Gangs Of Young Football Fans

cyberblue

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 Dec 2005
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9,489
Saw some photos of young City fans from the 70s yesterday and was thinking it something you dont see any more .
Remember bus fulls of young Blues used to go from Middleton, Blackley ,Prestwich ,Whthenshawe ect home and away .In the pubs and on football specials fans ages were on average 14 year old to 23 year old .Away ends were full of youngsters as was the Kippax .The average age of the fans were the same at grounds up and down the country .
Watched the protests at West Ham yesterday and hardly any youngsters were to be seen .suppose it the sign of the times and maybe going to football games in all weathers doesnt apeall to the youngsters of today in the numbers it used to.Maybe thats another reason why atmospheres at grounds arent what they used to be.
 
Saw some photos of young City fans from the 70s yesterday and was thinking it something you dont see any more .
Remember bus fulls of young Blues used to go from Middleton, Blackley ,Prestwich ,Whthenshawe ect home and away .In the pubs and on football specials fans ages were on average 14 year old to 23 year old .Away ends were full of youngsters as was the Kippax .The average age of the fans were the same at grounds up and down the country .
Watched the protests at West Ham yesterday and hardly any youngsters were to be seen .suppose it the sign of the times and maybe going to football games in all weathers doesnt apeall to the youngsters of today in the numbers it used to.Maybe thats another reason why atmospheres at grounds arent what they used to be.
Priced out.
 
Priced out and the spontaneity taken out of it, plus lots of other attractions to contend with.

You can't just decide to jump on a bus or train these days and go to a match on a whim. Most grounds are either sold out or you have to be a member or have a purchase history to get a ticket. Bus/train fares are expensive as are match tickets. You look at that game on boxing day when we took 12,000 fans in fancy dress, now every ground seems to allow no more than 3,000 away fan's.

Football these days is also a lot more sanitized. All seated stadiums,CCTV, over zealous stewarding, candy floss, coloured wigs etcetera. When I was a kid going to the match was exciting with a hint of danger. It was a chance to be a bit naughty, swear, chant, run through other towns, jib trains and on the whole get away with it. No chance now. If you so much as raise your voice some knob has their phone out filming it, next it is all over the internet and you are portrayed as a modern day public enemy number one.

If you didn't go to a match live years ago and it wasn't the one/two matches selected for motd or the Sunday game on Granada you never saw it ever. Now with streams, sky, BT you can watch almost any game either free or for a fraction of the price of going to a game. Once you went to watch the game live for the atmosphere as well. Watching it on the telly "Just wasn't the same as being there" Well now the atmosphere is shite watching it on the telly is often better than bloody being there. Then there is the usuless overcrowded transport system to contend with for getting there and back.

All these reasons and probably a few more are the reasons behind the deciine of groups of young fans deciding going to a game is a good day out. There again I am an old bugger these days it would be interesting to hear it from youngsters perspective. Maybe City need to start going to schools etcetera and asking kids?
 
Priced out and the spontaneity taken out of it, plus lots of other attractions to contend with.

You can't just decide to jump on a bus or train these days and go to a match on a whim. Most grounds are either sold out or you have to be a member or have a purchase history to get a ticket. Bus/train fares are expensive as are match tickets. You look at that game on boxing day when we took 12,000 fans in fancy dress, now every ground seems to allow no more than 3,000 away fan's.

Football these days is also a lot more sanitized. All seated stadiums,CCTV, over zealous stewarding, candy floss, coloured wigs etcetera. When I was a kid going to the match was exciting with a hint of danger. It was a chance to be a bit naughty, swear, chant, run through other towns, jib trains and on the whole get away with it. No chance now. If you so much as raise your voice some knob has their phone out filming it, next it is all over the internet and you are portrayed as a modern day public enemy number one.

If you didn't go to a match live years ago and it wasn't the one/two matches selected for motd or the Sunday game on Granada you never saw it ever. Now with streams, sky, BT you can watch almost any game either free or for a fraction of the price of going to a game. Once you went to watch the game live for the atmosphere as well. Watching it on the telly "Just wasn't the same as being there" Well now the atmosphere is shite watching it on the telly is often better than bloody being there. Then there is the usuless overcrowded transport system to contend with for getting there and back.

All these reasons and probably a few more are the reasons behind the deciine of groups of young fans deciding going to a game is a good day out. There again I am an old bugger these days it would be interesting to hear it from youngsters perspective. Maybe City need to start going to schools etcetera and asking kids?
I’d agree with all that except the bit about watching it on the tele often being better than being there. I’ve got access to all the live TV games for city, live nearly 200 miles away, but go to all the home games, as it is so much better than any game on tv, for me at least, and has been for the thirty odd years I’ve been doing it.
 
Priced out and the spontaneity taken out of it, plus lots of other attractions to contend with.

You can't just decide to jump on a bus or train these days and go to a match on a whim. Most grounds are either sold out or you have to be a member or have a purchase history to get a ticket. Bus/train fares are expensive as are match tickets. You look at that game on boxing day when we took 12,000 fans in fancy dress, now every ground seems to allow no more than 3,000 away fan's.

Football these days is also a lot more sanitized. All seated stadiums,CCTV, over zealous stewarding, candy floss, coloured wigs etcetera. When I was a kid going to the match was exciting with a hint of danger. It was a chance to be a bit naughty, swear, chant, run through other towns, jib trains and on the whole get away with it. No chance now. If you so much as raise your voice some knob has their phone out filming it, next it is all over the internet and you are portrayed as a modern day public enemy number one.

If you didn't go to a match live years ago and it wasn't the one/two matches selected for motd or the Sunday game on Granada you never saw it ever. Now with streams, sky, BT you can watch almost any game either free or for a fraction of the price of going to a game. Once you went to watch the game live for the atmosphere as well. Watching it on the telly "Just wasn't the same as being there" Well now the atmosphere is shite watching it on the telly is often better than bloody being there. Then there is the usuless overcrowded transport system to contend with for getting there and back.

All these reasons and probably a few more are the reasons behind the deciine of groups of young fans deciding going to a game is a good day out. There again I am an old bugger these days it would be interesting to hear it from youngsters perspective. Maybe City need to start going to schools etcetera and asking kids?
Great post mate
 
Priced out and the spontaneity taken out of it, plus lots of other attractions to contend with.

You can't just decide to jump on a bus or train these days and go to a match on a whim. Most grounds are either sold out or you have to be a member or have a purchase history to get a ticket. Bus/train fares are expensive as are match tickets. You look at that game on boxing day when we took 12,000 fans in fancy dress, now every ground seems to allow no more than 3,000 away fan's.

Football these days is also a lot more sanitized. All seated stadiums,CCTV, over zealous stewarding, candy floss, coloured wigs etcetera. When I was a kid going to the match was exciting with a hint of danger. It was a chance to be a bit naughty, swear, chant, run through other towns, jib trains and on the whole get away with it. No chance now. If you so much as raise your voice some knob has their phone out filming it, next it is all over the internet and you are portrayed as a modern day public enemy number one.

If you didn't go to a match live years ago and it wasn't the one/two matches selected for motd or the Sunday game on Granada you never saw it ever. Now with streams, sky, BT you can watch almost any game either free or for a fraction of the price of going to a game. Once you went to watch the game live for the atmosphere as well. Watching it on the telly "Just wasn't the same as being there" Well now the atmosphere is shite watching it on the telly is often better than bloody being there. Then there is the usuless overcrowded transport system to contend with for getting there and back.

All these reasons and probably a few more are the reasons behind the deciine of groups of young fans deciding going to a game is a good day out. There again I am an old bugger these days it would be interesting to hear it from youngsters perspective. Maybe City need to start going to schools etcetera and asking kids?

Nail on the head ....
 
Priced out and the spontaneity taken out of it, plus lots of other attractions to contend with.

You can't just decide to jump on a bus or train these days and go to a match on a whim. Most grounds are either sold out or you have to be a member or have a purchase history to get a ticket. Bus/train fares are expensive as are match tickets. You look at that game on boxing day when we took 12,000 fans in fancy dress, now every ground seems to allow no more than 3,000 away fan's.

Football these days is also a lot more sanitized. All seated stadiums,CCTV, over zealous stewarding, candy floss, coloured wigs etcetera. When I was a kid going to the match was exciting with a hint of danger. It was a chance to be a bit naughty, swear, chant, run through other towns, jib trains and on the whole get away with it. No chance now. If you so much as raise your voice some knob has their phone out filming it, next it is all over the internet and you are portrayed as a modern day public enemy number one.

If you didn't go to a match live years ago and it wasn't the one/two matches selected for motd or the Sunday game on Granada you never saw it ever. Now with streams, sky, BT you can watch almost any game either free or for a fraction of the price of going to a game. Once you went to watch the game live for the atmosphere as well. Watching it on the telly "Just wasn't the same as being there" Well now the atmosphere is shite watching it on the telly is often better than bloody being there. Then there is the usuless overcrowded transport system to contend with for getting there and back.

All these reasons and probably a few more are the reasons behind the deciine of groups of young fans deciding going to a game is a good day out. There again I am an old bugger these days it would be interesting to hear it from youngsters perspective. Maybe City need to start going to schools etcetera and asking kids?
Great post,this is so true,I used to go on the match bus from Langley most weeks;if we weren’t on that we would be going to the ground about 11 o’clock to get autograph.
 

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