[Albion] Away fans in home ends

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Neville's Breakfast

Well-known member
May 1, 2016
13,450
Oxton, Birkenhead
It's not about new fans supporting BHA, it's about opposition fans getting tickets in home/away ends and openly supporting that team. It takes the piss.
Understood, but how can the club police that ? These opposition fans came from all over the place ie Sussex and beyond. I think it is partly about new fans as well. The atmosphere isn’t what it once was in part because the nature of the support has inevitably changed in the PL.
 


Gazwag

5 millionth post poster
Mar 4, 2004
30,729
Bexhill-on-Sea
Perhaps in some sort of context, my coffin manufacturer took me to Palace away last December, at late notice the only tickets he could get were corporate, we were in one of the box/lounges behind the goal, right next to the away end, there were 24 people in there and we were pre warned it would be a mixture of supporters.

Of the 24:
4 were Palace fans, 4 of us and the rest (16) were foreign tourists, American, Canadian, Korean, some of whom, in conversation, revealed they'd actually paid more than us via third party ticket agencies.

Its a truly global game, and Albion, Palace et al, will sell tickets to whoever is prepared to pay the money, regardless of who they support. :thumbsup:
This thread has got a bit mixed up as it started about away fans in the home end and has morphed in true NSC style to Home fans in the Away end, you are talking about the former which is totally different to the current conversation, you will always get tourists, freeloaders, glory hunter etc etc in the home ends but you should never get home fans in the away end.
 


Neville's Breakfast

Well-known member
May 1, 2016
13,450
Oxton, Birkenhead
Completely accept that and have the same feeling regarding the PL and all the nonsense that goes with it. Influencers and all the bollocks.

New fans, great. That global reach. I completely get it.

But, when the Club bang on about loyalty and fairness it feels like it’s only STH (non 1901) who are judged in that way. The application of their ‘rules’ is discretionary for some but cast in stone for us.
I don’t know enough about the rules you face as a STH as we gave up ours three years ago. However if you mean points and ID checks they apply to members as well. We wait patiently until the last window and buy whatever tickets are left after STH have had their chance. We turn up with our ID and we could be Brighton exiles, opposition fans or PL tourists. There really isn’t any way to differentiate when selling tickets.
 




HangletonGull

Well-known member
Apr 10, 2023
2,292
Sorry, might have missed this….what were they up to?
Women standing next to me two kids and fella where obviously Liverpool she was even chanting Liverpool songs 2nd went in almost creamed her knickers told her to turn it was met with a torrent of abuse, when Salah got subbed the kid in the middle couldn’t help himself and gave salah a massive clap , the women laid right into him saying shut up we have been rumbled 🤦‍♂️
 


dwayne

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
16,259
London
Couple of things

Albion fans were really loud on the stream I was watching.

I dont mind Liverpool fans in our end of we can't sell out to our high points fans. But they should be quiet and respectful. Wearing a Liverpool top is just taking the p1ss.
 


Talby

Active member
Dec 24, 2023
280
Sussex
Women standing next to me two kids and fella where obviously Liverpool she was even chanting Liverpool songs 2nd went in almost creamed her knickers told her to turn it was met with a torrent of abuse
That is abysmal. The whole point of the control of tickets was to reduce anti social behaviour by having segregation of fans. Not put a loyal fan in the middle of it at an away game.

It’s a breach of LFC’s Ground Regulations, and that would be the same around the country.

That’s on BHAFC. If their tickets are going to the oppositions fans then there’s potential for a breach of public order
IMG_8420.jpeg

IMG_8420.jpeg.
 




jackalbion

Well-known member
Aug 30, 2011
4,913
Many Brighton fans seem to want ‘global reach’ and all that entails. There have been threads on here in praise of the money spinning tours to the US and Japan. The whole point of these was to attract new supporters. These people will not be traditional old school BHA fans. That’s just a fact. Similarly, much of the new Sussex based support who would never have supported the club if we were still in Div 3. You can’t be gushing with pride about a sold out Amex and an amazing football team if you are not prepared to accept the downside of a plastic PL support. A lot of the moans on here are entirely justified but they are the same accusations that used to be leveled by BHA fans against the likes of Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool. Half and half scarf carrying supporters are inevitable in this new football tourism era and many on NSC have been excited to see so may of these new fans but perhaps not so thrilled about the consequences. Personally I have had enough of the PL and would be quite happy to be back in the lower divisions and then these issues disappear. That doesn’t apply to now though and like many long standing BHA fans I only get away tickets because full allocations are taken. So I am hoping people can be a little more realistic about what a PL support in 2024 actually looks like (basically just like ours at every ground I have been to)so that I can continue to buy tickets.
Its about people actively supporting the opposition, the suggestion to reduce allocations is ridiculous, there are people who missed out as a result of these people passing on tickets to home supporters, I want the global fanbase, but I want them to support us.

I'm more than welcoming to most of these people when I see them at games, Newcastle there was a decent sized collection of Japanese fans, in amongst it all. The support in Japan was stunning and I love that side of the fanbase so much that I spent a lot of money to go to Japan and experience it. I don't really see any issue with overseas fans supporting a PL side (I have been for example with Bundesliga, La Liga etc), but the ones that irk me are Southerners from within in England, that's the side of PL Plastic support I don't like and I don't think we'll ever have it.
 


portlock seagull

Well-known member
Jul 28, 2003
17,775
That is abysmal. The whole point of the control of tickets was to reduce anti social behaviour by having segregation of fans. Not put a loyal fan in the middle of it at an away game.

It’s a breach of LFC’s Ground Regulations, and that would be the same around the country.

That’s on BHAFC. If their tickets are going to the oppositions fans then there’s potential for a breach of public orderView attachment 191844
View attachment 191844.
Only states ‘may be’ not definitely. Utterly subjective language, deliberately, as with nearly all such ‘legalities’

But it is unfair, I wonder how I who have supported club for many decades can’t get to away games like this yet on TV you can see the tourists time and time again…so tend now not to bother. PL not nearly as fun as other leagues anyhow for all the reasons mentioned. At least I know where I was when we were shit to paraphrase the chant!
 


Talby

Active member
Dec 24, 2023
280
Sussex
Only states ‘may be’ not definitely. Utterly subjective language, deliberately, as with nearly all such ‘legalities’

But it is unfair, I wonder how I who have supported club for many decades can’t get to away games like this yet on TV you can see the tourists time and time again…so tend now not to bother. PL not nearly as fun as other leagues anyhow for all the reasons mentioned. At least I know where I was when we were shit to paraphrase the chant!
It’s all rather loose so that the clubs can use their discretion.

It’s the shitty corporate nature of the club that I try to ignore but it’s the double standards that frustrate.
 




Neville's Breakfast

Well-known member
May 1, 2016
13,450
Oxton, Birkenhead
Its about people actively supporting the opposition, the suggestion to reduce allocations is ridiculous, there are people who missed out as a result of these people passing on tickets to home supporters, I want the global fanbase, but I want them to support us.

I'm more than welcoming to most of these people when I see them at games, Newcastle there was a decent sized collection of Japanese fans, in amongst it all. The support in Japan was stunning and I love that side of the fanbase so much that I spent a lot of money to go to Japan and experience it. I don't really see any issue with overseas fans supporting a PL side (I have been for example with Bundesliga, La Liga etc), but the ones that irk me are Southerners from within in England, that's the side of PL Plastic support I don't like and I don't think we'll ever have it.
Fair enough, but let’s not kid ourselves these are long term BHA fans. If Mitoma signs for Liverpool those same Japanese supporters will find it difficult to buy tickets in the home end at Anfield (my neighbour certainly has this problem). They will buy tickets in the Brighton end and support their hero, just like the Southern UK plastics. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to single out any particular group of supporters, just using them as an example. If you or anyone else can come up with a way the club can exclude opposition fans from the away end without adding ridiculous numbers of stewards or impacting parts of our support then that’s fine by me.
 


Wardy's twin

Well-known member
Oct 21, 2014
8,866
I get that Jack and understand what you and others look for in any away day. I've been to plenty of aways that didn't sell out to STHs but the atmosphere has still been superb. Not everyone sings. I join in most - although there are some chants I don't get involved in. I don't understand why those STHs that would have bought tickets over the first few days of sales weren't able to generate the usual atmosphere. I find it hard to believe that it was down to players' friends/family and 1901 guests etc that the vast majority couldn't get a few songs going. Other opinions are valid - obviously.
I suspect many more family, friends and 'hanger on's' went to Liverpool than would go to Wolves or Leicester..... But how many would there be. I assume the allocation was 3000 (or very close) how many were club tickets 300? So not sure that in its own right would cause a lack of noise problem. Maybe there was a trade in tickets as second hand price might be deemed worth a chance..... Maybe if the club published % tickets handed out it would increase its transparency.

I didn't go to Newcastle or Everton so difficult to know the difference, my brother went to Newcastle and before the game said it was a different mix of fans than there than at Liverpool.
 
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PascalGroß Tips

Well-known member
Jan 29, 2024
579
I suspect many more family, friends and 'hanger on's' went to Liverpool than would go to Wolves or Leicester..... But how many would there be. I assume the allocation was 3000 (or very close) how many were club tickets 300? So not sure that in its own right would cause a lack of noise problem. Maybe there was a trade in tickets as second hand price might be deemed worth a chance..... Maybe if the club published % tickets handed out it would increase its transparency.

I didn't go to Newcastle or Everton so difficult to know the difference, my brother went to Newcastle and before the game said it was a different mix of fans than there.
From my own point of view, although I do join in a lot of the singing ... as I mentioned in previous post ... I do sometimes get so wrapped up in the game when it's tense that that is my sole focus. That was certainly happening to me late on in the game on Saturday. I recall a few times that GOSBTS started ... but then because of an attack happening and the excitement that can go with it ... GOSBTS just drifted away.
 




jackalbion

Well-known member
Aug 30, 2011
4,913
Fair enough, but let’s not kid ourselves these are long term BHA fans. If Mitoma signs for Liverpool those same Japanese supporters will find it difficult to buy tickets in the home end at Anfield (my neighbour certainly has this problem). They will buy tickets in the Brighton end and support their hero, just like the Southern UK plastics. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to single out any particular group of supporters, just using them as an example. If you or anyone else can come up with a way the club can exclude opposition fans from the away end without adding ridiculous numbers of stewards or impacting parts of our support then that’s fine by me.
I don't know, a lot of the fans I meet, they do seem in it for the long term, the ones that travel over here certainly, they seem to buy into the ethos of the club.
 


Wardy's twin

Well-known member
Oct 21, 2014
8,866
I don’t know enough about the rules you face as a STH as we gave up ours three years ago. However if you mean points and ID checks they apply to members as well. We wait patiently until the last window and buy whatever tickets are left after STH have had their chance. We turn up with our ID and we could be Brighton exiles, opposition fans or PL tourists. There really isn’t any way to differentiate when selling tickets.
Your individual buying history tells the club that you are not just buying for Liverpool away each year....
 


Wardy's twin

Well-known member
Oct 21, 2014
8,866
From my own point of view, although I do join in a lot of the singing ... as I mentioned in previous post ... I do sometimes get so wrapped up in the game when it's tense that that is my sole focus. That was certainly happening to me late on in the game on Saturday. I recall a few times that GOSBTS started ... but then because of an attack happening and the excitement that can go with it ... GOSBTS just drifted away.
Totally agree, it was a totally absorbing game which needed focus.
 


Wardy's twin

Well-known member
Oct 21, 2014
8,866
I am not sure how the members tickets are allocated , but assume its just a single free for all . There are a lot of members who go to a few away games and so assume they have points accumulated. The club could/should differentiate one offs against regular supports.
 




Weststander

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2011
69,237
Withdean area
Many Brighton fans seem to want ‘global reach’ and all that entails. There have been threads on here in praise of the money spinning tours to the US and Japan. The whole point of these was to attract new supporters. These people will not be traditional old school BHA fans. That’s just a fact. Similarly, much of the new Sussex based support who would never have supported the club if we were still in Div 3. You can’t be gushing with pride about a sold out Amex and an amazing football team if you are not prepared to accept the downside of a plastic PL support. A lot of the moans on here are entirely justified but they are the same accusations that used to be leveled by BHA fans against the likes of Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool. Half and half scarf carrying supporters are inevitable in this new football tourism era and many on NSC have been excited to see so may of these new fans but perhaps not so thrilled about the consequences. Personally I have had enough of the PL and would be quite happy to be back in the lower divisions and then these issues disappear. That doesn’t apply to now though and like many long standing BHA fans I only get away tickets because full allocations are taken. So I am hoping people can be a little more realistic about what a PL support in 2024 actually looks like (basically just like ours at every ground I have been to)so that I can continue to buy tickets.

NSC would be an unrepresentative subset of the total Albion fanbase, perhaps 90% of people here one club Albion fanatics. Club obsessives. With much angst about anyone sitting near them in the Amex or away who might like another club.

The wider reality of people sitting in the 28k home supporters at Amex games differs I think. We sit near groups of folk who might be about 60 years old, also 25 year olds, who miss swathes of games stuck in the concourse, the younger ones chat all game about anything other than the Albion, half watching the game. Mentioned by many people in this type of thread, a lot of us know Sussex born n bred folk who in the 1990's as adults switched to Arsenal as their club for life, I know quite a few, some are Amex STH'ers, others are members who visit once a season when their club visit and sit in the home stands.

With our proximity to the London clubs as well as the huge fanbase for ManU/LFC passed through families, I can't see the Amex anytime soon comprising solely 28k Albion fanatics.

A lot of this was damage from the fallow/skint years 1983 to 2011.
 
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HangletonGull

Well-known member
Apr 10, 2023
2,292
The thing is seeing there was two kids with her I was really polite i
That is abysmal. The whole point of the control of tickets was to reduce anti social behaviour by having segregation of fans. Not put a loyal fan in the middle of it at an away game.

It’s a breach of LFC’s Ground Regulations, and that would be the same around the country.

That’s on BHAFC. If their tickets are going to the oppositions fans then there’s potential for a breach of public orderView attachment 191844
View attachment 191844.
Seeing That there was 2 kids with her I was actually really polite with the request what came out of her mouth actually took me aback made the last 15/20 mins very uncomfortable
 


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