I got into a punch up tonight

[Dave the OAP]

You may not care that kids in Sussex don't support Brighton but if it directly affects the financial viability and ultimately the future of Brighton then you bloody well should.
Yes, it is ranting but it's not pointless. And I do it because I love the Albion.

Playing devils advocate here are you saying that you would force everyone in Sussex to support Brighton?

there are 250, 000 people live in the urban connurbation of Brighton and Hove, the most fans we have ever got through the doors is 40,000 at Cardiff, even in the heady days of the First Division in late 1970's we never got more than 25,000 at home.

There 10% of the population of this fair city go and watch ( in fact now its more like 2%)

I wish you well in your efforts

 

[Elder for England]

What you've said there, for me, is EXACTLY what makes the plastics so utterly nauseating. They actually feel superior because they support a big succesful club, when the fact of the matter is that they are totally inferior, and only genuine football supporters are capable of understanding this.

Its a snobbish point of view I know. But I look down on them and (to an extent) pity them, because they'll never feel the true emotion there is when you actually support a football club. They'll never exerience genuine elation or heartbreaking disappointment while they follow their adopted teams vias Sky TV. Sure they'll bathe in the reflected glory like last night, but its completely diluted by the fact that they have no emotional investment in that club whatsoever.

Yes completely agree. I love supporting Brighton and, to be honest, really couldn't care what they think, because I know my support for the club is far better than what they think they have with theirs.

 

[bigc]

Sorry, I didn't put that very well!

I didn't mean that those three players in particular! I was just pointing out that even Brighton had 3 foreigners - only two fewer than United started with last night.

I meant that we will probably get more foreigners in the future and if they got us promoted we wouldn't complain.

Martot? No!

But we aren't supported by millions in South East Asia who slavishly pump their YEN into Man Utd/Chelski/etc without any knowledge of the game.

I had the misfortune to sit near some yesterday, she was so dozy she kept clapping in that annoying "banzai" style everytime anything happened, and had no idea what was going on, clapped when a free kick had been given AGAINST Man Utd, and she thought when Man Utd had scored the FIRST penalty, that it meant the game was over.

It's f***ing retards like that, they are the ones killing our game

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Playing devils advocate here are you saying that you would force everyone in Sussex to support Brighton?

Great idea.

 

[Dave the OAP]

Well, do you expect everyone in England to support the English national team rather than, say, Brazil or Germany?



Again, they're buying into a successful club. Any idiot can do that. I prefer people who don't.

But they started going in the 70's and followed Chelsea even when they were tumbling through the leagues.....

you see again there is this problem of generalisation.

If you are going to generalise that much then we have 35,000 plastic fans. ie 40,000 who went to cardiff less average home gate of 5000.

 

[Simster]

Its quite simple really.

Lives on the other side of the country, no logical attachment to the club, never attends the games and isn't particularly bothered about doing so, buys the shirt from JJB and watches in the pub, only latched onto them because they're a "big" club, revels in the reflected glory = PLASTIC

Attends as many games as possible, supports the club through thick and thin regardless of success (or lack of), follows the team whatever division they're in, gets genuinely pissed off at a defeat or gets a real buzz from a win = REAL FAN


I kind of love to hate plastics. It makes me feel superior.

To be fair, the plastics do get pissed off when their teams lose too. It's just that when a plastic's team loses, I enjoy laughing at their hurt - whereas you can feel the pain of a proper supporter when his team loses.

And Dave, yes I'm afraid your mates ARE indeed plastic. There really is no excuse to give up on BHAFC if you live in the area, and then choose to spend £48 a seat in West London 2 or 3 times a season. It's even worse that your mate hasn't even bothered taking his kids to Withdean. In fact, it doesn't get more plastic than that, however you dress it up.

And Chelsea are a bunch of white trash knobbers, so he's not even chosen a decent class of plastic club to follow. What a muppet.

 

[Knotty]

It's because I care about my club and see how it's struggling as are dozens of other clubs. I also care about English football. If we stop caring and getting angry at Sky/Premiership/Eufa then soon we'll just have one league called the Premiership with 10 clubs competing. And they'll be all owned by franchises and full of foreign players. The best, I grant you but foreign nonetheless.

I do enjoy following the Albion. It really matters to me how they do. It affects my moods because it's irrational, it's frustrating. I'm entitled to question the motives of these plastic fans. Do they do it for the love of football or is it to bask in the reflected glory? Either way, what they are doing is destroying something I love.

You may not care that kids in Sussex don't support Brighton but if it directly affects the financial viability and ultimately the future of Brighton then you bloody well should.
Yes, it is ranting but it's not pointless. And I do it because I love the Albion.

I agree with you about what's happening at the top of football, but I think you are blaming the wrong people.

How do you stop kids supporting a premiership team that might be nowhere near where they live, but are attractive to watch and successful?

Far too much money has gone to too few clubs, but I don't blame those clubs or the players, either. Thay are not going to refuse it are, they? And if Albion had been in that happy position, they wouldn't have refused it either.

I blame the administrators who should have ensured that much more money was filtered down though the leagues thereby ensuring that the gap between top and bottom was not so great.

Like you, I can't see it changing and that's very sad.

 

[Simster]

But they started going in the 70's and followed Chelsea even when they were tumbling through the leagues.....

you see again there is this problem of generalisation.

If you are going to generalise that much then we have 35,000 plastic fans. ie 40,000 who went to cardiff less average home gate of 5000.

Eh? You're not actually listening to people's definition of a "plastic". These people cling on to big "glory" clubs and then choose to belittle those of us who attempt to support the local teams.

On the other hand, how many of those 35,000 live in close proximity to Brighton? Most of them, I reckon. And I have no problem with locals coming to Cardiff for a day out. Those people are not plastics, they are day trippers. Nothing wrong with that - I wouldn't expect them all to want to watch our team every single week.

 

[Buzzer]

Playing devils advocate here are you saying that you would force everyone in Sussex to support Brighton?

there are 250, 000 people live in the urban connurbation of Brighton and Hove, the most fans we have ever got through the doors is 40,000 at Cardiff, even in the heady days of the First Division in late 1970's we never got more than 25,000 at home.

There 10% of the population of this fair city go and watch ( in fact now its more like 2%)

I wish you well in your efforts

Of course not Dave. What I'd try to do is make people see that there is football outside of what Sky and the FA/Eufa would have us believe. These clubs are getting SUPER rich at the expense of grassroots football and our national game.

It's actually the reverse. It's stopping Sky/FA/EUFA telling people who to support and let people know that there is football outside the confines of their beloved premiership that can be far more fulfilling than worrying about which pub to watch your side compete in yet another final.

Oh sod it. I really can't be arsed to argue anymore.

 

[Wozza]

But they started going in the 70's and followed Chelsea even when they were tumbling through the leagues.....

you see again there is this problem of generalisation.

If you are going to generalise that much then we have 35,000 plastic fans. ie 40,000 who went to cardiff less average home gate of 5000.

You said they started going when Albion moved to Gillingham.

Or are you switching families/examples to support your argument?!

 

[Dave the OAP]

And Dave, yes I'm afraid your mates ARE indeed plastic. There really is no excuse to give up on BHAFC if you live in the area, and then choose to spend £48 a seat in West London 2 or 3 times a season. It's even worse that your mate hasn't even bothered taking his kids to Withdean. In fact, it doesn't get more plastic than that, however you dress it up.

And Chelsea are a bunch of white trash knobbers, so he's not even chosen a decent class of plastic club to follow. What a muppet.

Read my posts again - these Chelsea fans have been so since the 70's. They go as a family - they have been to Brighton - they hated it - what is so wrong with that. To call somone "white trash nobbers " withouit actually knowing them is a bit cheap.

Thousands of brighton "fans" have given up on Brighton. I have no problem with this. If they wish to come back then great...if not...ah well.

If I ever chose to give up on Brighton and I came very close the last couple of years, then that is my choice. If I chose to go and watch Premiership football again that is my choice.

At the end of the day football is not the be and end all of life

 

[Man of Harveys]

What exactly is quite so difficult to grasp about the idea that someone who chooses to support a club for reasons better than "they're quite good at the moment and they're on the telly" is likely to be a person whose integrity and whose whole approach to life is likely to be far more admirable, interesting and considered than, say, the rather shallow bloke in my office from Norfolk who supports Liverpool but has never actually been to Anfield?

Citing reasons like, say, family roots (as in my case), or because they identify with the ups and downs of a smaller club, or they prefer an intimate atmosphere, or that's it's more quirky/fun to have an unusual footballing allegiance, or because any success means infinitely much more when you've endured a few knocks along the way, or that the people running your club are likely to be fans who happen to have got rich rather than Russian/Thai/American crooks spotting a quick business/money-laundering opportunity - don't these things mean a bit more to you than "well, I bought a shirt once because I watched a game on the telly as a kid"?

What is so difficult to grasp about that? Weird. And indefensibly so. Give me a Luton fan or a Chelsea fan from Surrey and I know who I'd rather be stuck in a lift and talking about football with any day of the week.

 

[Dave the OAP]

You said they started going when Albion moved to Gillingham.

Or are you switching families/examples to support your argument?!

I said one of them was......they go as three families all together

 

[Easy 10]

IHow do you stop kids supporting a premiership team that might be nowhere near where they live, but are attractive to watch and successful?

You educate them.

I've taken my 12 year old to Withdean plenty of times, and (unknown to him at the moment) he will have his first ever season ticket dropping through the door in a couple of months. He's never had a Man U or Chelsea shirt on his back, nor does he want one. He's been brought up to support the stripes. I've basically brainwashed the lad - he knows he's a proper fan amongst the plastics at his school in their Big Four replica tops. And I've always told him - if some snotty kid in a Man U shirt takes the piss out of the Albion, you can cut him dead with one question: "How many games have YOU been to then ?"

Easy innit.

 

[Wozza]

I said one of them was......they go as three families all together

And I think we all know that if Chelsea were in the same position as, say, Middlesbrough, that they wouldn't.

 

[Dave the OAP]

You educate them.

I've taken my 12 year old to Withdean plenty of times, and (unknown to him at the moment) he will have his first ever season ticket dropping through the door in a couple of months. He's never had a Man U or Chelsea shirt on his back, nor does he want one. He's been brought up to support the stripes. I've basically brainwashed the lad - he knows he's a proper fan amongst the plastics at his school in their Big Four replica tops. And I've always told him - if some snotty kid in a Man U shirt takes the piss out of the Albion, you can cut him dead with one question: "How many games have YOU been to then ?"

Easy innit.

what is the difference with a Dad taking a kid to see a premiership team ( that a kid may see on the telly every week) and that kid getting hooked and they both going together, than "educating " your child.

Maybe its just me, but if Laura or Bex wanted to go and see Arsenal or Chelsea when they were growing up, I would have taken them...I have no problem with that at all.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

And I think we all know that if Chelsea were in the same position as, say, Middlesbrough, that they wouldn't.

To be fair, that would be one hell of a journey to make every other week. Even for the most discerning of 'fan'.

 

[Easy 10]

What exactly is quite so difficult to grasp about the idea that someone who chooses to support a club for reasons better than "they're quite good at the moment and they're on the telly" is likely to be a person whose integrity and whose whole approach to life is likely to be far more admirable, interesting and considered than, say, the rather shallow bloke in my office from Norfolk who supports Liverpool but has never actually been to Anfield?

Citing reasons like, say, family roots (as in my case), or because they identify with the ups and downs of a smaller club, or they prefer an intimate atmosphere, or that's it's more quirky/fun to have an unusual footballing allegiance, or because any success means infinitely much more when you've endured a few knocks along the way, or that the people running your club are likely to be fans who happen to have got rich rather than Russian/Thai/American crooks spotting a quick business/money-laundering opportunity - don't these things mean a bit more to you than "well, I bought a shirt once because I watched a game on the telly as a kid"?

What is so difficult to grasp about that? Weird. And indefensibly so. Give me a Luton fan or a Chelsea fan from Surrey and I know who I'd rather be stuck in a lift and talking about football with any day of the week.

Perfectly summarised. I completely agree.

 

[Dave the OAP]

And I think we all know that if Chelsea were in the same position as, say, Middlesbrough, that they wouldn't.

really....

how come they didnt give it up when Chelsea were getting relegated, or stuggling along then?

 

[unnameable]

I look forward to the day when Albion are a global power and there are plastic Brighton fans all over the world.