Welcome to the first Support Your Local Saturday thread - which we will be trialling for the first time today.
The premise is a thread to talk about your local team - something of an amalgamation of the Saturday Non-PL Daily Discussion Thread, and a “match-going fan” thread.
This does not necessarily mean that only comments from fans going to their local that day - but the spirit is a Discussion Thread for people who support their local team, and especially teams from lower or non-PL leagues - who can get drowned out in the pre-existing Daily Discussion Thread.
There is a small but dedicated following in the Non-PL DDT, and we were hoping that something of a re-brand may boost participation and help to build the excellent sub-community there.
We want to keep the focus to Non-PL teams, to prevent it being drowned out by Big 6 fans - but we will soften this slightly, in that comments of PL-supporting fans are valid, providing they were “at the match” that weekend.
It may not work, but worth giving a go, eh…
Rules:
- Discussion must be of your local team - whether they were you local growing up, or are your local now
- Discussion of PL teams is allowed only if you are attending the match that weekend - and hence focused on the match day experience
- Keep a high bar. This is not the DDT. If you want to troll, bait, or shit-talk like it’s Football Twitter, use the DDT. Or even better - Twitter.
Salford actually brought away fans. Fair play I thought they were fictional
For my birthday I visited my grandparents who live in Sutton (also where I grew up) and went to my first Sutton game (at Gander Green Lane) since the 4-3 victory against Port Vale.
In a way it was a similar dynamic as our opponent Bradford were much better with the ball and could actually control the midfield, but also looked like they would shit themselves when experiencing actual serious pressure from the opposition. Ultimately, Sutton had the drive and luck to win the game in our stronger periods. I’m not surprised that Bradford were a side that recently sacked Mark Hughes considering how prone their defence was to pressure.
It was weirdly quiet from the Sutton fans - nothing like the games during the first season in League 2 - but I have missed the rustic lower league atmosphere. Hopefully I can make more games, particularly as Sutton might not be long for the world of EFL football
Off to Mechelen today on an away game, the first one we’re allowed to do by car and not by a mandatory bus
Up the greens
Mandatory bus!?
What the fuck!?
Been to Sutjeska game against Jedinstvo, and Yanis Beghdadi looks really good. Really excited about him, one of the only bright spots about Sutjeska this season.
They were not my local growing up, but technically right now it’s Sheffield United… live less than 30 minute walk from Bramall Lane. Often go to see the women’s games there
Football across the city in a sad state. Women are doing okay in the Championship, but with the tragedy of Maddy Cusack passing away, and whatever on earth is going on with the manager being suspended, that’s a sad state of affairs too
My local team died last weekend and I have an empty hole in my heart… I wish our SG was going on a bus up the freeway today to watch our boys play in the next round of the tournament… =(
Love this, mods!
After 17 games, we stood dead last on 10 points with everyone writing us off. But after picking up 16 points in the following 10 games, we now find ourselves at one of the play off spots with 3 games remaining!
Our most recent game was against Jönköping Södra where we, for the first time since the opening game, pulled a respectable away following! We managed to fill our bus (fuck me, organising bus journeys for a bunch of drunk football fans, is fucking stressful!) and plenty of cars drove down as well meaning 80+ on the away stand. It’s still a shamefully low number, but for us, it’s a massive step in the right direction!
Tomorrow, we face Utsiktens BK at home in a game where sponsors and supporters pay for the entrance fee, meaning it’s free entry for the public. Should be a decent attendance despite the horrible weather. Utsikten were once top of the league by some margin but have had a horrendous second half of the season. Their top scorer also managed to get himself suspended in the last game because he went over to the away fans and started shouting abuse after the game was over!
On a personal level, it looks like I’ll finally be able to get my perfect season after missing out 2 years in a row by one single game. My old man is heading for his third consecutive perfect season! If we manage to keep our position, the first play off game will be his 100th competitive game in a row he sees in person, mad respect for that!
A perfect season in Sweden is really impressive, I’ll probably reach 28/30 this season but Belgium is tiny lol
What’s the furthest away game?
28/ 30 is strong, regardless of country!
Furthest would be Östersund, a lovely 1,300 km roundtrip and Sundsvall at ~1,200. The way home from Östersund this year was absolutely fucking brutal due to heavy snow. The first 300 km’s was probably the worst time I’ve spent in a car. Passed two trucks and a handfull of cars that had ended up in the ditch causing delays. Took us nearly 13 hours to get back home…
Lovely stuff!
Will be at the Stevenage game today. Had a little downturn of form after a brilliant start so hopefully we pull off a bit of a surprise in this one against Derby. Never know!
Great idea! I’ve always supported Palace as they were my local team and my dad’s. The match thread was a disasterclass last night as we were playing a “big 6” team and really refreshing to read some of the comments here.
I’ve moved away from Birmingham this week but I def wouldn’t be going to the southampton away game away game anyway, 12:30 on a Saturday is a huge pain, as it’s when the cruises go as well trying to get down to southampton in time means you’d have to leave at about 7am and that’s scraping it
Oof that’s rough, leaving before 9 or 10 is always a bit hard on the weekend. I was staying in Manchester and my friend was off at 6am for the rugby down in London and I knew then I lacked dedication
I’m from Queens, NY. We were supposed to have a soccer team called Queensboro FC and plans were approved for a new stadium for them. However, it got nixed because a rival plan - a new stadium in Queens for NYCFC (speaking of NYCFC, they were also shit this season but it was nice to see them play).
Shame. Queensboro FC would have played in USL but it’d be nice to expand soccer in the city.
I live in Baltimore now and sadly this city is heavily baseball and American football. DC United is the local team for me and the management is shit currently. Though I do enjoy going to Audi Field.
While not in the spirit of this thread… how on earth does someone from Queens become a Betis fan? haha
Well I grew up watching La Liga and wanted to support an underdog team.
2017-18 season I was in college and Betis style was wild and the Villamarin games are lit from my stream
Won the title 2 seasons ago, made the semifinals last season but following it up with 3 losses in 3 this season and instantly the rumours are that the team will be disbanded due to low interest
Joys of ISL
Went to start my car this morning to drive to the Town game. Nothing. Currently got my mechanic jacked up on the strongest espresso hoping he’ll fix it faster, stay tuned. Will be fuming if I miss it
Also good to see this thread finally be a thing, been asking for it forever
Also good to see this thread finally be a thing, been asking for it forever
Good response thus far, hopefully can make it more regular!
Derby day on Thursday against cfr in the cup, already can’t wait
After an attendance of 9k in our “away” derby in our own stadium last week, it’s going to be interesting how many people show up today against Walldorf. With the weather right now and a rather unattractive opponent, I’d say half of that would be a pretty good turnout.
Last week was my first official away game of the year, but that one doesn’t really count, so I’m really hoping I can at least make the last two away games before the winter break. With living abroad for the first half of the year to being very buisy with work and studying in the second half, this has been my worst year attendance-wise in a long time.