Declining Away Support

I got lucky last season with the Away games I chose, bar Donny. However it is very expensive these days and to be honest nobody can really justify paying silly prices to watch a GAME of football. Considering you can watch it for nowt on your local park.

 

Looking at the away games I went to last season it was a bit of mixed:-

Forest - Ok performance but good day out
Millwall - Boring game - always a good day out in that London
Peterborough - Quality game and day - would have paid more
West Ham - see Millwall
Watford - Long trip, shocking weather, decent boozer, ***** game so overall the day was a waste of money.

By February I'd made my mind up that I wouldn't be attending anymore away games.

 

Mmmmmm.... Got a plasma, have we?

 

It's not just going with kids its also having kids. Work all week, you do tend to want to spend time with them when you can - and got two now. I already go to every home match. Without getting into a debate on jobs, I've had a two year pay freeze and at the same time basics like bread up 30p a loaf, milk 20p a 2litre bottle - and they are just two of hundreds of basics you need to survive as a family. Food shops up £25 a week which is £100 a month - for that you can go to two away games if you wanted. All Asda's £1 offers might look great but the stuff was only 50p a couple of years ago.

Then there is the increase in petrol of course.

I've gone from about 20 away games 2-3 seasons ago to a handful last year. Ear-marked 10 including Rochdale this season but we shall see how things are when it comes to ones at the end of the month and money very thin on the ground.

Another massive factor is the abject results. NO points gained after going behind last season away from home. Perhaps many have also been to grounds they hadn't been to before so made the effort. For example, as much as I'd love to see Derby v Barnsley, I've spent enough at the turnstiles at Pride Park since 1997.

 

Birmingham away,when I spoke to my Brummie supporting mate several months after he said we were by far the best team he had seen at St Andrews this season.Derby away when despite having to sub two players quite early in the game and then losing Vaz Te we produce a fantastic performance and at the same time introducing some of our young players into action.

 

Not one shot on goal at the Ricoh, aye great performance.

 

Re: Used to love away games but it is just too expensive these days

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There's several reasons for me personally. The going rate today is around £30 a ticket, then there's travel, I don't usually know until the week before if i can make an away game, so I can't book cheap train tickets, which usually means going by car, incurring petrol and parking charges, or by club coach, costing between £12 and £25 depending on the distance of the away game.

Results never deter me from matches, the fact we win very little away from home, doesn't usually stop me from having a good day out.

 

A home game is an away game if you live a long way from Oakwell.

 

True.
For me home game is £15 (ST breakdown) plus beer no travel. So £25-30
Away is about £75 if there and back same day and based on typical entry of £25-30 and £10-25 coach/rail travel.

 

Re: Used to love away games but it is just too expensive these days

What they say ^^^

If I have to pay through the nose I choose to do it to my own club and not pay inflated prices to our rivals. I pay a lot for my season ticket to support our club but like others have said, football as we used to know it is all but wiped out.

 

Re: Used to love away games but it is just too expensive these days

I prefer away games to home games, usually have to make a weekend of it due to the distances I have to travel. Always a better atmosphere at away games, and we all know we're **** away from home so any kind of result always feels like a win!

 

I remember Keith Hill and his team getting booed off the pitch quite regularly and that was well before January.

 

Justifying the time spent travelling to and from away games for such poor performances. A full day wasted sometimes.

Idiotic selfish fans who ruin the game for others with their drunken behaviour. Fed up of being sat behind someone who's stood up for 90 minutes shouting and screaming obscenities at the other team and basically spending the entire game facing away from the pitch threatening the home fans

Cost.

In that order

 

The official coaches are ridiculously priced. Either the club are paying way over the odds, or the club are making a profit on the coach hire.

 

I cant barely cope with the home games!

 

Re: Used to love away games but it is just too expensive these days

What he said ^^^.

Interesting that so many people feel the same way - when are the clubs going to see what's in front of them.

I used to go to about 15-18 away games a season. Last season it was about 5 or 6. And I've realised that I don't get the shakes if I miss a game - it's just a game and there's so many other more important things to spend money on.

Last season the cost factor really hit home because of the quality of the fare as well so I have to say they both play a part. I am not prepared to pay £50 including travel to watch a game when there's about a 1 in 20 chance that we will win.

 

Rubbish, nowt to do with injuries. More to do with defenders lacing concentration due to mental tiredness did to seeing too much of the ball.

 

It wastes a whole day and makes you miserable.

Home games are two and a half hours. It's not even a full afternoon. So even if we lose the misery doesn't last too long. Away from home we're much more likely to lose and the experience can last all day. Life is much too short to voluntarily waste full days on something you know will make you feel like ****. And I'm ****** if I'm going to spend about £60 or £70 on feeling dreadful. I can get that for free. Regular Barnsley FC away attendees should be knighted for services to masochism.