mikehutch86 wrote:I can totally agree with the title of this thread. I've been to the majority of away games this season and go on my own, and can usually pick out the same numpties that are spending more time watching the home crowd than the game and throwing w@nker signs to 70 year old men. Although this is by no mean the majority, met plenty of genuine fans on my travels this season.
This is maybe not a majority opinion but the way I see it, going to away games is about a number of things. Not just the football.
First and foremost, it is about the lads we go with, the laughs we have together. Even if Arsenal were in the conference and played the worst football in the world, I'd still go to games because we're a group of mates who have a good laugh regardless of the result.
Then in no particular order: it is about the banter with the home fans. I'll mouth off at the home fans all day long. It's all part of the laugh. Obviously I'm not just going to scream at some old bloke who isn't interested, but that banter back and forth with opposition fans is one of the things which makes away games so much more of a laugh than home games. It doesn't make anyone a hooligan or a wannabe Danny Dyer. It doesn't make them go out and have a punch up. It's just a laugh. It's football and it helps keep the atmosphere going.
It's obviously about the football. If Arsenal lose the match, I'm pissed off and it spoils it, but it wouldn't stop me going as I said even if Arsenal were rubbish.
So I think it's a bit harsh to just make a sweeping judgement on these fans who mouth off at the home fans. Sure, if they're genuinely picking fights with home fans fair enough, but I've personally never seen that this season. The majority of people who go to away games mouth off at the home support. It's a part of going to an away game and to make this out to be some kind of new phenomenon is ridiculous.