Orienteering being Cool
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Orienteering being Cool
After reading Dids post about Orienteering needing to be more cool to get media attention got me thinking. A big put off I believe for certain newcomers is the kit that we wear. In scandinavia the kits are far better than here in Britain. They are getting better with the new Trimtex tops like Leeds have and some others but most club kits are still the minging Ultrasport ones. I think more thought should go into kit design so that people actually want to wear them.
Fish are friends not food!
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Rich - orange
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Difficulty is that most Brits don't want to spend any real money on kit.... a few will but most won't. Do the sums.... 12000 orienteers in GB (members of BOF actually). Say 10000 buy kit which last an average of say 5 years? That gives an annual requirement of around 2000 sets of kit... if 10% of that lot are prepared to pay double the Ultrasport price then potential market is for 200 items a year = no money for the retailer:)
Modern fabrics cost lots of money & fancy design & prints cost even more....
Chicken & eggs I'm afraid:)
Modern fabrics cost lots of money & fancy design & prints cost even more....
Chicken & eggs I'm afraid:)
- gross2004
Gross may be right in the long term but initial take up could be high and Samsonite - Christmas is coming - can think of loads of people who would rather have a flash new O top from gran and grandad rather than a zip up sweater
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Mrs H. - nope godmother
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Maybe if we adopted the Swedish approach of having to have tears patched up on O kit before running, then people might buy more...and if the White Rose was compulsory, the kit would get torn to threads by the brambles every year and people would have to buy even more.
To be honest, I don't like the idea of ripping my best kit on the brambles.
To be honest, I don't like the idea of ripping my best kit on the brambles.
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PorkyFatBoy - diehard
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Good - can't wait - thank goodness we couldn't even get enough orders for the minimum order for club tops from Ultrasport
Maybe...
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PorkyFatBoy - diehard
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we were told it is eight, and we'd only got five - but it's a horrible design anyway, and the club might not exist after the next AGM in a months time, so we're holding fire in any case.
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PorkyFatBoy - diehard
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Have PM'd you - though people might be able to work it out - the design is the same as Laggnlia 02 - BTW
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PorkyFatBoy - diehard
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wales were gonna have a new design....similar to that of the swedish 1's but have since decided not to cos it "wears to easily" and apparently goes "furry" oh, and the seniors dont wanna run in tight (ish) lycra but ye....from the original post i de think the biggest put off from 'o' is what we have to wear....i h8 it n run in a helly n my fell running bottoms when i can but dont really wanna rip them :s
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Jene - addict
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PorkyFatBoy wrote:Have PM'd you - though people might be able to work it out - the design is the same as Laggnlia 02 - BTW
Oh Dear, your clubs got a bad o kit and its going down the pan - so which club is it?
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rob f - yellow
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following on from the other thread and this one I believe that Orienteering does need a face lift/ image change as a whole, but this does not necissarily mean focussing towards mass media coverage, media has fadds, these fadds come and go some years you get a lot of mountain biking on the TV, papers etc, the next year its gone, (however with a certain amount of media comes the increase apeal to sponsors)and kit isn't everything to everyone (although it is generally pretty awful at the moment).
I think the attention should be drawn to increasing the appeal of the events, escpecially big events (national and international) if these events have a lot of appeal then people will continue to orienteer in order to continue to go to the big events.
Better event activities, better commentators who don't babble crap all day, better tunes, big marques with foos ball, pool tables, bars, five aside football events going on along side to increase the camaraderie between this individuallistic orientated sport (this is a big thing, not staying in a team house or that where you don't mix with other nations, take it back to the days of travelling around countries staying with other competitors or the like, off the cuff) bigger last day parties, local pubs sponsoring and bringing the beers in and all these not just at the event centres but at the events, make more of a day of it rather than turning up, running and going back to your stay. I know this is expensive and may not appeal to everyone but these are just a few ideas coming off my head right now.
Dids, Jock and Dover know the banter, Hungary 2002 the organiser Arpe brought in a load of that kind of stuff to the event centre and event for the whole week (and what a quality week it was), if Hungary can pull it out the bag like that then why can't other events? With this more vibrant atmosphere comes the banter, the people the sponsors, the sport as a whole prospers, bring the event out of the darkness of the forests and into the light. Stop the turning up to events, parking your butt in one spot for the event, ryun your race and leave, making it more of an apealling day, and not in the haphazard way that is often seen with a burger van here, a crap band playing there and a PA system from back in the day, intigration and planning of not only the courses but the event site!
There are always entrepreneurs out there who will find a way to make this financially viable
I think the attention should be drawn to increasing the appeal of the events, escpecially big events (national and international) if these events have a lot of appeal then people will continue to orienteer in order to continue to go to the big events.
Better event activities, better commentators who don't babble crap all day, better tunes, big marques with foos ball, pool tables, bars, five aside football events going on along side to increase the camaraderie between this individuallistic orientated sport (this is a big thing, not staying in a team house or that where you don't mix with other nations, take it back to the days of travelling around countries staying with other competitors or the like, off the cuff) bigger last day parties, local pubs sponsoring and bringing the beers in and all these not just at the event centres but at the events, make more of a day of it rather than turning up, running and going back to your stay. I know this is expensive and may not appeal to everyone but these are just a few ideas coming off my head right now.
Dids, Jock and Dover know the banter, Hungary 2002 the organiser Arpe brought in a load of that kind of stuff to the event centre and event for the whole week (and what a quality week it was), if Hungary can pull it out the bag like that then why can't other events? With this more vibrant atmosphere comes the banter, the people the sponsors, the sport as a whole prospers, bring the event out of the darkness of the forests and into the light. Stop the turning up to events, parking your butt in one spot for the event, ryun your race and leave, making it more of an apealling day, and not in the haphazard way that is often seen with a burger van here, a crap band playing there and a PA system from back in the day, intigration and planning of not only the courses but the event site!
There are always entrepreneurs out there who will find a way to make this financially viable
You can't expect to reach the top without a little climbing!
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Asian - light green
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PorkyFatBoy wrote:we were told it is eight, and we'd only got five - but it's a horrible design anyway, and the club might not exist after the next AGM in a months time, so we're holding fire in any case.
There seem to have been mutterings prior to your AGMs for years that you were about to fold, but fortunately it hasn't happened yet and I hope you find enough volunteers to populate your committee and keep it going! We lost WASH fairly recently and it would be a real pity to shrink even further.
It might not be sensible if you're going to change the design, but surely the club can scrape together the money to order a small kit stock so that the keen new members you're hoping to attract can buy some and feel part of the club as soon as they join?
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MarkC - orange
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