scarboro-owl Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I hear what you're saying but even in outposts like Norwich, where they do have a sizeable racist element, you see more black faces than you do at Hillsborough only cos all the pits are shut now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marco1 Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Wooooa, you can't say that anymore either! what proud ????????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_Great_Hope Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 In my (limited) experience Wednesday fans are Wednesday fans because their family or father were Wednesday fans. I suspect this to be the case of a lot of clubs. Wednesday don't really do anything to attract supporters when you think about it. I certainly don't think it's got anything to do with racism, I've not seen or heard any at the ground for years. This is half of the truth. Clubs like Man U, Arsenal etc have a more fans of ethnic minorities supporting them than teams at our level do. For a club like us, choosing Wednesday is a "Family" thing - our Dads are Owls, we (mostly) become Owls. A generation ago Football had a massive hooligan problem, and some of that would have overlapped with groups who were racist. Members of the ethnic minorities would not have bought in to that "brand" of football, but now that the problem has largely gone away, football as a whole is attracting more and more fans from ethnic minorities. Younger fans from ethnic minorities who want to get involved in football have no older Generation to guide their choices, so as a result will lean towards supporting clubs that are successful, or play good football, which invariably means Top 6 Prem Teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modboy Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I hear what you're saying but even in outposts like Norwich, where they do have a sizeable racist element, you see more black faces than you do at Hillsborough More recent success etc perhaps? Maybe they do more to relate to the locals? I dont know. Also its an issue imo that we are in such a large Asian community and you see no Asians in our squad. I know this is a major issue nationwide but an important one. Here immigration is still low but the team have a couple of African immigrant players who the local kids can really look up to etc and this gets them to go and support their "heros", buy shirts, go to training sessions etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mkowl Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Maybe they don't like football Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modboy Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 This is half of the truth. Clubs like Man U, Arsenal etc have a more fans of ethnic minorities supporting them than teams at our level do. For a club like us, choosing Wednesday is a "Family" thing - our Dads are Owls, we (mostly) become Owls. A generation ago Football had a MASSIVE hooligan problem, and some of that would have overlapped with groups who were racist. Members of the ethnic minorities would not have bought in to that "brand" of football, but now that the problem has largely gone away, football as a whole is attracting more and more fans from ethnic minorities. Younger fans from ethnic minorities who want to get involved in football have no older Generation to guide their choices, so as a result will lean towards supporting clubs that are successful, or play good football, which invariably means Top 6 Prem Teams. Its probably a FIFA/Pro Evo thing too. Kids wanna play as their heroes on their consoles etc. No neutral kid is probably going to chose a SWFC player as his idol. This is why people like Reda last season imo was worth their weight in gold from a football in the community point of view, whatever his limitations as a player he got out into the community etc. Weigh that up versus say Madine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gurujuan Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 It's an important issue, in as much as there is an untapped opportunity there to get more people to come to football. I do agree, it's been a national thing, but in most grounds, you are starting to see things change, but not yet at Hillsborough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViolaOwls Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Don't buy into this racist thing at Hillsborough really. You either a wednesdayite or an away fan on matchdays. Don't matter what colour you are in home end cus your blue and white inside an that's all that counts. Anyone playing race card wants to grow up and get over themselves. Not seen or heard issues with this for over 15 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adelphi1867 Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Wednesday have, traditionally, always been slow at changing things though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_Great_Hope Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 More recent success etc perhaps? Maybe they do more to relate to the locals? I dont know. Also its an issue imo that we are in such a large Asian community and you see no Asians in our squad. I know this is a major issue nationwide but an important one. Here immigration is still low but the team have a couple of African immigrant players who the local kids can really look up to etc and this gets them to go and support their "heros", buy shirts, go to training sessions etc As an anecdote, a Pakistani Asian guy that I knew at Uni was an absolutely terrific footballer. Certainly good enough to have given football a crack as a player, although if he would have made it is obviously never certain. He would have like the opportunity to try, but his parents and family would not allow him to. He had a responsibility to them and to the family to have a good career so was training to be a Pharmacist. From what I learnt living in Bradford, Family and belonging are central to their lives, and why you tend to get 4 generations of one family living in the same house. Don't buy into this racist thing at Hillsborough really. You either a wednesdayite or an away fan on matchdays. Don't matter what colour you are in home end cus your blue and white inside an that's all that counts. Anyone playing race card wants to grow up and get over themselves. Not seen or heard issues with this for over 15 years Did you not read the huge 14 + page thread on Racism in here recently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gurujuan Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 Don't buy into this racist thing at Hillsborough really. You either a wednesdayite or an away fan on matchdays. Don't matter what colour you are in home end cus your blue and white inside an that's all that counts. Anyone playing race card wants to grow up and get over themselves. Not seen or heard issues with this for over 15 years I don't think anyone is saying there is a race issue, it's just we're not appealing to a sizeable community of people who obviously like to watch and play the game. I've been out of Sheffield for a while now so I don't know whether it's the same at the Stain or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last_Great_Hope Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 (edited) It's an important issue, in as much as there is an untapped opportunity there to get more people to come to football. I do agree, it's been a national thing, but in most grounds, you are starting to see things change, but not yet at Hillsborough. I don't think we are doing much to attract new fans generally, not just fans from ethnic minorities. Bottom line is, success on the pitch is the only proven method of attracting currently "neutral" fans. Edited September 30, 2014 by Last_Great_Hope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoadABallacks Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 This is half of the truth. Clubs like Man U, Arsenal etc have a more fans of ethnic minorities supporting them than teams at our level do. For a club like us, choosing Wednesday is a "Family" thing - our Dads are Owls, we (mostly) become Owls. A generation ago Football had a MASSIVE hooligan problem, and some of that would have overlapped with groups who were racist. Members of the ethnic minorities would not have bought in to that "brand" of football, but now that the problem has largely gone away, football as a whole is attracting more and more fans from ethnic minorities. Younger fans from ethnic minorities who want to get involved in football have no older Generation to guide their choices, so as a result will lean towards supporting clubs that are successful, or play good football, which invariably means Top 6 Prem Teams. Nail on head for me there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevtheowl Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 It's an important issue, in as much as there is an untapped opportunity there to get more people to come to football. I do agree, it's been a national thing, but in most grounds, you are starting to see things change, but not yet at Hillsborough.We could always give a free match ticket too evry immigrant entering the country. UTO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthefish2002 Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I don't think anyone is saying there is a race issue, it's just we're not appealing to a sizeable community of people who obviously like to watch and play the game. I've been out of Sheffield for a while now so I don't know whether it's the same at the Stain or not. I suspect percentage wise its the same at Sheffield United home games. Agree with many on here who say that people who support Wednesday nearly always started by a relative or friend taking them to games. With the price of football it is really, really difficult to attract new supporters when you are not a top 4 Premier league club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modboy Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 We could always give a free match ticket too evry immigrant entering the country. UTO see this is why im not WAWAW... racist undertones in that reply, even if it was tongue in cheek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dagmeister Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 see this is why im not WAWAW... racist undertones in that reply, even if it was tongue in cheek Not really (I hope anyway). Sounded like a pop at the EC and politicians more than anything...... as I say; hopefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gurujuan Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 I suspect percentage wise its the same at Sheffield United home games. Agree with many on here who say that people who support Wednesday nearly always started by a relative or friend taking them to games. With the price of football it is really, really difficult to attract new supporters when you are not a top 4 Premier league club. I think this is true but it's a changing game now. Football clubs are not the hub of the community they once were and we may need to find new ways of enticing support. Not just ethnic minorities of course, but other groups. Norwich and Brighton do a lot with students for example and it seems to be paying off for them. Maybe we are becoming unfashionable, I don't know, but we do need to explore new ways of keeping Wednesday viable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modboy Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Its the kids we need to appeal to, long term vision etc. Seems the club took the cheap tickets away from youths this season which was shortsighted. Remember we used to give part of the leppings lane end to schools etc, when was the last time that happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modboy Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I think this is true but it's a changing game now. Football clubs are not the hub of the community they once were and we may need to find new ways of enticing support. Not just ethnic minorities of course, but other groups. Norwich and Brighton do a lot with students for example and it seems to be paying off for them. Maybe we are becoming unfashionable, I don't know, but we do need to explore new ways of keeping Wednesday viable re students why not sell tickets through the students unions etc, surely this is the place to catch students rather than expecting walk up sales etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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