The Archive

For those thinking of going to watch your team at away matches Mike Lambert has compiled this handy guide

I was a teenage Cardiff City fan. There, I’ve said it. Not as astounding as admitting I was involved in the JFK plot or that I voted Tory in ’79 (I didn’t, honest) but enough to earn condescending looks from the rugby fraternity surrounding me. It’s becoming harder, year by year, to remember why I spent so much cash on following the Bluebirds, especially now when City are in their 12th season outside the First (old Second) Division, and away support consists of a few dozen die-hards, outnumbered by police and stewards by a factor of five.

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Dear WSC
I know the battle for the soul of football has been lost when someone writes to WSC to justify both the ticket arrangements and pricing of Euro ’96 (Letters, WSC No 115). For the record, the minimum admission at Birmingham City this season is £10, but to attempt to justify Euro ’96 prices by comparing them with admission prices for (what is effectively) a Division Two game is surely to miss the point not once but twice.
David Warren, Keighley

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Adam Brown explains why attendances are falling

The empty seats at the FA Cup Semi- Finals and the fiasco – there is no other word for it – of Euro ’96 ticket sales, suggest that our clubs and the FA can’t go much further down the track of hiking up the prices without the embarrassing rows of empty seats becoming a regular feature of our football. Football now is too expensive and in danger of losing touch with reality.

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Olympic football is becoming increasingly important. Matthew Brown reports

When the final score of the first women’s Olympic football final was flashed up on the stadium scoreboard in giant golden letters just minutes before Michael Johnson’s medal ceremony, the crowd roar almost rivalled the one which erupted when Johnson flashed through the 200 metres finish line earlier in the evening. The world’s most popular sport has had a strange, and sometimes strained, relationship with the world’s biggest sporting event, just as it has with the world’s most powerful nation. Until now. In Atlanta, Olympic football may, just possibly, have become an international competition significant enough to bridge the yawning gap between World Cup Finals.

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Dear WSC
Steve Hughes’ thoughts on curved roof design (Letters, WSC No 114) are so far wide of the mark as to be laughable. The curved roof at Huddersfield is anything but a fashion statement. Instead, it stems from the architects taking a fresh look at stadium design, and seeking to improve the view for the average punter. To put it simply, the roof is curved because the stands are curved. Before anyone replies attacking the new and dangerous fashion of ‘curved stands’, may I point out the reason for this design. The curved stands mean there are no seats in the far top corners of the ground, as there are no corners! This makes it impossible to sit further than 90 yards from the centre circle and thus gives the paying customer a better view of the game. The curved roof keeps the spectators dry without needing any of those irritating posts that tend to block the view of the game. If Steve Hughes really wants to see a football ground that looks like a supermarket, I suggest he looks at another of Britain’s new stadiums, not Huddersfield. Wolves, Middlesbrough, Chester, Scunthorpe and Walsall have all built grounds in Sainsbury’s style. They may be aesthetically pleasing to Mr Hughes, but they aren’t much good for watching football in.
Robin Stewart, Huddersfield

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