bray has a fairly big casual(vry casual) supporter base in like around sallynoggin and places like that but problem is hardly anybody bothers goin.
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Depends which part of Ballybrack you're from, but it'd be either walking down to the DART at Killiney, or hopping on the 45A.
(I've just checked the timetable for the 45A, and I'd forgotten how ****e Irish public transport was! Still, if you didn't mind spending half an hour in Bray before kick-off, it'd be fine)
That's a big problem. The club actually have a huge number of people who consider themselves supporters, but they don't do enough to reach out and connect with them, and get them excited about games. They have to do something to get these people to make the step from checking how Bray did in the Saturday papers, to actually making the trip down on a Friday night. Unfortunately, as I said, Dublin Bus don't make it easy, but I used to cycle to Dun Laoghaire from Shankill fairly regularly. It all can be done!
do people think Rovers (from their traditional areas) have a higher proportion of middle class fans than the other clubs or are they also mostly working class ?
sallynoggin, really ? I thought Shankill maybe but wasn't expecting that far north
From an outsiders perspective I was always under the impression that in the Milltown days Shams fans were alot more middle class than the likes of Bohs and Pats.
Obviously that has changed now with them moving to Tallaght but is there any truth in that very rough generalisation?
i would say from my (limited) knowledge that Pats, Bohs and Shelbourne are almost 100% working class (maybe that's wrong?) and Rovers are at least mixed
i would be interested to know what people think the actual proportion of middle class fans is (ie the proportion of non-Tallaght fans who are middle class)
Rovers have always had a middle class support base but they tended not to bother going to matches. During the later homeless years when we seemed to change ground twice a season it would have been only the hardcore working class fans, but now that we've got a settled stadium there are more families and whatnot going in.
A lot of truth in it I think. In Milltown kids at the games would have been coming from Milltown, Dundrum, Terenure and places like that to watch games. Now these are adults, many of whom still attending from those 'middle-class' areas. Also, since the move to Tallaght there's big support in more middle-class areas like Tempelogue, Terenure, Rathfarnham which are all just down the road. Of course being from Tallaght, and playing all over the city in the last twenty years means we have supporters from all over and from all backgrounds.
Tallaght, really? Clondalkin I could believe, but I would have thought Rovers would have a hold on Tallaght going back to the Milltown/RDS days. Before my time, mind.
I wouldn't really consider Inchicore and Drimnagh as southside, even though they're below the river. It's Dublin City council up there, isn't it?
(stands up) I'm upper class and I follow Rovers.:arrogant:
well thats what I say at the weekly anonymous meetings anyway.
I live near Perrystown/Templeogue, and although Rovers do have a few bodies about, there are a few Pats fans as well. Not sure how many 'diehards' can be included in that number, but yeah, in this neck of the woods the support of both clubs tends to cross over - it couldn't be 'claimed' by one or the other. Same in Tallaght/Clondalkin/Lucan, where Pats would have had the majority of floating support in the '90's, but it's a little more 'even' now.
As regards to middle-class fans, I went to a very middle-class school, which boasted supporters of all main Dublin clubs, and this would be in the heart of the 'posh' southside. Not sure if the school's only Shels fan still follows them, but the Pats, Bohs and Rovers contingent are still regulars at games. And this was a very small school, with no real footballing ethos to its name.
Like the scholarship with DCU they have a connection with Blanch IT i think.i think as well and go around to alot of the local schools in the area, theres a speciall fan club for school kids (freddies fan club or something). The local teams provide the ball boys, as far out as skerries, balbriggan malahide, and half time matches. I know the try and target Blanch but wouldnt hear as much as connections with north county dublin. Well there was 2000 at dalymount, and we all put alot more effort into going obv (the singing section was bigger than it has been in awhile)., kids got infree and so families (great family day out it was!) probably made up a bulk of the attendence., id say 500 at least for good fans not connected to the club (our average is just under 1000)., but i wouldnt know for sure., we def dont get a good large crowd going away in dublin., and because its base is swords and beyond santry isnt exacly walking distance., anywhere outside swords ur relying on the dreaded 33....
lep feel free to disagree
As far as I'm concerned, Bray are Co. Wicklows LOI representative.
Which is why I drive up from Arklow most weeks and take a few with me when I can.
My school was similar (perhaps the same one!), but apart from me, we had exactly one (1) other LOI fan that I knew of. He was a Shels supporter. One of the teachers was a regular at Dalymount though.
Perhaps they were others, they might just not have been that vocal about it. I know I always chatted more about Stoke than about Bray, but that's because people were more likely to know there was a football team in Stoke.
At Uni, there was just me, and the crowds of people who laughed at me for going to watch players they were fully convinced they were better than. There were the usual suspects who supported Liverpool and Manyoo, and a few who thought they were a cut above the rest because their preference for glory hunting was in the continental leagues. We had an Inter Milan "supporter", and one fella who was Barcelona. Needless to say, he was cheering for Spain the entire way through the World Cup.
i go to a rugby playing southside school and support bohs :D
very hard when im forced to choose between watching leinster and bohs!!