What's it like to be a UCD fan?

Printable View

21/09/2005, 12:50 PM
Shelsman

What's it like to be a UCD fan?

Lads,
Just wondering what it's like to be a UCD fan? eL fans are generally in the minority in the country when compared to GAA and Premiership-Barstoolers so we are already somewhat of an endangered ( OK maybe only protected ) species. Being a UCD fan must be tougher still as even other eL fans look down on you ( generally with sympathy rather than scorn )?

Are most of the UCD fans alumni or locals?

What is the age profile of the fans like?

What do you expect from each season?

What matches ( against which clubs ) do you enjoy or look forward to the most?

What's it like to essentially have a young team that can seem like a feeder for bigger clubs when the season ends?

Why doesn't Dave Fanning pump his millions into the club and do an Abramovich? ;) I know there is one other well know fan but I've forgotten who it is...
21/09/2005, 1:37 PM
Poor Student

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

Lads,
Just wondering what it's like to be a UCD fan? eL fans are generally in the minority in the country when compared to GAA and Premiership-Barstoolers so we are already somewhat of an endangered ( OK maybe only protected ) species. Being a UCD fan must be tougher still as even other eL fans look down on you ( generally with sympathy rather than scorn )?

It is this sort of thing, you're part of a shunned upon group already i.e. eL fans and then ironically sunned upon within that group for being a UCD fan. I enjoy supporting UCD (well obviously!). We have a nice stable club with a good structure. As some of the Dublin City lads say at least being small you have a sense of connection to your club. The other lads on here are more involved than myself but I have been fairly involved recently, meeting the club's commercial manager, postering, selling tickets, even roped in to sell programmes at the match for a few minutes. It's nice to have a sense of involvement in your club and knowing I put some effort into getting people to come last night there was a sense of reward for seeing a bigger crowd than even our most optimistic estimates. The attitude of other eL fans toward our club and fans disappoints me as inevitably there will be clubs of different shapes and sizes in any league and just like the rest of us we encourage people to take a passion in domestic football and share the same plight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

Are most of the UCD fans alumni or locals?

Mainly local I think but a combination of both makes the most likely regular supporter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

What is the age profile of the fans like?

Hmmmmmm, a lot of kids and then a fair few people in late teens/20's. But also older people as well. A few families come along.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

What do you expect from each season?

Depends on how decimated our squad is from last season. The season we got relegated I expected bad things as we lost Ryan, Delaney and Doyle. This season I expected security (my wildest expectations even considered a European push) and perhaps a nice cup run as we retained the core of our team from last year. If we can retain all our stars this season I am expectant of a good season next year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

What matches ( against which clubs ) do you enjoy or look forward to the most?

Cork, Derry, Drogs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

What's it like to essentially have a young team that can seem like a feeder for bigger clubs when the season ends?

Bitter sweet. Hate to lose top players but it gives you a certain sense of pride and amusement that the club who "offers nothing to the league" brings through a lot of talent to supply other clubs. However I don't worry too much as there's always more talent coming through.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

Why doesn't Dave Fanning pump his millions into the club and do an Abramovich? ;) I know there is one other well know fan but I've forgotten who it is...

You know that's not possible. ;)
21/09/2005, 1:39 PM
Aberdonian Stu

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

Are most of the UCD fans alumni or locals?

Bit of a mix. Most of the crew on Foot.ie have been through the college but of those many of us, including myself, were following the club before we got to college.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

What is the age profile of the fans like?

Get very few under 10. Most that we'd know are in their 20s but that's mainly because most of us are in our 20s. There are quite a few families that go and there are also some fans of a grander age profile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

What do you expect from each season?

Like most fans it depends on what we think the team is capable of. Some years we think Europe is possible others we're just glad to stay up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

What matches ( against which clubs ) do you enjoy or look forward to the most?

Longford for the craic and half times encounters. Sligo is now high up on the away trip chart as is Cork. Also with regards to FC L�nger, with the exception of a recent 5-1 beating, they generally hate playing us.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

What's it like to essentially have a young team that can seem like a feeder for bigger clubs when the season ends?

The same as it is for any club that isn't challenging for the title or Europe on a regular basis. You just have to live with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

Why doesn't Dave Fanning pump his millions into the club and do an Abramovich? ;) I know there is one other well know fan but I've forgotten who it is...

I think he has better things to do with his cash. Besides that kind of goes against the whole ethos thingy. The other famous fan that comes to mind is the late Dermot Morgan.
21/09/2005, 3:26 PM
John83

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

Lads,
Just wondering what it's like to be a UCD fan? eL fans are generally in the minority in the country when compared to GAA and Premiership-Barstoolers so we are already somewhat of an endangered ( OK maybe only protected ) species. Being a UCD fan must be tougher still as even other eL fans look down on you ( generally with sympathy rather than scorn )?

Oh, we've gotten plenty of scorn too. As we sang last night, "we don't really care". We enjoy watching the games, singing tunelessly (I was pleased a few weeks back, at the Longford FAI Cup replay, to be told by some random Longford fan, "Jaysus, for twelve of ye, ye make a lot of noise".) There are frustrations too. I come from a GAA family, so I get a lot of **** about following a garrison game (and that means the internationals too). Maybe it all comes out in STIG, particularly in articles that get pulled for libel issues, but by and large, we just enjoy the football.

Quote:

Are most of the UCD fans alumni or locals?

Hard to tell really. Probably more locals, but we don't know the older groups of fans well at all.

Quote:

What is the age profile of the fans like?

Some local kids (not generally as annoying as elsewhere - I haven't seen them go bothering the away fans either as Longford fans did recently.
(In spite of sustained mocking of their accents
UCDfans: Traayk-towr, cyarr...
LongfordKids: Well, how else d'ye pronounce cyarr?
LongfordFans: Hey, college, leave those kids alone!
(all in all, it's just another chant from section O)).

We have a small crowd in their early to mid twenties. These are mixed recent alumni, postgrads, undergrads and the odd random local.

There's also a decent contingent of older fans.

Quote:

What do you expect from each season?

As someone said, it depends on the team. Most years, a decent league finish and a cup run - standard for a smaller club.

Quote:

What matches ( against which clubs ) do you enjoy or look forward to the most?

Longford, Derry and Bohs for me. Rovers are the traditional rivals, but that means very little in practice.

Quote:

What's it like to essentially have a young team that can seem like a feeder for bigger clubs when the season ends?

Poor student put it well. It's amusing to see clubs who'll happily bash UCD contribution to the league attempting to steal, buy or steal our best players.

Quote:

I know there is one other well know fan but I've forgotten who it is...

Dermot Morgan? Jimmy McGee?
21/09/2005, 4:24 PM
Schumi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

Just wondering what it's like to be a UCD fan? eL fans are generally in the minority in the country when compared to GAA and Premiership-Barstoolers so we are already somewhat of an endangered ( OK maybe only protected ) species. Being a UCD fan must be tougher still as even other eL fans look down on you ( generally with sympathy rather than scorn )?

At times it's a pain, mostly away games when we bring f�ck all. At times like last night when you look around a jammed Belfield, there's a sense of pride that a small club like ours can be part of an occasion like that.

What barstoolers and fans of bigger EL clubs think of us doesn't bother me in the slightest. I have plenty of half-baked reasons for disliking most of their clubs (and 'their' clubs in the case of barstoolers) so I can't really blame them for thinking the same about my club.

Quote:

Are most of the UCD fans alumni or locals?

Hard to tell really. Most of the more recent fans would be locals I'd imagine, of the people supporting for longer, maybe 50-50. As stated above, there are many who fit both categories.

Quote:

What is the age profile of the fans like?

All ages really, probably more young fans than most clubs due to increased local promotion in recent years.

Quote:

What do you expect from each season?

Safety first I suppose and then depending on the number of players gone, pushing towards the top half like this year. If we keep this team together for another year or two, maybe Europe.

Quote:

What matches ( against which clubs ) do you enjoy or look forward to the most?

Longford, Derry & Harps because I know a good few of their fans and they're mostly sound.

Quote:

What's it like to essentially have a young team that can seem like a feeder for bigger clubs when the season ends?

Very frustrating.

Quote:

Why doesn't Dave Fanning pump his millions into the club and do an Abramovich? ;) I know there is one other well know fan but I've forgotten who it is...

Fanning has millions? I'd settle for him doing the pre-match music tbh.
21/09/2005, 5:21 PM
Colie

Jaysus, the lads put in some effort to answer the questions. Last night proved to me that it is great being a UCD fan. I was genuinely upset to see the team lose out on a trophy. Upset for the players more than myself. Damnit they are heroes. So I think it's great being a UCD fan. For a fan, your a fan anyway so it doesn't matter the size of the contingent or what anyone thinks coz you'd be up there supporting them anyway.
21/09/2005, 6:47 PM
pineapple stu

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schumi

At times like last night when you look around a jammed Belfield, there's a sense of pride that a small club like ours can be part of an occasion like that.

Awww... :D

So to the quiz. Not going to answer the questions which have been answered definitively already - i.e. age of fan-base, etc. The answers given are pretty much correct, I'd say.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelsman

What do you expect from each season?

What matches ( against which clubs ) do you enjoy or look forward to the most?

What's it like to essentially have a young team that can seem like a feeder for bigger clubs when the season ends?

1) First off, a good laugh at those who continually have us down for relegation fodder. I have a bet with Schumi that we'll finish seventh or higher this season, which is looking OK. Give Pete another year or two to build the team, give the players another year or two Premier Division experience and we could be the next Longford. Only playing football.
2) UCD is different to other clubs, I think, in that we don't particularly hate anyone or have any big rivalries. When I see the threads about Bohs-Rovers matches, for example, on the respective forums, I'm quite happy with our way of doing things. The home games against Dublin teams usually get a decent crowd along, but the away games against country teams are better craic! Longford, Harps, Derry, Cork, Sligo...
3) Good and bad. First off, it doesn't hapen as often as the media would have you believe. We lost one player last season (Pat Sullivan, who wanted to give full-time football a try; Willie Doyle did leave but is back and everyone else was released), about three when we got relegated (which is pretty good for any relegated team) and only one or two each year before that. I think at the start of the season (when we had Robbie Mac and Aidan Lynch), you'd have been struggling to find a team who could put out a starting XI with more games for the club than us.
On the other side, however, this time last year (well, last August 12 months technically), I'd never heard of Gary Dicker. Now he's getting called up to the Ireland U-21 squad. It's great to be able to see the future stars of the league before anyone else.

I hope you're not turning this into a college report!!
21/09/2005, 10:28 PM
CollegeTillIDie

It's great to support any EL club. And actually attend the games in person.
At a club like UCD you get an opportunity to make a real contribution. Whether it be, selling half-time draw tickets, selling programmes, or even selling match tickets on matchday itself. You can even sell fanzines ,scarves, replica shirts , player keyrings and badges. You might even get roped in to do the P.A. one day.
That doesn't happen at a so called big club.

I am not actually a local at all, I live on the opposite side of the city. But I started supporting the club while I was a student in UCD. My friend was the Superleague Secretary at the time and he used his powers of persuasion to talk me into it. 24 years and 800+ games later following all UCD teams ( at some time or other) I am still supporting my team.