When you speak to non-British supporters about the allure of English football, they do not pick out the superstar players and managers, the competition towards the top of the Premier League or the depth of the professional pyramid. They talk most fervently about our away-day culture.
England was uniquely placed for that culture to develop and thrive. In France, for example, the delay of urbanisation (and therefore the distance between major towns), the lack of long-distance public travel without using Paris as your nexus, the comparative lack of local derbies and the establishment of Sunday as the principal weekend matchday all counted against it. In England, it’s always been Saturday afternoon and “going to the football” has long been a cultural pillar.
We are not proud enough of our away-day heritage. On one Saturday in early October, eight of the 12 games in England’s third tier had an away attendance of more than 1,000. Wrexham, in the fifth tier, took more than 2,500 supporters to Oldham. Even considering the shorter distances than abroad, the commitment is extraordinary. Supporters of Newcastle, Plymouth, Carlisle, Morecambe and others routinely make 400-mile-plus round trips on a Saturday or in midweek. The movement, en masse, of people from one town to another is almost unique in popular culture. This is our badge of honour.
Over the last 20 years, those supporters have already been pushed beyond reason. At elite level, the cost of match tickets has escalated beyond the point of decency. The price of rail travel has risen by over 40 per cent over the last decade and rose again by 3.8 per cent in March. Television scheduling, designed to cater for armchair fans and acquiesced by clubs due to broadcasting revenues, makes planning mighty difficult and therefore forces the cost up.
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For all the marvelling at the sheer loyalty of travelling supporters, how long can this continue? It hasn’t really been discussed – as ever, the assumption is that football supporters will simply make do and mend – but away-day culture in England is being seriously threatened by the energy and cost-of-living crisis. Loyalty will never be in doubt, but you cannot escape economic reality forever.
Energy bills increased first in October 2021 by 12 per cent, but the rise in wholesale prices – largely due to the war in Ukraine – led to a further increase of 54 per cent in April. That then rose further – by an eye-watering 80 per cent – at the start of this month. Inflation is at a 40-year-high and the recent mini-budget has caused a potential mortgage repayment crisis too. Government subsidies will barely touch the sides. Thoughts go most to those on the breadline, of course, plunged into crisis by the deeds of others, but at risk too are the luxuries of life. That includes supporting your football team.
“I’ve got an 18-month-year-old who goes to nursery so that’s a big impact,” says Tom, a Leicester City supporter who had always attended away games regularly. “The uncertainty over energy bills and mortgage means I’ve so far only been to one away game – in the EFL Cup – to tick it off the 92. I’ll probably only go to 2 or 3 this season due to financial concerns.”
“Away days probably cost £30 for the ticket, minimum £30 in travel costs and food and drink might make it £100 a trip, which I just can’t risk at the moment. Petrol prices and train prices and availability don’t help. Other season ticket holders I go to away games with are more reluctant to go as well.”
If travelling by car is more expensive due to spiralling fuel costs, going by train has become almost impossible to some thanks to declining standards of services, ticketing and timetabling. Chelsea play Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on October 22 and, at time of writing, it is still not possible to buy tickets on Avanti West Coast’s lamentable service. When those tickets are released, they will be hideously expensive.
Alistair is a West Brom supporter who has been travelling to away games for 25 years. He usually drives with his son and often another friend, but the cost of fuel has made that unworkable regularly. The trains too, are not an option.
“It’s impossible at the minute on the trains, both with the cost and the lack of trains, which is even more frustrating,” Alistair says. “Add to that last season, West Brom were regularly live on TV which meant ridiculous kick off times; it was certainly off putting. It means even the most diehard of my group of friends are picking and choosing their away games. We are tending to mutually agree on an away day and hiring a minibus and driver.”
For all that the commitment of English football supporters to their clubs is to be celebrated, their great flaw is the general inability to take a step back from club loyalty and come together to campaign on systemic problems that affect them as a whole. Empty seats continue to be viewed, both online and in stadiums, as a cause for ridicule and banter rather than dismay. The cost-of-living crisis, and the endemic threat to away-day culture, must be a line in the sand.
Because clubs and governing bodies, particularly those at the top of the pyramid, can do more and must recognise that it is time to repay the loyalty and accept that the presence of away supporters cannot be taken for granted. And the only way to force that change is through communal campaigning. On this and other issues, there is far more than unites than divides us. We have to better understand our power as a collective.
“I think the EFL should come together and make football ticket pricing uniform in their league,” says Alistair. “At Premier League level, even more so: the revenue from gate receipts in the top league is so minuscule in the grand scheme of things, something to show fans thanks for their continued support would go a long way. Something that may seem small, like the cost of refreshments, is a perfect example. You pay £4 for a bottle of drink you can buy for £1.50 in shops walking up to the ground. It’s nothing more than profiteering.”
He’s right. It is time to reset the argument. It is time to end the assumption that away supporters will always be there because they always have been. It is time to accept that fans who travel the length and breadth of the country have been fleeced for too long. It is time to recognise that just because some fans possess the financial means to cough up whatever is charged, that does nothing for those who have been following their teams for decades and are now having to make difficult decisions. Watching football matches may be a fabric of the lives of many, but it is also a luxury. We’re about to embark upon a period of economic instability where luxuries are the first things to die.
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