[Albion] Away fans in the home stands

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jackalbion

Well-known member
Aug 30, 2011
4,913
Interested to know why rugby fans can act so differently to football fans supporting their local team. No home or away at the rugby (games I've been to anyway) and fans are able to either leave each other be or it's friendly banter. Is it because club rugby isn't as followed as football? I think it'd be impossible to get a ticket if you could just buy a ticket no matter if you supported home or away side
Because that’s boring, the atmosphere is dead and it’s a knees up with the boys from stow. I have no interest in that and neither does 90% of the stadium. I want edge and needle and having separate home and away sections adds to that. Most people don’t want it as sanitised as Rugby. It’s all banter when you throw up on a child, except when it’s at a football game then it’s a criminal offence.
 




Sid and the Sharknados

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 4, 2022
5,697
Darlington
Interested to know why rugby fans can act so differently to football fans supporting their local team. No home or away at the rugby (games I've been to anyway) and fans are able to either leave each other be or it's friendly banter. Is it because club rugby isn't as followed as football? I think it'd be impossible to get a ticket if you could just buy a ticket no matter if you supported home or away side
This thread does tend to suggest that football fans are, in fact, largely quite capable of not fighting each other when sharing the same stand.
Which isn't to say segregated away ends aren't a good idea.
 


Superphil

Dismember
Jul 7, 2003
25,679
In a pile of football shirts
Other than nearly getting my head kicked in at Upton Park when we scored a late winner having been battered all game,
2004, Guy Butters (68th minute), that was brilliant in the away end (y)
 


Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
72,327
There were a couple of young lads who were a couple of rows down from us in the North (not even in consecutive seats, one behind the other offset). Don't know how they 'exposed' themselves (maybe not celebrating our goals) but I hadn't noticed them until after our third went in when they started getting serious shit from a couple of rows back. I think a few more mature fans stepped in, told the others to leave them alone and advised that maybe they left ?

Obviously, lairy little ****s deserve what they get but I really couldn't see what problem these kids were causing :shrug:
Might have been the group of glassy-eyed teeny Norwegian football tourists who seemed to be wandering around at will. One of them sat next to me for the first five minutes of the game. We had a bit of a slurry chat before he wandered off. They'd been to the Fulham-Chelsea match a few days earlier, had seen the red card happen right in front of them. Being from the land of eye-watering expensive beer, it must have seemed like happy hour to them at the Amex. Probably lost all track of where they were actually supposed to be sitting :lol:
 


Falmer Flutter ©

Well-known member
Feb 18, 2004
980
Petts Wood
Have been in the home end loads when we’ve played away. Sometimes with mates who support the home side, sometimes with other Albion fans when we couldn’t get tickets in the away end. Other than nearly getting my head kicked in at Upton Park when we scored a late winner having been battered all game, I haven’t had a problem, and I don’t really see the problem the other way as long as people don’t behave like bellends. It’s not like it’s hard to buy home tickets as an Albion fan, so I don’t see how they’re stopping ‘real’ fans attending.
Likewise, I was in the home end at Upton Park with a mate when we lost 6-0. It was quite clear by my lack of enthusiasm at having to stand up to applaud for the third time in the opening 10 minutes that I was a Brighton fan. Became a source of amusement to the home fans around me as the game went on. Don't act like a dick, don't wear colours and I don't see the problem.
 




Official Old Man

Uckfield Seagull
Aug 27, 2011
9,100
Brighton
Sorry to bring this up again, but it is a real bug bear of mine. Both Brentford & Wolves Home tickets went on sale this morning at 9 and the stadium is nearly sold out. My two spare seats next to me, back row of East Upper, have sold within minutes. Not seats that you would go online and buy straight away and yet they went within minutes. So far this season I've had Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool fans, first timers and, best of all, Japanese tourists. In my mind someone or something is buying up all two seat tickets as soon as they go on sale purely for resale.
 


SAC

Well-known member
May 21, 2014
2,631
Sorry to bring this up again, but it is a real bug bear of mine. Both Brentford & Wolves Home tickets went on sale this morning at 9 and the stadium is nearly sold out. My two spare seats next to me, back row of East Upper, have sold within minutes. Not seats that you would go online and buy straight away and yet they went within minutes. So far this season I've had Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool fans, first timers and, best of all, Japanese tourists. In my mind someone or something is buying up all two seat tickets as soon as they go on sale purely for resale.
I would suspect that it wont be away fans for those two games.
 


Beanstalk

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2017
3,030
London
Because that’s boring, the atmosphere is dead and it’s a knees up with the boys from stow. I have no interest in that and neither does 90% of the stadium. I want edge and needle and having separate home and away sections adds to that. Most people don’t want it as sanitised as Rugby. It’s all banter when you throw up on a child, except when it’s at a football game then it’s a criminal offence.
Abso-f***ing-lutely.

It's also because no one really cares about rugby, at least not in the same way as football. I'd wager that there are more people in this country who have a connection to a single club than to the game of football itself. The opposite is true for rugby where more people care about the sport than individual teams (especially domestically). In fairness, this is the same for most sports in this country (cricket, tennis, golf, boxing etc.) and why football is so unique as a spectator sport. That cultural investment that is kind of required to be involved in English football, is what makes it fantastic and I'd hate to see it become a boring piss up where no one is bothered by the result.
 




Brian Fantana

Well-known member
Oct 8, 2006
7,551
In the field
Abso-f***ing-lutely.

It's also because no one really cares about rugby, at least not in the same way as football. I'd wager that there are more people in this country who have a connection to a single club than to the game of football itself. The opposite is true for rugby where more people care about the sport than individual teams (especially domestically). In fairness, this is the same for most sports in this country (cricket, tennis, golf, boxing etc.) and why football is so unique as a spectator sport. That cultural investment that is kind of required to be involved in English football, is what makes it fantastic and I'd hate to see it become a boring piss up where no one is bothered by the result.

As someone who has followed domestic rugby in this country for 20+ years, and been to a fair number of games both home and abroad, I think you're underestimating the strength of feeling amongst club supporters. Those feelings might be expressed in a different way to football on match day, but that doesn't make them diminished IMO at least.

The club that I support (Leicester Tigers) regularly takes a couple of thousand fans abroad for European games. I've been to away games in Toulon, Clermont, Perpignan, Paris, Milan and Parma, where the level of support that travelled was enormous - people who don't really care about the result don't have that level of commitment, in my experience. The difference is really the lack of hostility between the sets of fans. When you go to a European away game as a rugby fan, the opposition fans really welcome you to their city and want you to have a good time (apart from the result, obviously). As a fan, it makes for a much more enjoyable experience. The atmosphere at French domestic rugby grounds (Perpignan and Toulon especially) rivals a fair number of English football grounds.
 


Beanstalk

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2017
3,030
London
As someone who has followed domestic rugby in this country for 20+ years, and been to a fair number of games both home and abroad, I think you're underestimating the strength of feeling amongst club supporters. Those feelings might be expressed in a different way to football on match day, but that doesn't make them diminished IMO at least.

The club that I support (Leicester Tigers) regularly takes a couple of thousand fans abroad for European games. I've been to away games in Toulon, Clermont, Perpignan, Paris, Milan and Parma, where the level of support that travelled was enormous - people who don't really care about the result don't have that level of commitment, in my experience. The difference is really the lack of hostility between the sets of fans. When you go to a European away game as a rugby fan, the opposition fans really welcome you to their city and want you to have a good time (apart from the result, obviously). As a fan, it makes for a much more enjoyable experience. The atmosphere at French domestic rugby grounds (Perpignan and Toulon especially) rivals a fair number of English football grounds.
Obviously, it is a very generalised statement and not as simple as including everyone (or obviously, there would be no market at all for domestic rugby).

What is clearly true is that the majority of people who enjoy rugby in this country aren't as committed as yourself and don't particularly care about domestic rugby or have an affiliation with a club. That is wildly different to football, where those more passive supporters will nearly always have some sort of connection and affiliation to a club, often more so than a connection to the game itself.
 


Goldstone1976

We Got Calde in!!
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Apr 30, 2013
14,124
Herts
Sorry to bring this up again, but it is a real bug bear of mine. Both Brentford & Wolves Home tickets went on sale this morning at 9 and the stadium is nearly sold out. My two spare seats next to me, back row of East Upper, have sold within minutes. Not seats that you would go online and buy straight away and yet they went within minutes. So far this season I've had Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool fans, first timers and, best of all, Japanese tourists. In my mind someone or something is buying up all two seat tickets as soon as they go on sale purely for resale.
Put one up for sale. When it sells, put the other one up. Job's a good'un.
 




Neville's Breakfast

Well-known member
May 1, 2016
13,450
Oxton, Birkenhead
Because that’s boring, the atmosphere is dead and it’s a knees up with the boys from stow. I have no interest in that and neither does 90% of the stadium. I want edge and needle and having separate home and away sections adds to that. Most people don’t want it as sanitised as Rugby. It’s all banter when you throw up on a child, except when it’s at a football game then it’s a criminal offence.
I think you have it the wrong way round. Football used to be unsatinized pre segregation and it used to kick off all the time. Segregation has removed the edge and needle and replaced it with a handful of bigmouths shouting empty threats across a bit of netting while the majority of us enjoy the game.
 


pure_white

Well-known member
Dec 8, 2021
1,216
i dont see whtats difficult about pointing out away fans in home sections to stewards? the more we all do this the les we'll see them in the home stands
 


Thunder Bolt

Silly old bat
I think you have it the wrong way round. Football used to be unsatinized pre segregation and it used to kick off all the time. Segregation has removed the edge and needle and replaced it with a handful of bigmouths shouting empty threats across a bit of netting while the majority of us enjoy the game.
I'm old enough to remember pre segregation and it didn't kick off. It seemed to start in the late 60s with the skinheads adopting football teams.
 




Neville's Breakfast

Well-known member
May 1, 2016
13,450
Oxton, Birkenhead
I'm old enough to remember pre segregation and it didn't kick off. It seemed to start in the late 60s with the skinheads adopting football teams.
I was talking about the 70s pre segregation, when I was a kid. There are though lots of examples pre 60s and 70s. The point I was making is that segregation itself sanitized and made the game a lot safer. That was the whole point of it so that mostly the problems were pushed outside of grounds. It worked.
 


thedonkeycentrehalf

Moved back to wear the gloves (again)
Jul 7, 2003
9,340
Sorry to bring this up again, but it is a real bug bear of mine. Both Brentford & Wolves Home tickets went on sale this morning at 9 and the stadium is nearly sold out. My two spare seats next to me, back row of East Upper, have sold within minutes. Not seats that you would go online and buy straight away and yet they went within minutes. So far this season I've had Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool fans, first timers and, best of all, Japanese tourists. In my mind someone or something is buying up all two seat tickets as soon as they go on sale purely for resale.
If it bothers you that much, don't put them on sale and make sure you don't renew the tickets for next season so someone who will use the seats as a season ticket can take them.

Failing that, stop being a grumpy old bastard and just accept that two people who may or may not support the Albion will enjoy seeing Premier league football match.

If they behave then what is the problem, you could even speak to them and find out that they are perfectly friendly normal football fans. If they turn out to be total tw@ts then I'm sure you can take pleasure in screaming for a steward to kick them out and then post on here how heroically you have behaved. :ffsparr:
 


Beanstalk

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2017
3,030
London
If it bothers you that much, don't put them on sale and make sure you don't renew the tickets for next season so someone who will use the seats as a season ticket can take them.

Failing that, stop being a grumpy old bastard and just accept that two people who may or may not support the Albion will enjoy seeing Premier league football match.

If they behave then what is the problem, you could even speak to them and find out that they are perfectly friendly normal football fans. If they turn out to be total tw@ts then I'm sure you can take pleasure in screaming for a steward to kick them out and then post on here how heroically you have behaved. :ffsparr:
It is ridiculous to want to gatekeep the Albion in that way - there is such a huge difference between an away fan sitting in the home end and people wanting to watch a football match (and legitimately buying a ticket). Genuinely can't see the problem with sitting next to someone who has either decided to go to their first game, or has decided that whilst on holiday that they want to watch Brighton.

I did this in Tokyo and was welcomed with open arms by those around me despite being on my own and looking ropey as hell (I'd had a very big night before). It is by far my favourite non-Albion footballing memory and despite their kit colours, I'll probably always hold a soft-spot for FC Tokyo because of that.
 


BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
22,680
Newhaven
If it bothers you that much, don't put them on sale and make sure you don't renew the tickets for next season so someone who will use the seats as a season ticket can take them.

Failing that, stop being a grumpy old bastard and just accept that two people who may or may not support the Albion will enjoy seeing Premier league football match.

If they behave then what is the problem, you could even speak to them and find out that they are perfectly friendly normal football fans. If they turn out to be total tw@ts then I'm sure you can take pleasure in screaming for a steward to kick them out and then post on here how heroically you have behaved. :ffsparr:
Harsh……but fair :smile:
 




Official Old Man

Uckfield Seagull
Aug 27, 2011
9,100
Brighton
Put one up for sale. When it sells, put the other one up. Job's a good'un.
Sorry, didn't explain well. The seats aren't mine, just next to me. The ST holders gave them up last season so they go on the open market each game.
I don't mind tourists or newbies, I just hate the person sat next to me to be shouting for the opposition and giving me lip all game.
As a side, I nearly purchased one as a cheap half season under 10 (or something) for £100.
 


Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
72,327
Sorry, didn't explain well. The seats aren't mine, just next to me. The ST holders gave them up last season so they go on the open market each game.
I don't mind tourists or newbies, I just hate the person sat next to me to be shouting for the opposition and giving me lip all game.
As a side, I nearly purchased one as a cheap half season under 10 (or something) for £100.
Over-egging the cake a bit there shirley? ???
 


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