Travelling support

[Oiseau]

I'm not fond of the 'you're not a real fan of the club if you don't go to matches' judgement. This is coming from someone who travelled to Liverpool, WBA and QPR over Christmas (as well as getting soaked in the rain during the Southampton and Swansea matches.)

There's nothing wrong with being an 'armchair supporter.' While it's important that the team has support at matches, fans have very valid reasons for not being able to make games. The cost, the time of year and distance are important to consider. That doesn't mean that someone is any less of a supporter. I also highly dislike the idea that you're not a 'real fan' if you're not local to the club. Hell, I really hate the whole 'real fan' concept.

I missed our match against Chelsea away because it was too expensive and it was midweek. Many QPR fans may need to work today so can't make their fixture.

The support at WBA was very good in my opinion especially considering that it was NYD when many people see their families and that it was an early kick off. We had to leave the house at 7am yesterday and spent almost the entire day travelling - an idea which understandably doesn't appeal to most people (even me if not for the chance of three points.) The tickets were quite cheap and only cost me as an under-21 £10! Travelling can be quite pricey, though.

[PokerMatt]

my excuse is I have a life, football isn't the be all and end all for everyone

and the few who went yesterday don't have lives and football is the be-all and end-all for them ? what a ridiculous thing to imply.

Yet you're the one claiming no excuse for not going to the midlands is good enough?

I'm not old by any means, but having got to 25 I don't place as much importance on football as I used to. And because of that I watched the game on tv and went to my parents' house for our traditional new year meal.

I'm not putting down anyone who is able to and does travel all over - in fact I'm grateful for them showing the lads support - but to say no excuse is good enough is assuming everyone is in the same situation and is, in your words, "a ridiculous thing to say".

For what it's worth, I don't live in London so getting to even home games isn't "comfortable". Add to the fact I work the majority of Saturdays makes it pretty hard to get to games. I suppose that makes me less of a fan.

[Baider]

You'd just like to think that a club that has a fanbase of over 40,000? that we could at least sell 1,000 away tickets regularly

[JimmyDunnesBum]

You'd just like to think that a club that has a fanbase of over 40,000? that we could at least sell 1,000 away tickets regularly

bingo!  i think i'm banging my head against the wall with a few others on here .

yes, we all have our own lives , but collectively we should do better than we did yesterday as far as travelling support numbers are concerned

[SP]

QPR fans about to be rewarded at the dog track, RAFA out. Let the SKY love fest begin.

[NorfolkJim]

You'd just like to think that a club that has a fanbase of over 40,000? that we could at least sell 1,000 away tickets regularly

40,000 genuine fans, or 40,000 people who bought a ticket once in a blue moon probably when Man utd are in town. Honestly I'd be surprised if we had much more than 15,000 serious fans and maybe 15,000 more who could turn up a few times in a season or if its an especially important game.
Fulham just don't have that army of fans all over the country that other teams draw on - we never have. we also have quite a genteel support, many of whom are either not interested in away travel (for many and varied reasons) or watch Chelsea every other week.
Unlike Wigan, who have only rugby league to compete with - Fulham have all the attractions of the capital and a number of much bigger clubs within easy travelling distance to compete against. You just can't compare us with the likes of Stoke, Southampton, Sunderland or even Norwich.

Compare us with Norwich. Norwich probably has a slightly larger fan base and going by their time in divi 1, a very committed fan base. On a saturday in Norfolk what is there to do? Go shopping, sex up yer sister or have a walk on a freezing cold beach with the north wind doing its best to liberate your bollocks from your trouser leg. What would you be doing?

The only way to change this is to get a bigger support

[HillingdonFFC]

You'd just like to think that a club that has a fanbase of over 40,000? that we could at least sell 1,000 away tickets regularly

40,000 genuine fans, or 40,000 people who bought a ticket once in a blue moon probably when Man utd are in town. Honestly I'd be surprised if we had much more than 15,000 serious fans and maybe 15,000 more who could turn up a few times in a season or if its an especially important game.
Fulham just don't have that army of fans all over the country that other teams draw on - we never have. we also have quite a genteel support, many of whom are either not interested in away travel (for many and varied reasons) or watch Chelsea every other week.
Unlike Wigan, who have only rugby league to compete with - Fulham have all the attractions of the capital and a number of much bigger clubs within easy travelling distance to compete against. You just can't compare us with the likes of Stoke, Southampton, Sunderland or even Norwich.

Compare us with Norwich. Norwich probably has a slightly larger fan base and going by their time in divi 1, a very committed fan base. On a saturday in Norfolk what is there to do? Go shopping, sex up yer sister or have a walk on a freezing cold beach with the north wind doing its best to liberate your bollocks from your trouser leg. What would you be doing?

The only way to change this is to get a bigger support

Our away support almost defies explanation. Yes its expensive and we`re generally piss poor away from home but surely a top flight club which averages 25,000 should take more than 3-400 to West Brom??.
I post on another football messageboard and they regulary post away numbers for clubs outside the premiership. Some of them would put us to shame. If you take  derbies and  local games out our away support is smaller than a lot of Div 1 clubs. I`m sure Brentford or Orient would`ve taken as many to Walsall.
I know a lot of people seem to think who cares?, well I do, its bloody hard trying to defend our club when people are taking the piss down the pub, especially when its almost impossible to do so.

[HatterDon]

You'd just like to think that a club that has a fanbase of over 40,000? that we could at least sell 1,000 away tickets regularly

40,000 genuine fans, or 40,000 people who bought a ticket once in a blue moon probably when Man utd are in town. Honestly I'd be surprised if we had much more than 15,000 serious fans and maybe 15,000 more who could turn up a few times in a season or if its an especially important game.
Fulham just don't have that army of fans all over the country that other teams draw on - we never have. we also have quite a genteel support, many of whom are either not interested in away travel (for many and varied reasons) or watch Chelsea every other week.
Unlike Wigan, who have only rugby league to compete with - Fulham have all the attractions of the capital and a number of much bigger clubs within easy travelling distance to compete against. You just can't compare us with the likes of Stoke, Southampton, Sunderland or even Norwich.

Compare us with Norwich. Norwich probably has a slightly larger fan base and going by their time in divi 1, a very committed fan base. On a saturday in Norfolk what is there to do? Go shopping, sex up yer sister or have a walk on a freezing cold beach with the north wind doing its best to liberate your bollocks from your trouser leg. What would you be doing?

The only way to change this is to get a bigger support

Our away support almost defies explanation. Yes its expensive and we`re generally piss poor away from home but surely a top flight club which averages 25,000 should take more than 3-400 to West Brom??.
I post on another football messageboard and they regulary post away numbers for clubs outside the premiership. Some of them would put us to shame. If you take  derbies and  local games out our away support is smaller than a lot of Div 1 clubs. I`m sure Brentford or Orient would`ve taken as many to Walsall.
I know a lot of people seem to think who cares?, well I do, its bloody hard trying to defend our club when people are taking the piss down the pub, especially when its almost impossible to do so.

How early did you get up New Years Day? I'm guessing you would have had to get up around 0530 or 0600 to get to the Midlands for that match.

[ash]

You'd just like to think that a club that has a fanbase of over 40,000? that we could at least sell 1,000 away tickets regularly

40,000 genuine fans, or 40,000 people who bought a ticket once in a blue moon probably when Man utd are in town. Honestly I'd be surprised if we had much more than 15,000 serious fans and maybe 15,000 more who could turn up a few times in a season or if its an especially important game.
Fulham just don't have that army of fans all over the country that other teams draw on - we never have. we also have quite a genteel support, many of whom are either not interested in away travel (for many and varied reasons) or watch Chelsea every other week.
Unlike Wigan, who have only rugby league to compete with - Fulham have all the attractions of the capital and a number of much bigger clubs within easy travelling distance to compete against. You just can't compare us with the likes of Stoke, Southampton, Sunderland or even Norwich.

Compare us with Norwich. Norwich probably has a slightly larger fan base and going by their time in divi 1, a very committed fan base. On a saturday in Norfolk what is there to do? Go shopping, sex up yer sister or have a walk on a freezing cold beach with the north wind doing its best to liberate your bollocks from your trouser leg. What would you be doing?

The only way to change this is to get a bigger support

Our away support almost defies explanation. Yes its expensive and we`re generally piss poor away from home but surely a top flight club which averages 25,000 should take more than 3-400 to West Brom??.
I post on another football messageboard and they regulary post away numbers for clubs outside the premiership. Some of them would put us to shame. If you take  derbies and  local games out our away support is smaller than a lot of Div 1 clubs. I`m sure Brentford or Orient would`ve taken as many to Walsall.
I know a lot of people seem to think who cares?, well I do, its bloody hard trying to defend our club when people are taking the piss down the pub, especially when its almost impossible to do so.

How early did you get up New Years Day? I'm guessing you would have had to get up around 0530 or 0600 to get to the Midlands for that match.

Or stay up from the night before. It was a bloody nightmare.

[SP]

You'd just like to think that a club that has a fanbase of over 40,000? that we could at least sell 1,000 away tickets regularly

40,000 genuine fans, or 40,000 people who bought a ticket once in a blue moon probably when Man utd are in town. Honestly I'd be surprised if we had much more than 15,000 serious fans and maybe 15,000 more who could turn up a few times in a season or if its an especially important game.
Fulham just don't have that army of fans all over the country that other teams draw on - we never have. we also have quite a genteel support, many of whom are either not interested in away travel (for many and varied reasons) or watch Chelsea every other week.
Unlike Wigan, who have only rugby league to compete with - Fulham have all the attractions of the capital and a number of much bigger clubs within easy travelling distance to compete against. You just can't compare us with the likes of Stoke, Southampton, Sunderland or even Norwich.

Compare us with Norwich. Norwich probably has a slightly larger fan base and going by their time in divi 1, a very committed fan base. On a saturday in Norfolk what is there to do? Go shopping, sex up yer sister or have a walk on a freezing cold beach with the north wind doing its best to liberate your bollocks from your trouser leg. What would you be doing?

The only way to change this is to get a bigger support

Spot on NJ on all counts.  I have a few friends who're on the famous FFC mailing list simply because they attend the Cottage once a season in the Neutral section to support their teams.

Also, for many supporters, the demands of work mean the prospect of more travel at the weekend completely unappealing.

[HillingdonFFC]

Not digging anyone out for not going,I never went myself. I've watched away games since the early 80s and there is a tendency to romantically recall those days of us having good away support when that's not strictly true. What I would say is we had a far larger proportion of our home crowd following us away. We would take 1000+ to places like Reading and Orient when were only getting 4-5000 home crowds. Surely away followings should grow with your home support??. Think its an indication of how our home crowds would suffer following a relegation.
I think we just haven't got that culture of away support,I have some old time  Chelsea mates, all good lads and they tell the stories of a generally crap Chelsea side taking thousands everywhere. I've experienced myself, saw them a few times in their promotion year and they had ridiculous numbers, they had a big away following from the 60s. My old man said we only shifted about 12,000 for the 1975 semi at Hillsborough while Birmingham had nearly 40,000

[Scrumpy]

Not digging anyone out for not going,I never went myself. I've watched away games since the early 80s and there is a tendency to romantically recall those days of us having good away support when that's not strictly true. What I would say is we had a far larger proportion of our home crowd following us away. We would take 1000+ to places like Reading and Orient when were only getting 4-5000 home crowds. Surely away followings should grow with your home support??. Think its an indication of how our home crowds would suffer following a relegation.
I think we just haven't got that culture of away support,I have some old time  Chelsea mates, all good lads and they tell the stories of a generally crap Chelsea side taking thousands everywhere. I've experienced myself, saw them a few times in their promotion year and they had ridiculous numbers, they had a big away following from the 60s. My old man said we only shifted about 12,000 for the 1975 semi at Hillsborough while Birmingham had nearly 40,000

Very valid points, all of which have been made countless times, over many years. We definitely had a larger proportion of away fans when we were smaller. One of my theories is that if you follow a struggling team, then you are already a bit of a 'nutter'. In other words, you have been tested many times before, through crap performance after crap performance, and have stuck with the team when many others have left the fold. Hence, of the 4000 that used to attend home games, there will be very few there for the 'glory'. At least 2-3000 will travel 50-60 miles to an away match.

Fast forward 15 years and we have picked up an awful lot of new fans, which is massive credit to The Club. They've done very well with cheap tickets, special offers etc and we average 25400 in a stadium that has a capacity of 25700. That's enough to make any QPR fan whince! But the away following has not followed suit (although it is getting a lot better, I am certain). I agree with you and others that this is down to 1, the relative affluence of our fans; 2, the lack of hooligans and consequent 'away match culture'; and 3, the fact that we're based in London which has all the other social and sporting alternatives.

But I think there is another reason too. Since around the year 2000, away support at all Clubs has slowly reduced. (This may be the gentrification of football, the increasing cost of match tickets, the worldwide recession or the eradication of hooliganism). So our main period of growth, from 2000 onwards, has coincided with the general reduction in away following and away match culture. If we'd had our glory years in 1980-2000, when the away culture was it it's height, then I'm pretty sure our away following now would be pretty serious numbers. But, while we're increasing our support year on year, it's at a time when away culture is not what it used to be.

I'm wittering on, but you get the gist!

[Baider]

Our away support almost defies explanation. Yes its expensive and we`re generally piss poor away from home but surely a top flight club which averages 25,000 should take more than 3-400 to West Brom??.
I post on another football messageboard and they regulary post away numbers for clubs outside the premiership. Some of them would put us to shame. If you take  derbies and  local games out our away support is smaller than a lot of Div 1 clubs. I`m sure Brentford or Orient would`ve taken as many to Walsall.
I know a lot of people seem to think who cares?, well I do, its bloody hard trying to defend our club when people are taking the piss down the pub, especially when its almost impossible to do so.

agree with this. my housemate is a chester fan and he tells me they take over a thousand to pretty much every away game. i know those fans who support chester are likely to be diehard so i can see the commitment but nonetheless a conference national team taking almost 10 times the amount we take is a BIT embarrassing.

[Nth Degree]

I'd said i wasn't gonna get involved with debate with this account given this board has at times become as cynical as the offal but I'll bite.

We are like it or not a small club with a small fan base, we fill our stadium with 15,000 season tickets and 10,000 tourists, corporates and day trippers including half a stand of neutrals. We are in the Premier League yes but without our tourists our gate would be far less than most clubs in League 1. Do people seriously think we will keep the foreign fans (not on here I mean the guys with Bulgarian flags, Norwegian flags, Algerian and Crotaian flags etc...), the big game crowd and the neutrals if we weren't in the Premiership?

People sign up for a 19 game home season ticket, assuming they want to go to other grounds traipsing round the country following their team is a nonsensical argument, they've signed up for HOME games not the away trips.

We are competing with one of the richest clubs in the world with some of the best players in Europe for fans within a 2 mile catchment area.

Children of today are all too easily today attracted only by success and shy away from the hard work of supporting a club that will in all likelihood win nothing.

Many fans have been to a lot of grounds already and dont see the value in going back thanks to no atmosphere, pre match, during match and post match experience (e.g WBA, Wigan).

Where there is new teams we do well and get solid support e.g Swansea, Reading, Soton all sold out.

Games are scheduled for ridiculous times e.g Liverpool on 23rd and WBA on new years day.

We dont have a large fan base outside London, I live in Cardiff and have met 3 Fulham fans in 10 years.

Why the heck would you want to pay almost £30 a game plus travel expenses for 19 trips per season in the league and the cup for a team that wins fewer than 15% of its away games?

Finally we have a very small hardcore fan base and thanks to the ease in securing tickets, people having lives, financial constraints and football not being the be all and end all it was in the 80's there is not a fervent demand for away tickets as there is with other clubs.

[YankeeJim]

So many said that those fickle Yanks would leave when the last American left Fulham but I've notive that dispite having two starters (until recently), there isn't a single stickpin in Norway.

[ScalleysDad]

I have to agree with the sharp rise in the tourist/day tripper/easy enough to pay through the nose for a ticket brigade. I am all for the cosmopolitan fan base and P2 is like a United Nations seminar sometimes. I just wish some of our guests would learn the rules, remember we play in white and abide by the unwritten matchday etiquettes but the harsh reality is that we would be stuffed without them at home matches. Thus a 25,000 plus home sell out split 80/20 is'nt necessarily an indicator of a 20/22,000 plus fan base. I have been to a couple of aways this season which involved more effort than some of our team put in but had to shelve a couple because kick off times were altered. Fact of life these days I suppose.