Time n travel.
It is coming round to that time of year when I book my wee trip to Bonny Scotland for my annual fix of Scottish Football. Once a year is not really enough but traveling back n forth from Scotland is not a cheap, or as easy, as it once was!
This dish up of paella and b comes from the 3 all draw with local rivals, Cowdenbeath.
Enjoy!
A regular complaint about the modern game is kick off time. Some clubs and divisions suffer more than others. During Barcelona's pre-season there was a game that didn't start until 10 o'clock at night, and so it was going to be a struggle for many fans to get home using public transport. The same problem had arisen the previous year therefore the club and Barcelona's metro, train and bus company, TMB, collaborated to keep the system running late enabling fans to come to the game knowing they can get home cheaply. Having to add a taxi ride home to the end of your game compared to the 90 cents city wide travel ticket makes a big difference to Barça's gate.
Having a decent sized away support in a ground these days is something saved for special occasions, derby games, crucial end of season fixtures, cup ties against the big teams. Times have changed. I was recently asked how many ground I had visited in Scotland and trying to remember brought back many memories of trundling around Scotland's wide array of stadia, parks and on some occasions beautiful hedges. One of the many advantages of being a traveling football has to be the where you get to visit and the journey to get there. It definitely seems that attendance in the home end of grounds are pretty regular in numbers, however the away ends can be pretty dismal figures to look at. So why are away numbers dropping; do people really have something better to do on a Saturday?
Away fans are not a regular sight at the Nou Camp, traveling from Madrid is over 5 hours in the car, a train ticket 150€ return and a flight not giving you must change from 200€. Apart from local rivals Espanyol the amount of fans that travel with their team to the Catalan capital is small. Low cost travel seems to have missed the football fan. Thankfully some clubs supporters groups still run the valuable service of the supporters bus. Come on who doesn't love a "wee day oot n a poke o chips on the way hame!" If you have change for chips!
Going thru the gates, in our division, around the grounds, the entrance price tends to be similar , however traveling from ground to ground can put a hefty dent in your wallet. A train ticket from Inverness to Edinburgh can be easily over £60 and that is only if the times are suitable for you to travel. Transport to grounds is, in my opinion, key to the development of the Scottish game. Bums on seats is what is always talked about, but how do we get the bums to the seats, more buses, more collaboration with transport companies? Suggestions on a postcard.
This dish up of paella and b comes from the 3 all draw with local rivals, Cowdenbeath.
Enjoy!
A regular complaint about the modern game is kick off time. Some clubs and divisions suffer more than others. During Barcelona's pre-season there was a game that didn't start until 10 o'clock at night, and so it was going to be a struggle for many fans to get home using public transport. The same problem had arisen the previous year therefore the club and Barcelona's metro, train and bus company, TMB, collaborated to keep the system running late enabling fans to come to the game knowing they can get home cheaply. Having to add a taxi ride home to the end of your game compared to the 90 cents city wide travel ticket makes a big difference to Barça's gate.
Having a decent sized away support in a ground these days is something saved for special occasions, derby games, crucial end of season fixtures, cup ties against the big teams. Times have changed. I was recently asked how many ground I had visited in Scotland and trying to remember brought back many memories of trundling around Scotland's wide array of stadia, parks and on some occasions beautiful hedges. One of the many advantages of being a traveling football has to be the where you get to visit and the journey to get there. It definitely seems that attendance in the home end of grounds are pretty regular in numbers, however the away ends can be pretty dismal figures to look at. So why are away numbers dropping; do people really have something better to do on a Saturday?
Away fans are not a regular sight at the Nou Camp, traveling from Madrid is over 5 hours in the car, a train ticket 150€ return and a flight not giving you must change from 200€. Apart from local rivals Espanyol the amount of fans that travel with their team to the Catalan capital is small. Low cost travel seems to have missed the football fan. Thankfully some clubs supporters groups still run the valuable service of the supporters bus. Come on who doesn't love a "wee day oot n a poke o chips on the way hame!" If you have change for chips!
Going thru the gates, in our division, around the grounds, the entrance price tends to be similar , however traveling from ground to ground can put a hefty dent in your wallet. A train ticket from Inverness to Edinburgh can be easily over £60 and that is only if the times are suitable for you to travel. Transport to grounds is, in my opinion, key to the development of the Scottish game. Bums on seats is what is always talked about, but how do we get the bums to the seats, more buses, more collaboration with transport companies? Suggestions on a postcard.
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