Feedback | Munster Rugby Fan Surveys

01/05/2024 13:40

After most home Munster Rugby matches, we issue a fan feedback survey to all supporters who attended the game.

We receive in excess of 10,000 replies on an annual basis and these are invaluable for us to understand where we can make improvements on matchdays in our home venues.

The ratings on these surveys are tracked internally and used as a benchmark each season. At times, we have also partnered with URC on these surveys whereby we are then benchmarked against other stadia in the league.

While we know that some supporters question the value of providing this feedback, we want to ensure you that it is reviewed in detail and action is taken where feasible.

With this in mind, we now want to share details of some of the most regular feedback and what actions we have taken or plan to take in the next year.

Re-usable Glasses

In line with our commitment to reduce plastic waste as part of our Environmental Sustainability strategy, we have been looking into the feasibility of introducing re-usable glasses in all of our bars in Thomond Park in conjunction with our bar & catering partner.

As identified by so many of our supporters, there are solutions that have been implemented in other stadia but, upon review, it was not possible to replicate some of these models in Thomond Park.

However, in conjunction with our new partner Aramark, we ran a trial in a number of the bars in the West Stand at the Cardiff match in March and hope to extend this trial to other areas in the stadium early next season.

Bar & Catering Outlet Queues

Since the redevelopment of Thomond Park, the issue of queues for bars and catering units is something that we have constantly sought to address. While it has not been an issue for the lower attended matches, it has been a big challenge for the sell-out games.

We work extremely closely with the bar & catering provider (Aramark) with a view to minimising the queues for same. We introduced an App (Bumpey) for mobile ordering and collection in some of the East Stand bars and this was recently extended to additional bars.

In conjunction with Aramark, we are also reviewing all aspects of service with a view to minimising the order times for every supporters. We would hope that this will lead to reduced queuing time next season.

Flag Collection/Return Points

While most supporters are aware of the distribution of free Munster flags by MRSC volunteers at the entrances to the stadium on matchday, there was a lot of feedback as to where these flags could be returned post-match.

We have now a number of flag return bins at a number of points outside Thomond Park, where the flags can be returned. The location of these return points are usually included in the matchday information article on the website which is published a number of days prior to the match.

We hope to replicate this in Virgin Media Park next season.

Player Interviews Pitch-side

We had a significant number of requests for player interviews specifically for those supporters attending each match. This is now in place for the majority of matches this season, whereby a player is interviewed by our resident PA, Ken Perrott, giving a unique insight into the upcoming match or other relevant information.

Toilet facilities in Virgin Media Park

While we incorporated new toilet facilities for Virgin Media Park in our West Stand redevelopment a number of years ago, there has been a lot of negative feedback around the facilities for those supporters located in the East Terrace.

Our plan to address this is to include new public toilets in the planned Centre of Excellence at the North East corner of the stadium which will be comparable to the toilets in the West Stand.

While we await the construction of the new facility, temporary toilets will be in place behind the East terrace for most matches.

Mascot Interaction

There were a lot of suggestions to broaden our use of the club mascot, Oscar, whereby there would be a significant increase in his interaction with our younger supporters throughout the stadium. This has been rolled out this season where Oscar is out and about around the stadium pre-match and also a lot more accessible within the stadium.

Welcome Team

We approached the Munster Rugby Supporters Club (MRSC) earlier this season and they kindly agreed to provide a formal welcome team from its volunteer base for all matches in each venue.

The Welcome Team can be seen in their yellow jackets at various points outside the stadium on a matchday and are there to assist you with any questions you may have.

This initiative began after feedback around the lack of stadium knowledge when supporters seek information from stewards. Stewards are contracted on a match by match basis so it is extremely difficult to maintain the same stewards for all matches.

While all stewards are trained prior to coming on site, sometimes there are cases whereby they do not possess the required knowledge to guide supporters.

Thanks again to the MRSC for yet another initiative that they are playing a key part in the club.

Big Screens

While we have two big screens in operation for competitive matches in Thomond Park, we have only one in Virgin Media Park. The most common feedback item is for us to erect a second screen for the matches in Virgin Media Park but unfortunately this is not possible as any second screen would require an associated structure which would be a restricting factor for access/egress around the stadium thus reducing our capacity.

For the Crusaders game in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the absence of a big screen was the biggest feedback item. Unfortunately, due to the infrastructure in the stadium, the only feasible locations for big screens are at the back of both the City and Blackrock terraces.

For the South Africa game, we installed a screen at the City End but we unable to utilise the full size of the screen due to wind conditions on the day. This led to significant negative feedback and we made the decision to remove that screen for the Crusaders game.

However, for any future match in the stadium, we will endeavour to install a screen at both ends and the size of this will be dependent on the weather conditions forecast for the day.

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While the above is only a small sample of the feedback given, we would ask you to please continue to give your feedback following each match as this is the best way for us to be able to monitor your experience in each of our stadia and look to continue to enhance same.

If you wish to provide any additional feedback, please do so via the form on the following link Additional Supporters Feedback.

Thank you for your continued support of Munster Rugby.

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