If you moved away from brighton....

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Having lived within walking distance of the Goldstone and Withdean for many years I am now about 175 miles away from The Amex - and only 45 minutes from Carrow Road.

I openly wear my Albion colours and frequently attract 'helpful' suggestions from locals that I should defect to the Canaries. But I'm an Albion fan of 46 years standing so far and proud of it. OK it's a tad inconvenient to get to every Albion home game and rising fuel costs mean I have ration this but I now go to more away games than I have for many years. Also means I am now much nearer to completing the 92 than I might have.

I have seen a few other Albion fans travelling from this neck of the woods. I was especially pleased to see a young family in Norwich all proudly wearing Albion colours to/from the away game at Ipswich. Clearly the parents have the right priorities and won't let their kids be Canaries. Good on them.

An amusing topic of conversation around here is 'will Elliott Bennett score this season?' The Canary fans like Benno but can't believe he used to score great goals for us.....te he.

 

[ward is god]

We all travel home and away from our home in Somerset and have done since we moved here over twenty years ago. I can honestly say that even in the dark, dire days of Gillingham we would never have considered wavering in our support. We spend a fortune on petrol, tickets, accommodation etc but love the Albion. I also love the fact that as we are on the road most Saturday evenings we do not have to endure Saturday night TV!

 

[Commander]

I go to watch the odd game in London, sometimes Arsenal as I have Arsenal supporting mates, and I was also given a Chelsea season ticket a few seasons ago, but I only went a coupld of times and never really enjoyed it that much. It's nice to go to the odd game and not care about the result, as you tend to take in the actual football more, but it doesn't compare to going to the Albion.

The only thing that I think could come close to replacing it, is if I moved to another country and started watching the local team there. It still wouldn't be as good, but I would have much more of an interest in it, and it wouldn't feel like I was 'cheating'.

 

[swindonseagull]

Is it really a show of loyalty or just an inability to find anything of intererest in your brave new world,i suppose its a badge of honour!
Look at my mileage
NOT THE MOST GREEN CREDENTIALS REALLY

I drive 750 miles to and from work so an extra 250 for football is nothing,.....plus my car is silver not green.

Its nothing to do with finding something more interesting to do...having been first taken to the Goldstone in 66 aged 5( and stood on a milk crate) I guess its in the blood.

You try moving away for work and see what happens....

just dont try and make long travelling ST holders look bad ( or whatever was your original intention)

 

[Fungus]

Concentrated on Albion away games when I moved up here 17 years ago, but still had a ST this year.

Can only think of four non-Albion league games I've ever been to, since I became a footie fan about 45 years ago.

 

[oldalbiongirl]

When I was a student I lived in Leicester. I still followed all of the Brighton results and even did my dissertation on the Albion but no way could I have afforded to get to the games. So I went to the Albion games in the holidays when back in sussex at my mums and then went to a couple of the albion away fixtures - notts county etc. Wasnt going to waste money seeing a team I had no interest in despite there being quite a lot of choice in the midlands although got free tickets once to watch Leicester and sat bored throughout. Its not the same if they are not your team.

 

[Drumstick]

Lived in Cambridge for two years went to mainly away games, about 6/7 home games and went along to the terrace at the Abbey 3/4 times.

Getting back by train for the first season was annoying and getting down was alot easier when I could just blast down the motorway.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

Moved here to Mid Devon ( near to Tiverton) 4 years ago and a STH so Saturdays are a pleasure trip on the train both ways win lose or draw.

Used to be based in Scotland with the Navy many years ago and still came down for home games when I wasn't underwater somewhere or other

 

[hoveboyslim]

I used to watch Bristol City quite a lot when I was at Polytechnic there, over 20 years ago. Then I realised the most exciting part of the day for me was waiting to hear the half time and full time scores read out, to hear how Brighton had got on, so I stopped going.

 

[Return of the Rev]

I drive 750 miles to and from work so an extra 250 for football is nothing,.....plus my car is silver not green.

Its nothing to do with finding something more interesting to do...having been first taken to the Goldstone in 66 aged 5( and stood on a milk crate) I guess its in the blood.

You try moving away for work and see what happens....

just dont try and make long travelling ST holders look bad ( or whatever was your original intention)

OH LOOK AT ME!

 

[kevtherev]

You can have loads of friends, many children and several wives. But you can only ever truely support one football club. Hence the difference in attendances depending on how we are doing in the league(refrence to the past and maybe the future)....Everyone is welcome aboard but very few have stayed to whole trip. People who can change clubs never really supported anyone in the first place......oh and I've never lived within 35 miles of Brighton.

 

[JetsetJimbo]

I've been to Sparta, Slavia and Žižkov here in Prague. Does that make me a bad person?

 

[RNSeagull]

You can have loads of friends, many children and several wives. But you can only ever truely support one football club. Hence the difference in attendances depending on how we are doing in the league(refrence to the past and maybe the future)....Everyone is welcome aboard but very few have stayed to whole trip. People who can change clubs never really supported anyone in the first place......oh and I've never lived within 35 miles of Brighton.

This

 

[Return of the Rev]

you can have loads of friends, many children and several wives. But you can only ever truely support one football club. Hence the difference in attendances depending on how we are doing in the league(refrence to the past and maybe the future)....everyone is welcome aboard but very few have stayed to whole trip. People who can change clubs never really supported anyone in the first place......oh and i've never lived within 35 miles of brighton.

You can still be a brighton fan without clocking up thousands of miles,if i lived in cornwall i would watch a west country team but still be an albion fan.
I don't have to prove my fans status with a saturday trek to sussex.im secure in my top fan pedigree

 

[Driver8]

You can still be a brighton fan without clocking up thousands of miles,if i lived in cornwall i would watch a west country team but still be an albion fan.
I don't have to prove my fans status with a saturday trek to sussex.im secure in my top fan pedigree

It's got nothing to do with status but everything to do with my favourite pastime which is watching my football team play football. Listening on the radio just isn't the same.

 

[yoda559]

I lived near Dundee and had 3 seasons as a STH at Withdean traveling from there. There are still a couple of current STHs in scotland. The only reason I dont go as often now is lack of cash due to a mrs and 2 sprogs!

 

[TonyBloomsPokerFace]

I've lived in London for a year and I have a season ticket. The only games I've missed are the odd evening kick off, purely because I can't get out of work in time to get the train down!

 

[Surf's Up]

I used to live in London SE, palarse territory, for a long time. Never went to Shithurst unless the Albion were playing and threw up every time I went near the place. I've lived away from Brighton for a long, long time (apart from a couple of years in the early 2000s) and have always travelled to see the albion at home wherever that has been and wherever I have been. Currently live in Gibraltar and have managed 11 games so far this season which will become 12 at the Birmingham game. Absence makes the heart grow stronger!

 

[Lord Bracknell]

If you moved and had another league club within a 15 min walk from your house would you still watch the albion games? If so what would your cut off point be?
I would travel 50 miles or around 1 hour. Anymore than that and i would scale down albion games and go local.
What say you?

I first moved down to Brighton as a Birmingham City supporter and I kept this up for four years without a thought to attend matches at the Goldstone. I then moved to Italy for a year and a bit, before returning to Brighton - where I found myself living in Osmond Road, Hove.

A 15 minute walk to see the Albion.

That (and, maybe, the fact that I returned just in time to catch the last couple of months of a promotion season) was when I turned into an Albion supporter. The question is spot on. The answer is ... 15 minutes.

The other factor might have been my parents moving away from Birmingham, just before I went to Italy and I had no non-footballing reason any longer to visit the city.

The 'til-I-die thing still lingers on, just a bit, though. And more so for the FIRST team I ever supported - Newport County (where I lived between the ages of 5 and 12). Hence my planned trip to Wembley on 12 May.

 

[swindonseagull]

You can still be a brighton fan without clocking up thousands of miles,if i lived in cornwall i would watch a west country team but still be an albion fan.
I don't have to prove my fans status with a saturday trek to sussex.im secure in my top fan pedigree

keep digging.......you started the thread...now feeling a bit humiliated?