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Redcliffe 78

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I'll play devil's advocate. The game between the Gas and Villa is being played at a Rugby ground. Bristol are top of the rugby Championship table. To an outsider - and considering the recent form of us and the Gas in the FA Cup and also our football league positionings - Bristol will be seen as a 'rugby city'. Until this club gets back its top flight football status then we'll be seen as - primarily - a rugby city.

Ok I'll respond.

To rugby followers, Daily Mail readers, or any middle class observer, Bristol is seen as a rugby city.

It's strange then , that a city of half a million people with rugby at it's heart, can only produce a second class rugby team with a following of a few thousand.

The people that claim this are ignorant of the real situation in Bristol. Rugby followers, which includes many many press journalists (because of their education), don't see the difference in the shape of the ball. They actually compare Premier League Rugby to Premier League football because both are at the top of the relevent sports, because of this they cannot be taken seriously when commenting about football.

As for the sighting of Bristol rugby shirts, our club IMHO, does not do itself any favours when promoting itself by not allowing goods to be sold on the open market, out of sight =out of mind. I believe that many people wear the rugby shirt as a token support for Bristol in general, they obviously don't attend.

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Agree that there is a fair following for the rugger in our fair City, but nowhere near the combined fanbase for both football teams.

Oh, and you can buy City tops in Sports Direct & Asda now, not just the City Shop/Online.

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Ok I'll respond.

To rugby followers, Daily Mail readers, or any middle class observer, Bristol is seen as a rugby city.

It's strange then , that a city of half a million people with rugby at it's heart, can only produce a second class rugby team with a following of a few thousand.

The people that claim this are ignorant of the real situation in Bristol. Rugby followers, which includes many many press journalists (because of their education), don't see the difference in the shape of the ball. They actually compare Premier League Rugby to Premier League football because both are at the top of the relevent sports, because of this they cannot be taken seriously when commenting about football.

As for the sighting of Bristol rugby shirts, our club IMHO, does not do itself any favours when promoting itself by not allowing goods to be sold on the open market, out of sight =out of mind. I believe that many people wear the rugby shirt as a token support for Bristol in general, they obviously don't attend.

Again, well done Redcliffe 78 for posting the link to the Daily Mail article or I would have missed it because I only read newspapers if they're left lying around in work and then I read them in work's time. :laughcont:

Writing for myself, I watch the odd Bristol Rugby game but I watch City about ten times more often. The big advantage for supporters in watching rugby is the fact that you can buy beer and drink it on the terracing while watching the game. The Memorial Ground has square steel terracing bars so you can rest your pint on the bar while watching the game. Another reason why Bristol is seen as a rugby city is the fact that there have been far more rugby internationals from Bristol than football internationals. The only recent full England association football international from Bristol I can think of is Gary Mabbutt from 20+ years ago.

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Both Bath and Gloucester are Rugby dominated cities - but not Bristol. There are however a large percentage of Rugby fans in Bristol (as opposed to Southampton etc). Bristols problem is that the paying public will follow a succesful brand name (because thats what they want to be associated with). Neither City or Rovers can offer a history dotted with significant silverware or regular top flight Football. It's a chicken and egg situation - we need support to aid success, but lasting success won't arrive til regular large support comes through the turnstiles.

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I'm sorry as I like Rugby but do not follow Bristol Rugby too much -

Haven't they been relegated from English top flight league a couple of years ago ?

Just wandering as that would mean they can't be that good anymore...

In answer to your questions........

Bristol Rugby were relegated from the top flight about 3 seasons ago. Bristol Rugby have to share the Memorial Rugby ground with the Gas. About 4 seasons ago the Gas told Bristol Rugby that they would be redeveloping the Memorial Rugby ground and that Bristol Rugby would have to play elsewhere. Bristol Rugby then budgeted accordingly and didn't buy the calibre players needed to keep their Premier League status. Thus, partly due to more duplicity from the Gas, Bristol Rugby were relegated are now still a Championship club.

That written, Bristol finished top of the Rugby Championship a few seasons ago but still didn't go up because they didn't win the play off final against Exeter. That's one thing that's crap about the current rugby leagues - if you finish top of a league division you are not crowned as Champions unless you win a play-off final against a team that's finished below you. Odd, very odd. This has happened to Gloucester rugby club as well where they finished top of the Premier League but weren't crowned as champions as they didn't win the play-offs between the top 4 Premier League sides.

I've only watched Bristol rugby once this season and that was against London Welsh in late October. At that time Bristol were superb in attack but their defence was pretty dodgy with London Welsh scoring a few soft tries. Bristol won in the end in a thrilling game and are now - currently - some points clear at the top of the Championship. We might thus see Bristol in the Premier League again for next season. :fingerscrossed: :fingerscrossed: :fingerscrossed:

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Again, well done Redcliffe 78 for posting the link to the Daily Mail article or I would have missed it because I only read newspapers if they're left lying around in work and then I read them in work's time. :laughcont:

Writing for myself, I watch the odd Bristol Rugby game but I watch City about ten times more often. The big advantage for supporters in watching rugby is the fact that you can buy beer and drink it on the terracing while watching the game. The Memorial Ground has square steel terracing bars so you can rest your pint on the bar while watching the game. Another reason why Bristol is seen as a rugby city is the fact that there have been far more rugby internationals from Bristol than football internationals. The only recent full England association football international from Bristol I can think of is Gary Mabbutt from 20+ years ago.

Obviously there will be more international players from a sport which is efectively in the minority. Bristol has been well represented and ultimately more successful in that minority sport, so naturally will have more international recognition, the same could be said for cricket. Football on the other hand has has provided minimal success to the city in the far larger sport of football, and as such has not warranted international recognition.

Cardiff is a much bigger rugby city than Bristol, yet it's one football team has been more successfull than both City and the cuckoos collectively. So it's all down to the success, or not of the teams. Is Cardiff seen as a rugby or football city?

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