by Dirk Gently »
29 Dec 2008 11:04
Why are people so arrogant that they believe that "their way" of watching/supporting their team is the "right way" or the "only way"?
There are many ways to support - who's to say which is the right way. And never forget that it changes as people age - many of the older people who now sit and watch with a blanket over their knees did their bit supporting the club on the terraces of Elm Park and away ground in the 70s, 80s or earlier.
Also, never forget that we don't have a tradition of large-scale football supporting - in the "glory days" of mass attendances we were rattling along in Tier 4 with tiny crowds, so we don't have the noisy, militant, crowds that the likes of Cardiff do. From the PL supporters' survey, we had the highest proportion of kids of all 20 PL clubs - good for the future, but it reflects our lack of long-term, large-scale, support.
We are also a predominantly middle-class area - Reading hasn't been a large-scale industrial area for many years, if it ever was (railways and biscuits are the closest we get) and, as pointed out, much of our support (about 50%, I think) comes from outside Reading itself, where we have middle-class dormitory/commuter towns where the majority either commute or work in services/technology. The Thames Valley also has the highest proportion of second car ownership, computer ownership and broadband take-up of the whole UK - so anyone who says we're not an affluent and middle-class area is way off track.
Plus the whole of football is changing from what was the traditional (terrace-based) way of supporting. What is acceptable has changed, as the game is becoming increasingly gentrified - some would say riddled with over-regulation. It's only really amongst clubs with a long-history of large-scale support, mainly from largely working-class areas, that the tradition of "old-school" support continues - Cardiff on Friday is a perfect example.
But for those who want Reading supporters to be like Cardiff, I'm afraid it aint ever gonna happen. Live with it, move elsewhere or face the fact that everyone will support in their own way and no one way is better than any others.