I know this has gone on for years but after Tuesday night I have decided to post. With the game poised at 3-2 people were leaving before the end and after a very good and enjoyable match as soon as the whistle went another 2000 immediately made for the exit. Does anyone else find this disrespectful to the players? Who when attending the theatre or a concert as soon as the last line is spoken get up from their seat and exit? I know some will say they need to get first in the queue in the car park but what I saw the car park was hardly a quarter full.
Good question. I don’t think it’s disrespectful to leave a match a bit earlier or on the whistle personally. May be premature and foolish to leave earlier. It’s all about context for me. Supporters have always done this haven’t they? Sometimes leave a concert before try the end but only if absolutely necessary to get last train or bus and wouldn’t leave a theatre performance like that. A match is different, though I rarely rush out on the whistle.
I’m glad you brought up the low attendance. Wonder how much of it was down to recent performances or a cold Jan evening, day after Blue Monday and three games in quick succession? Had a look around some other attendances in lower and non league from last night and a fair number were substantially lower than usual. My local non league club average around 800. Just over 200 last night, lowest gate for 2 years with no apparent reason for it being so low (i.e. performing well, in play offs spot etc).
Big crowd compared to what it was in the league days, about 2,000 midweek back then.
I’ll go a minute or two before the game ends as takes a while to get out after then if I’m not driving got to walk up the hill into town
I’ve never understood why people leave before the final whistle anyway, on the pretext of ‘beating the rush’ in the car park. Surely you wouldn’t walk out of the cinema or a theatre during the final scene, or leave a concert during the last song, just to be first back to your Nissan Micra?
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