Thread of its own: Cobblers and Saints

[Exe]

Northampton may not be a "rugby town", but it sure as hell isn't a Cobblers town. Like it or not our football club inspires little but apathy amongst the majority of townsfolk, of course success would increase our gates but that's not going to happen any time soon to the extent where we could compete with the popularity of Saints. They're now well established as one of the finest rugby sides in the country and are on TV on a regular basis flying the flag for Northampton (although their fans never ever sing the name of the town), that and the additional revenue that their success brings to the area is something to take pride in for any native Northamptonian who has an inkling of pride in the area. Cards on the table, I'm another member of the "like Saints, love Cobblers" crowd and get down to the Gardens a few times a season when I can borrow somebody's season ticket. Sooner or later Saints will get their ground expansion, that will add another 3,500 to the ground and they'll sell those seats too. The success of Saints may magnify our failings but it's not the cause of them, we seem to have a decent relationship between the two clubs at boardroom level and maybe NTFC could learn more from the way that the rugby club is run, the events they put on etc.

[guest143]

Northampton is a shoe town
And we are 'The cobblers', end of.

[Exe]

Northampton is a shoe town

Not unless we've travelled back in time to the 19th century

[DustCobb]

Safe to say its a Rugby town at the moment.

If we ever made it to the Championship then the tide might start to turn.

[dazza]

Yes the Saints are well supported but as has been said they are a world class club side

They are a decent side but they certainly are NOT world class.

[The 12th Marquis of Sixfields]

I pointed out with a similar benefactor that ran a tight ship and invested in the ground and had a team with shed loads of internationals on the bench & also as mere squad players....if we were in the top division, let alone 2nd /sometimes top of the Prem League we would be attracting far greater crowds than them ( as we witnessed in 65/66: high teens and many over 20,000 including the nightmare Fulham record of 24,500+.

Yeah and if my mums brother was called Robert.That argument is all based on if's and but's, which barely makes it an argument. More of a whinge.

[sxcobbler]

Yeah and if my mums brother was called Robert.That argument is all based on if's and but's, which barely makes it an argument. More of a whinge.

WTF ?
No Whinging what so ever......

but life is full ifs and buts.

[lurker]

Have you noticed one poster on here has used out of town Saints supporters to prove it's not a rugby town and a second poster has used ManUre supporters in Northampton to prove - you've guessed it - it's not a rugby town. (I can't be arsed to look back to see if it's the same person.)

[Chamois]

Unfortunately, most sports fans are only interested in top tier sport. The Championship has almost risen to 'top tier' heights in terms of spectator popularity but anything below will not interest the floating voter. Yes, Saints fans stuck with the club after relegation but it was one season only, and they won every single game. Had the exodus lasted longer thousands would have headed for the exits. Nothing less than Championship football will attract football fans (rather than Cobblers fans) to Sixfields.

[sxcobbler]

The thing is......

Is Football or Rugby more important to the good folk of Northampton....viz. Is Northampton a Rugby town?
Most likely it is that more people support football under the banner of many clubs than rugby.

Now if this is narrowed down to Cobblers v. Saints ...at the mo. The Saints are obviously currently in the ascendency.
However, given an even playing field with the similar or perhaps improved resources, together with the Cobblers in the Premiership, let alone top or second in the league.....would the same situation arise???

Now you decide?

+++As for folks in Saints shirts in darkest essex.....when they have never ventured nearer than passing down the M1.... some people just like to associate themselves with success and will change to some other team just as readily.

Also as a Cobblers fan you have probably been thru' every emotion in the book and seen more lows than highs...but remain a fan for life....hoping for a return to the big time some day...but a true fan, however we also attracted the glory hunters at Wembley.

[lurker]

...given an even playing field with the similar or perhaps improved resources, together with the Cobblers in the Premiership, let alone top or second in the league...

Wake me up when you find out. I'll be down the Crem.

[Marvo]

Are you cricketside Lurker?

He could never work out how to do quotes either.

[lurker]

Do you mean another poster highlighted the part of a post to be commented on while other pillocks quote the whole post? Could it be there is only one bloke capable of precision? Well, probably on this board.

[Marvo]

That will be a "Yes" then?

[Chamois]

Most Premiership fans are glory hunters. Proof? Look at the gates for clubs like Hull when they were in the bottom division compared to in the Prem. The extra 15,000 came from somewhere but clearly are not loyal fans.

[PineWoody]

No town in the country can claim to be a rugby town, with the possible exception of Exeter and Gloucester. Many on here are using the argument that more people in the town will follow football of some sort than rugby. Well, no s*** sherlock, this is the case in every single part of this country other than MAYBE the south west. What is far more important and shocking, is that Northampton is one of the few towns, if not the only town, where the rugby team is bigger than the football team. Other big towns/cities with rugby teams have equal sized/bigger football teams, e.g Leicester, Reading(London Irish).

I am prehaps one of the few people who can claim to genuinely support both teams. My dad took me to the rugby since I was a little kid and during my teenage years I had a job there until I started going along to the Cobblers with some mates, and then one year I had a season ticket, and have had one since.

I have no diea what the point of this thread was, there doesn't seem to be a real agenda, but i think some are using the huge catchment area as a bit of a cover up. Saints attract nearly 2,000 for some reserve team games, and I can tell you now, the vast majority of them do not come from London or Suffolk. Granted there are a large amount of supporters of the Saints from afar, but anyone who thinks there are more Cobblers fans in this town/county than Saints is , in my opinion, a bit deluded.

Also, I think its unfair to say that Saints' support is passionless, just becuase rugby fans do not sing a vareity of songs/taunt their opposition, is not to say their fans do not care about their results and how the team does. I think Cobblers reaching the championship would indeed see many floating fans come watch, but at the moment, how pointless would that be in a 7,500 stadium. Equally, while sucess is a big attraction for floating sports fans, so is matchday experiance, and in that aspect, Saints are lightyears infront of the cobblers.

[Chamois]

Exeter is certainly not a rugby city. I lived there for six years and the support is phenomenal for the football whenever the team has done well. Crowds of up to 10,000 in 1989/90 when they won the 4th Division title. True, the rugby club in Exeter are on a high, with excellent crowds, but in the second tier usually pulled in 2-3,000. Certainly the matchday experience at Saints IS miles ahead of the Cobblers, but that is hardly a feat. Same could be said of the county who put on a good show at the floodlit 20/20 matches. The divide/chasm between Saints/Cobblers crowds is a relatively recent phenomenon and IMO has little to do with facilities, matchday experience etc. It is down to SUCCESS, pure and simple. With 50% of the town's population coming from outside the area originally, the newcomers will simply plump for the venue which can provide them with deflected glory. The Saints can offer that, we can't. Although in typical Northampton fashion, the Saints silverware cupboard is decidedly more modest and threadbare than its owner!

[The 12th Marquis of Sixfields]

People will go where they get the most bang for their buck. And that is FG, on and off the pitch. For a start, they'll let you buy a drink from them.

[PineWoody]

Exeter is certainly not a rugby city. I lived there for six years and the support is phenomenal for the football whenever the team has done well. Crowds of up to 10,000 in 1989/90 when they won the 4th Division title. True, the rugby club in Exeter are on a high, with excellent crowds, but in the second tier usually pulled in 2-3,000. Certainly the matchday experience at Saints IS miles ahead of the Cobblers, but that is hardly a feat. Same could be said of the county who put on a good show at the floodlit 20/20 matches. The divide/chasm between Saints/Cobblers crowds is a relatively recent phenomenon and IMO has little to do with facilities, matchday experience etc. It is down to SUCCESS, pure and simple. With 50% of the town's population coming from outside the area originally, the newcomers will simply plump for the venue which can provide them with deflected glory. The Saints can offer that, we can't. Although in typical Northampton fashion, the Saints silverware cupboard is decidedly more modest and threadbare than its owner!

The point about Exeter is fair enough, but is only emphasising the point i was making about very few/no genuine rugby towns then. And I strongly disagree with you about the matchday experiance and whether it attracts fans. There will be dedicated fans, like the majority at the cobblers who care about the club and go no matter what, but there are also a lot of "sports" fans that want to enjoy their Saturday afternoon out.

Now, unless you care strongly about the result (the majority of people who come to sixfields i.e. not neutrals), I would say an afternoon going to watch a league two match at Sixfields is not particularly enjoyable. You need only scroll through a few threads in here to hear fans moaning about car parking, atmosphere, food, drink, concourses, prices, hospitality (lack of) and a s*** standard of football. Those are not my words, but words of many a poster on here. Contrast that with the Saints, decent standard of sport (for those who like rugby), decent food, drink, not cheap but most people don't tend to mind when its nice, can drink in your seat, decent enough atmosphere. Car parks are equally s***. I refuse to beleive the far greater matchday experiance doesn;t have a significant impact on the attendences of both clubs.

And as for your argument about sucess, Saints went through a large period of obscurity in the premiership, resulting in the relegationg for one year. There were several season of poor rugby, low mid table finishes, and still the club attracted strong crowds, week after week. So while I completely agree that the Cobblers reaching the top of league 1/championship would increase our crowd significantly, to say the Saints are only having bigger crowds based on success doesn;t really make sense as inbetwee their European Cup win in 2000 and their recent trophy winning surge (past 2/3 seasons) there was relatively little success.

[Macc Cobbler]

No town in the country can claim to be a rugby town, with the possible exception of Exeter and Gloucester

I think you will find that Wigan is a rugby town 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-11530685