Royal Albert Cycling Club

Alex-Barr · Joined: 20 Nov 2011 Posts: 24

Sorry I was away on holiday last week and missed the Hill Climb Championships (warm congratulations to James on his first-equal place!).

Also sorry that, in my absence, The Chairman made some rather unfortunate comments about me to a gathering of members prior to the event.

On the basis that there are two sides to every story, and you�ve already heard The Chairman�s, it only seems fair that I give you mine�

The roots of this tale go back almost a year ago. In November 2011, the issue of club kit was raised at the RACC committee meeting. It was agreed that The Chairman would design the kit.

When I joined RACC late last year, I was told that the new kit would be produced shortly. So I waited expectantly.

Nothing happened.

Several months later, around June or July, I raised the issue of the new kit designs with John Campbell, the club captain.

There had been no discernible progress from The Chairman in the meantime. Kit was running out, new members couldn't purchase it, every Sunday run saw people asking when they could get hold of it and some people even had to resort to buying second-hand kit from Keith's shop. Perhaps naively, I told club captain John Campbell that my firm employed some designers who could perhaps help to speed things up a wee bit.

I was told that The Chairman was in charge of the new kit design and I arranged to meet him after a club time trial. It was very clear from the outset that The Chairman saw this meeting as an unwelcome threat to "his" kit design.

I explained to him that I had thought a good basis for the new design might be found in some of the retro Castelli kit which is proving extremely popular with cyclists today. I also said it might be a good idea to incorporate the excellent computer-rendered version of the Royal Albert logo which Pete's firm produced.

The Chairman said he had already produced the new design. When I asked him, not unreasonably I thought, whether I could see it, he at first refused (and I quote verbatim ) "because you might want to change it."

If one sentence sums up this whole sorry tale, it's that one.

I felt like a wee kid in the playground being faced with the retort: "It's ma ba' and you're no' playin'!"

The Chairman, under some duress, let me take a picture of his drawing with my phone and I said that I would get my designers to use it as the basis for a new jersey design.

That was the brief I gave my designers, but, frankly, when they saw The Chairman�s proposed design, both thought they could improve on it. Significantly.

Once they produced their initial designs, I spoke to the two RACC committee members I see most often, John Campbell and James Skinner, about arranging to let the committee see them. (Incidentally, some people might think the desire to let the committee - and The Chairman - get first sight of the proposed new designs is a strange way of, and again I quote The Chairman: "going behind my back".)

At the subsequent committee meeting, my brother and fellow club member Allan and I presented the designs, about which The Chairman had not one single, positive comment to say. The words "fart" and "spacesuit" sprung to mind...

We listened obediently to various criticisms from The Chairman - "too dark", "too different from the Colts", "not safe enough on the roads", "not Albert colours", "too like the Pro-am jersey", "mine could look like that if it was all professionally drawn and mounted." At the end of our chat, it was agreed that The Chairman would work up his design more fully, give us some (hopefully more positive) feedback on our designs and we would then compare notes.

Despite leaving the meeting with a real sense of "Why bother?", we asked our designers to come up with a new set of proposals which addressed some of The Chairman's observations, which they did.

Then we waited, (and waited some more), to hear from The Chairman about his drawing. After six or seven further weeks of silence, I was getting a bit scunnered.

(Bear in mind The Chairman told us at the meeting he'd been working on his design since January or February and we're now in September, with no kit for new or existing members.)

While I waited, increasingly sceptical about getting any communication from The Chairman, I emailed the four new designs to John Campbell and to James Skinner to get their feedback and they seemed genuinely excited and impressed.

John took it upon himself, with no prompting from me, to show the designs to some of the guys on our Sunday run. The response, again, was reassuringly positive. (Please remember, at this stage, the only people I personally had shown them to were members of the RACC committee.)

Unsurprisingly, after John showed the proposed designs to the Sunday group, word got back to the committee and I received a tremendously polite email from The Chairman's partner and fellow committee member Celia which could perhaps be best summed up as: "Thanks for all your help. It's greatly appreciated. Now please leave us alone and let us ignore you."

I responded with the email below,

Hi Celia
Thanks for your note.
As you know, Allan (Barr) and I agreed to work up some proposals on the new club jersey after discussions amongst members about the dwindling stocks of the old design.
In particular, the growing number of new members have been unable to purchase jerseys since the Spring and have been awaiting news on the way forward.
We were happy to come to the committee meeting to discuss the work carried out and show the various designs. This was done with the best of intentions and with a view to contributing to the fabric of the club.
However it was quickly apparent that our involvement wasn�t exactly warmly welcomed in some quarters.
Following the meeting, we�ve now been waiting for the past six or seven weeks for any kind of meaningful feedback and a worked-up version of Alan�s proposed design but none has been forthcoming.
Each week, an increasing number of members have been asking when the new jerseys were going to be available.
Therefore, John, as you know, showed our designs to members of the Sunday Run Group yesterday and they received a very enthusiastic welcome from virtually everyone in the group.
Given that positive response, it�s more important than ever that all of the 70-odd club members are given an opportunity to provide feedback on the various designs - after all, they are the ones who will be wearing it for the next few years � rather than having one specific design put forward as a fait accompli.
With that in mind, I intend to put our proposed design for the new jersey on the website so we can gather the widest possible responses from across the membership and suggest that Alan may wish to do the same.
I hope you agree this is a fair and reasonable way forward.
With best wishes
Alex

After a couple of other emails I suggested we actually speak on the phone to sort things out and during that conversation I gave my word not to put the proposed designs on the club website, on the basis that I clearly understood we would do this in a co-ordinated manner and let the club members see all the designs and give their own feedback.

I waited patiently.
I didn�t put the designs on the website.
I didn�t show them to anyone.
My naivete clearly knows no bounds.

Because as soon as I go off on holiday, The Chairman addresses the members gathered for the Hill Climb and slaughters me. I would suggest my back was turned, but given I was on a bike in Lanzarote at the time, the direction I was facing is largely irrelevant.

So� given that disappointing behaviour, I feel released from my obligation, freely given, not to put the designs on the website. Anyone interested in looking at them can now see them below. But please bear in mind these are no longer proposed designs for the new club jersey.

As The Chairman made abundantly clear during his pre-Hill Climb address, his design is final.

So, when his new jersey design eventually arrives, all the members of the Royal Albert should just pay for it, wear it and keep quiet. You don�t get to have your say. Which is only one of so many disappointing aspects to this whole, sorry episode.

Alex

JimL · Joined: 05 Aug 2010 Posts: 100 Location: Uddingston

Nice designs Alex, not sure about the asymmetry of the date on the back and not sure about the 'big' badge on the back but I agree it would be nice if Alan's (Kain) design could have been posted up for comment.

The main thing however is to make progress with getting an order together as there is obviously a demand , I was hoping to order some winter kit.

So anybody know the timescales to the next order?

Higgi · Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:27 pm Post subject:

Nice designs Alex on the jerseys,if I had a preference it would be for the Grand tour design.
I agree with the Jim L with the date,don't know if it would fit in any better on the bottom (tail) of the jersey.
It would also be nice to resolve this issue so we can put more jerseys on the backs of people to capitalise further on the growth of this club.

peterb · Joined: 29 May 2012 Posts: 25 Location: Carluke

Good looking designs, but a real shame about the range war that seems to have ensued around the whole thing.

I like the Grand Tour design but can't decide on red or blue...
Like the use of the date as well - we should try to make more of the 1872 thing.

I like the offset date on the rear pocket too.

Like the other guys I feel i would like to be wearing the club colours, so it would be good to get something sorted so we could go forward.

There were 20 guys on the road on Sunday and how cool would it have looked if they all had club kit on their backs.

Nice job.

Any scope for sponsorship logo placements?

maso64 · Joined: 25 Sep 2012 Posts: 44 Location: Carluke

Hi Alex nice designs with jerseys ,if i had preference it would be the grand tour one . As for the date on the right hand pocket tend to agree with other comments , could it not be placed along the tail of the jersey. So lets try and get the issues resolved as quick as possible, so that we can get the jerseys on the riders backs and promote the club. Especially on Sunday with 20 riders out it would have looked fantastic to have everyone in club colours .

brianlescargot · Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 83 Location: Motherwell

Can't be a***d with the petty politics. I just go out to ride my bike and enjoy it!

Anyway, I haven't looked at this post before, and have to say that I may be one of the few who doesn't like the current Albert kit. I like the Grand Tour designs, red or blue, above but not very keen on the date thing. A club sponsor (if we had any?) we be good.

Perhaps the design of the jersey should go to a member vote or is that just being stupid?

smudger · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 123 Location: cambuslang

on the subject of sponsors,i offered to sponsor the club,i have a design,all made which i paid for,�160 for,it mainly says cyclesmith,but some logos,could be changed to royal albert,i can show this at the agm,if anyones interested,i dont know how to download it,on to your website,but im also fed up with the politics,thats what happened to the club,last time,dont let it happen again,get the members round the table,and vote on the top,if members want to talk about sponsorship,im more than willing to discuss it at the agm,also i had samples from the company ,carvellho,from portugal,a few clubs in scotland,get there kit from them,there prices are good,about �40 odd pound,each for shorts and top.

brianlescargot · Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 83 Location: Motherwell

And Smudger, very nice was your design too Cool

And agree with your sentiments too

LeeSallis · Joined: 20 Dec 2009 Posts: 117 Location: Strathaven

Guys, the new club kit design is on Facebook and is also in the club house. The kit is coming from Endura and the order form and kit size samples are in the club house for everyone to try.

Cheers Lee

brianlescargot · Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 83 Location: Motherwell

Guess I have to be in RACC group in Facebook to see it so sent request to join. Don't use Facebook very much so not entirely familiar with it.

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