Attendances holding up well

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Attendances holding up well

Norwich, though, does anything else happen there?

What else happens in Cardiff that keeps fans away from matches? You could argue that we have rugby and more gigs I suppose. But do any of them really keep fans away from the football?

[Mr Ducie]

Re: Attendances holding up well

What else happens in Cardiff that keeps fans away from matches? You could argue that we have rugby and more gigs I suppose. But do any of them really keep fans away from the football?

I take it you don’t have kids

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Attendances holding up well

I take it you don’t have kids

I don't, but I'm not sure what the relevance of that is.

I'm pretty sure people in Norwich also have kids...

[splott parker]

Re: Attendances holding up well

What else happens in Cardiff that keeps fans away from matches? You could argue that we have rugby and more gigs I suppose. But do any of them really keep fans away from the football?

I reckon Cardiff has a lot more going on than Norwich, things that cost. Money only goes so far.

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Attendances holding up well

I reckon Cardiff has a lot more going on than Norwich, things that cost. Money only goes so far.

I don’t believe that’s the reason for Norwich’s attendances being consistently higher (and steadier) than Cardiff’s.

We can get significantly bigger crowds than them if things are going well, but our fans drift away when things aren’t so good. Historically, that’s always been the case.

Some areas, cities and towns are more committed to their football teams than others. Why that’s so is unclear, but I think it’s a bit of a cop out to suggest it’s because more goes on here than there.

If we’re doing well, people readily find the money to buy tickets. If we’re not, plenty won’t bother.

[delmbox]

Re: Attendances holding up well

Hardly unique to South Wales, even clubs with “good fans” have their fickle ones.

A decade ago Elland Road was half full and now Leeds are looking at building a 50k+ stadium.

In League One, Coventry were averaging crowds of less than 10k.

Derby and Newcastle however, are two clubs whose crowds don’t seem to be affected by bad seasons and good seasons.

Sunderland too I think

[Mr Ducie]

Re: Attendances holding up well

I don’t believe that’s the reason for Norwich’s attendances being consistently higher (and steadier) than Cardiff’s.

We can get significantly bigger crowds than them if things are going well, but our fans drift away when things aren’t so good. Historically, that’s always been the case.

Some areas, cities and towns are more committed to their football teams than others. Why that’s so is unclear, but I think it’s a bit of a cop out to suggest it’s because more goes on here than there.

If we’re doing well, people readily find the money to buy tickets. If we’re not, plenty won’t bother.

I think you will find plenty of trains home from Norwich using the Greater Anglia train system. The valleys have almost no service after half time back to these core areas for night matches and have a reduced service even at weekends. Having a huge fan base is a disadvantage with a transportation system like ours.

[splott parker]

Re: Attendances holding up well

I don’t believe that’s the reason for Norwich’s attendances being consistently higher (and steadier) than Cardiff’s.

We can get significantly bigger crowds than them if things are going well, but our fans drift away when things aren’t so good. Historically, that’s always been the case.

Some areas, cities and towns are more committed to their football teams than others. Why that’s so is unclear, but I think it’s a bit of a cop out to suggest it’s because more goes on here than there.

If we’re doing well, people readily find the money to buy tickets. If we’re not, plenty won’t bother.

I do think our years in the doldrums over 20 odd years ago contribute to our fickle crowds. The birth of the Premier League which while we were still kicking about in the basement may be a factor also. Clubs like Norwich, Ipswich, Derby, the Sheffields etc etc all had a few goes in the sunshine. Also when we were attracting 3 & 4 thousand crowds, wall to wall tv coverage of the likes of Man U, Liverpool etc attracted the armchair South Walian, more attractive to the floating fan than Darlington home.

Football is the most popular game in Wales but, unfortunately, its Premier League football. We missed the boat big time, just like we did 20 odd years earlier, late 60s, pushing for Division One, gates of 20,000 + were common down the City, when attendances generally were falling. Everyone in my school was a City fan. We failed to make the final step, when it was within touch, and fell away badly.

Again , the Norwichs, Ipswichs, Derbys, Stokes etc all reached and did well in the top flight while we, sadly, petered away. Their fans stuck because of this, quite understandably.

[Rock_Flock_of_Five]

Re: Attendances holding up well

Hardly unique to South Wales, even clubs with “good fans” have their fickle ones.

A decade ago Elland Road was half full and now Leeds are looking at building a 50k+ stadium.

In League One, Coventry were averaging crowds of less than 10k.

Derby and Newcastle however, are two clubs whose crowds don’t seem to be affected by bad seasons and good seasons.

Well, it's not strictly true about Newcastle not being affected by bad seasons.
Season 1980/81 they averaged a fraction over 16k, in the second tier (today's Championship) .
A decade later, they averaged just under 17k, again it was in the second tier
I'm sure they had one league game whereby the attendance was under 10k; that might have been during the 1990/91 season.

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Attendances holding up well

I think you will find plenty of trains home from Norwich using the Greater Anglia train system. The valleys have almost no service after half time back to these core areas for night matches and have a reduced service even at weekends. Having a huge fan base is a disadvantage with a transportation system like ours.

Left field, I’ll give you that. It’s the trains.

[NYCBlue]

Re: Attendances holding up well

We had a prolonged period in the bottom two divisions. When football became both mainstream and "cool" in the '90s, Cardiff were shit. It was much easier to glom onto a team being covered 24/7 on TV and the Internet. I think that has a lot to do with it.

[Mr Ducie]

Re: Attendances holding up well

Left field, I’ll give you that. It’s the trains.

It’s a contributing factor, something you can’t blame Vincent Tan on

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Attendances holding up well

It’s a contributing factor, something you can’t blame Vincent Tan on

I also can’t blame him for the fact that the population of Cardiff and its urban areas is significantly bigger than the population of Norwich and its urban areas.

[William Treseder]

Re: Attendances holding up well

I do think our years in the doldrums over 20 odd years ago contribute to our fickle crowds. The birth of the Premier League which while we were still kicking about in the basement may be a factor also. Clubs like Norwich, Ipswich, Derby, the Sheffields etc etc all had a few goes in the sunshine. Also when we were attracting 3 & 4 thousand crowds, wall to wall tv coverage of the likes of Man U, Liverpool etc attracted the armchair South Walian, more attractive to the floating fan than Darlington home.

Football is the most popular game in Wales but, unfortunately, its Premier League football. We missed the boat big time, just like we did 20 odd years earlier, late 60s, pushing for Division One, gates of 20,000 + were common down the City, when attendances generally were falling. Everyone in my school was a City fan. We failed to make the final step, when it was within touch, and fell away badly.

Again , the Norwichs, Ipswichs, Derbys, Stokes etc all reached and did well in the top flight while we, sadly, petered away. Their fans stuck because of this, quite understandably.

How long has football been the most popular game in Wales? It may be now, but it’s taken a long time. In the 70’s and 80’s Cardiff Rugby were getting bigger crowds than the City.
We seem to spend lots of time on lots of threads on here tit for tatting about football and rugby in Wales. The teams you’ve mentioned, Norwich Ipswich, Derby Stoke etc, are 100% football towns and city’s. Bet you wouldn’t find one thread on any of their message boards discussing rugby.
If football is now the biggest game in Wales, then the Welsh footballing public should start trying to prove it by going to more club games and financially supporting it.

[splott parker]

Re: Attendances holding up well

How long has football been the most popular game in Wales? It may be now, but it’s taken a long time. In the 70’s and 80’s Cardiff Rugby were getting bigger crowds than the City.
We seem to spend lots of time on lots of threads on here tit for tatting about football and rugby in Wales. The teams you’ve mentioned, Norwich Ipswich, Derby Stoke etc, are 100% football towns and city’s. Bet you wouldn’t find one thread on any of their message boards discussing rugby.
If football is now the biggest game in Wales, then the Welsh footballing public should start trying to prove it by going to more club games and financially supporting it.

As I said, in my opinion, Premier League football is the biggest watched (on telly obviously),and talked about sport in Wales.