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Biggest catchment area - anyone know?



clapham_gull

Legacy Fan
Aug 20, 2003
25,338
Chelsea an oddity because of the house prices in the local area. I've often wondered which team has the fans who have to travel the furthest.

I might be barking up the wrong tree because I'd imagine MOST live in London.
 






Baldseagull

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
10,959
Crawley
Having worked in Crawley for several years the most supported team seemed to be Chelsea.
Crawley was built out as London overspill, families from central London boroughs, mostly south of the river, moved here. They brought their allegiances with them. Go to Stevenage, which is like a mirror of Crawley to the North, and its mostly Arsenal, due to the areas of London that people moved out from to there.
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,204
Faversham
Different though isn't it. Former industrial heartlands have always been sport mad.
Sussex is hardly a hotbed of primal sporting passion.
Precisely.

Supporting the Albion was always a bit of a lark in Brighton and surrounds. My second cousin was a regular in the 30s and 40s but it meant bugger all.

Oop north, however....

 


Sid and the Sharknados

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 4, 2022
4,078
Darlington
Precisely.

Supporting the Albion was always a bit of a lark in Brighton and surrounds. My second cousin was a regular in the 30s and 40s but it meant bugger all.

Oop north, however....


Back in those days a lot of people would watch whichever one of the local teams happened to be playing at home, so ironically the number of clubs might have been supported by the exact opposite of massive partisan sporting passion.
 




Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
23,599
Crawley was built out as London overspill, families from central London boroughs, mostly south of the river, moved here. They brought their allegiances with them. Go to Stevenage, which is like a mirror of Crawley to the North, and its mostly Arsenal, due to the areas of London that people moved out from to there.
Interesting stat. I also heard (this was the 90s) that Horsham area was a hotbed of West Ham fans, but also had the highest percentage per capita of Albion fans. Not sure where the stat came from mind.
 


HalfaSeatOn

Well-known member
Mar 17, 2014
1,903
North West Sussex
My old next door neighbour grew up in Crawley and was a Palace fan. He claimed they were geographically closer than Brighton and a more natural team for Crawley-ites to support. I guess it might depend where in Crawley someone lives but Google reckons Brighton is marginally closer (couple of miles).

Croydon quicker on the train too.
 


amexer

Well-known member
Aug 8, 2011
6,217
At the opposite end such a lot of clubs up north with very small catchment area. Remember looking when Bury were going bust and there were 10 plus clubs in 20 mile radius
 




Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ

Hove / Παρος
Apr 7, 2006
6,544
Hove / Παρος
Crawley was built out as London overspill, families from central London boroughs, mostly south of the river, moved here. They brought their allegiances with them. Go to Stevenage, which is like a mirror of Crawley to the North, and its mostly Arsenal, due to the areas of London that people moved out from to there.

Same with a lot of Essex towns, people moved out from East London and are generally West Ham fans
 




Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
50,207
Goldstone
Isn't that impossible to work out? Depending on how you look at it, Arsenal either have a huge catchment area (London) or a very small one (Tottenham isn't far away).

How do people reach "catchment area" conclusions? Norwich probably have miles to the nearest club, but only a few farmers live there!
There could be different ways, but the way to make it possible to calculate is simply to count it as number of people for whom the club is the closest, say, in the top 4 divisions.
 




Hovegull

Well-known member
Nov 27, 2022
437
Always knew Horsham to have more of an Albion following…but Crawley definitely more CP or Chelsea.
 


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