'm really pleased with such a detailed and open response.
RogerSW
Posts: 93
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 4:04 pm

Trust you found my post saying "Jamal's playing at Championship level" a few years ago?
ps Please ignore all my other posts :))

Tony wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 9:03 am Les and I are updating the book or should I say writing volume 2 from where I finished in 2001. It has been interesting re-reading some of the old forum comments as part of my research. It’s probably a good thing that the old forum is being closed own to spare some of our regular posters embarrassment given some of the very misplaced predictions made at the time. Hindsight is of course a wonderful thing. One of the best comments was that Charlie Moone wasn’t a striker just before he went on to score over a hundred goals for Hampton.

As for the name change, I am in the Hampton FC camp. The Richmond Borough suffix was a marketing ploy pure and simple and didn’t work. Success on the pitch is 90% of what drives attendances and in the modern world of social media the ability to market the club is quite a different thing to what tools were available back in the 1990s.
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