Doing Something Right?

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 15/01/2001

The Fishy was created just over two years ago. At the time of its inception it was the site of the Grimsby Town International Supporters Club. It was then developed into the leading independent Grimsby Town site - a fact that was recognised by the Rivals network.

Subsequently, when their network was created TEF was then invited to become the Grimsby Town Rivals site. TEF accepted that invitation and entered the Rivals brotherhood - a network created by the fans for the fans.

This is what has given Rivals the strength it has gained in the sporting media. In six months, the Rivals network has gone from strength to strength, challenging the supremacy of many more established sites in terms of coverage and exposure with the Fishy being amongst the network's flagship sites.

We must be doing something right!

The transition has not been easy. Undertaking this type of activity requires significant commitment in terms of time, effort and dedication to the team it supports and reports on….Grimsby Town.

Columnists such as Todd Bontoft - features like Fred and Bert and the Cod Widow - competitions like the ever popular POM, Captions, and Limericks etc. - fun in the Karaoke of Mariners songs: All of this has firmly established TEF as one of the leading independent football websites in the entire country.

Along with having access to the news wire and the Allsports picture library, not to mention connections with overseas reporters and the British media, TEF will now be enhancing it's coverage of the Mariners with five new writers joining the existing team. TEF has now been accepted by a number of the major sporting media as their source of news and comment relating to Grimsby Town FC.

We must be doing something right!

Along the way we have made mistakes. No project of this type is without them and we accept and live with the mistakes we have made. We make no apologies for adopting such an outlook in spite of the fact that the GTFC official site took the trouble of pointing out two errors made by TEF in the Crewe match-day programme.

Somewhat unfortunately for the author of that article, on the very same day, the official site erroneously announced the final score of the match as being: Grimsby Town 3 Crewe 1 - a clear indication of the perils of throwing stones from glasshouses!

We at TEF do not wish to indulge in any activity such as this, which could damage the professional image of both sites. In any case we have a common purpose in supporting GTFC through our subscribers. It is important therefore that the relationship between TEF and the official site is one of mutual acceptance and, where possible, co-operation in activities that are beneficial to the club.

When the new agreement between the Nationwide League and NTL comes into effect, the official site will bring in much needed income to the club in relation to the number of hits the site achieves. We believe that the energies of the people involved with the official site should be directed to ensuring that the club receive a fair share of the NTL cash pool, which is substantial, rather than participating in activities that only serve to create disharmony between the two sites.

We wish them every success in that aim and we stand by our previous offer to Grimsby Town Football Club. We are prepared to assist and co-operate with them to achieve a positive outcome to this venture without imposing on the independence of our respective sites.

The development of TEF will continue as we strive to maintain our momentum and leadership in this field. Sure the critics will carp and call, but for them, like Chicken Little, the sky is always falling in. We however will continue in our aim of providing accurate news, comment, interaction and fun to the people we serve - the fans and supporters of Grimsby Town Football Club.

We must be doing something right!

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