Why Do You Go To Ashton Gate?

[Leveller]

Purely for the match. Drive from near Taunton, so drinking is out of the question.

I have never lived in or very near Bristol. Originally (from 1960s) came as a lad with my late father. latterly with my son. Now he's a student in Yorkshire so I travel alone. No pity please - I'm a happy loner.

I like to concentrate on the football. Frankly I don't understand fans who spend their time watching the opposition fans & taunting them. Singing's fine, but in practice I often sense the singers aren't actually watching the game closely. Except of course when it gets really tense - then they tend to watch & stop singing!

[Numero Uno]

At times under SOD last season I was going out of blind loyalty as what we were playing could hardly be described as football and the atmosphere was non existent unsprisiningly. For me I love football and it's a great way of spending a few hours with my Dad and my son.

[kevinmabbuttshair]

I go cos of the Myrtle Tree, The Mardyke, The Bear and The Nova Scotia

[Guest]

Used to be what Saturdays were all about; bus into town various pub routes to the Gate; Eastend boys in bovver boots/butchers coats and great days in the Eastend when there were no yellow lines and miles of netting, just a thin blue line; the life, the banter;

• 1,2,3,4.5 if you want to stay alive....keep off the Eastend
• Your going home in the back of an ambulance
• Galley, Galley, Galley, Galley he is the king of the west country
• The Eastend Bar
• The Eastend smell

Many other matchday exp all gone now  great team back then as well, gained promo to the highest div; now boring, many pubs gone and the "crack" inside the ground being strangled to death by H&S and rules that are made up almost daily.

Used to go every home and most away, now hardly at all, its not just about the game/team/club its about the Saturday matchday

[cider-manc]

It's the day out for me- but truth be told that day out is a lot more fun when we win!!

[054123]

I do just turn up now, but purely because of the kids, to me it's about meeting all my mates at midday, discussing all and nothing, having a few beers and then singin, shouting, swearing and hopefully an interesting atmosphere with the away fans!

 

Its misguided, but i generally see my role now as ensuring all 3 of my boys support City and understand what it means to live in Bristol and support the local league club.

 

If i literally just turned up to watch football then go home again i never would be as loyal as i am. Thats been nurtured into me by the

camaraderie of following city with my mates and feeling up against at away games with only those faces you know through City around you.

 

I would rather watch Keynsham Town on Saturday afternoon, if i dodn't love City so much.

[054123]

_{It's caused a bit of dilema for me as although my Dad and uncle took me throughout my youth, i know i'm only as loyal as i am now because from 13 onwards i started catching the bus into town on my own and slowly met others my age who also when on thier own.}

 

_{We are a group between 30 to 40 years old who all kind of know each other and even if we haven't spoken for months, can just text and say 'how you getting to Yeovil', to which you get a response, so an so is doing a coach or 9.00am train, do you want a seat?}

 

_{Although, i always wnat to tkae my boys, if i took them until they were 18 say, they would never probabaly develop the same relationship i had with my mates.}

 

_{Although we were never 'actively' involved in trouble, i could see how this kind of thing developed in the 70's and 80's as you form a kind of tight knit unit, brought together solely through your love of City.}

[Aizoon]

Wouldn't that question be "why don't you go to Ashton Gate..?"

SUPERFAN ALERT!!!!

[Aizoon]

Used to be what Saturdays were all about; bus into town various pub routes to the Gate; Eastend boys in bovver boots/butchers coats and great days in the Eastend when there were no yellow lines and miles of netting, just a thin blue line; the life, the banter;

• 1,2,3,4.5 if you want to stay alive....keep off the Eastend
• Your going home in the back of an ambulance
• Galley, Galley, Galley, Galley he is the king of the west country
• The Eastend Bar
• The Eastend smell

Many other matchday exp all gone now great team back then as well, gained promo to the highest div; now boring, many pubs gone and the "crack" inside the ground being strangled to death by H&S and rules that are made up almost daily.

Used to go every home and most away, now hardly at all, its not just about the game/team/club its about the Saturday matchday

Testify brother, testify

[stanley]

SUPERFAN ALERT!!!!

[Between heaven and hell]

I very rarely get the chance to have a beer now because I always seem to be driving the kids,

But that doesn't overshadow the feeling I get when I wake up on a Saturday morning knowing I'm going to football.

When Saturday comes nothing better, home or away

[Mad Cyril]

While I always loved the whole escapism and overall day out experience, the up turn in football entertainment (more than winning) has made me re-think this.

Am I the only one who looks back now at the last couple of seasons and questions why I dragged myself down for the tripe that was served in that period?

Actually scrub that you have to take the tripe with the onions

[Tall King Blox]

While I always loved the whole escapism and overall day out experience, the up turn in football entertainment (more than winning) has made me re-think this.

Am I the only one who looks back now at the last couple of seasons and questions why I dragged myself down for the tripe that was served in that period?

Actually scrub that you have to take the tripe with the onions

But grasshopper, the onion has many skins.....peel and feel x

[skinheadface]

Pub football pub kabab bed.

[Shelton’s Love Gravy]

Football, Football and Pies.

[Cotham Brow Red]

Get up, lazy morning, walk across town meet up in a West St/North St pub of choice. Bit of banter, few jars go to ground. First half, beer, second half. Meet at usual spot, lions, chew over result, more beer, then back to Kingsdown, few in the Stores or Hairy Hill or CatWeel, dirty Ritas, football league show, sleep.

Quality day worth the rough Sunday.

[Blagdon red]

Routine. Because it's what I've done for 40+ years. Frankiy, it's not very exciting these days.

[Guest]

Routine. Because it's what I've done for 40+ years. Frankiy, it's not very exciting these days.

ditto but must be nearly 50yrs and cant be bothered these days

[One Team In Keynsham]

Given I so rarely attend, the day or night out is almost as important as the game itself.  Having watched a wide range of shite served up over past decades, it certainly isn't not based on an urge to see quality football.  But, I go when I can, since I am never sure when the next opportunity will arise.

 

Going gives me a chance to catch up with a load of friends I rarely, if ever, see outside of a match-day itself; as well as the lads I sit with, and see whenever I am back in Bristol.

[Olé]

Great question, since having to move away from Bristol I've often wondered to myself (particularly last season) whether the pull of just going to the game was as strong without the matchday experience around BS3. I think it's misleading to say it's simply one or other.

When the team aren't doing well, just going to the game on it's own doesn't seem nearly half as interesting, but at the same time that doesn't makes me (and most others) people who just come for a day out and a bit of fun, I genuinely look forward to watching the team as I feel proud and privileged to call City my club (moreso now that I'm surrounded by the instantly dislikable population of London) and it's an important part of my identity, to be at the game and say that I support the club. It's not about one or other, they're both important and both enhance the experience of the other. I wouldn't just come to go to the pub (well, I probably would, but you get the point...)

With that said, with a season ticket and 5 hour round trip, it's obviously nice to get full value from being back in BS3 and although this season is an awesome exception, I'm not sure just watching 90 minutes of City will often give full value from a trip. Last year we had a midweek game at home to Orient (turned out to be SODs last game), I left at 3pm so I could get a few in pre-match, but all the trains on the London line went tits up at Swindon and the one I was on took five and a half hours to get to Bristol, I arrived at half time, saw one half of football then back on the trains, still chaos, another four hours, was something like a 12 hour round trip for 45 minutes of football.

So I probably wouldn't just come if it was Ashton Gate only in those circumstances, but even then I got something out of having (briefly) seen my team and knowing I'd made the effort to be there. I don't think it matters where you come from either, the full value from the day was as important to me, if not more so, for all the years I was lucky enough to live in Bedminster. Sure I could have left home and walked straight to the game, but the whole f---ing point of being proud of my club and proud of my area was to make sure I celebrated it by actually spending time in South Bristol as part of the day. I'd find it much harder to identify with City if it wasn't about the "local" area.

There are all the obvious reasons to detest random/armchair fans of Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea etc, but for me it's this point about being able to identify with and celebrate not just your team, but your neighbourhood, that means I actually can only take pity on glory hunters.

They will never know what football can really be like and they have no idea what they miss out on. Shallow lives beyond belief.

[SARJ]

[TheKeynshamPele]

[Aizoon]

Despite the abuse of the Superfans , I hope to be there for the Crewe game. It's the third game I've bought tickets for this season, but I missed the Donny cup game due to persistent ill-health.

 

The football now is as as good as it's been in forty years, but the 'match experience' simply gets worse. OK, the rebuilding doesn't help, but the club seems to go out of its way to make life difficult for fans and to nip enthusiasm in the bud. Since Dave L has left the forum, because of persistent complaints (not personal abuse), I guess I'm wasting my increasingly arthritic fingers, but it needs to be said.

[RedYoshi]

A friend of mine once suggested that, what with the ongoing development of virtual reality etc., one day we'll just have to put on a headset and it'll be like we're sitting next to our mates in the stadium, watching the match, but it will actually just be happening in a completely empty ground.

 

I swiftly told him that sounded awful, I would never buy such a thing, and would sit on my own in the "empty" ground if it did happen.

[Nogbad the Bad]

Routine. Because it's what I've done for 40+ years. Frankiy, it's not very exciting these days.

 

Agreed, but most things are more exciting when you're a teenager, surely?

 

Why do I go to AG?

 

When I was 12 it was for the atmosphere and the football. Compared to the rest of my tedious school week a few hours at AG was a different world and incredibly exciting. I'd go on my own if necessary, and it made my day if I could get a place at the railings directly in front of the middle of the EE.

 

From 18 -30, it was the pre match meet up in the Plume or the Nova Scotia, several pints, and a fairly rowdy, but good natured, afternoon at the Gate. The football could be secondary, especially in the years tumbling down the leagues, but non attendance was never an option.

 

Post children, the days of the pre match booze up were over, moved into the Family Enclosure, with a determination to bring up my children as City supporters. Completely different day out, still a good one.

 

Now, very much routine. My son, match day companion for the last 19 seasons is off at University and the circle has fully turned. If Mrs. the Bad doesn't fancy it I'm on my own again.

 

Forget the 'routine' bit, it's partly that but more an addiction, a happy one at that, and being a 'City supporter' is very much part of what I am.

 

I could go back to the pre match booze up - the remnants of my group of 30+ years ago still meet up in Hotwells -  but I'm completely out of the habit, and certainly don't miss the regular trips to the bogs.

 

For me it's still the football, the atmosphere and anticipation approaching AG, the familiar characters in the crowd, and that unrivalled feeling when the ball hits the back of the opposition's net.

 

You can't beat it and though so much has changed Ashton Gate remains, to me, a very special place.

 

Come on City! 

[oldstandrobin]

Having gone there for over 57 years now I suppose it could be a habit !! Seriously, my old man was a supporter, cousin Robert , grandad all were regulars so I was deemed next in line. Took missus for 1st date there in1969 so it has been a 'player' in my life for a long time now. Am one of those who are glad we are not going to AV, as having grown up in Ashton Drive, too much of the area is unrecognisable from my younger days and chuffed to see us staying where we are at AG ( I used to do the Sunday market there years ago as well!) Couldnt imagine life without City.

[WTFiGO!?!]

I just feel it's an oddity of the condition of me being a homosapian.

 

0.52 in explains it 

 

 

Pain in the ass most of the time but a duty to be proud of.

[PeterStyvarsRightFoot]

Home games are for football....

Get over an hour before kick off sit on the wall with the lads and a can and then back home straight after

Away games are for the day out !

Never let 90 minutes make or break a good day out !

[Drew Peacock]

Used to be what Saturdays were all about; bus into town various pub routes to the Gate; Eastend boys in bovver boots/butchers coats and great days in the Eastend when there were no yellow lines and miles of netting, just a thin blue line; the life, the banter;

• 1,2,3,4.5 if you want to stay alive....keep off the Eastend
• Your going home in the back of an ambulance
• Galley, Galley, Galley, Galley he is the king of the west country
• The Eastend Bar
• The Eastend smell

Many other matchday exp all gone now great team back then as well, gained promo to the highest div; now boring, many pubs gone and the "crack" inside the ground being strangled to death by H&S and rules that are made up almost daily.

Used to go every home and most away, now hardly at all, its not just about the game/team/club its about the Saturday matchday

Is this the traditional football culture the ST&SC want the club to expect and embrace?

[054123]

Is this the traditional football culture the ST&SC want the club to expect and embrace?

If only eh?

Don't worry, you'll always have the memories.