[Albion] Strengthening the BHA brand

[OzMike]

Come play at the Perth Optus Stadium so I can go and see the he game, stadium holds 60k mind.

 

[Easy 10]

Surely we could manage a little tri-team tournament with someone else who's shit ? Someone like Le Havre could host, with us and, I dunno, Leeds as the other team rocking up. A short round-robin with a GONG at the end of it to bring home ?

Lets look into it.

 

[Braggfan]

You lost me at 'brand'

Christ I hate that word.

I'm so pleased someone said that. Literally everything I hate about football. I couldn't care less what people think of the Albion around the globe.

 

[schmunk]

It's less than 2 months since the U21s played in the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens tournament in, err, Hong Kong.

 

[rogersix]

Oooooooh...a bit more now

 

[Triggaaar]

If the team actually up and did that, there'd be an unholy din about forgetting ones roots, depriving the real. Sussex fanbase of local friendlies, a rare chance to watch the team on the cheap, getting shoved aside by piicking the pockets Johnny Foreigner.

Whatever they do we can have a binfest. It's win-win.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

I miss the Worthing pre-season friendly. You can keep your fancy-dan cups.

 

[The_Viper]

I don't think a club like ours will ever pull in more than a tiny numbers of vaguely interested football fans from beyond our own county, let alone country. There'll always be a few that call themselves supporters of Watford/Sunderland/Bristol City/Fulham/Brighton because of some match they saw on TV once, or because they like a particular player etc, but never enough to turn us into a global "brand".

And that's fine by me. Being a football supporter makes almost no sense at the best of times, but if it means anything it's a connection to your locality and/or family roots. I sometimes feel sorry for genuine fans of teams like Man Utd or Liverpool, having to share their club with zillions of people from around the world who just arbitrarily decided to follow a big team. I mean brand.

I think you're underestimating the pull of the club especially in the US just from my experience. Also I don't think being from another country makes them any less of a fan, I have met and spoke to many US based Albion fans that became fans for some reason or another and have spent good money, very good money to come to England to watch them play at Blackburn away or home to Watford, I think the longer supporters keep gatekeeping their clubs the longer those international fans feel alienated.

 

[hart's shirt]

I couldn't care less what people think of the Albion around the globe.

 

[matt]

the BHA brand

 

[Thunder Bolt]

It's less than 2 months since the U21s played in the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens tournament in, err, Hong Kong.

We are still getting quite a few Japanese fans turning up at the Amex after their astounding victory in the Rugby world cup. They all seem to have large carrier bags full of Brighton merchandise.

 

[dingodan]

 

[Monkey Man]

I think you're underestimating the pull of the club especially in the US just from my experience. Also I don't think being from another country makes them any less of a fan, I have met and spoke to many US based Albion fans that became fans for some reason or another and have spent good money, very good money to come to England to watch them play at Blackburn away or home to Watford, I think the longer supporters keep gatekeeping their clubs the longer those international fans feel alienated.

Admittedly this isn't a subject I know very much about. I used to spend a long time trying to explain to people I met overseas about what Brighton & Hove Albion was, mainly during the old Div 3 and Div 4 years, and I still can't get my head around us being part of this global sporting circus.

I'd always try to be welcoming and friendly to any new fan of the club, from wherever. I guess I just find it odd not to support your local team, or at least one with a more emotional connection than the day-trippers as Man U, Liverpool etc etc appear to have.

 

[The_Viper]

Admittedly this isn't a subject I know very much about. I used to spend a long time trying to explain to people I met overseas about what Brighton & Hove Albion was, mainly during the old Div 3 and Div 4 years, and I still can't get my head around us being part of this global sporting circus.

I'd always try to be welcoming and friendly to any new fan of the club, from wherever. I guess I just find it odd not to support your local team, or at least one with a more emotional connection than the day-trippers as Man U, Liverpool etc etc appear to have.

I agree with you on local teams, but the problem over in the US is the local teams could be miles away. Example, here in Charlotte North Carolina the nearest MLS team is just over 4 hours drive away in Atlanta. This is a pretty common theme and with the Premier League and now Championship getting strong coverage in the US it's easy to make a connection there easier than driving 8 hours every weekend for a home game.