During the last month, OGAE ROW was conducting an own SURVEY about plans of the creation of OGAE Australia. We understand that the survey came rather late since decisions in OGAE International on the issue have been already taken, but we have to underline that this was policy of OGAE network to keep the information confidential and not to allow us informing our members about the process in it’s earliest stages.

First of all, we would like to thank all 70 Australian members of the club who have provided their responses to the survey – that is 82 % of the people receiving it. Unfortunately, 18% have chosen to keep silent and ignore the survey, which is very sad, as the club always awards activity, but also should discourage inactivity on such important issues.

Here is the outcome of the survey:
93% of those responding would like to stay members of OGAE ROW after possible OGAE Australia creation.

Of them:
a) 73% would likely choose OGAE ROW to as their only club and not join OGAE Australia;
b) 21% of people would like to join both OGAE ROW and OGAE Australia. Most people indicated they would like to choose this option to be involved in the local activities, and they hope new Australian club will be welcoming to everyone and will not block ROW Australian members from the access to the events. However at this point of time, there is no indication if new Australian club will indeed have a secondary membership category, or will close doors for everyone who is not their member;
c) 07% of people indicated they would like to stay in ROW as their primary club, but also join other (not Australia) club as secondary, some options named included Hungary and Iceland.

This is an overwhelming majority of people who would like to stay in ROW, and we’re very thankful for that. Here are some comments people chose to give on the issue:
– “OGAE ROW is so much more than just a ticket agency, it tries to keep the members active 24/7”.
– “I am 100% happy being part of OGAE ROW, I feel there are genuine Eurovision fans there, people are so supportive and I love the activities. OGAE ROW is more interesting as other countries around the world are included”.
– “In Vienna we were like one big family from every corner of the world”.
– “It is an eye opener to hear opinions on our shared passion from people on the other side of the globe”.
– “OGAE ROW has a personal touch with its members which is surprising given the size of the club”.
– “We felt at home in ROW from day one”.

94% of respondents said OGAE ROW has satisfied most (if not all) their needs, especially regarding ticket packages. Only 06% think that perhaps their needs may be satisfied somewhat better in own Australian club. Some of the answers on why Australian club may be able to serve needs of Australian members better and thus can be created are:

1 – the club will be in the same timezone as the members, so they can get information and replies to queries instantly.
Current OGAE ROW includes several Australian members, who serve also on positions of treasurer, member liaison, secretary, Facebook moderators etc, so the queries from Australian members are being handled instantly but their fellow Australian members who assist the President of the club.
2 – more ticket packages, no need to share it with members from 30 other countries.
Statistically in the past 3 years 60-80% of packages in ROW were claimed by Australia. ROW club has been able to get a larger share of packages first of all thanks to members in those 30 countries, who pay their membership but do not request tickets in the given year. One of the members stated: “Only in ROW will Australians get so many ticket packages as more than half the members of ROW belong to the club for other reasons than tickets”.
3 – own leadership, an entire board made of only Australians, culturally more transparent and/or democratic governance structure to the club.
As described above, currently we have Australian members who are part of the board, however, a core position of OGAE ROW is that the board should be made on a regional basis, thus reflecting needs of all members of the club. This is natural for the international organization.
4 – more publicity for the Australian activities, decisions tailored for the needs of Australian members not taking in account needs of others.
OGAE ROW provides equal access to Facebook and website to members from all countries who can post the information about their local events and organize them. A sense of OGAE ROW as the multinational club is always to balance the interests of members from different countries, and then unfortunately no preferences can be given to the particular nations.
5 – modern technology to inform Australian members about news like SMS, What’s App, organization of Australian events, support from the Australian broadcaster.
This and many other things can be implemented with activity from the Australian branch of ROW, this is not something that should be organized centrally by the club but within a particular branch. ROW as club absolutely encourages its members for bigger local activities under its banner.

On the other side, some Australian members raised their disagreement with the fact that Australian club has to be created in principle, for example:
– “I do not believe that Australia should have its own club as it is not part of Europe, and I would much prefer that smaller European countries were supported so that they could get clubs running in their own countries”;
– “I feel that ROW does a fantastic job and I struggle to see the benefit of OGAE Australia”;
– “Maybe OGAE Australia should be formed as an off-shoot of OGAE ROW rather than a separate entity”.

There have been thoughts that people should be able to become primary members only in their home countries, for example:
-“I believe that people shouldn’t have ROW as their primary membership if their nationality is being represented by another OGAE branch”.

Yet, considering a creation of OGAE Australia club is a given reality, we’ve also asked members if they would like to see us involved in the creation of the Australian club. The majority of 83 % has responded that they would like ROW to be involved in the Australian club creation. Here are some of the comments that people have given:
– “Yes, in its infancy – I believe that OGAE Australia could benefit from a well run club such as OGAE ROW”;
– “OGAE ROW helped other countries separated into their own club recently so it seems that since most Australian fans are currently part of ROW, they would be the logical party to help”;
– “I think OGAE ROW should play some role in the creation of the Australian club as many of the board members are Australian, and there would need to be a lot of thought put into the transition process for Australian members”;
– “I feel in the early stages ROW would be like the mother/father club giving guidance to OGAE Australia then later on after the dust has settled Australian OGAE would be on its’ own”;
– “I think OGAE ROW should be involved in setting up the Australian club initially to provide guidance”.

Most of people have underlined that there should be more public information given by OGAE International in the regards of process of formation of the club, and every step should be widely publicly announced and accessible by every interested side to ensure their equal access to the information.

Every comment of the members that has been shared to ROW has been carefully read by us, and some great ideas given will be implemented in the time to come. That is why it is so important to be active to have your voice heard and your ideas implemented.

We will be publishing the outcome of the survey also at OGAE International platforms and we sincerely hope that opinion of ROW members will also be taken in consideration in the process of creation of the new Australian club.