merse
TFF member
Posts: 2,684
|
Post by merse on Mar 7, 2009 21:33:03 GMT
 As if to emphasize the different planets OUR club and the really big clubs inhabit, did anyone notice the incredible crowd that turned up at White Hart Lane on Thursday night for the FA Youth Cup Sixth round game between Spurs and Arsenal? Over 25,000 no less, and at Anthony's training session that evening the Arsenal Academy coaching staff came armed with 60 comps for the game for anyone who wanted to go down the Lane after training to watch the big clash. I had already asked Anthony if he wanted to go and join TB1  and his mates who had already bought tickets (£3 for adults, concessions £1) but he said he preferred to watch it on TV (kids eh?) in the event he DID look shattered after his third after school hours session of the week ( 90 minutes each on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays is the norm PLUS Saturday mornings) and he was in bed asleep before kick off time!
|
|
Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
|
Post by Dave on Mar 7, 2009 21:39:53 GMT
Merse at £3 for adults, and concessions £1, I think we would fill Plainmoor three times over, its £15 for BSP football that fails to draw in a decent crowd.  |
|
merse
TFF member
Posts: 2,684
|
Post by merse on Mar 7, 2009 21:44:21 GMT
So if we had a stadium big enough, do you honestly think we'd get 10,000 for a game today (I personally can't see it)Dave; because that's what we would need at that entrance fee!
|
|
|
|
Post by crooky on Mar 7, 2009 21:52:42 GMT
As if to emphasize the different planets OUR club and the really big clubs inhabit, did anyone notice the incredible crowd that turned up at White Hart Lane on Thursday night for the FA Youth Cup Sixth round game between Spurs and Arsenal? Over 25,000 no less, and at Anthony's training session that evening the Arsenal Academy coaching staff came armed with 60 comps for the game for anyone who wanted to go down the Lane after training to watch the big clash. I had already asked Anthony if he wanted to go and join TB1 and his mates who had already bought tickets (£3 for adults, concessions £1) but he said he preferred to watch it on TV (kids eh?) in the event he DID look shattered after his third after school hours session of the week ( 90 minutes each on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays is the norm PLUS Saturday mornings) and he was in bed asleep before kick off time! That's not as incredible as the near 39,000 crowd which turned up at the Emirates for the semi final first leg against Man Utd a couple of years ago. |
|
Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
|
Post by Dave on Mar 7, 2009 21:53:58 GMT
Merse there was a time in our history when we had gates of 10.000 and paying the going rate of the day. If football was on offer in a place where wages are low and disposable income is very small, getting to watch a professional football team play on your doorstep and for only three pounds or less, would I believe see a full stadium.
|
|
merse
TFF member
Posts: 2,684
|
Post by merse on Mar 7, 2009 22:06:23 GMT
That's not as incredible as the near 39,000 crowd which turned up at the Emirates for the semi final first leg against Man Utd a couple of years ago. I strolled down the street for that one, saw the queues and promptly went home again.............................it certainly WAS staggering and just goes to show the immense passion for football in this part of town. Thousands of kids playing pick up games and "cage football" wherever one looks. Swathes of Third World and Balkan origin kids bringing a whole new dimension of outrageous skill and imagination to the nature of those age old pastimes and hundreds of cafes and barber shops full of young and middle aged men intently watching any, and I mean any; football they can feast their eyes on! |
|
merse
TFF member
Posts: 2,684
|
Post by merse on Mar 7, 2009 22:24:22 GMT
Merse there was a time in our history when we had gates of 10.000 and paying the going rate of the day. Agreed, but the whole aspect of life in the Bay was more positive, optimistic and embraced a general willingness to show enthusiasm for ALL things then; don't you agree? Torquay was a fun place to come and visit or spend a Friday night or Saturday evening.................in fact in truth some of us used to "party all week long" in those far off days. The Hot Spot, Casa Marina, Mr Matts and all those other little night clubs were heaving and people used to come from miles around. Sundays on the beaches was a veritable honeypot of female delights from oop North, Scotland, The Midlands and Scandinavia, who needed to "buy a book when the library was full of them"? Today it gives the aura of a miserable dump, awash with Chavs and no sign of enthusiasm for anything much......................or am I touching a raw nerve again? |
|
Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
|
Post by Dave on Mar 7, 2009 22:41:25 GMT
You touch a raw nerve merse? why have you done that before I too remember the great clubs you talk about and a time when the Bay was a cleaner and much safer place to live than maybe it is now. One thing I hate about my firms Xmas meal out, is it is always at a restaurant near the harbour. You have to run the gauntlet when you come out when you leave to go home, but is that really Torbays fault? No I do not think it is really, its more down to the way things have now changed in society, people do not go out anymore just for a good time, its all about drinking all you can and looking for trouble when you have got tanked up enough. I went out last night to a pub, did well on the drinking front as I managed one and a half pints of strongbow. I got there at 7.30pm and left at 11.40pm. I had a great night and maybe its different for me as I do not need drink inside me, for my personality to come out. Maybe if more older people started to make more noise, start to stand up and rid our streets of all the problems, we may get back to the days when the Bay really was the place to come for a good time. Its a bit like me now trying to rid our ground of the c word song, things can be changed but it won't happen just talking about it. Our dear mayor has talked plenty about his dreams and visions, much like Roberts did, but all we have to show for thousands of wasted pounds on consultants fees etc, is wreck walk and an ugly balloon. The sad thing is people do still care but maybe not enough to do anything about it, but little rocket Dave is on the case so watch this space  |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2009 22:15:26 GMT
Good to have a chat with Chelston yesterday about Thursday's Herald Cup semi-final. I texted the score to a friend who does the results for the NLP and there it is in today's paper (below). Were it not for that Spurs v Arsenal youth cup game, I reckon Chelston and myself might have been in the biggest crowd anywhere on Thursday evening. Largest attendance for an adult game in England perhaps?  |
|
