Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

[jimmyscoular]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

He has a book called Soccer and Society which is a history of football in Wales. It's not exclusively about City. He apologies for calling it soccer and for focusing on us more than the Jacks �� He did a very good two part (I think) series too called Wales:England's Last Colony. Not football related but well worth a watch and I'm sure available online.

What's he apologizing for? It's been called 'soccer' for as long as I can remember:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPaYry5XOMQ

[goats]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

As almost certainly one of the younger posters on the board (another reason ccmb won’t exist in 20 years time) I’d have to say the reputation of the club has been dealt irreparable damage over the years.

There’s either idiots thinking we’re the same club that takes 2000 to Scunthorpe in a cost of living crisis or that we should have 17000 at the CCS.

Cardiff isn’t a big city, and the city itself has absolutely no football history outside of an FA Cup win nearly a century ago.

I’d bet nearly all if not every single one of the posters on here with over 15000 posts are over 50 years old.

You all live in a fantasy land, the club is shit, we are run like shit, and we get crowds that resemble a shit club, which we are.

You make some valid brutal points but Cardiff is big enough, it’s 4 times that of Burnley who get similar crowds and they are surrounded by other clubs and big cities….is does have a shocking reputation though, not from hooligan anymore but just being “shit” as most people I know say. It’s hard to defend sometimes and when you look at what happened when we got to the PL it’s even harder to defend. It’s not in people’s habit here to attend, youngsters aren’t interested in football, maybe it’s too expensive? It’s either oldies or kids not much in between? Money is tight for most, loads of people I know play sport but rarely attend what they play.

[goats]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

What’s the reason lads from Barry, Bridgend, Porthcawl and the Valleys make the journey down then? Yet Cardiffians proportionately are not arsed?

Maybe they like a day out in the smoke…..something to do

[Des Parrot]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

Surprised no one has mentioned the John Toshack exodus which kick started the plastic era!

[Robin Friday's Ghost]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

What's he apologizing for? It's been called 'soccer' for as long as I can remember:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPaYry5XOMQ

Well he was apologising to a fellow Jack friend rather than making a general apology. I mentioned it because it's the sort of thing that can create a 14 pager on here.

[Kind of Blue]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

Plenty of reasons that don’t require a sociological degree.

Up until 15-20 years ago we were awful and had a horrible hooligan reputation. There are plenty of people in their 30’s and 40’s who weren’t raised as Cardiff fans and subsequently aren’t raising their children as fans. Most people are hooked as children. It takes a lot more effort to convert an adult into a fan than a child.

We were very very late to the Premier League party and the explosion in national exposure to football for the casual fan. Just look at some of the crowds the big teams were getting before 1992. In the 32 years since the PL’s conception we have only been there twice. And for the first 15 years we were in the lower leagues so weren’t even in the peripheral as promotion contenders.

We are not historically a big or successful club. The 2010’s has arguably been our most successful period since the 1920’s. In the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s most other clubs can at least boast league titles, cup wins or a sustained top flight status.

Success brings fans, which is why we’re now getting average attendances of ~20k each season compared to the 90’s when we were averaging 3k-5k.

And on top of all that you can chuck in the fact that Wales simply isn’t into football as much as England.

Well said.

[horse_face]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

Not entirely sure what your point is?

That smaller clubs have entered the premier league since Derby’s drop off?

Or that people who live 150+ miles travel to Cardiff games regularly?

Football clubs of any stature will always attract people from miles away for a variety of reasons. I live in Streatham with a season ticket and try to get back to at least 15 games a season. My Dad grew up in Germany on an Army camp but supported city.

I’m not criticising our supporters, I’m criticising the idiots that suggest we should have a bigger fanbase just because.


We are a shite football club, it’s as simple as that.

Yes yes we’re shite etc it’s cheap and lazy excuses and overlooks the primary point.

The people of the city of Cardiff don’t back the team. Uniquely there is no other team near us and this should be the easiest fan base to engage with.

Instead our support is drawn from further afield where people have to endure TFW, coaches or driving to the game. If we can attract support from further afield why not on our own doorstep?

My point on Derby is that no success and the football club being ran by clowns doesn’t mean poor crowds. Visa versa Bournemouth have had a decade of unprecedented success and can’t fill a tiny stadium.

Should the only football club in a city of 360k with support across south Wales sustain higher attendances? Absolutely

[goats]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

Yes yes we’re shite etc it’s cheap and lazy excuses and overlooks the primary point.

The people of the city of Cardiff don’t back the team. Uniquely there is no other team near us and this should be the easiest fan base to engage with.

Instead our support is drawn from further afield where people have to endure TFW, coaches or driving to the game. If we can attract support from further afield why not on our own doorstep?

My point on Derby is that no success and the football club being ran by clowns doesn’t mean poor crowds. Visa versa Bournemouth have had a decade of unprecedented success and can’t fill a tiny stadium.

Should the only football club in a city of 360k with support across south Wales sustain higher attendances? Absolutely

Derby is a football town, Bournemouth isn’t, if they and Brentford went back to league 1 or two no one would notice or think they are a big fish. I reckon it would take 5-10 years of continuous PL status for us to change the way people think in the city. The parents never went so doubt their kids will…..

[horse_face]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

Derby is a football town, Bournemouth isn’t, if they and Brentford went back to league 1 or two no one would notice or think they are a big fish. I reckon it would take 5-10 years of continuous PL status for us to change the way people think in the city. The parents never went so doubt their kids will…..

I agree, sustained success would see a rise on the base line again as we've seen in the last 15 years. We've just hit a plateau.

I don't know what constitutes a football town, but they (Derby) are surrounded by more successful teams and hold their own, same as Coventry. I'd imagine fans come from the city itself. As I keep saying even a small % increase from the people of Cardiff would see a jump in attendances.

The fact you can wander around Grangetown, Canton or Riverside on a Saturday and have no idea that there's a football club ten minutes away is crazy. There must be a reason why the people who live so close to the ground have no appetite?

If we can convince lads to drive down from the Rhondda etc then surely convincing someone to walk over to the ground should be easy?

That's the bit which doesn't make sense for me, seems counter intuitive?

[goats]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

I agree, sustained success would see a rise on the base line again as we've seen in the last 15 years. We've just hit a plateau.

I don't know what constitutes a football town, but they (Derby) are surrounded by more successful teams and hold their own, same as Coventry. I'd imagine fans come from the city itself. As I keep saying even a small % increase from the people of Cardiff would see a jump in attendances.

The fact you can wander around Grangetown, Canton or Riverside on a Saturday and have no idea that there's a football club ten minutes away is crazy. There must be a reason why the people who live so close to the ground have no appetite?

If we can convince lads to drive down from the Rhondda etc then surely convincing someone to walk over to the ground should be easy?

That's the bit which doesn't make sense for me, seems counter intuitive?

Clubs who did ok in the 70’s/80’s all have a core following, all those midlands clubs for example, Derby, forest Leicester. Even Coventry were in the top division forever when I was growing up. Both Sheffield clubs, Ipswich, Norwich too. The generations follow on in those places, we haven’t got that here as we were terrible for 25 yrs….and before that crowds were never great (70’s)…the odd big one.
Nevermind grangetown and riverside, two of cardiffs poorest area’s, I doubt we are going to attract much support from there less we give away free tickets, it’s way too expensive. Wander around the city centre in a match day, there must be 1000’s of potential fans just milling about…..The club should be giving away tickets to schools to fill the red seats every game, they’d still make money from all the other stuff families buy and then you might hook them in, not by playing like we have of late mind.

[TWGL1]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

Clubs who did ok in the 70’s/80’s all have a core following, all those midlands clubs for example, Derby, forest Leicester. Even Coventry were in the top division forever when I was growing up. Both Sheffield clubs, Ipswich, Norwich too. The generations follow on in those places, we haven’t got that here as we were terrible for 25 yrs….and before that crowds were never great (70’s)…the odd big one.
Nevermind grangetown and riverside, two of cardiffs poorest area’s, I doubt we are going to attract much support from there less we give away free tickets, it’s way too expensive. Wander around the city centre in a match day, there must be 1000’s of potential fans just milling about…..The club should be giving away tickets to schools to fill the red seats every game, they’d still make money from all the other stuff families buy and then you might hook them in, not by playing like we have of late mind.

Good post.

I think our core home support holds up pretty well when you consider that the average away attendances at CCS are around 1,200 per season. Coventry’s average away attendance at their home ground is around 2/3,000 more per match as is most other teams on the championship.

Being located where we are probably loses 2,000 visiting fans per match , which would take our average gate close to 23,000.

Not bad at all

[horse_face]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

Good post.

I think our core home support holds up pretty well when you consider that the average away attendances at CCS are around 1,200 per season. Coventry’s average away attendance at their home ground is around 2/3,000 more per match as is most other teams on the championship.

Being located where we are probably loses 2,000 visiting fans per match , which would take our average gate close to 23,000.

Not bad at all

Interesting point: On the other hand looking at us rather than other clubs visiting, we don't have any other teams in our immediate area who are direct competition.

Within the 360,000 surely the club can do more to engage and attract these people? Not many other clubs have the luxury of such a large audience on their doorstep.

[TWGL1]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

Interesting point: On the other hand looking at us rather than other clubs visiting, we don't have any other teams in our immediate area who are direct competition.

Within the 360,000 surely the club can do more to engage and attract these people? Not many other clubs have the luxury of such a large audience on their doorstep.

You could argue that social economic conditions play a part in our attendances especially for non season ticket holders.

The fact that the road and rail system is not the best in comparison to other cities is also a major problem with supporting the club.

Night games are inaccessible for a significant portion of fans unless you have a car

[horse_face]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

Absolutely, it makes it even more remarkable that we have so many fans trudging down to Cardiff every week.

I know other clubs offer discounted tickets for local residents, surely that's a no brainer? There seemed a period a few years back where the club seemed to be more active in the local communities.

[City123]

Re: Our fanbase from the City of Cardiff (again)

Has the club every actually bothered engaging with the people of Cardiff? We've discussed this before but there's a huge student population they could tap into for instance as well as people who've lived here for years. There always seems to be a "build it and they will come" attitude with football clubs when in reality they're fighting with countless other forms of entertainment. Any engagement seems focused on the valleys (Warnock's tours for instance).

I don't think the amount of fans who live in Cardiff is as low as suggested either but we could definitely improve

As for our attendance figures, Eric is generally correct in what he says and we definitely aren't over the rebrand which cost us some hardcore fans