Fear to travel? Sale at Edgeley Park

[Grimlish]

I travelled to the game with Sale last night. No big deal, its actually about the same time to get there as WR from here, and over 20 years years ago I bought my first house in one of the side streets next to the ground, so I know the area.

And surprise, surprise, despite dire predictions of terrible roundyballish behaviour from Sale fans, I had a pleasant evening, despite desparate weather and the wrong result in a tight but error strewn game. The fans around us were polite, engaged in conversation, even a little banter, and seemed knowledgeable. It was good to see several Tigers players mixing with fans before the game, by the ticket office (Boris, Toby, Aaron, Dan), in a very relaxed manner. During the game there were no cries of 'Same old Leicester always.....'. Oh and the queues for food and drink at half-time moved a deal quicker than what I've become used to as a STH at WR (altho with a seat in the new stand I hold out hope for the future, so dont disillusion me on that one just yet). And yes my car was safe and sound when I returned to it.

So why were there a string of very negative posts here?

I met an London Irish fan over the hols who commented on the lack of Tigers travelling support by comparison to other clubs. I know that money is tight for many just now so its not the fact of not travelling that I'm thinking about, so much as what reasons/excuses we give for not going.

I wonder - do we Tigers fans have a fear of travelling?

[chinnjamie]

Im guessing with it being a friday evening kick off, that must of stopped a lot of people travelling, thats my excuse because by the time i get home from work i just dont have the time to travel up to stockport.

[Grimlish]

Sure JG there are valid reasons not to travel and some less valid ones. If Mrs G had a bad experience that's a shame. But I didnt, nor did my family, and that's worth reporting here given the significant number of suggestions of difficulties, many of which seemed more based in rumour than direct experience (Mrs G excepted here of course).

My post is also about the observation that in previous seasons Tigers fans dont travel as much as might be expected (in as great a number as other clubs' fans, altho I'm sure some travel alot). Why would that be?

[Tigerbob]

We went to the match last night, but we were there mainly because we were on holiday this week and we had my step-daughter's to crash at last night.

I think Friday night games in Sale aren't the easiest of games to get to in normal circumstances.

I was glad it wasn't a sellout last night, as being a Yorkshireman I had bought tickets for the BMI Healthcare Stand (otherwise known as the 'wet stand') and was awfully glad we could upgrade our tickets to be undercover.

Metcheck.com were predicting a dry night from 19:00 onwards, but it turned into a very wet night - and oh would I have got it in the neck from my wife and step-daughter if we hadn't been able to upgrade our tickets!!

[Bill W]

Sure JG there are valid reasons not to travel and some less valid ones. If Mrs G had a bad experience that's a shame. But I didnt, nor did my family, and that's worth reporting here given the significant number of suggestions of difficulties, many of which seemed more based in rumour than direct experience (Mrs G excepted here of course).

My post is also about the observation that in previous seasons Tigers fans dont travel as much as might be expected (in as great a number as other clubs' fans, altho I'm sure some travel alot). Why would that be?

On what do you base your contention that Tigers supporters travel less than those of other teams?

[Grimlish]

Bill W wrote

On what do you base your contention that Tigers supporters travel less than those of other teams?

Clearer in my original post - observations made to me by London Irish fans. It was not just that we dont take many travelling supporters but that given the size of our home gate we take a very low proportion. Not my assertion, just a report from a friendly observer....

[Bill W]

Bill W wrote

On what do you base your contention that Tigers supporters travel less than those of other teams?

Clearer in my original post - observations made to me by London Irish fans. It was not just that we dont take many travelling supporters but that given the size of our home gate we take a very low proportion. Not my assertion, just a report from a friendly observer....

Fair enough. It is certainly true that some sides who have relatively poor home attendance (Munster spring to mind) have a very strong "away" presence. Tigers are indeed the reverse.

This does not, however, necessarily equate with fear of travelling.

It may have more to do with where supporters live and how far they would have to travel and, depending on KO time when they would get home.

[Grimlish]

Bill

I said fear as I saw several posts here about the likely nature of the crowd at Sale, only a few of which were based on direct evidence eg personal experience. No doubt there have been a few bad exeriences at Sale, as at many other grounds (I find HQ increasingly hard to bear for all sorts of reasons).

I wanted

1) to get on record that I had a good experience last night, and
2) to suggest perhaps we talk ourselves into not travelling because of ill-grounded fears....

[Bill W]

Grimlish

It would be sad indeed if fans failed to travel because of fear of what they might encounter on arrival.

My experience is that rugby fans the world over are, by and large, friendly hospitable people.

I applaud your posts.

[Tyzot]

Had a similar conversation with quite a few Leinster fans at the H Cup final, who were also amazed by how few of us there were.

We can all only speak from personal experience or what we beleive to be trusted sources, but I think that with a couple of exceptions its all about money. There are 4 STHs in our household and only so much cash to go around. Perhaps if we did not buy season tickets and only went to half the games we could afford to travel to more away games.

When asked it is human nature to say "I don't fancy the trip" rather than "I can't afford it" so perhaps there are a lot of excuses rather than reasons given.


Just a thought.

[mickyboy]

My wife and I drove up Friday night from Rugby on M6. There were major problems on the M6 as there nearly always are, had to come off and use the A34 I think it was, everybody had the same idea and that road was chocker. Had to drive like a Maniac to reach kick off on time, 3 and a half hours there and 2 and a half back. In fact I was very surprised at the no. of Tigers fans there, but I for one would not do that nightmare journey again on Friday Evening.

[bluntiger]

Had a similar conversation with quite a few Leinster fans at the H Cup final, who were also amazed by how few of us there were.

I travel to many away games and really wanted to go to the first game of the season but then I saw the fixture list. There are two away days that I really don't like - Sale and Saracens. The grounds are horrible, the surrounding areas dreadful and the food is horrendous. There is little that makes it an enjoyable experience so I chose not to go through that experience again. I will travel to Quins, Bath, Gloucester, Falcons, Wuss, Irish and Saints this year in the GP. The Jury's out on Leeds and Wasps!

I went to all the games EXCEPT the HC final last year. I went to the GP S/F and Final as well as the HC S/F and visited Treviso, Perpignan and Ospreys in the group stages. So why miss the final? Because they sell the tickets a year ahead (when you have no clue whether your team will get to the final) and by the time Jordan Crane kicked us into the final, there was no accomodation in Edinburgh and travelling in and out in a day was not an option. I refuse to buy tickets and book accomodation when I have no idea whether my team will be there.

BTW I was offered accomodation in Edinburgh by someone 'offering' me the accomodation he had booked at DOUBLE the book rate! NO THANKS!

[Grimlish]

The grounds are horrible, the surrounding areas dreadful and the food is horrendous. There is little that makes it an enjoyable experience so I chose not to go through that experience again.

Seems like I can rest my case....

[Bill W]

The grounds are horrible, the surrounding areas dreadful and the food is horrendous. There is little that makes it an enjoyable experience so I chose not to go through that experience again.

Seems like I can rest my case....

He was only speaking of Sale and Saracens!!

Maybe the lad has taste?