From today's edition of The Guardian. Written by Amy Lawrence. http://www.theguardian.com/football...tball-early-leaving-syndrome?CMP=share_btn_tw DTLW
It's an old chestnut. I don't get it apart from people having to get the last ferry or their train and the game has gone on longer than expected. Beating the traffic like the fella who left the 66 World Cup final early? Crazy. If traffic is bad and we've won, I will listen to reports on the game and all the other football reports. If we've lost and the traffic is bad, I'll maybe listen to the other football, or just mutter and moan about the bad drivers around me, the council for not having decent roads and by the time I am home, I may be almost bearable.
Good article, though we've said everything it did on here, several times before. The World Cup Final 1966 story was pretty amazing though. How could you leave that game early just because of the crush.? I've never, ever left a football match early because I simply wouldn't go if I didn't have the time to stay for the whole match. But that's me. I don't have to catch a ferry or a last bus, and those people are obviously discounted. For those who say, I bought a ticket and it's my choice when I leave... I would sigh and say, sure it is, But is that the best argument.? I did once leave the cinema after 20 minutes while watching Pirates of the Caribbean. Had a far better time in the bar. I did remark the other day that Klopp might have to get used to people leaving early.
I would never leave a football game early and certainly not Saints. At St. Mary's I'm one of the last to go.
A whole group of us who had gone to see a Harold Pinter play at the theatre waited until the interval before we left, but we were all getting a bit fidgety long before that. Like TSS I wouldn't ever leave a football match early because I see myself, and the rest of the crowd, as a vital part of the occasion. If Saints are underperforming, as, say ,in the Bournemouth game, the very last thing they need is for large numbers of of their supporters to be leaving, or in the process of leaving, before the final whistle goes. As supporters we aren't just there to be entertaied, we are also supposed to encourage, support, our team. I accept that people have problems with public transport and then it is excusable to slip out early, but most people are either local or drive to games these days, so they have no excuse. I am already dreading the prospect of driving out of Southampton after the Liverpool League Cup game, but the alternative is trying to get to Southampton Central for the last train at 10:22, which would almost certainly mean I would have to leave the game early. No chance of that!
We all know how annoyed I was after the Bournemouth game but it didn't even enter my mind to leave early. I will confess to leaving a game early once and that was West Brom at home when we lost 3-0, straight after the third goal went in. I had to get back to London and we were awful so I just left in a huff. Typically, I was captured on MOTD! But leaving early to beat the traffic is quite frankly a pathetic excuse.
I left the opera in Prague early once - but at least I had the grace to wait until the interval and it WAS Wagner (and had been organised - against most of our wishes - by the company) ......... We went to a bar instead and had a good evening. But I've never and don't think I ever would leave a game at St Mary's early .......... then again, I don't have a train/ferry, etc to catch ......... Like FLT (and he seems a decent sort of cove), I sit in my car and listen to the other results or grumble to myself ....................
The other week I watched Swindon v Coventry and with 5 mins remaining Swindon were losing 2-0 and people were leaving, and guess what Swindon scored twice in 5 mins to snatch a draw.
Exactly, otherwise we are just customers, as Lowe used to refer to us. The funny thing is, on the rare occasions when I have been in the crush of a group piling into the car and being caught in a traffic jam on the way away from the stadium I have always thoroughly enjoyed listening to the radio as the match reports come in and the managers start to be interviewed. I get really caught up in the chatter and the whole thing, and that only happens if you leave the stadium with everyone else after the FT whistle is blown. The traffic jam doesn't get any better or worse so I try to enjoy it. I appreciate that I probably don't get caught in as many as the next person.
I have never left a game early, even when catching a ferry is put in jeopardy. Me and my passengers have had many a hair raising rush for the boat from an away game. I particularly recall our first away match at Huddersfield in league 1, when we were put to the sword by Jordan Rhodes et al. A massive hold up coming away from the match meant loads of locals were turning around and going the opposite direction. I didn't have a clue where they were going, had no satnav but knew we would miss a reasonable boat so decided to follow them and hope. Somehow we made it, but I wouldn't have sacrificed a minute of the football for a ferry - gotta get your priorities right!
I have never left a game early, but it doesn't bother me if some people do. Some will have a genuine reason for leaving other than just beating the traffic. Anyone that used to go to games when we were in League One knows how empty the stadium used to look at it's most full at that point. That's probably why it doesn't bother me much. The people that leave early will be those that didn't come at all when we were in League One and the majority of them wouldn't have been coming when we were in the Championship. They just aren't into the football as much as some others. For them it's just a day out and they want to beat the traffic I'm afraid, apart from a few that will have a genuine reason for leaving early.
Is a fan that leaves a couple of minutes before the game ends, any less of a fan than one that arrives late, goes for a pie and a pint, 5 minutes before the end of the first half, then returns to his seat after the second half has started? Or any one of those last three examples? In any of the examples they aren't in the stadium bowl to support the team, so why differentiate?
Eh, I could see myself leaving early if I went to a game. That said, I'm pretty sure I'll never go to a football game so it's a bit of a moot point. If that makes me less of a fan in some people's eyes, so be it. It wouldn't be anything to do with the quality of the game or anything like that - but I'm autistic and I don't handle crowds or noise well at all (or heights, or unfamiliar places... I could go on). I panic when I'm surrounded by lots of people - can't help it, it's just a reaction - and all the worse if that surge of people is moving. I'd go early to not be in a surge of people all exiting at once (I'd stay late if that wouldn't set off another round of panic about transport). But it's easier to just not put myself in that situation since I'd be too tense and frantic to actually appreciate being there, and also saves anyone making assumptions and getting on my back about it.
Imagine if people did it as the cinema... Hats off to Templar though. We don't know why people are leaving so we shouldn't make assumptions. It doesn't make me angry, but it is confusing when the games are so expensive! Every minute costs... Erm... I dunno... About 30p?
If people say you're less of a football fan and they know the reason you've just stated, then they're complete pricks. It must be difficult not to be able to go to games even if you want to.
It's not too bad since there's a lot of football on TV now so I can make do (and I've only been into watching football a few years) - I see most matches that I couldn't see live on match choice. I drive my family mad talking about Saints - which is not my local club by a long shot which would make coming to a game even more difficult because of the whole unfamiliar places thing, and I can't even get radio commentary on our games if it's not on the BBC because I'm not local. That's the biggest annoyance! But Saints is the club that made me like football, and it's got a big place in my heart. (My "local clubs" are United, City, Liverpool and Everton - live pretty much in the middle of them all! And Wigan I suppose, though supporting Wigan here would probably be considered a bit like suggesting everybody here support Portsmouth because they're local - we're sporting rivals in another sport.) Anyhow, sorry, I've knocked this discussion a bit off topic!
