Which club do you think are the most well supported in Brighton?

[MikeySmall]

Thats crap. My missus works for a school hastings way and both Gully and Marcus Painter have been there in the last 3 months.

 

[Hotchilidog]

A very good opening post I thought. I suspect it is the usual mix of Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Man Utd and Liverpool. However I have noticed a hell of a lot more Albion gear being worn around town in the last few years. Given the capacity of Withdean and the level at which we play football the club haven't really been able to take ownership of the city ala Newcastle. However with the move to Falmer and the prospect of higher level football we maybe able to turn this around, that's why in my opinion the +3's was such a great idea. It will be interesting to see if the Albion can start to reclaim the city in the near future.

 

[The Buttery Biscuit Base]

I certainly think Brighton are up there, but a lot of the kids follow Premiership clubs.

I'm a Cub leader and all except two of the kids (from a group of 36) follow a Premier League club.

Shame...

 

[Gwylan]

In terms of shirts, I see far more people wearing Brighton shirts than I do any other team

Same here. If I watch a group of kids playing football, there'll be plenty of Brighton shirts. One interesting phenomenon: when I do see kids wearing Prem shirts, it's always Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs, very rarely do I see Man U

 

[Buzzer]

My 15 year old lad goes to school in Shoreham.

He has always been the only Albion fan in his class & indeed to his knowledge his year! Most of his friends say and who else do you support & cannot understand that he doesn't support anyone else than Brighton.

Finally, with our success some other kids are watching the Albion whilst still supporting other clubs.

What the Albion are very poor at is going into schools, handing out programmes, goodies, tickets etc. They certainly have not done this in Shoreham nor I suspect anywhere else! Its all well & good having sessions for the kids in the community, however, these are aimed at kids who want to play football, not just to watch the team!

Absolute twaddle. The programme for the last game showed a picture of Elliott Bennett in a classroom in Southwick where he goes very regularly to help out. THe Albion players go to schools in all the major Sussex towns to help out. It's been happening for a few years now. My son's school in Brighton has had Tommy Elphick, Gary Dicker and now Glenn Murray there. The Albion run a very successful schools programme and tied in with the free tickets to schools, the Family Stand has rarely been under 90% full in the last year. Bear in mind that these are all primary schools. Get 'em young and they'll be hooked for life.

These conversions from other teams do not happen overnight but they are happening. In my son's school Albion paraphernalia being worn is getting more common and the number of kids that describe Brighton as their team is increasing. In my son's class it has gone from 2 (Him and another boy) to now 9 of them.

And speaking anecdotely I think I've seen a massive increase in people (kids especially) wearing Albion gear around Sussex. Whereas before it was a rarity to see it in Churchill Square on a weekend you will more likely than not spot a fair few Albion hats, scarves and tops worn.

The club have also invested massively in Gully's Gang. It's free and they have 12,000 members that they send free goodie bags and stuff to regularly. Every 7 year old in the gang gets a free kit. That's an investment that will really pay dividends in 15 or 20 years.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

I was at school mid to late 70's when Brighton were a very good 3rd/2nd division club. Just remembering from the East Preston area those of us that went and watched and more importantly, supported! Bones, Ray, Pat, Tony, Jim, Smudge, Jay, Julian, Bob, me and almost certainly a few I missed out and that was just EP village, and we were all between the ages of 14 and 17... so the support was there from kids, just need to nurture it back I guess.

 

[Gordon the Gopher]

My 15 year old lad goes to school in Shoreham.

He has always been the only Albion fan in his class & indeed to his knowledge his year! Most of his friends say and who else do you support & cannot understand that he doesn't support anyone else than Brighton.

Finally, with our success some other kids are watching the Albion whilst still supporting other clubs.

What the Albion are very poor at is going into schools, handing out programmes, goodies, tickets etc. They certainly have not done this in Shoreham nor I suspect anywhere else! Its all well & good having sessions for the kids in the community, however, these are aimed at kids who want to play football, not just to watch the team!

Not true, things are a changing. Couple of well known players go into my mates school in Southwick. you can probably guess who by looking closely at this picture from inside the school!

 

[Ecosse Exile]

My 15 year old lad goes to school in Shoreham.

He has always been the only Albion fan in his class & indeed to his knowledge his year! Most of his friends say and who else do you support & cannot understand that he doesn't support anyone else than Brighton.

Finally, with our success some other kids are watching the Albion whilst still supporting other clubs.

What the Albion are very poor at is going into schools, handing out programmes, goodies, tickets etc. They certainly have not done this in Shoreham nor I suspect anywhere else! Its all well & good having sessions for the kids in the community, however, these are aimed at kids who want to play football, not just to watch the team!

Once The Amex is up and running, i think it would be good if they organised tours of the Stadium to schools for day trips. Maybe allow them to meet the manager and any players that are around, give out goodie packs as you say etc.

This will create interest and sometimes its the kids who drag the parents along.

 

[Gordon the Gopher]

Absolute twaddle. The programme for the last game showed a picture of Elliott Bennett in a classroom in Southwick where he goes very regularly to help out. THe Albion players go to schools in all the major Sussex towns to help out. It's been happening for a few years now. My son's school in Brighton has had Tommy Elphick, Gary Dicker and now Glenn Murray there. The Albion run a very successful schools programme and tied in with the free tickets to schools, the Family Stand has rarely been under 90% full in the last year. Bear in mind that these are all primary schools. Get 'em young and they'll be hooked for life.

These conversions from other teams do not happen overnight but they are happening. In my son's school Albion paraphernalia being worn is getting more common and the number of kids that describe Brighton as their team is increasing. In my son's class it has gone from 2 (Him and another boy) to now 9 of them.

And speaking anecdotely I think I've seen a massive increase in people (kids especially) wearing Albion gear around Sussex. Whereas before it was a rarity to see it in Churchill Square on a weekend you will more likely than not spot a fair few Albion hats, scarves and tops worn.

The club have also invested massively in Gully's Gang. It's free and they have 12,000 members that they send free goodie bags and stuff to regularly. Every 7 year old in the gang gets a free kit. That's an investment that will really pay dividends in 15 or 20 years.

Spot on apart from not Elliot!

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Thinking back to my school days, which weren't as long ago as some of yours may have been, Albion were probably the 6th or 7th best supported club - I'm not talking about match goers because they probably would've been 1st or 2nd in that respect - but who people considered themselves fans of, which in my book is pretty bad in any one club city/county.

There's your problem. You did your research amongstthe lost generation. Speak to 40 year old men and the ratios would have been different I suspect.

 

[Buzzer]

Spot on apart from not Elliot!

Yep. I've just checked and it's a two-page with Calderon in Southwick and another page about Bridcutt and Bennett who go to Westdene School. Apologies. Love the Albion mural. There's one like that at my son's school.

Incidentally - that goodie bag that they all got last year, can anyone remind Steve Foster what was in it? It was quite substantial.

 

[TS90]

Hence why I'm asking on here TRHK.

 

[TS90]

And yeah, I think most of us know how big the club is in its Community activity.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Hence why I'm asking on here TRHK.

OK. In my view the most popular would be:

1. Brighton & Hove Albion
2. Southwick
3. Chelsea
4. Oldham
5. Swansea
6. Whitehawk
7. FCUM

I might be wrong - that's just a guess.

 

[Lindfield by the Pond]

What the Albion are very poor at is going into schools, handing out programmes, goodies, tickets etc. They certainly have not done this in Shoreham nor I suspect anywhere else! Its all well & good having sessions for the kids in the community, however, these are aimed at kids who want to play football, not just to watch the team!

Disagree. I help run a Beaver group for scouts (6-8 year olds). At the start of our meeting we let the boys talk about their last week, and I have had at least 3 occasions in the last 12-14 months where they best "thing to happen" was an Albion player coming into school. They bring all the Gully stuff to show me etc.

Out of 20 boys have 2 Albion, 1 Gillingham, 1 Man City, 2 Chelsea, 1 Liverpool. Of the rest, I'd say 5-6 have been to watch an Albion match, and only the the Man City and Gillingham lad have actually been to see "their" team.

 

[The Ringleader Returns!]

My 15 year old lad goes to school in Shoreham.

He has always been the only Albion fan in his class & indeed to his knowledge his year! Most of his friends say and who else do you support & cannot understand that he doesn't support anyone else than Brighton.

Finally, with our success some other kids are watching the Albion whilst still supporting other clubs.

What the Albion are very poor at is going into schools, handing out programmes, goodies, tickets etc. They certainly have not done this in Shoreham nor I suspect anywhere else! Its all well & good having sessions for the kids in the community, however, these are aimed at kids who want to play football, not just to watch the team!

Which school? If he goes to Shoreham Academy then I can think of 8-9 Brighton fans who would be in his year.