I'm officially bored of travelling away with Reading

[Sharpy]

if you studied sport and society (sociology) you would be on my knowledge level

couldn't get that low if I tried.

doesnt suprise me coming from someone who sits in the west stand

[Behindu]

Sharpy you are just being silly...
Of course there are groups of blokes at games - most of our support is male but we also have a healthy proportion of kids / families.

If you want to express an opinion then fine, but make it have some relationto the real world...

[Sharpy]

Sharpy you are just being silly...
Of course there are groups of blokes at games - most of our support is male but we also have a healthy proportion of kids / families.

If you want to express an opinion then fine, but make it have some relationto the real world...

agreed but i am saying there arent as many as there used to be and/or the same as many of the teams in the leagues. the relative proportion of them within our home and away support has reduced and correct me if im wrong are these groups of males/teens not the main source of songs?

[Platypuss]

if you studied sport and society (sociology) you would be on my knowledge level

Is a lobotomy an entrance requirement for the course, then?



LOL at Sharpy thinking he's working class. oxf*rd class more like.

[Behindu]

[ but i am saying there arent as many as there used to be and/or the same as many of the teams in the leagues. the relative proportion of them within our home and away support has reduced and correct me if im wrong are these groups of males/teens not the main source of songs?

So are you saying there aren't as many, or just that the proportion has changed ?

You may be right about the proportion, I suspect out of a crowd of 22k we have a higher proportion of families than we did in a crowd of 6k.

But I would suggest that there are more blokes aged 16-30 at current games than there were in the EP days.

[Stranded]

Sharpy you are just being silly...
Of course there are groups of blokes at games - most of our support is male but we also have a healthy proportion of kids / families.

If you want to express an opinion then fine, but make it have some relationto the real world...

agreed but i am saying there arent as many as there used to be and/or the same as many of the teams in the leagues. the relative proportion of them within our home and away support has reduced and correct me if im wrong are these groups of males/teens not the main source of songs?

And that's hardly surprising is it. When we were in the lower leagues the people more likely to go away were your groups of males/teens who would treat as no more than a booze up in another town or a weekend away depending on the opposition. The majority of the time the stadia we played at were shitholes of the highest order and you struggle to see the appeal of a Dad taking his kids to Rotherham in February.

As we've grown through the leagues and are now playing in better stadia and against better teams and whilst more expensive football is seen as a safer enviroment to take the kids to. Add to that that more people beyond the old hardcore are going and the proportions slip toward those types of fan.

Same can be said of home games.

The fan you see as the classic fan simply won't increase in numbers as they were always there so different types of fan make up the new numbers.

[lozz2601]

its true....

there is a new class of supporter in Reading now!!

this is where passion is lost!!

hence sitting down all game ad moaning, always getting what they want, spoiltcunts!!

it will kill our club....im not saying we need a bigger 'mob' just we dont attract the traditional stereotypical footy fan due to increase in ticket prices especially at home!!

I give up on intelligent rational discussion with you. In language you'll understand - you are a total tit.

explain how MY OPINION is wrong?! apart from y25/y24 and maybe a few dotted about in the north there are no longer big groups of young males going to games....be it hoolies or more importantly normally

Are you a traditional sterotypical footy fan then?
More.....yes....great idea.

[Nick Shorey my Lord!]

its true....

there is a new class of supporter in Reading now!!

this is where passion is lost!!

hence sitting down all game ad moaning, always getting what they want, spoiltcunts!!

it will kill our club....im not saying we need a bigger 'mob' just we dont attract the traditional stereotypical footy fan due to increase in ticket prices especially at home!!

Possibly the most stupid, ill-informed post of all time.

[Seal]

don't funking go then so maybe i can get a bloody ticket

hehe, good point. Is it just me or didn't anyone else think No 13 had a great match yesterday??? Lots of amusing chants such as "you're just a fat kevin doyle" (to Keane) "Nugent nicked your goal, Nugent Nugent nicked your goal" (to Defoe) and "3-1 in your cup final" (to Spurs fans collectively.

Also just spotted this in the Independent : "After the penalty had tipped the match Tottenham's way - the admirable Reading fans responded with a loud burst of "1-0 to the referee"

I'm confused.

Singing a couple of mildly witty chants doesn't make for great support.

I thought the support was ok, nothing special, which was backed up by the Steward I was sitting next to. He said Man U & Liverpool were the loudest fans this season. Best behaved - Reading & Watford, Worst - Cardiff.

I'm with JSC on this, I am getting seriously bored of away games now. Next season I'm going to pick and choose them, and stick to ones further away and at awkward times, so there are less daytrippers.

And to all the smart a$$es saying 'I'll have your ticket', well it wasn't mine anyway; I didn't have enough points to get one. Therefore I used a friend's with more points. If you really want to get to an away game you can, so stop moaning.

mate i would obviously do that but im the only person i actualy know that supports Reading and i live in Brighton so with tickets and travel just to Reading it ends up costing me about £100 a game, i can really only afford to go once every 6 weeks so i don't have that many royalty points, i have taken so much stick (verbal and physical) for supporting Reading including on Sunday when i had a whole pub full of people ganging up on me - i still give it some if i could get a funking ticket i would

how much support do you think you'd give Reading if you had to pay a fortune each time and get so much stick?!

I travel up from South London for every home game so I am in exactly the same position re: cost & distance. As for receiving stick, not sure how that's relevant, but I have suffered years of abuse for following Reading as an exile in London; water off a ducks back now!

[Mr Angry]

I was surrounded by mannequins wearing replica shirts in the upper tier. Even Mr Angry is wearing this seasons home shirt! We are heading for a footballing plastic paradise where Adolf Hinton is in charge of marketing and Fat Barry the catering. The South Bank puddle is but a distant memory to the righteous.

So me wearing a home shirt makes me a plastic??

That coming from someone who looked like an extra from a tango ad before the play off semi at Wigan is a bit rich!!!

[floyd__streete]

Further to my previous post on this thread I’d like to point out that some people here display the debating skills of a toddler. Resorting to personal abuse when someone makes a contrary point of view shows certain individuals on this forum up to be utterly unsophisticated. It is becoming as tiresome as the amount of ‘fishing’ which occurs on these esteemed portals.

[Seal]

My frustration is simply that for me away games have always traditionally been the edgier side of football; the last bastion of how things used to be, and the newer Reading fans don't seem to understand this. Away games always used to mean more singing, more lads, more standing and so on...

I would never dream of standing up and blocking someone's view at a home match, but away from home I think people should accept that things are bit more old school.

If you don't like it, stick to home games or try and get a seat at the front.

When I was a kid, my old man would take me to away games for the crack, but it was accepted that I might not see all the game, but I was there to enjoy the atmosphere. I can’t relate so well to the issue for the older generation; but surely as older punters they will be well versed in the away day experience, and should be well aware that if you can’t stand up for 45 mins then you may risk missing some of the action.

[Garrincha]

Generally, there's no doubt this was one of our more vocal away days and streets ahead of the Emirates visit a few weeks ago although that's hardly saying much. (Have we two different sets of supporter's!)

My Bro and I travelled with two spurs fans who sat in the home end and they commented on how much noise RFC fans were making- sometimes it's interesting getting a perspective from the home support when on our travels as when your in the thick of it (ie berating incompetent refs, frustrated rants at misplaced passes and singing all in one go) it's hard to tell how much noise is actually being made.

[Jerry St Clair]

Between the three of us, we have 72 (I'll spell it out for those with IQs lower than that...Seventy-two) years of supporting Reading yet according to AndyRFC, Jerry St.Clair et al, we apparently have no place at football matches.

I said nothing of the sort. And please stop your condescending references about low IQs and idiots. It undermines the strength of your argument.

I have absolutely no problem with families attending football matches. What I do have the problem with is sanitising the away game experience because there might be some kids there with delicate eardrums or parents with even more delicate sensibilities.

My dad took me to Elm Park as a kid, but was sensible enough to accept that there might be bad language, and that I might not have a completely unobstructed view for the whole game. I still bloody loved it though.

[rg6royal]

i sat at the top in the corner just under the box where the sky presenters were and stood for bits of the game with no problem, thought our support was quite good yesterday as well.

[Garrincha]

SEAL- good point and one I've often thought about. This may be due to a more family focus nowadays.

It's interesting to observe certain away supporter's. For example compare the cross section of West Ham fans and RFC fans- the profile is so different!

Take a look and spot how many kids, families and oldies you see in comparison....

[Garrincha]

Bring back the Coronetes Club (Family enclosure at Elm Park where we used to tuck in to penny sweets at half time- priceless!)

[RG30]

Given that we've historically always had average numbers of our travels, for many away games is a new thing. Long gone are the days of a few hundred Reading fans drinking pre match in the Livingstone Arms Gillingham singing proudly pre match, now we don't seem to find the usual away pubs with all the singing.

The fact we sell out most away games means it's reserved seating, the singers or people who like to stand tend or sing would usually go towards the back, that isn't simply possible anymore as we're all spread out.

[AndyRFC]

I never said families should not be at football.

[sheshnu]

I never said families should not be at football.

No, you merely heavily implied it.

Nottingham Forest at Bristol City on Saturday, 3,500 stood up throughout the game hardly a shirt or family in sight.