Arsenal only have 30,000 hardcore fans (18/1)

[gooner.ed]

http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=505

Usual thread starter… A lean spell. It’s a phenomenon we haven’t had for a while and let’s hope we don’t have another anytime soon. But it will be interesting to see what happens with the crowds when one does occur. Or maybe the game has changed so much that the top four will always remain the top dogs now, due to the Champions League income, a self-perpetuating elite. That would be dull as ditchwater, but it could be a reality. Time will tell. Do you think we’ll ever see the days of mid-table mediocrity at Arsenal again?

[Sammy Mooner]

Whilst the article might be considered generally correct with regard to overseas 'fans' there are numerous exceptions I can think of who are as dedicated as any English based fans, if not more so.

For example the Norwegian who travels to every home game. The Icelandic fans who swamp the supporters club in St.Thomas' Road every time they travel over. The Hong Kong Gooners with whom it was my privilege to watch a match – they meet up from the numerous islands to take over a bar and watch every game. More than a couple of Hong Kong Gooners made it to Paris for the European Final. There’s John who has been over from San Francisco a good few times. I’ve also met serious fans at Highbury or Ashburton from Canada, Israel, Bulgaria, Sweden, New Zealand, Japan, Denmark, Kuwait and Australia.

Carsten and his mates in Germany travel to all our European aways and regularly travelled to all our Cardiff Finals without tickets just to lap up the atmosphere. As for the Oz fans they have to get up in the middle of the night to watch matches live, and they do. My daughter travelled on a boat in Kenya where the captain was altogether more interested in listening to an Arsenal match in Swahili than driving the boat.

Sure some clowns around the globe just wear the shirt as a fashion item but certainly not all of them – we’ve even got season ticket holders who live in Wales. Of all the god forsaken places to travel from they probably take the biscuit.

[NBN]

good article mate, to be quite honest though i would prefer 40,000 odd passionate supporters in the ground than a full house with 40,000 numpties in the crowd.

[Woody]

Fairly recently the Club made an announcement about the number of members. The details were something like:

43,000 Gold members
22,000 Silver members
61,000 Red members
22,000 Junior Gunners

Plus 38,000 on the season ticket waiting list.

I think that you have to accept that our fan base is now made up of several different groups. The pre Wenger fans, the post Wenger fans attracted by the suceess and style of football he has brought, the corporate hospitality ticket holders and the international fans.

Until we go through another sustained period of mediocrity we won't know the size of the hardcore fan base. Ticket prices will also play a role. Sure we can sell out AC Milan at home within a day but the Spurs home leg semi didn't and the Blackburn, Boro and Villa league games may not sell out.

As for the pre Wenger fan base wasn't our average gate in 1990/91 only 35,000 which was well below the capacity of Highbury at the time?

Until the success evaporates I think that true hardcore are the 2,000 odd fans who attend most of the away games. Given the cost, time taken to travel to games and the sheer inconvenience of kick off times set by the TV schedule it takes a huge commitment to regularly travel away.

[gunner4eva]

Nice article, I agree and disagree in the same time!

I think the tickets are expensive, that's one of the main reason fans don't go to Emirate stadium.

I live in the other side of the world, practically in Saudi Arabia. In the summer, nothing makes me happier than traveling all the way to London to support Arsenal, I did a lot of sacrifices just to support Arsenal. Last week, I had a class in college in the same time that Arsenal game against the spuds, but I watched the game, I'd never give up on supporting arsenal, even if they're not in the top 4, even if the club falls and play in coca cola league, I've supported arsenal since 1998, and I'd never stop, gooner till the day I die!

p.s: there are a lot of arsenal fans in here, and they support the team as much as I do, and yea, there are fans who just like to watch arsenal play, they wouldn't give a sh*t if the team don't play well, they will just stop supporting! but the majority would never stop arsenal, just like me.

[REB]

ive been coming over from ireland since 1980 and tend to make 3-4 games every season since and the amount of arsenal fans in ireland have grown ten-fold,,
yes they will be some who it is the latest trend but for most its love and gooner 4 life,,
arsenal have always had a great affection with ireland and vice versa and i think at every home game theres something like a thousand travel over,, just look at the gooners on here and see where they all come from so in my opinion arsenal will never struggle fan wise i just wish they were a bit nosier

[Wayno]

Nice article, I agree and disagree in the same time!

I think the tickets are expensive, that's one of the main reason fans don't go to Emirate stadium.

I live in the other side of the world, practically in Saudi Arabia. In the summer, nothing makes me happier than traveling all the way to London to support Arsenal, I did a lot of sacrifices just to support Arsenal. Last week, I had a class in college in the same time that Arsenal game against the spuds, but I watched the game, I'd never give up on supporting arsenal, even if they're not in the top 4, even if the club falls and play in coca cola league, I've supported arsenal since 1998, and I'd never stop, gooner till the day I die!

p.s: there are a lot of arsenal fans in here, and they support the team as much as I do, and yea, there are fans who just like to watch arsenal play, they wouldn't give a sh*t if the team don't play well, they will just stop supporting! but the majority would never stop arsenal, just like me.

Welcome to the forum Ginner4eva, good post and I look forward to reading more.

[South-African-Gooner]

I grew up in a family that supports rugby not football. I took it upon myself to watch any and all football that came onto tv. I supported France in '98 world cup because I dident want to support awesome Brazil like all my friends and they surprised me and now its France till I die - Zidane for President lol.Same goes for Arsenal - went to school were it was only mau utd,liverpool and even leed utd lol but i chose to be different and started taking interest in Arsenal - all be it at that time i think they won the league - but man u was still tops in everyones hearts.

But times are changing - here you walk around in Arsenal jersey and you get people that go out of there way to start chatting to you about the club and whats going on in the league - man u is so old - new breed of supporters are emerging - not yet die hard fans but still its a start and it can only get better.

[dvbrisgooner1]

I have to say that I think 30,000 is an over-estimate. A game on May 1st 1989 against Norwich City (1st v 2nd) saw only 27,000 at Highbury. I realise that we're 18 years on, but things weren't much better in the mid-90's. A number of games were played around 94-96 in front of vast areas of empty seats in the North Bank.

[proudtosaythatname]

I'm old enough to remember the lean years but in those pre-globalisation days there were only hardcore supporters. And if things got too bad some of us didn't turn up either. Hopefully the club now is so strong that the possibilities of lean spells is a distant memory but the experience of just being at Ashburton Grove for a game will ensure people will have a high threshold of tolerability. After all, quite a few still go and watch Tottnumb

[donaldo]

The average gate before George Graham arrived was 21,000. Yes the gates were over 40,000 for the glamour games but there were many games that attracted 15,000. These "new" fans started watching football after Italia 90 and when Sky began.And of course there are the gloryhunters the same glory hunters who go to Chelski now when they used to get gates of 7,000 in the 80"s.

[RaM]

Unfortunately its natural for people to be drawn by success. They are the sort of fans I really have no time for. Were we relegated next season they'd be on the waiting list for ManUre season tickets, or whoever else is doing well.

'Fickle fans' is probably the best description, and they make up the majority of the 'big four's supporters. Especially overseas, where the media promote the biggest clubs the most, and so people in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia etc. only support these clubs.

Of those that go to games, I'd estimate that a great deal don't support the club in a way that would be considered 'die hard'.



Lets just hope that we don't have a time in the near future when we have to see where the allegiences of many lie....

[DB10GOONER]

Further to my mate Reb's post;

Never underestimate the die hard Irish Gooners. I worked in construction in Dublin airport for 8 years and on match days the VAST majority of travelling fans were always Gooners. Good percentage of Mousers (ferry prob kept their numbers down in fairness) and a trickle of manure.

Paris 06; thousands of Irish Gooners travelled over with and (mostly) without tickets to be in Paris, to cheer the team on spiritually, to be with our own Gooner tribe.

I've posted on this before but f*ck it, here we are again; Never forget what it costs us in time, effort and particularly cost to attend games. The exchange rate is financial rape for us.

Not all die hard Gooners were born in N5.

[QuartzGooner]

I have been a fan my whole life, so from a young age was watching games on tv and started going to Highbury in 1978 aged 7.

What has really suprised me has been meeting fans at work who started supporting when Wenger came. Many of these had never actually been to a game.

I asked them why and it seemed to be a combination of ticket price, and sheer availablity of tickets.

Also perhaps something cultural.

A number were of African origin, whose parents came from overseas and so never had a tradition of being taken to games by their father when growing up.

So they never got on any season ticket or ticket registration list when competition for tickets started heating up around 1996.

The whole mindset of going to games was absent from them, yet they followed the team on tv, read all they could on the net and in the papers, and loved talking football at any opportunity.

It will be a matter of time until they themselves come to the front of waiting lists and start attending regularly, but it will happen.