Streaming of Winchester match

For one thing we need it to work to provide much needed funds to the club. One of the heralded justifications for carrying on regardless was the ability to generate funds from live streaming.

Not sure if this has been questioned but the service was all-pay for the FA Cup game. League matches free for season ticket holders I believe.

I was on the club Twitter and while I expected some frustration for the service not working, the backlash which came through was unnecessary. Do people get a buzz out of being nasty or something? Do they really think the people on the gantry weren't doing everything possible to make it work? There was one person filming, one other sorting the graphics and two others on the radio. This wasn't a team of 50 with techies littered around to step in. Updates were given and refunds promised. Was it tested? Yes, it was being set up at midday when I did a few sound checks and I understand another test was carried out between 2-2.30 when it was working fine. It had been previously tested at a training session. It wasn't at the Yeovil game because Dave was at work - hint, these are volunteers working all these hours to try and help the club.

I get you all wanted to watch and you missed a cracking match, but highlights will be up to enjoy it instead. I hope you show as much praise for the quality of those and offer some apologies for what was said online today. The little snidey comments were not nice and sadly Twitter might as well rename itself Toxic as people use it to let off steam and think it's perfectly ok to make digs at others, almost to show off. There was some appreciation in amongst it all but noticeably I didn't see one person say "I could help in the future with trying to set this up if it is needed."

This might come across as hypocritical because I had a go about the play-off stream but that was by a paid company, the people filming it turned up pretty late and they offered no refunds. I think Dartford had an issue streaming theirs today and I expect other clubs did too. Don't take your anger out on those who are trying their best, please.

Well said, Junior. While the complaints were unwarranted I guess it’s partly a result of us being so frustrated that we cannot watch games live. To be fair many on social media were supportive of the volunteers  - unfortunately, as you say, others are far too quick to criticise. I’m reminded of those posters displayed at Chippenham - 'Before you moan, have you volunteered?’

To correct you on one thing -  I was informed that the filming company for the Dorking match were going to offer refunds until the NL stepped in and said no.

I get all that and I made some frustrated comments on twitter. Expectation on the back of Dorking was understandably high and when people pay they expect a service. Regrettably it doesn't matter if its volunteers or Sky Sports, customers expect it to be fit for purpose. All that said Daves e mail was prompt, classy and on the mark. I and perhaps others don't want a refund, fully appreciate the work he and others do, and now confident that it will be sorted for our opening league game.

I didn't realise Dave had emailed and I completely get the point of expecting a service if it's paid for. I wasn't paid a penny to edit the programme and neither is Adam now, we both made/make errors along the way.

There just needs to be more realisation that we aren't a load of jobsworths hoping to blag our way through games and if the system works it's a bit of luck. It takes a hell of a lot of preparation and with money paid there was pressure to make it work. Think of it like the team - if we had lost today it wouldn't have been through lack of effort, it would have been through silly errors. But the crowd would have gone spare with the 'I paid such and such for this' and would vent their fury on Twitter for all to see. Sometimes it doesn't have to be as public.

I don't know how anyone can blame the media team. This is a technical problem. Even professional companies cannot guarantee continuity.

Well I won't be asking for a refund as 1, I appreciate the efforts made and 2, £6.99 wont break the bank.

Agree with Markk. Our Club is built on volunteers who are a talented bunch and we are lucky to have them. Thank you to all of them. I was happy to get some pictures and the commentary. And we won!

I didn't see all of the comments on twitter - I made a few but they weren't intended to be critical, but were made out of frustration especially as hopes for this stream were high after the Dorking debacle. Sorry if they came across that way.

All credit to Dave for sending out the email - as others have said, his filming is always top quality. I am sure it will be fixed for next Saturday.

No comments of yours, LB, came across that way. Like many you appreciate that the Club rely on the efforts of volunteers and trust it to address problems.
Time to move on (into tomorrow’s draw....)

I don't do Twitter so I don't know what comments were made yesterday about the online streaming of the match. Even if I did do Twitter I would not have complained. If the money went to the club I don't want a refund. Yes it was frustrating not to be able to see what was going most of the time, but I would not have been critical. I know that this was the first time that this had been done by our own volunteers and I take my hat off to them for doing this in difficult circumstances and I can imagine their frustration while they anxiously tried to put things right.

I listened to the commentary on the Bath City website so at least I could hear what was going on.

It was only about 5.10pm when I realised that I had started to breath properly again after holding my breath for about the last 20 minutes of the match while I willed the team on to get another goal .

A quick look on the NL forum suggests that a lot of clubs suffered from the same issues.

I'm sure I'd have been as frustrated as many if I'd been trying to watch the stream but can speak from very personal experience how dreadful the weather was so it was no surprise that it affected the coverage.

I can't get to Oxford so may try their coverage but will be equally understanding if there are technical issues.

From Dave's e-mail he indicates that it was his Eglato streaming device  that was the problem and that it would be replaced. It was not clear as to how the replacement would be funded but to me it does seem something that should fall to the  Supporters Club or Society. Perhaps increasing the streaming fee by £0.50 for a few matches would provide the necessary funding.

Not sure what capacity the device needs to be but a quick check on Amazon shows anything up to £250.   Not sure if the one impacted by yesterday's weather is still serviceable to some degree as it might be a back-up.