German fans boycott

ALBICELESTE2010

ALBICELESTE2010

Champions League
13 July 2006
Watford
Argentina & Watford
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8986321.stm

Well done to these fans. If only more fans had the same level of dedication and boycotted games as a whole here we might be able to get the game back in this country from the hands of the corporate money men.

Empty stadia week after week would soon force a rethink.

Exorbitant players wages , parasitic agents , arrogant thick and often mediocre players who think they are Gods gift to football , lack of atmosphere at grounds, exorbitant prices for programmes, food and drink, changing shirts every season, irregular fixture times etc etc.

These German fans do not want their football culture changed . Full marks to them.

Pity fans in this country cannot band together and force various club boards and Sky to listen to them for once.
 
I have lots of respect for that sort of protest.
This really "hurts" (a tiny litle bit of course).

It's much better than protesting by wearing a scarf in different colours...
 
the problem with organising this sort of protest at Liverpool or Man Utd (in big games at least) is that for every true fan who decides to boycott, there are at least 3 out-of-town glory hunters who will take their seat, so it'll never work.
 
I'm not so sure about that.
Dortmund are a massive club in Germany and this match is "their Man Utd -Liverpool"...the protest was noticed, because we are discussing it...

PS: and Dortmund is doing very well at the moment...they have a terrific Japanese player.
 
UJSupanova said:
the problem with organising this sort of protest at Liverpool or Man Utd (in big games at least) is that for every true fan who decides to boycott, there are at least 3 out-of-town glory hunters who will take their seat, so it'll never work.
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This is true. Then again season ticket sales at Old Trafford have been down this season.

It really requires a concerted effort on the part of all fan organizations at all clubs to reclaim the game back from the bureaucrats, moneymen and generally people who have no real understanding or love of the football culture in this country.
 
Dortmund has an enormous fan-base, that's why the protest itself was noticed, but couldn't really be seen in the stadium, like supernova said: There are always folks to fill in for those who drop out.
I wouldn't call them glory hunters, though, since these fans are also willing to pay a lot of money to support the club. Take away all the "out-of-towners" and you'll rather sooner than later face financial peril.
 
I've been thinking about this (yes, it happens now and then...).
If all the seasom ticket holders (or a huge part of them) of clubs like Man Utd or Liverpool would boycot a home match, it would certainly be noticed...i assume that those "tickets" can not be sold to other people. That would have an enormous impact.
But cynical owners nearly always win because those big clubs fan are in a sense all glory hunters.
In English lower league clubs actions like these or similar ones in the end did succeed...there was even a club were the fans gort an award from UEFA before the annual Super Cup in Monaco a couple of years ago (sadly i don't remember the name of that club, for people who are interested: read David Conn's book The beautiful game, searching for the soul of football).
 
How would it affect the club financially though if season ticket holders boycott? They've already paid for their tickets. Milan had one of the lowest all time season ticket sales in protest of Berlusconi and management - this year they spent over £30m for players in response, and now we have record Champions League season ticket sales. If fans want to harm management, not buying season tickets at all is one way.
 
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Liverpool fans held a sit in protest after the game today to show their increasing displeasure with the current owners.

Unfortunately so long as they purchase season tickets as Milanista says or merchandise and hit them in the pocket , those two vampires will cling on in order to get a profit.

Same for Manchester United and the Glazer vampires.

Then again there are so many fans outside of the immediate locale or not that bothered by the club's politics esp.those from abroad that it's unlikely to cause that much of a dent in profit's.
 
gerd said:
I'm not so sure about that.
Dortmund are a massive club in Germany and this match is "their Man Utd -Liverpool"...the protest was noticed, because we are discussing it...

PS: and Dortmund is doing very well at the moment...they have a terrific Japanese player.
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It's not a question of it being noticed, it's a question of how little the effect would be financially on the owners. It'd be a pretty pointless exercise in the end and it'd damage the players more than the owners as they'd still be getting their money but the players wouldn't be getting the support.

If there were no season tickets then a boycott could work but as it stands it just wouldn't work.

Plus i think Liverpool and Man Utd have many many more out-of-town fans than both Dortmund so my original point still stands.

For example: This season loads of Liverpool fans (i.e most members of the Spirit of Shankly group) have boycotted official merchandise, even refusing to buy their children replica kits. At the same time we had record sales of kits abroad, like i said, for ever loyal, passionate fan there are 10 glory hunters who think buying a kit makes you a real fan and have no clue about the history or background of the club.

p.s i'm not having a dig at anyone here, but i've heard the line "what do you mean i'm not a real fan, i buy every kit every year!?" as the main defence of glory hunters so many times that it's become a joke.
 
I agree with Supanova's point. The players will be hit more than the owners... these days you can only upset them by collectively chanting against them all game and in front of their offices, or by simply not BUYING tickets at all.
 
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