Cornwall Ontario – There is stupid, and then frankly there is the sad epic that is the Cornwall Nationals.
Rodney Rivette has shimmied and shymied with smoke, mirrors, and some hinky background dramz. Did Mitch Gagne get stiffed for $20K? We know that Mr. Rivette stiffed this newspaper last season, which led to us not working or supporting the team this season, and as you can see, when you lose your largest marketing partner it does have an impact as the team averages less than 1000 per game with many having less than 500 show up.
Ms Ferguson, who has the title of Marketing Director, proves that stupid is as stupid does. For example when someone sent us a screencap of her trashing me last season I just let it roll, because you can’t fix stupid. In my few exchanges with her it was clear she knew less about marketing than my dog Fitzy and he’s about as dumb, but cute a dog as I’ve ever met.
How does a marketing director claim that Cornwall isn’t a hockey town as Ms Ferguson just did in a letter to the editor that was only published in two of the least read media outlets? It’s one thing to acknowledge the reality that Cornwall really isn’t a hockey town any longer, which is actually true, but to a publish that as a letter to the editor? Is she hoping that she can guilt people into coming to a far weaker product than the River Kings?
Believe it or not Shannon, a lot of hockey fans still like hockey fights even though in her letter she trashes the old league that the River Kings were in which was some entertaining hockey on occasion. Mr. Rivette told this writer he went with the FHL because it was cheaper to run the team. Well Mitsubishi’s are cheaper than Cadillacs, but not many that want a Caddy will buy another brand just because they’re cheaper.
Again, epic market fail by Mr. Rivette and why he uses someone so clearly inept at marketing is bewildering at best?
The darker side is that good ol Rod thinks his facebook friends will get him elected to Council next year which would be a travesty as he’s not successfully run a single entity to this writer’s knowledge, couldn’t hold down a job with the city, and even was bounced from La Maison because people were about as excited about his Karoake and DJ’g as they are of Mitch Gagne’s. (what is wrong with this town culturally? )
Ms Ferguson first claims that we have 47,000 people in Cornwall, then a paragraph or so later drops the 50,000 number, but the reality is that our true population is closer to 40,000, and of that nearly a third are over 60, if not more.
Cornwall isn’t a mill town any longer. It’s a town with a repugnant, and sadly far too often, well deserved poor reputation. While we may not be known for our stink any more, we still keep acting stinky collectively.
People like Shannon Ferguson and Rodney Rivette are among the reasons why. While some hope that the old dragons that hold this community back will drift off, can we really afford to replace them with proven failures like Rodney Rivette?
One local politico joked to me this week that Andre Rivette announced his retirement from council because they knew that Rodney couldn’t keep up the charade that is the Cornwall National’s much longer, and wants the support of fans to help him get elected, but are there enough fans to do that as compared to the River Kings?
Another alleged that GM Basem Awad is the real owner and money behind the team. Awad had owned the Akwesasne Chiefs of the same league because the City refused to cut him a reasonable deal on playing in Cornwall.
Fast forward to Rivette’s involvement and there have been some cookies from the city that appear to not have been offered to other team ownership. Again, Cornwall corruption and cronyism. How horrible would it be if proven true that a business person that wanted to invest in Cornwall only could if he had the loser son of a City Councilor be his front? I mean, Holy Pierre Mouton!
As I’ve shared many times before, it’s always better to be a small part of something successful than be the biggest turd on the block.
Isn’t it time that more people in this community dig that vibe and we try and build a better Cornwall instead of being such a joke; like Shannon Ferguson is as a marketing manager?
The saddest irony is that more people will click on this story today than will attend a National’s game.
What do you think dear CFN viewers? You can post your comments below.
When I saw Ferguson’s LTE it kind of shocked me. That is not how you get fans into the arena. Trying to guilt people into doing something never works. Perfect example will be the Sens. Eugene’s tirade will not put more fans in the seats, winning games will.
As for Rivette wasn’t he bounced from La Maison when the new owners took over?
I do believe he was Hugger. And I think his new place is closing and he’s slithered over to Deke’s.
I think it more like everybody wants a Cadillac but only a few can afford to buy one in this case.
I know Rod is not God, Shannon is not the queen , but they are trying to keep hockey in Cornwall. My brother has a lot of time and money invested in this team and his love of the sport makes me support his passion for hockey , so I don’t appreciate the negative attitude towards my brother’s team. So support the Nationals !!!!
Marcel while I can appreciate you supporting your brother; if I had cash invested, as Will does, I’d sure as heck ask questions because decisions like crapping on your largest advertising and marketing partner has cost the team thousands of dollars and may ultimately cost Will his investment. I think most of us know how much cash Rodney has invested in the team, right?
This newspaper put our money on the line and supported the team the first year without even so much as a thank you. In fact we saw abuse from Ms Ferguson. We actually were willing to support the team in season two, but Mr. Rivette showed an utter lack of integrity and clearly was not a partner any business could work with in good faith. The typical “gimme free stuff” attitude only gets you so far.
So maybe you should focus your fingers towards Shannon and Rod? Thanks for posting and hopefully the team finds some long term solutions. Our door is always open to people of integrity that want to build something in the community. And as we proved last season it’s not always about CASH like out of town large chain corporate media.