Brighton - it's just not a football town

[Shizuoka Dolphin]

Was it Lawro that said this?

Was he right? As much as there's a good solid few thousand who bleed blue and white, has Brighton's populace become so diluted with students, gays and ethnics that the old heart of the city is missing and we just can't be regarded as a true 'football town'?

 

[Icy Gull]

The fact that fans are still moaning after a win at Bournemouth making it two away games without conceding a goal and moving into the top half of the table would suggest you are right. I have been a bit of a critic of Wilkins but it seems he has learnt after last seasons run of defeats how to stop the rot. Real football towns would be happy with that and not expecting free flowing premiership football at this level, probably..

 

[Simster]

I think it was Brian Clough actually.

But in answer to your question, no it isn't.

 

[Hunting 784561]

My belief is that to be a sucessful footballing town you need a big industrial base, or at least have a legacy industrial base - and that is just not here, and never has been.

There are a few footballing exceptions to this over generalisation of course, but I see more interest in the arts than in sport in this part of the world.

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

I agree acksherly.

No-one in Liverpool or Newcastle would have formed the Save Withdean Environmental Action Team, or did what Lewes council did.

I'm not sure whether places like Bristol or Hull or Cheltenham or Bournemouth are "footballing towns" either, mind.

 

[Stinkers Bridge]

No it's not. It's a city

 

[Tooting Gull]

I don't think it is either, mainly because we'll have had to wait 13 years for a stadium and that wouldn't have happened in somewhere like Derby.

No reflection on the club at all - who do as we know a great job in the community. Or the fans we do have, who are as passionate about the club as any.

I think the difference is that the rest of the community in other, more 'football' towns take more of a passing interest in the fortunes and results of their club even if they are not going to games. In Brighton, there are a huge number of people who genuinely don't give a shit.

 

[Thimble Keegan]

Maybe some truth in the statement but Sussex is definately a football county and that is all that matters.

Albion & England forever.

Thimble Keegan
Littlehampton BHA

 

[Gwylan]

Course it is. Look at the three most-read stories on the Argus website today...or any day. Albion stories are always the top ones.

I remember in one of our promotion seasons walking into town and being stopped by two different people asking whether we'd been promoted or not (or won the league, I can't remember exactly) - one was an old geezer, one a young woman. They obviously both knew enough that Brighton was going for promotion and were genuinely cheered by the result. Or take my sister texting me a few minutes after the win in Cardiff - she hasn't been to a match since the 70s but was still switched-on enough to check the score and be happy for the result.

Obviously we're the hard core fans, but there are thousands more out there who are interested in the Albion and who are, silently, rooting for them. If we'd relied on the hard core to sign the Falmer petition, it wouldn't have been anything like as effective.

 

[nwgull]

towns usually get the label of football town because everything else about the town/city is shit.

 

[Brovion]

It's a good question. It's perhaps not a football town in the way the places like Blackburn, Oldham, Stoke, etc are. This is because Brighton is a vibrant city with lots going on and the other places are depressing shitholes where football is one of the main sources of entertainment. But as Gwylan says a bit of success for the team (promotion or a cup run) and Brighton, in common with every town in Britain in a similar situation, becomes 'football mad' to a certain extent with people who don't usually give a toss expressing at least a passing interest.

 

[Simster]

Maybe you have a point Gwylan. I think there are an awful lot of football fans in Brighton, it's just that for too many of them, Albion are a pat-on-the-head second team (after Man Utd, Liverpool or a London club).

I think that's the difference between us and other clubs with similar sized catchment areas like Derby or Wolverhampton. I'm sure those places are equally full of people with no interest in the game, but that football fans in those towns mostly support the local club.

We really ought to be as big as Wolves and Derby. Palace are our nearest club 40 miles away and Sussex has 1.85m people!

 

[NMH]

Was it Lawro that said this?

Was he right? As much as there's a good solid few thousand who bleed blue and white, has Brighton's populace become so diluted with students, gays and ethnics that the old heart of the city is missing and we just can't be regarded as a true 'football town'?

How can you suggest that students, ethnics, and gays are not in any way the heart of the city, and that they wouldn't be an audience for football??
It's like suggesting that sensible people wouldn't vote conservative!

...oh.

 

[Napper]

think its only when you go to towns like Maidstone , canterbury even Bournemouth (and plenty more) and try and spend an afternoon in a pub to watch some football.....but cant find a single boozer showing it that you realise Brighton IS a football town (as are the surrounding towns)

Cup final day , pubs from Littlehampton to Hastings will be packed with customers. There are hundreds of towns where this isnt the case

 

[NMH]

The fact that fans are still moaning after a win at Bournemouth making it two away games without conceding a goal and moving into the top half of the table would suggest you are right. I have been a bit of a critic of Wilkins but it seems he has learnt after last seasons run of defeats how to stop the rot. Real football towns would be happy with that and not expecting free flowing premiership football at this level, probably..

But Brighton is 'on hold', waiting for something tangible to happen to rouse the populace to take interest in local football.
How many kids do you see in town, wearing Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs or ManU shirts? When you ask them about The Albion, they say "who?" or "nah, that's not really football" or something equally repugnant. They see such retorts as perfect sense!
These kids (and other people) have not known Brighton football, they are a generation away from caring about our results, and they mostly don't even KNOW Albion results! They 'might' look up for a moment in shock, if Brighton got a promotion, or got some way in the cup, or hosted their own favoured team.

So we have a run of reasonable results? These neutrals will still decide we're not worthy of attention, because they will find out about Albion's success AFTER the good run is cemented, and as soon as they take any notice - the run will end, we'll play shit to a crap side and lose - and they'll roll their eyes and resolve to take less notice of BHA.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Of course it is............as much as lots of other places larger in hope than history.Now,if the question had been is it a MAJOR football town,well,perhaps not yet.

 

[rool]

But Brighton is 'on hold', waiting for something tangible to happen to rouse the populace to take interest in local football.
How many kids do you see in town, wearing Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs or ManU shirts? When you ask them about The Albion, they say "who?" or "nah, that's not really football" or something equally repugnant. They see such retorts as perfect sense!

That wasn't the case for the first three to four years back at Withdean though. We had a successful side playing to a full capacity every week and albion shirts were seen everywhere and, dare I say out, outnumbering the Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea ones.

IMO, we badly lost the momentum with one cock up of a preseason costing us our place in the championship and even though we regained it the damage appeared to have been done by that time.

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

Manchester, of course, has a massive population of "students, ethnics, and gays" as well....

 

[Man of Harveys]

It's a MAAHHHOOOOSIVE football town. It's just that, unlike many others, there's also shitloads of other stuff to do as well. That's why it's so great. So I'm not voting.

 

[Nibble]

I think it is more an anal-sex town.