We only moved to the area from down South last August, and apart from a few Quins matches we went to with friends, mostly went to football (please don't hold that against me).
Myself and my son went to our first Tigers match last September vs Worcester Warriors, because his school gave out a flyer with a promo code. After making a bodge of ordering online, I phoned the box office and spoke to the most helpful and welcoming person.
We went to the match and the first thing my son said was "This atmosphere is so much different to a football match" When I asked "Better or worse?" he said "Better, much better". We didn't notice the lack of police at first, of the away fans mingling with the home fans, but I did read the page in the programme which lists what is expected of a Tigers fan.
My son still talks about the little French kid sitting behind us at the Racing 92 match, screaming at the top of his lungs "Racing, Racing" and how cool it was.
Fast forward 7 or 8 matches last season, and I stealth bought ( told my wife in a mumbled non committed way) three season tickets for this years season purely based on the atmosphere, the rugby and the fact it is somewhere safe to take my kids that shows them that respect in sport still exists.
However it does go to show that my only other two posts in this forum have been in the catering section, and how utterly :censored: they were last season. (also the fact I am still trying to work out the exact laws of the game (ie why was that a penalty!) therefore don't really feel it safe to post on rugby matters yet. Need another few decades of rugby watching before I think I can hazard an opinion
)It is important that you can get your kids a hot drink at half time at a late match in January when they are frozen solid, or that you aren't queuing hours to buy a scarf at the shop, or that the stewards smile instead of scowl (the bearded steward in the Robin Hood stand is only ever friendly so no complaints there).
This sort of thing does matter to someone who might come to one or two games and use it as a basis to decide on whether to come to a few more games.
The Tigers are good at getting school kids through the door, who then might badger their parents to take them and if more is done to get these kids (and parents) to come back time and time again, then I can only think this would be a good thing.
We are away next weekend, but am very much looking forward to the friendly on the 25th!
