Top of the league v Annan

[EdinburghTurkey]

I think in any major City you’ll always have those people who support another side. There will be those who weren’t originally from there but have moved there as adults for work, so already have an allegiance. There is also the issue that you don’t have your own catchment area as such – as those from Edinburgh will have generations of family who have supported Hearts/Hibs and passed that on. It’s much harder to get people who grow up supporting solely Edinburgh City than it is for people in smaller locations where there isn’t a bigger side in the same town.

The flip side of this is that you have a much bigger area to pull from in Edinburgh, so you have more people to potentially get through the turnstiles - they’re just likely to be people that aren’t hardcore supporters. I think the club’s tried very hard to attract people into the ground through things like the Hearts/Hibs ST Holder discount and marketing to visitors during the festival. You won’t get them every week, but at least it’s people through the gate.

Personally, I was brought up in Torquay and lived there until I was 21 when I moved to Scotland for work. I was in Aberdeen for five years and have lived in Edinburgh now for three years. Torquay will always be my team, but I as I am 500+ miles away from home and like watching live football, I have gone to watch games at Aberdeen, Hibs and Edinburgh City whilst they have been my local sides, as well as trying to ground hop and visit new grounds. Since moving to Edinburgh I’ve gone from having visited about 3 grounds in Scotland in my first five years to now having done 32 of the 42 (as well as quite a few non-league), just because there’s so many more sides within a short commute to visit. I’ve been to 8 of the 10 in this division just watching Edinburgh City (only Elgin and Albion Rovers to go), but I have to say I don’t often go to Ainslie Park because I’m either listening to the Torquay online commentary or visiting a new ground.

Everyone needs a starting point however, and from not having heard of Edinburgh City just over three years ago, I’ve witnessed the moment of creating history getting into the league on merit and followed the side around the country, from being briefly back in England in Carlisle en-route to Annan to going up to Peterhead on the train last week. I have to say that since the Supporters Club was launched this year and I’ve met a few of you in person and had a laugh on the buses going to games, I already feel a lot more of a connection to the club. It’s progressing from groundhopping being the main objective into caring more about City, the results and the club. As I said, I don’t go to many home games at the moment, but if I finish the 42 at some point in the next year, and the Supporter’s Club continues to grow, I can see myself starting to go more and more. It’s taken about eight years to go from being an English football fan who missed going to live games so went to watch Aberdeen, and three years since first learning Edinburgh City existed, to get to this current point, but everyone does need to start somewhere.

Every clubs wants to raise its crowds, but you have the battle that growing your hardcore base takes generations to build up, and you can’t simply go from casual to hardcore overnight. It takes time to build the memories, feelings and emotions that give you a connection to a club, so anything in the short term will be reliant on attracting new people in – be it on price, success on the field or whatever. With a team that is winning some games, the atmosphere improving and the new Supporter’s Club having a presence, I think more people will start seeing City as a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and that can be the building blocks for something more long-term.

[AllyMonc]

I think in any major City you’ll always have those people who support another side. There will be those who weren’t originally from there but have moved there as adults for work, so already have an allegiance. There is also the issue that you don’t have your own catchment area as such – as those from Edinburgh will have generations of family who have supported Hearts/Hibs and passed that on. It’s much harder to get people who grow up supporting solely Edinburgh City than it is for people in smaller locations where there isn’t a bigger side in the same town.
The flip side of this is that you have a much bigger area to pull from in Edinburgh, so you have more people to potentially get through the turnstiles - they’re just likely to be people that aren’t hardcore supporters. I think the club’s tried very hard to attract people into the ground through things like the Hearts/Hibs ST Holder discount and marketing to visitors during the festival. You won’t get them every week, but at least it’s people through the gate.
Personally, I was brought up in Torquay and lived there until I was 21 when I moved to Scotland for work. I was in Aberdeen for five years and have lived in Edinburgh now for three years. Torquay will always be my team, but I as I am 500+ miles away from home and like watching live football, I have gone to watch games at Aberdeen, Hibs and Edinburgh City whilst they have been my local sides, as well as trying to ground hop and visit new grounds. Since moving to Edinburgh I’ve gone from having visited about 3 grounds in Scotland in my first five years to now having done 32 of the 42 (as well as quite a few non-league), just because there’s so many more sides within a short commute to visit. I’ve been to 8 of the 10 in this division just watching Edinburgh City (only Elgin and Albion Rovers to go), but I have to say I don’t often go to Ainslie Park because I’m either listening to the Torquay online commentary or visiting a new ground.
Everyone needs a starting point however, and from not having heard of Edinburgh City just over three years ago, I’ve witnessed the moment of creating history getting into the league on merit and followed the side around the country, from being briefly back in England in Carlisle en-route to Annan to going up to Peterhead on the train last week. I have to say that since the Supporters Club was launched this year and I’ve met a few of you in person and had a laugh on the buses going to games, I already feel a lot more of a connection to the club. It’s progressing from groundhopping being the main objective into caring more about City, the results and the club. As I said, I don’t go to many home games at the moment, but if I finish the 42 at some point in the next year, and the Supporter’s Club continues to grow, I can see myself starting to go more and more. It’s taken about eight years to go from being an English football fan who missed going to live games so went to watch Aberdeen, and three years since first learning Edinburgh City existed, to get to this current point, but everyone does need to start somewhere.
Every clubs wants to raise its crowds, but you have the battle that growing your hardcore base takes generations to build up, and you can’t simply go from casual to hardcore overnight. It takes time to build the memories, feelings and emotions that give you a connection to a club, so anything in the short term will be reliant on attracting new people in – be it on price, success on the field or whatever. With a team that is winning some games, the atmosphere improving and the new Supporter’s Club having a presence, I think more people will start seeing City as a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and that can be the building blocks for something more long-term.

That’s about the best post I’ve read on this website (damning with faint praise I know but still) and I agree with every point.

Absolute hats off to Ash for the work he’s done with the supporters club, you can really feel the difference watching/following City this season.

Helps watching a winning and relatively entertaining team right enough but even having a wee sing along the last few weeks is the kind of experience that gets people coming back.

[The_Judge]

The fans that came through to East Kilbride for the recent Irn Bru cup match were a real credit to EC.  Not just the usual boozed up old men screaming obscenities at every official and player within earshot that we normally get from visiting Junior/League 2 teams....and as a bonus it was a cracking cup tie.