Just what consitutes a loyal supporter....?

[Insel affe]

I was talking to a work colleague the other day who is a west ham season ticket holder,and i told him i was going to Orient on saturday.He asked how many times i had seen them this season,and i told him this was only my second game so far this season.He layed into me telling me that i was just a fair weather fan.Loyal fans go every week if possible.
Now this got me thinking and questioning myself. I was born in shoreham and lived there and portslade upto the age of approx 5.My parents got divoreced and i then lived with my farther (scummer fan) who moved around the south,However my uncle took me to a few games at Brighton in the late 70s.My farther then moved up north (wigan) and i continued to support the Albion from afar untill i was old enough to go to games on my own around 85.I went to all the away Northern games i could possibly afford on my own which was fun and scary as i would often catch trains going in the opposite direction to the albion fans. Then in the mid 90s i moved to London and went to the goldstone nearly every other home game and most away games during the dark period.Which included protest marching etc.I went to nearly every game at gillingham as i thought our club needed as much support as possible.
However over the past 3-4 years only taken in a few games a season due to getting married (took the yankee wife to palarse 1-0 win,ahe got crushed when we scored,and loved it) and a new job in which i have to work every other saturday.We have recently discovered that we will be parents,and will not bring kids up in London so are looking to move back to Brighton and bring up another little Albion fan.
But am i a loyal supporter do i go enough, what about other exiled Albion fans do you need attend every game to entitle you to an opinion.As i see on NSC that there are nasty comments from time to time on here questioning peoples loyalty....??

 

[Deleted User X18H]

A loyal fan is someone who goes to as many games as possible, always talks the club up, defends its honour and remains positive through thick and thin.

A Loyal SUPPORTER is all of the above but who also spends over £400 a year to sit in a open to all elements shit hole and watch sometime awful football but will pay to do it again next year! FACT!!!!

 

[PCBEARDMLORD]

Not sure about bad fan, but you are a bad speller...

 

[Insel affe]

Guilty on the spilling front

 

[severnside gull]

I have followed Albion for nearly 50 years.
When I lived there I saw every home game for nearly two decades and many away games.
Since moving away I have averaged 10 or 12 games a year depending on work or family committments but have never abandoned them or supported someone else (no Liverpool, no ManU. no Chelsea....). I have seen them play at Walsall more than at Withdean!
Since retiring this year I can travel further afield as long as I can organise a carer for my wife, guaranteeing which makes getting a ticket for Withdean a balancing act. Next year I reckon I will possibly get to around 20 matches regardless of which league we are in.

I am proud to have supported the same (mainly unfashionable) club for my whole life and if I can't be there in person on a matchday does that make me a bad supporter? I am there in spirit!

 

[Barry Izbak]

Fair weather fan !! FFS if this is fair weather, think how many we'd take if we weren't a club bumping along the bottom of the third division with an odd job man picking the side.

West Ham fans. pah!

 

[desprateseagull]

hows this for a NSC fact - 'pay as yo go' fans, if they went to every game, actually pay MORE in ticket revenue over a season, than a STH would?

discount hunting hot flask hiding nimby baiting whingers!

 

[Mendoza]

the 16,939 Norwich City fans who have just renewed their season tickets despite being the team being shit at football and in the relegation zone, which would put them in division 3

 

[severnside gull]

the 16,939 Norwich City fans who have just renewed their season tickets despite being the team being shit at football and in the relegation zone, which would put them in division 3

THAT is impressive!

 

[dougdeep]

I believe Ipswich have the highest number of fans per head of population in their catchment area. Mind you there can't be much else to do around there.

 

[Smythe]

A loyal fan is someone who goes to as many games as possible, always talks the club up, defends its honour and remains positive through thick and thin.

A Loyal SUPPORTER is all of the above but who also spends over £400 a year to sit in a open to all elements shit hole and watch sometime awful football but will pay to do it again next year! FACT!!!!

Tend to agree with that

 

[Ditchboy]

Congratulations Psycho, on your impending arrival. When you take him/her to Falmer for the first time the strange little cockney man you used to work with will be a distant memory.

 

[Mackenzie]

I live four hours from Brighton, I try to run a pub and I have three children under the age of eight (who all support Brighton despite none of them being born there) so sometimes it is difficult to go all of the time. What I will say though, is that I go when I can (Northampton, Leicester, Crewe, Bristol Rovers!, Shrewsbury, Yeovil and Swindon so far) and I check out the news on here and other places several times a day so I think I'm a loyal supporter.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I believe Ipswich have the highest number of fans per head of population in their catchment area. Mind you there can't be much else to do around there.

Quite. Prostitute numbers have fallen fairly recently, so they are just left with the football.

 

[Acker79]

The idea of loyal or true fans is a concept created by fans who want to make themselves superior to other fans. There is no real measuring stick.

The idea of "going to as many games as you can" is so open that it's almost pointless. Other responsibilities, distance to travel, cost, job, kids, health, etc. can all play a factor in if you "can" go to a game.

Staying loyal and sticking with the club is also open to interpretation. If I criticise the chairman/board am I being loyal to my club? (A loaded question, I know). What if I criticise the manager or players for their mistakes?

I want to check Brighton's results first, but may also have an interest in how, say, Plymouth are doing, am I being disloyal if I happen to catch Plymouth's results first instead of making sure I go to Brighton's?

The idea of a "true" or "loyal" fan is a meaningless title some fans bestow on themselves in an effort to make them seema better fan, to make their opinion seem more worthwile or somehow more valid than someone else.

 

[Acker79]

the 16,939 Norwich City fans who have just renewed their season tickets despite being the team being shit at football and in the relegation zone, which would put them in division 3

Indeed impressive, but how much do they charge? How much of a saving is made? What sort of beneifts do they give STHs? What sort of facilities do they have?

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

the 16,939 Norwich City fans who have just renewed their season tickets despite being the team being shit at football and in the relegation zone, which would put them in division 3

Not a lot when you find out they are free.

 

[Acker79]

Not a lot when you find out they are free.

Norwich prices:
Cheapest adult price: £350
Cheapest over 75: £191
Cheapest 60+: £191
Under 21: £150
Under 16: £50
Under 12: £25

http://www.canaries.co.uk/staticFiles/5f/30/0,,10355~143455,00.pdf

With prices like that, at a fairly decent stadium, is it any surprise? I don't remember any ticket for someone between 21 and 60 for us being less than £500 (but might be wrong on that one, I'm sure someone will correct me).

 

[tedebear]

Daft debate - your level of being loyal is completely up to you, you can't put a scale on loyal, its like saying how much do you love me....

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

Agree with tedebear but, considering my experience, one type of loyal supporter / fan is one who, no matter where he or she is in the world will move hell or high water to find out what is happening to their team. After all, it's not that hard if you live near Brighton to saunter down to the Withdean, buy a ticket and watch 90 mins of football with a blue and white scraf. Compare that with being in the middle of nowehere in Georgia and trying to hook up your computer so that you can listen to the game on Seagulls World. Or worse, in the darkest days when Archer ruled, trying to find any news on Brighton when living in a small town in Poland.