Eastbourne Fans

[martello]

Malx, a good account of your day there, with plenty of compliments thrown EBFC's way - nice club, nice ground, tidy team, good pint in the Buccaneer, taxi "cheery" (that's the way to do it, Medibot, forget the buses! ;D), club bar excellent, good facilities, bar staff "the most professional and efficient we've met all year"...

Yet at the beginning, you claim...

malxscfc said:

Eastbourne away for me, too, was the most useless, soulless and pointless non-League experience to date.

Woah, where did that come from??? I accept the drums are annoying - I personally am not that bothered either way but I know its not to some people's taste - but c'mon...making it, despite all the plus points, the most useless, soulless and pointless non-league experience to date???

Like I said, lots of visiting fans have remarked about the drums, and yes they are tinpot - but the kids are having fun and think they're doing the team a service. We're not big singers - and I take Amber's point about an away FA Cup game being an exception - and yes they do bang the same bloody note over and over again. But if you think that removing them means you'd get some call-and-response chant banter with Borough fans, you'd probably be out of luck. We have a few songs but nothing earth shattering and without the drums, Priory Lane would go back to being the morgue it used to be. That may suit some, including yourself and Dave, that's fine - but I can honestly say the two posts on here are the most fervent and upset I've ever heard anybody about their trip to Priory Lane.

Dave doesn't want to go back and Malx had a pointless, soulless day that he seemed, in the main, to really enjoy. We better hope this impasse is solved by one of us going up...

[ambersalamander]

Oh, don't go up and leave us behind!

[coops]

Martello, as the main objective of a day out at the football is to watch the football, and if that part of the day was completely spoiled by kids with drums then I can see why it became a bad day despite the nice beer etc.

FWIW, I f*ckin' HATE drums and any other musical instrument at football matches, I have recently stopped standing in my usual spot in The Shed at Tamuff due to a bloke banging his bloody drum. I fully appreciate that he has every right to do so but I don't want it in my earhole thanks very much.

I won't be making a trip to Eastbourne in the near future either.

Musical instruments at football matches bring out the grumpy old man in me - sorry!

[ambersalamander]

Hmm, I hate them too, but why should anyone let that detract from the football and nice people and beer and stuff? Why should the sound of drums affect the watching of football?

OK, it does make it harder to concentrate, but you can still see!

I'm trying to see both sides of this, and I can understand both.

[martello]

As I've said, can fully appreciate people not liking drums at football matches - but I can't see why it is SUCH a big deal as to completely put you off a ground or club completely. Perhaps if it is that big a deal, people should write to the club concerned and express fears that unless musical instruments are banned (as they are at some grounds), the club could lose potential customers.

Lots of clubs at a higher level than Eastbourne have a supporters band - the most notable being Blackburn Rovers and, of course, England (although the England band p*sses me off cos of the same old Great Escape stuff). Now admittedly you could argue in a large, top flight crowd a band adds to the atmosphere.

But to be honest, the drums don't bother me that much. I can still hear myself talk, I enjoy games with and without drums - and it could be worse, we could have those sodding foghorns that people let off for no apparent reason at some grounds...

[amberaleman]

I don't mind the drum too much.

But don't get me started on Eastbourne taxis!

[medibot]

martello said:

we could have those sodding foghorns that people let off for no apparent reason at some grounds...

Whatever you do then, don't go to the Millennium Stadium when they've sold a lot of kids tickets before the game.

On the plus side you'll learn the Welsh for "f*cking horns" if you're in the right place.

[davetscfc]

Wow, looks like I've brewed up a bit of a storm. I guess I wouldn't have done if I'd been moaning about a club not so well represented on here, so with that in mind I suppose I should have been more specific and titled the subject "Eastbourne drums" rather than "Eastbourne fans"

Still I notice that no one is really saying "Hey, those drums are great and really add to the atmosphere" rather a case of "I hate the drums" or "I don't really like the drums but they don't bother my enjoyment of the game"

AmberSal - "Why should the sound of drums affect the watching of football?". Of course they don't affect the watching from a purely spectating point of view, but part of the pleasure of watching my team at this level and lower is that we are able to feel part of things, let our team know we are there and enjoy the feeling of being in it together. On Saturday after our longest train journey of the season (don't especially mind that, all part of the day out) we felt reduced to purely spectators with no interaction with proceedings on the pitch or opposition fans. We couldn't even applaud our team's efforts at the end, as the drum was still beating exaclty the same beat even as were were waiting in the car park for our taxis to arrive!

Martello - my clumsy comment about the Sky TV generation - the way their support came across to me was that the 2 teams playing seemed irrelevant - barely recall a song about Eastbourne, certainly no mention of Salisbury. The only accompaniment to the one dimensional drumming was that tune the Dutch national team fans made famous, plus a waving of scarves above the head as if they were in the San Siro. Oh, and the bell.

As I said it just felt that after the effort made to get down there it was a pretty humourless experience for 90 minutes.

I realise you've got to attract more fans in order to progress as you note we are trying to do. (On a side issue, yes, under 16's are free at our place, and 16-21's only £3 - not sure whether you're suggesting it but this isn't a tactic to exaggerate our crowd figures, purely an attempt to attract future generations of supporters to the club.)

To answer your comment to Malx, where you find his account of things contradictory - because of the way our awaydays our structured, it's quite possible for us to have a great day out even if the 3 o'clock-4.45 bit is a let down. For what it's worth I'd echo everything Malx said - we had a decent journey down with the usual banter, found a nice pub, and then were very impressed with the facilities (I did go to the game about 4 years ago, but that was midweek, on the team coach, straight in and out.)

The clubhouse was excellent - puts ours to shame frankly. A decent ground - again something we aspire to, and friendly staff and officials. So I don't think it is contradictory to have had a good day out but find the actual game a soulless thing.

Sorry you've taken our comments so personally, though perhaps I may have done the same if the boot was on the other foot, so I guess I can understand it.

[stretfordendling©]

medibot said:

martello said:

we could have those sodding foghorns that people let off for no apparent reason at some grounds...

Whatever you do then, don't go to the Millennium Stadium when they've sold a lot of kids tickets before the game.

On the plus side you'll learn the Welsh for "f*cking horns" if you're in the right place.

Eastbourne is gonna love us then Our horn has been confiscated a few times for some unknown reasons (One reason given being no compressed gas inside the ground - although no mention of it in club charter/ policies).

We don't get the drums much at Old Trafford but there are plenty of horns which add to the atmosphere.

I've only had few bad experiences at Conference South Ground and both came at Beastleigh plus one at Cambridge last season.

[malxscfc]

martello said:

Woah, where did that come from??? I accept the drums are annoying - I personally am not that bothered either way but I know its not to some people's taste - but c'mon...making it, despite all the plus points, the most useless, soulless and pointless non-league experience to date???

Like I said, lots of visiting fans have remarked about the drums, and yes they are tinpot - but the kids are having fun and think they're doing the team a service. We're not big singers - and I take Amber's point about an away FA Cup game being an exception - and yes they do bang the same bloody note over and over again. But if you think that removing them means you'd get some call-and-response chant banter with Borough fans, you'd probably be out of luck. We have a few songs but nothing earth shattering and without the drums, Priory Lane would go back to being the morgue it used to be. That may suit some, including yourself and Dave, that's fine - but I can honestly say the two posts on here are the most fervent and upset I've ever heard anybody about their trip to Priory Lane.

There were loads of plus points to the day, both before and after the football game, but as a football game - i.e. a Non-League footballing experience - it really ranks low on my register of memories.

"The Kids are having fun". Goody. Glad 2 people enjoyed the game then.
Maybe we should encourage a couple of amateur Jet Engine Testing Mechanics to Non-League football, then they could indulge in both hobbies at once, and 2 more people could have a nice day as well...

Maybe we Whites wouldn't have elicited the great banter we've had from the likes of Newport, Chippenham, Dover and Stalybridge recently, but we usually manage to get a bit. Only Yeading and Boro, thus far, have managed to avoid getting into a "cultural interchange" with our fans!
As for Morgues, the Ray Mac can be awful for our Home Games, but we'd all prefer a chance for quiet contemplation rather than the apparent 'noise stress' encountered last Saturday. (This is something US Special Forces are trained in, by the way, and is defined as: - "playing very loud and dissonant music and sound effects. Recordings have been reported to include babies wailing inconsolably, cats meowing, and irritating music including a record by Yoko Ono." )

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"As I've said, can fully appreciate people not liking drums at football matches - but I can't see why it is SUCH a big deal as to completely put you off a ground or club completely. "

Atmosphere and Expectations.

Try being at Stonehenge, on your own, first thing on a dark Tuesday morning in February with a huge lowering snow storm coming in over Salisbury Plain.
Then try it at 3pm on a Saturday in July when you can barely see the stones for Americans and Japanese tourists...

Atmosphere and Expectations.

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"Lots of clubs at a higher level than Eastbourne have a supporters band - the most notable being Blackburn Rovers and, of course, England (although the England band p*sses me off cos of the same old Great Escape stuff). Now admittedly you could argue in a large, top flight crowd a band adds to the atmosphere."

I take your point about all bands/drums at football, but it's a question of scale. At Gelsenkirchen, for England's final game, I suspect the England Band was at worst considered a niggle by some of the 52,000 fans. At Priory Lane, however, a full drum kit played by witless children with no sense of occasion is simply an irritation.

But don't think I don't respect the real fans, or the Club itself. We were all impressed by the set-up and the welcome we received.

[martello]

Dave - Eastbourne isn't that well represented on here. It's only me! Take me on, go on, dare ya ;D

davetscfc said:

I suppose I should have been more specific and titled the subject "Eastbourne drums" rather than "Eastbourne fans"

That is perhaps a fairer judgement, rather than on the 650+ others!

davetscfc said:

the way their support came across to me was that the 2 teams playing seemed irrelevant - barely recall a song about Eastbourne, certainly no mention of Salisbury. The only accompaniment to the one dimensional drumming was that tune the Dutch national team fans made famous, plus a waving of scarves above the head as if they were in the San Siro. Oh, and the bell.

Well you're talking a different issue with the bell. That is an unwelcome addition for me - makes home games sound like a bloody downhill event at the Winter Olympics...next step is doing that yodelling and hollering the skiing fans seem to make!

As I've said Dave, that section of fans appear to have few songs. There's the odd "Garry Wilson's Barmy Army" and the repetitive "Eastbourne...*bang bang bang*...Eastbourne...*bang bang bang*", which works better away from home. They did used to sing "Tucky's going to Cardiff, Tucky's going to Cardiff, la la la la", etc (in honour of captain Stuart Tuck's FA Cup player of the round award last season) but he's now at Bognor. Other than that I can't think of many songs Boro fans sing. It's not a singing ground, sadly, although the drums actually seem to encourage more singing than there used to be. That is their one plus point for me. But the drums do drown it out if you are at either end of the ground (I could hear songs from the opposite terrace from the Main Stand side).

davetscfc said:

not sure whether you're suggesting it but this isn't a tactic to exaggerate our crowd figures, purely an attempt to attract future generations of supporters to the club.)

Not suggesting it is a deliberate tactic, more explaining why crowds are higher at the Ray Mac than anywhere else in the league. And if those future generations discovered a drum, would you put the prices up...? ;D

You say "it's quite possible for us to have a great day out even if the 3 o'clock-4.45 bit is a let down" - yeah, fair enough, that's fine - my point was he began by declaring the Eastbourne match the most soulless and useless experience, which didn't bode well for the rest of the post, and then listed some really great things about it. If he'd structured his post to say "I hated the drums which ruined the game, but fair play the rest of the day was excellent", it wouldn't have seemed contradictory. Surely the experience of an away trip is the whole day?

[martello]

malxscfc said:

There were loads of plus points to the day, both before and after the football game, but as a football game - i.e. a Non-League footballing experience - it really ranks low on my register of memories.

I don't suppose losing the game in the last minute helped matters either - I know how it feels. Away trips are much better if your team plays well and/or wins (the two do not necessarily go hand-in-hand!). Having said that, we were pretty shocking in the Conference play-off final at Stoke against Altrincham, and that still rates as the second best away experience with Boro.

malxscfc said:

"The Kids are having fun". Goody. Glad 2 people enjoyed the game then.
Maybe we should encourage a couple of amateur Jet Engine Testing Mechanics to Non-League football, then they could indulge in both hobbies at once, and 2 more people could have a nice day as well...

I'll fight sarcasm with sarcasm - I'm sorry you and the kids don't share the same interests. They have as much right to be there as you have, and they like having the drums. Sure, if it ruins it for the majority, they should not be allowed to do it. But until lots of aggrieved people write to the club requesting musical instruments be banned, they will continue to support the team in the way they see best.

malxscfc said:

At Priory Lane, however, a full drum kit played by witless children with no sense of occasion is simply an irritation.

Kids can be an irritation but most people know you have to humour them cos they don't necessarily realise it. "Witless" - or just doing something you don't like? "No sense of occasion" - or supporting their side in a way they enjoy?

malxscfc said:

But don't think I don't respect the real fans, or the Club itself. We were all impressed by the set-up and the welcome we received.

That's fair enough and is much appreciated. But the only reason I stepped into this debate is because the tone of the original two posts was very much fiercely derogratory towards the experience of an Eastbourne Borough away match, and I was surprised as I have truly never heard it expressed so voraciously before. But as long as others realise it is the views of two individuals - rather than Eastbourne Borough forever being known by all and sundry as "that club with the drums where everyone hates going", I'm content ;D

[stretfordendling©]

FFS lets just stop this now.

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[ambersalamander]

You can judge for yourself on Saturday, Stephen!

[stretfordendling©]

I am confident in my ability to keep a level head during such prospects