Highland Derby

[dougal]

This game yesterday was being built up on here like it was going to be similar to some of the great football derbies on the planet!!!!!

What a complete and utter damp squib it turned out to be, there is seriously something wrong when the away fans outnumber and outsing the home support

To be fair to the Elgin fans they generated a good atmosphere and if it wasn't for them the game would have passed by like a training exercise

Only ?10 to get in yet ICT cannot muster 1500 fans WTF? Don't think sitting in the main stand that i have ever seen the North Stand so empty and so quiet

Spoke to some older Elgin fans in the pub after the game and they couldn't believe how poor an atmosphere there was and how there was so few ICT fans, i must admit i had to agree with them sadly

They sang at the game what a sh***y home support and SPL yer having a laugh and they were completely justified on yesterdays debacle

Things can only get better i suppose so onwards and upwards lets hope we get an away tie in the netx round

dougal

[davie]

Not biting. This belongs in P&B, you might be familiar with it?

[Johnboy]

Fishing he maybe, but he might have a point regarding the poor turnout from the home support. I noticed lots of ST holders in the main stand were awol. It was their loss - I thoroughly enjoyed this game - plenty of good performances - two good goals, lots of near misses, Elgin made a decent fist of it with what they had at their disposal, and nearly succeeded in taking it to a replay. Keeper Donnelly was superb.

Even the half-time pies were good - hot and tasty, and there is no better omen in football than that! The stay-away fans were the losers yesterday.

[SMEE]

I have to admit.....i was thinking yesterday, where was the other 1200-1500 home fans that usually attend league games? Surely you support a team thick and thin, game in game out (WHEN POSSIBLE).Now, i know tht might sound rich coming from someone who is lucky to make a handful of games a season, due to his parental duties, but at least i dont just turn up for the big games

[tokelyisvictorious]

Don't think any of the SPL teams playing lower-league opposition yesterday had good attendances. Easter Road was almost empty, Pittodrie had one stand populated, St Mirren Park had just over 2000, NDP just over 1000 and the replay of last year's final had 4000 people watching.

I'm saying that, but the club didn't really advertise the game. Not often you can sit in the main stand for a tenner.

[SMEE]

Yeah...yer right tokers.......but....why is this the case? Why do so many fans stay away in such circustances. Surely if your a fan, you go along regardless of who your playing, at least...for the meaningfull games? Is this phenomenom restricted to SPL teams? Mibees its snobbery on the part fo the sPL fans?

[Sean93]

Sorry but we are a club with a lot of families who attend game with younger children. It was a bitterly cold afternoon at home on a run of 3 losses in a row with are home form it was seen as quite possible for elgin beat us and as many travel from outside inverness the trip in didn't appeal. Elgin fans were there in numbers cause it was a massive game for them for us it was just a cup game v elgin city in the lowly 3rd divisions not appealing yes good value ?5 or ?10 however people are short on money these days and lets be honest was never going to be a classic.

[tm4tj]

Go compare

Aberdeen FC 6-0 East Fife 6918 >>>>>>>>Last home spl match 12487

Dundee Utd 0-0 Ross County 4041 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 6597

Hamilton 2-0 Alloa Athletic 1054 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 3171

Hibernian 0-0 Ayr United 6056 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 10252

Inverness 2-0 Elgin City 2808 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 3735

Montrose 2-2 Dunfermline 1030 <<<<<<<<<SFL v Elgin>>>>>>>> 307

St Mirren 0-0 Peterhead 2312 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 6118

The only club to increase their attendance would be Montrose.

Come cup games, Season Ticket sales are not taken into account obviously, therefore only paying punters on the day will be counted, minus the tax mans portion. Check Celtic or Rangers cup attendances over the years in lesser games and I think you will see the same trend.

Edited January 9, 2011 by tm4tj

[Georgeios]

Funny enough I happen to know the vast majority of the away end were similar to the county inbreds, glory hunting.. I was said by two or three real fans that if the had that turnout at home games including away support they'd be happy and that the ground would.be in better nick.... part timers.

Edited January 9, 2011 by Georgeios

[TopSix]

I wonder how many people in the south stand were (caley obsessed) county fans.

[CaleyD]

SMEE, why didn't you attend and take your kids with you?

[SMEE]

Funny enough I happen to know the vast majority of the away end were similar to the county inbreds, glory hunting.. I was said by two or three real fans that if the had that turnout at home games including away support they'd be happy and that the ground would.be in better nick.... part timers.

Its a big day out for the bottom dwellers. They average less than 500 at home games, so yeah.....their end was at least half full of glory hunters!

[SMEE]

SMEE, why didn't you attend and take your kids with you?

Various reasons Don. The main two being my youngest has NO interest at all in going to a game, so I cant exactly go off and leave him on his own.....especially when he is supposed to be spending time with me. When i asked my other son yesterday why he wanted to come to a game with me, he didnt know, i think he just wants to spend time with me. He doesnt even understand the rules of the game!

Second Reason....not that its anyones business, I dont work coz of health reasons....so money is tight....especially from OCT - March every year.

[Johnboy]

SMEE, why didn't you attend and take your kids with you?

Various reasons Don. The main two being my youngest has NO interest at all in going to a game, so I cant exactly go off and leave him on his own.....especially when he is supposed to be spending time with me. When i asked my other son yesterday why he wanted to come to a game with me, he didnt know, i think he just wants to spend time with me. He doesnt even understand the rules of the game!

Second Reason....not that its anyones business, I dont work coz of health reasons....so money is tight....especially from OCT - March every year.

He'd have been in good company SMEE.... There's plenty out there who don't understand the rules the game!

[tm4tj]

They call them referee's.

[CaleyD]

Wasn't having a pop....just making the point that you have your reasons which are personal to you and, as you rightly stated, are nobody else's business....many others will be the same.

I don't like the whole subject of questioning fan loyalty or judging how big a fan they are for whatever reason....be it individuals or large portions of the fan base. It's also a tad hypocritical to be questioning others when you haven't been able to attend yourself (for whatever reasons). I don't think people realise they are doing it some times and I doubt it's a unique phenomenon of our support, but any time we have a low crowd people are quick to turn on each other.....even more bizarre when some of those not in attendance are questioning why others not in attendance didn't show. (Not a specific go at you SMEE, more a general observation)

For what it's worth, I never made the game either.

[SMEE]

Thing is tho Don....had my circumstances been different....i WOULD have been there yesterday, along with every other home game....as used to be the case.I didnt pick and choose my games, i went regardless of who we were playing, which, is the case to this day, when circumstances allow.

I just cant get my head round the fact tht half the usual home support was posted as missing yesterday Im sure it was the case that many simply couldnt be bothered coz it wasnt a glamorous game. That goes against my understanding of what it means to be a fan. And for the record...I am hesitant to call myself a fan these days, based on the limited number of games i actually make. I am sometimes dubious whether i should be having my say on all things ICT considering i dont make many games these days. Then again, I have the teams best intrest at heart, and had activley supported football in Inverness since 1976 till about 2004.

Edited January 9, 2011 by SMEE

[reefinweedallday]

Elgin fans showed us up,came in numbers,outsang us whole game,pathetic support

Jealous of their support reminded me of a good old scottish cup game from back in the Highland League days,sadly our support doesnt provide days like that anymore

[SMEE]

Elgin fans showed us up,came in numbers,outsang us whole game,pathetic support

Jealous of their support reminded me of a good old scottish cup game from back in the Highland League days,sadly our support doesnt provide days like that anymore

Dont forget, this was elgins big day out, so they turned up in numbers. go to one of their home games, they have about 1/3 of the support they had yesterday, and by all accounts....its a pretty drab atmosphere.

[tm4tj]

You seem to have lost the point.

They came in numbers because it was a big day out for them. For us it was another cup game against 3rd divvy opponents. Every other club has this issue, it's not just us. We used to do it years ago when we were in the lower leagues, exactly the same thing. Take big crowds to Parkhead/Hampden etc, come the next home match, back to 1200-1800 fans.

They did provide some atmosphere and I applaud them for that. But what is the point in slagging off our own fans when every other club has the same problem, even Rangers and Celtic. SPL games right away have around 3000 tickets sold due to season tickets. Cup games are different. A lot of distant st holders would not have bothered yesterday as it was only Elgin, but I'm sure if it was another SPL team they would have made the effort.

[reefinweedallday]

Elgin fans showed us up,came in numbers,outsang us whole game,pathetic support

Jealous of their support reminded me of a good old scottish cup game from back in the Highland League days,sadly our support doesnt provide days like that anymore

Dont forget, this was elgins big day out, so they turned up in numbers. go to one of their home games, they have about 1/3 of the support they had yesterday, and by all accounts....its a pretty drab atmosphere.

I agree it was their big day out,don't forget though in the Highland league they were probably the main rivals of Inverness teams,would their have been such a low home support if it had been County who haven't exactly been in the same league as us a lot over the years.

More of an effort should have been made,no SPL team should be getting outnumbered by lower league opposition fans,there maybe apathy for the cup throughout all the other SPL teams but i bet none were outnumbered by away fans at their home ground

[Alex MacLeod]

You seem to have lost the point.

They came in numbers because it was a big day out for them. For us it was another cup game against 3rd divvy opponents. Every other club has this issue, it's not just us. We used to do it years ago when we were in the lower leagues, exactly the same thing. Take big crowds to Parkhead/Hampden etc, come the next home match, back to 1200-1800 fans.

They did provide some atmosphere and I applaud them for that. But what is the point in slagging off our own fans when every other club has the same problem, even Rangers and Celtic. SPL games right away have around 3000 tickets sold due to season tickets. Cup games are different. A lot of distant st holders would not have bothered yesterday as it was only Elgin, but I'm sure if it was another SPL team they would have made the effort.

18/01/2010 v Motherwell Scottish Cup Rd 4........crowd 1450

[tm4tj]

Cheers Alex, that was an evening fixture and Well had a poor support up, unlike Elgin who made a day of it.

We won that won 2-0 by the way.

[Bridge_Ender]

I agree it was their big day out,don't forget though in the Highland league they were probably the main rivals of Inverness teams,would their have been such a low home support if it had been County who haven't exactly been in the same league as us a lot over the years.

More of an effort should have been made,no SPL team should be getting outnumbered by lower league opposition fans,there maybe apathy for the cup throughout all the other SPL teams but i bet none were outnumbered by away fans at their home ground

Highland League days were nearly 17 years ago which means pretty much anyone under the age of 25 has no recollection of those times and certainly not of the rivalry. Elgin have been an irrelevance to us since 1994 and that was reflected yesterday. I wonder how many of the ICT fans there yesterday were ever regulars at Telford Street or Kingsmills? Not opening a merger fans argument, just trying to illustrate how far the club and the support has moved on since the Highland League days.

Not sure what the attendance for a County game would have been, I'd like to think significantly higher, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been a sell out either.

[+MrCaleyjag]

Lets not forget the time of year it is as well?!!

January the 8th, just after Christmas and New Year, not a lot of people can afford to go to every game so have to choose their games they want to go to, not to mention a lot of our support at games are families and January is the tightest month of the year for money.

Yes there may have been a shortage of season ticket holders but they have out their money into the club already, lets not out the boot in to them, these are the guys that should be applauded for buying a season ticket.

Myself and CJ were not there either but then if you tot up petrol money, ticket costs, food money etc it's the best part of a hundred quid if not more that just after Christmas and New Year can be best used elsewhere. I would love to be at every game but it is just not possible, it's an unfortunate situation for a lot but games sometimes have to be prioritised for those that aren't season ticket holders.