Saints introduced football to Brazil

For those interested - our Brazilian supporter group just hit 8,000: Southampton FC Brasil There's quite a lot of knowledge and love for the Saints on there. I'm in the process of trying to set up their first ever live events for the Villa game in both Rio and São Paulo - definitely keeping my iTranslate App busy! I think South America, and Brasil specifically, is an area Saints should certainly focus on. We have a unique connection between club and country and it's one area that Liverpool are yet to really expand their global tentacles to: LFC Official Supporter Groups.

 

One of my absolute highlights of the last 5 months of travelling the world was setting up a Southampton day at an academy in Brasil (Cuiaba) and handing out all sorts of Saints gear that I'd taken over from Oz. The kids absolutely loved it and from my contact with the coaches since, it appears they're pretty much all Southampton fans now and still talk about 'that Saints day'. Who knows, I might have even inspired the next GDP..After the penalty comp I was also able, with the help of a translator, to relay the story of Charles Miller to 25 of the Under-14 lads. They loved the story and I spent the next 10 minutes trying to answer various questions about the Saints and Charles Miller.

Some pictures and my report (in Portuguese) from the day: Saints day in Cuiaba

Great work, well done!

Would be great for the club to get involved with securing some form of connection in Brazil given the history. Not sure what their return would be which is probably the reason they won't bother.

Can we not keep resurrecting my very public display of an abject lack of knowledge of our clubs history. Thanks:blush:

I am feeling a bit silly now . There must be someone else on here that didn't know. Please tell I m not the only one.

RELAX! .......yes, there probably are still a few who don't know, but their excuse is that they're still in junior school .....and haven't learned to read properly yet....

RELAX! .......yes, there probably are still a few who don't know, but their excuse is that they're still in junior school .....and haven't learned to read properly yet....

Owch!

Great work, well done!

 

Would be great for the club to get involved with securing some form of connection in Brazil given the history. Not sure what their return would be which is probably the reason they won't bother.

Many thanks, GB.

The figures on the official Southampton FC Facebook page, should be proof enough to invest more in our overseas supporter base. Our fan base outside the U.K is now up to 83.2% - at the start of last season that figure was only 36.8% - that's from a total of over 600,000! A club we should be competing with, Aston Villa, have a full-time Digital Marketer just looking after their Chinese fan base. This is a time when Premier League followers all over the world are looking for a team to follow. IMO we should be trying to get the SAINTS out there at every opportunity..we actually have a vision, principles and a positive message to sell, unlike most clubs. Not to mention we're 2nd in the table!

At the moment I volunteer at least 30 hours a week and have done for over a year now, in order to connect and build our Southampton fan base by using my digital media skill set. I run 11 of our international groups, covering 7 different languages and reach an audience of up to 300,000 people in a week! I'm in the process of attempting to formalise a position with the club, so any positive words below would definitely help Alternatively I'll need to take an unrelated job in the field (have turned down two already to focus on this), which means a lot of this work will go to waste as I won't have the spare 30 hours required - as well as extra for much needed expansion into growth areas.

It's the same area that Liverpool have identified as essential to their future success (once they work out how to buy decent players) and have invested heavily in. Here's former Commercial Director and current CEO, Ian Ayre on the topic: “Central to our international brand strategy is the club’s revolutionized digital output, which is interactive, inclusive and localised to specific markets and accessible in local languages.” “We have worked very hard to make fans in overseas markets feel engaged and we have done this through digital and social media.”

A couple of links for those interested in reading more: Praise for Liverpool's global social media efforts

Asia - Liverpool - Social Media

Liverpool and other clubs

This is from an interview with Ralph in March of this year: but he is looking further afield to address what he describes as a "huge gap" between where the club is commercially, and where it should be. "I believe the potential is unlimited," he said. "This league is going worldwide. One of the areas I hope to be able to help the club in is growing outside of Southampton," the 54-year-old told local media. "Growing the company outside of England is something I am very active about.

Finally, from an interview with Jim Lucas in April, 2013: "We’re keeping a particularly close eye on how to implement a multi-lingual social presence. We already have a Japanese-language Twitter feed with over 4,000 followers, and we’re planning to start a Spanish feed in the near future. We’ve also identified our Indonesian and Malaysian fan-bases as ones we should look to cater for. I think there’s a real opportunity for clubs to bring their global supporters closer together with well-run multi-lingual Twitter and Facebook accounts."

In summary, I'm putting my hand up to do what's been mentioned above by the club and what Liverpool and other clubs are already doing. Anyone that knows me, knows I'm not driven by money and I'd be more than happy to take below market rate for this job! If anyone knows someone within the club, especially RK, I'd love to hear from you. Otherwise a positive message below would definitely help my cause I can't perform on the pitch for the Saints, but I'm more than happy to do everything I can off it, to help us grow into the future.

I might be alone in this but i'd prefer it if we didn't try and chase global "fans", i hate the ones that follow Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal and the rest and don't want that kind of support following us.

People who find the club naturally, have an affinity with us or a link is fine, but whoring ourselves overseas it not something i really want from my club. I want Southampton football club to represent the people of Southampton.

I hear what you're saying, ericb and I agree. What i've done when setting up these groups is firstly connect the already existing supporters with each other - most of which are thrilled to know they're not the "only ones". The idea is then to build on our supporter base from there - that's not done through chasing global fans just for numbers - it's done by continually providing Saints content and engaging with the fan base in a local voice/language in a non-formal and light-hearted way. Basically to get the Southampton message out there, so it's not lost in the pack of chasing teams. FFP Rules basically mean that clubs need to go abroad to find revenue streams and those that don't will lose out massively to those that do. That has a direct influence on what we see on the pitch. Basically the whole world is watching Premier League these days and they all want their own team, if someone is following Southampton over the "big 6" it's probably because they're genuinely interested in the club, it's history and fellow supporters - different from the plastic success chasers of other sides.

Check out the depth of knowledge about Southampton from our Thai page: Thai Saints school

Also from the Indian Saints group 'Praise for SFC principles'. Add in the Brasil link from post 51 and it's clear to see there's a lot of genuine support for us from abroad. The idea is to organise the genuine support into one place. In Melbourne, through being organised, we're now the 2nd biggest supporter group behind Liverpool. A massive achievement, but it shows what possible.

Again, the main objective is to connect genuine Southampton fans and then build the Saints from there. In the current landscape, to be competitive over a long period, it's essential. It's not ideal, but that's the Premier League in 2014..hope that helped more than it confused

I wasn't having a go at you mate, and the Brazil thing is a touching story too, i just hate what the game has become and the need to turn our local club into a global "brand" really saddens me. It sounds like you're doing things with a good heart and the right attitude, but it's just a sad indictment of our sport that even a club like ours has to stretch itself overseas because the competition has been killed in it's true sense.

Nothing would personally make me prouder than to see our club as the heart of our community, representing the people of my city (and if it wins a few fans outside as an by product then fair enough). But as you say the sad truth is to "compete" we have to franchise ourselves abroad.

Get Aussiesaints20 to office!!

[update] Have finally turned the Charles Miller Day in Brasil into a short video. Can anyone spot the next GDP out there?

These kids are super talented (not just because they scored past two hopeless keepers) and still love the Saints. Their coaches tell me they still turn up to training in their Southampton tops and are now hoping to one day play at St Mary's instead of Old Trafford! You never know..

amazing

you learn something every day

well, someone does....

That's nuts. But how many Brazilian players have set the Prem alight? Robinho was probably the best one?

Gilberto Silva was probably the most successful, Juninho at middlesbrough comes to mind as well. Willian, Oscar and Coutinho haven't done badly either, Oh yeah and Costa is Brazilian though he's decided to play for Spain which I found odd.

That's nuts. But how many Brazilian players have set the Prem alight? Robinho was probably the best one?

Emerson at Middlesbrough (not quite as good at Juninho but he did do a no-look pass at a free-kick once).

Shouldn't Saints Web have this strap line at the top of the page?

:

THE CLUB THAT INTRODUCED FOOTBALL TO BRAZIL

(just to rub it in to Spuds, Manure, MankyCity, Chelski, Sham, Skates and all.)

Come to that, SFC should too!

Shouldn't Saints Web have this strap line at the top of the page?

:

THE CLUB THAT INTRODUCED FOOTBALL TO BRAZIL

 

(just to rub it in to Spuds, Manure, MankyCity, Chelski, Sham, Skates and all.)

 

Come to that, SFC should too!

I'd rather have the multiple league titles tbh.

For the club historians, is it true that Charles Miller went to Freemantle School?

(I've always been curious because that's the school that my grandfather 'Pop Bradley' attended, I was once told. (He was born in 1887, two years after you know what. Very proud of him. I sometimes wonder if he and Miller ever met, though probably unlikely)

Well done aussiesaint20, brilliant thread

No he went to Banister Court School

I'd rather have the multiple league titles tbh.

Those too.

No he went to Banister Court School

oops. That's another family fable busted.

Thanks, FF

Seems like one of the kids, Victor Viana, from the 'Charles Miller Day' back in 2014 has really kicked on.

He won a Southampton shirt at the event - by scoring past two hapless GK's and has been supporting the club ever since. A few years ago his family moved to the States and he's been climbing steadily through the ranks:

Just wondering if anyone could forward this to the right people?

Can't have Guly as our greatest Brazilian footballer forever..

Seems like one of the kids, Victor Viana, from the 'Charles Miller Day' back in 2014 has really kicked on.

He won a Southampton shirt at the event - by scoring past two hapless GK's and has been supporting the club ever since. A few years ago his family moved to the States and he's been climbing steadily through the ranks:

. Over the summer he trained with Dinamo Zagreb's youth team but Victor and his family would prefer to try their luck with an English club (with Southampton their preference).

 

Just wondering if anyone could forward this to the right people?

Can't have Guly as our greatest Brazilian footballer forever..

Now that is a footballer.

Sign him up.

Looks promising...poise n technique.

Looks like a decent baller. Definitely worth a look in my opinion. Youth contract, no risk.

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Sign him up !

.p

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Excellent first touch, trickery and a burst of pace. Impressed.

What would the work permit situation be though ?