AFC Bournemouth
Here is the latest Supporter liason update for November 2023.
Women’s Game
On Sunday we welcomed almost 7000 supporters to Vitality Stadium, the largest crowd in the club’s history for AFC Bournemouth Women. The event saw over 1000 new cherries supporter create a ticketing account and attend the game. In addition, so far this season we have seen an increase in attendance at games at Long Lane, with many games attracting more than 400 supporters. It is incredibly pleasing to see so many of our supporters showing their support for our women’s team and would like to thank supporters for their dedication.
To find out about the latest women’s team fixtures:
https://www.afcb.co.uk/matches/women/
Junior Cherries
Over the last few months, we have hosted three Junior Cherries Masterclasses, these sessions are designed to highlight jobs in football to showcase that with education and hard work, there are avenues into a career in sport. The most recent sessions have focused on physiotherapy, media and a special insight into defending. We have welcomed over 50 Junior Cherries to Vitality Stadium to take part in the sessions.
In addition, in August we hosted our summer Junior Cherries open training session which saw a total of over 500 Junior Cherries attend. It was fantastic to see so many Junior Cherries at the stadium. We are looking forward to sharing further details about our annual Junior Cherries Christmas party.
Matchday
Since the introduction of Park Plaza in September, it has been fantastic to see so many of you using this facility which is quickly becoming a very popular option for supporters to use pre-match.
For clarity on recent amendments in supporter safety, moving forward we will no longer permit any umbrellas or flasks/drinks containers which aren’t completely see-through into the stadium. Supporters are entitled to bring transparent flasks and drinks containers into the stadium and containers will be placed by each turnstile for supporters to store umbrellas during the game.
https://www.afcb.co.uk/news/club-news/update-on-safety-measures-taken-at-vitality-stadium/
The paramount responsibility of the football club is the safety of those attending games at Vitality Stadium and any changes in this regard have been made with the best interest of supporter safety at the forefront of our decision-making process.
It is important to note that discretion will always be used in relation to any supporters with a medical condition or a disability, these supporters are asked to contact the club via [email protected] to discuss with the club’s disability access officer.
As has been the case previously, flags are permitted within Vitality Stadium, subject to complying with ground regulations. Flags and banners must be smaller than 2 x 1 metres, not on a pole of any description, be fire retardant and not be of an offensive nature. From time to time, flags and banners over this size will be permitted. We ask supporters to contact the club in this instance.
To date this season, we have had a number of incidents relating to discrimination and offensive language being used by AFC Bournemouth supporters. As a club, ensuring that all our supporters, players and staff feel safe, respected and welcomed is of the upmost importance and we know that the majority of supporters reflect this value. We would encourage anyone who witnesses this kind of behaviour on a matchday to report this to a steward on the day or use the club’s confidential matchday reporting textline (07827312697) to report the incident.
Ticketing
The club has now completed 16 league match on-sales this season including eight fixtures at Vitality Stadium. Following a return to the Premier League last season, the club started the 2023/24 campaign with more than double the number of max point holders we had to start the 2022/23 season. This is the result of more supporters purchasing games during the Premier League campaign last season than the previous year in the Championship, where approximately 2/3 of home matches reached general sale. No home league matches have reached general sale this season.
We also completed a successful preseason campaign at Vitality Stadium earlier this year. Across our fixtures with Lorient and Atalanta, we welcomed more than 17,000 supporters. This represents more than 40% growth of our home end attendance over our two pre-season fixtures last season.
As support for the club grows, we’re making strides to grow our ticketing team. Since the start of the season, we’ve brought on three new ticketing services representatives to ensure we’re available to respond to supporter questions and feedback. Our ticket office remains the most accessible in the Premier League with the most hours of operation and the only office open seven days a week.
Finally, we’re making great progress in improving matchday attendance. With added focus on matchday communication and higher utilisation of the Ticket Exchange platform, attendance figures are up from the 2022-23 season. In fact, we’ve already had four fixtures this season with higher attendance than all 19 league fixtures at Vitality Stadium last season.
Disability Liaison Update
As you may have seen in our matchday programme, during last weekend’s game against Burnley we worked with supporters to trial new technology for visually impaired supporters with GiveVision. The technology utilised headsets to provide supporters with a video feed of the game which was adapted to each supporter’s varying levels of sight impairment. Initial feedback from supporters who took part in the trial has been hugely positive with one supporter saying: “The technology was great, they made the match perfect so I could see so clear and see exactly what player was on the ball without having to listen to my radio or ask someone. I could see everything and it was the best day ever.”
We are pleased to be joining our Disabled Supporters Association for an open forum meeting at Vitality Stadium on the 22nd of November. The meeting will provide a fantastic opportunity to bring disabled supporters, PA’s and friends and families together for an open discussion with club staff around accessibility at AFC Bournemouth.
Please contact AFC Bournemouth DSA on [email protected] for more information.
We would like to take this chance to thank supporters for their continued support and ongoing assistance in ensuring that Vitality Stadium is a safe and welcoming environment for all.
With a busy fixture schedule through November and over Christmas we look forward to you all making Vitality Stadium full of support for the team.
Contact
Supporters are encouraged to contact the club through our [email protected] email if they have any feedback, concerns or queries.
