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| Terraces not Armchairs flag at last seasons Darlington match. |
Another excuse they have is the price of the entry fee (at Twerton Park we charge £14, £9 and £4 for entry into the ground). "Oh, well that's a bit much for non-league isn't it?". Where do I start!? It's the big four teams who start dishing out millions of pounds like it's pocket money, that is the problem! It also doesn't help when more money starts to come from Sky, because more people have subscriptions. What people don't know, is that it causes a domino effect down the football leagues as everybody starts to try and keep up financially, therefore boosting prices up. A few years ago you could pay a tenner to get into Bath City and get given change! So don't moan about prices when half of it is YOUR fault that it's that price in the first place. You're fuelling the demise of lower league football by putting more money into the top level and not the bottom! The rich get richer, the poor get poorer.
Attendances play a massive part in Bath City's budget. The more people you get through the gate, the more money you get to spend on players, it's as simple as that. I'm certain that if we got a consistent crowd of 1500 instead of just under 1000, then Adie Britton would definitely take us up into the top half of the table and challenging for play-offs. The fact is we are not hitting these numbers, which is partly the reason why we find ourselves rock bottom of the Blue Square Bet Premier.
As most people know Bath isn't a predominant football city. It's a rugby city unfortunately, and when you ask the folk in the centre of town, "where is Twerton Park? They would answer, "Twerton Park? No idea, do you mean The Rec?". What Bath also has is an abundance of students, due to there being two large universities. These are the people who the club have targeted to try and raise the attendances. So the publicity team got to work in freshers week and handed out free tickets for the upcoming game against Darlington. A terrific offer which paid off! In the ground were over 350 students and the stripes won 2-0, their first win of the season!
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| A group of students take in the match last Saturday. |
Kyle Brookes, a football fan and student from Bath Spa University, received a free ticket from the promoters, and took in the Darlington game. See what he had to say below:
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| Kyle (Right) and his friend Nimo at Twerton Park. |
You're obviously a huge fan of football in general, but who do you support and how did it come about?
KB: I'm a Leeds fan, and that is because of my Dad who is also a Leeds fan. I went to my first game when I was about 5 and have been going regularly. I love football, and watch most games that are on TV, normally supporting the underdog, especially if they're playing Manchester United.
So do you originate from Leeds?
KB: Nope, I was born in Bristol but moved to the Isle of Wight as a teenager.
What brought you across the pond and into Bath?
KB: University. I am at Bath Spa studying Business Management. I wanted to be closer to home and I am close to my grandparents who live nearby. Oh and obviously, the city is beautiful!
So Bath City visited Bath Spa freshers week and offered you a free ticket for the match against Darlington. In the days leading up to the game, what were you expecting from your visit to Twerton Park?
KB: We were actually planning on going to the Cambridge game anyway (the next game), as we live literally one minute away, so yeah, we raided the freshers fair (as 2nd years) and bumped into Ned who offered us the free ticket. My housemate that also has an interest in football couldn't come, as he had a gig with his band, so I dragged my other housemate along, and he actually enjoyed it too. I wasn't expecting a lot, I heard it was quite a bad stadium, based on people I know who watched Rovers there, and obviously the team were bottom so wasn't expecting a win, however we were pleasantly surprised, as we won 2-0.
I'd call it an old fashioned stadium! haha. Obviously the style of football or atmosphere isn't going to be the same as in Elland Road, so were you surprised with the what non league football has to offer?
KB: Not overly surprised. my housemates, who live close to the ground and moved in before me, said the fans make a racket every game, so I was expecting a good atmosphere, and obviously for the game there was a bigger crowd because of the free student offer. I was surprised at how well Bath played though, and in the two games I have been to, they have been the better side, but only come out with 3 points in total. Bit of a gutter, but play like that every week and we'll be fine. I find it weird how I say we already, like I am part of it haha.
You can say 'we' because you've just bought a season ticket! So what do you expect/hope from the rest of the season?
KB: I guess that is why, still not used to this 2nd club situation haha. Obviously everyone wants the same thing, survival. I hope we can achieve it, no matter how glum the situation is. We played well yesterday against on paper, a much better side, so as soon as Lady Luck drops in on us, things will change and you never know.
Well thank you very much for answering these questions and finally, welcome to the rocky rollercoaster of non league football and i hope you enjoy the rest of the season! You Stripes.
KB: No problem at all! As a Leeds fan, rollercoasters are what I have always had haha.
Kyle is a perfect example of what can happen, when you give non-league football a chance. We're not saying to stop supporting the team that you have grown up following, let us be your second team and help us up the leagues!
You can find Kyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/KyleLeedsFan
The next initiative from the club is a 'Take a mate for FREE!' which will be in place when we play Stockport County next Tuesday. The Legion will be making a fair bit of noise and it's sure to be an excellent atmosphere. Below is the promotion video made by City fan, James Rudge.
Up the City!
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