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Well known fast foot chain is about right, thats mainly what goes in their Burgers haha!!

Anyway on the rest of the blog its a bit of a shame that the non segregation of fans thing didn't quite work out as planned. I must admit my first thoughts on this were fair enough it works at Rugby etc.

I then came to the conclusion that it might dampen the atmosphere somewhat during the game in that it might be difficult for the away fans to create the type of adversarial chants that we are used to. I must admit as a United fan I often find that it is the away games that I enjoy the most for this reason.

ECHO ECho Echo echo

Well done the Dags
I watch rugby and also, fairly regularly, watch a football league side that I don't support from their end (my daughter's a member). I've no problem with unsegregated crowds.
An issue is away games and membership. Allocations for away fans are small, when the home fand are not sold out. There are no away tickets on the day, and supporters who are not members cannot buy away tickets, and so get into the home end instead.
I can see the reasoning for high profile and grudge matches, but the 'one size fits all' approach is too heavy handed IMO.

Yawn... How boring is this subject. The world has gone mad.

Good article.

Not only is the match in aid of a good cause it provides a platform for Dagenham and Redbridge to showcase their football to a bigger audience and in return maybe gain a few extra viewers throughout the rest of the season.

Football at the bottom of the Football league can be tough fiancially and any events may lead to an increase in attendance over the following weeks.

I have read an article recently about Rushden and Diamonds and how life can be tough financially at the bottom of the game, have a read..

You will have to go to eastern europe to really experience the true racists in football. Whenever England, France et al play in places like former Yugoslavia, USSR, Turkey, Poland it sounds like an ape house because thats what their fans make noises like in front of black players. the biggest animals are the fans who do this attrocity.

Good on them.

But non-segregation is a non-starter at pretty much all 92 clubs as shown by the need for intervention by police-backed stewards.

Nice article - good on Thompson to raise awareness of racism in this way.

What a great idea from the Daggers - would like to see it repeated in other clubs. Perhaps it should also be combined with an Anti Sexism day in the light of recent events!

#5. Not as boring as your comment and lack of punctuation.

Why do people bother commenting on things if they are going to be so pathetic?

Have any other clubs done something similar? It's a good way of trying to get people, especially kids, to go to matches - hopefully a lot of them will go again.

I very much like this idea - although I would have mixed emotions about going to see this particular match, for reasons not unconnected to franchises...

But will keep an ear out for next time this happens and will take a short journey down into Dagenham :c)

#7 TyrantVer. Could you please provide a recent example of football racism in Turkey? I lived, worked, and followed football in Turkey for 9 years and I cannot ever remember any such problem. Not to their own players nor to opposition players from any other league in Europe. Ever.

You clearly have some sort of anti-Turkish agenda judging by your posts on the Goodbye to Hell blog. I think it's ironic for you to be commenting 'against' racism.

Back to the topic, I cannot see non-segregation working in top-level football as it spoils the banter in the crowd. It becomes too friendly and sucks out the passion, the tension, and the enjoyment!

What's not to like? Cheap as chips (or should I say fries?), and in a good cause. It's great to see a club making an effort by dropping prices like this and I hope they do pick up some more support as a result.

I've only been there the once and found it a real homely club, still with a Non-League feel about it (in a good way, plenty of banter, kids wandering around in safety etc etc) and enjoyed myself. There are many so-called 'bigger' clubs that could take a leaf out of the Daggers' book in my opinion. They have achieved quite astonishing success over the past few seasons without getting above themselves, they seem to be a real community club and I wish them well for the future.

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An interesting read. Thank you!

Any attempt by any club at stamping out racism must be applauded, especially one that loses money at an already financially struggling club. I know it may lead to future growth but it is good to see both long-term vision and vision of the world outside football in the increasingly short-term insular world of football. I particularly admire Thompson's comment that "[p]eople have said to me that we do not have a racism problem at the club but I think that doing these campaigns makes some supporters aware of what they are doing in everyday life." I concur absolutely.

The issue of non-segregation is one that also interests me. I often feel that segregation increases problems at football as it creates a "them and us" attitude, but the fact that there are problems at a low-key fixture like this where there is no rivalry proves that football fans can't cope with it unlike rugby and cricket fans. Mixed segregation works fine if the home side is winning but when things go awry, as they did in this case, it seems that football fans lack the maturity to behave in a reasonable manner.

5. At 7:47pm on 25 Jan 2011, boomerang_shango wrote:
Yawn... How boring is this subject. The world has gone mad.
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Please explain

As a Dagger, I'm immensely proud of the club for their stance on anti-racism and the initiatives they are trying to increase our support. Being in the shadows of much bigger clubs is a hard place to be, as many clubs will be aware of, and anything to poach a few supporters here and there can only be a good thing.

I was in the terrace on Saturday close to the main group of Dons fans and I must say the banter was excellent between the 2 sets of fans with both trying to outsold eachother. It was gutting when we conceded so late in the game but I don't think there was any real trouble and both sets of fans should be applauded for that.

Paul, thank you for writing such a positive piece on us, I appreciate it. I just hope our support will increase as a result and a few kids will become Daggers where they might have been Hammers. You couldn't ask for a more friendly and local club to support.

Excellent initiative and well done Daggers.

Shame it was against the franchise and their supermarket property development's lack of concern about Wimbledon's community.

Paul,

I guess the big question is did you enjoy and even prefer the experience of a non-segregated crowd?

I often prefer the non-segregated atmosphere of two groups of jovial banter you get at the cricket to the vitriolic abuse frequently experienced at football. That could be because of the quantity of alcohol consumed at cricket but it's also because I enjoy the terrace humour more than the terrace noise you get. I credit the Ipswich fans yesterday for twice making me laugh with their "one nil to the rugby team" chant and rendition of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". It was a rare bit of creativity to the bland and vacuous chants you get at the Arsenal these days.

Paul - as a (hopefully) neutral spectator, how did you see the game?

We're seriously lacking a goalscorer which showed in the first half as we had the lions share of the game but no shots of note. Second period was a lot more even with Dons threatening. Through my biassed eyes, I thought a draw would have been a fair result although we edged it on points.

Apologies as this blog is not about the game but more about the day but it's always good to get an outsiders view on things.

P.s. Glad to see you enjoying the terrace and not the 'comfort' of a seat.

A brave initative and perhaps something for other football league clubs to follow ? A good scheme which should get more people in the community to watch their local team.

Sometimes I think that in some League 1 & 2 matches must have hardly any people paying on the gate, once you take out the season ticket and complementary tickets. I follow Villa but also my local team Cheltenham Town. Town's crowds are way down this season, a lot less than the 3,000 break even the board want. Perhaps this the way to go with occasional cut price matches to get new people watching the teams ?

re segreation, again perhaps a good idea. By having away fans hived off perhaps it promotes the OTT aggresive behaviour in football ? As mentioned, rugby does not have these rules, and back in the day neither did footy. Obviously bigger teams it would be a no-no, but perhaps it could be tried elsewhere.

Unfortunately #5 is someone who has created innumerable login's on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ website and spammed the Ashes blogs of Tom Fordyce with dozens of emails day after day. He basically takes the anti-line of everything for the sake of it.

It is good to see teams like this taking the initiative to think of different ideas to increase their profile, and deal with an important subject at the same time, as well as trying to allow people with less money to be able to still come along and watch a match.

Nice little article, did not know about any of this beforehand.

Just a quick note about segregation to say that the lack of segregation can and does work even as high up as the Premier League.
Fulham do not have any segregation, although they will reserve up to 3 blocks of the stand for away fans to buy up (depending upon the opposition) and then the rest of the stand is for anyone who wants a ticket, the remainder of the away allocation that is not taken up is made available to anyone who wants one. But there is no barrier, no stewards in between, and relatively little police presence before and after the game.

In my 20+ years of attending Fulham, there has been no trouble in my memory apart from a pitch invasion after beating our nearest rivals Chelsea about 5 or 6 years ago.

So it certainly can work, but in most cases it ill-advised to do so. I saw parts of the Blackpool Manchester United game and I imagine one of the biggest games of the season for the former, it struck me how there was such a huge empty part of the stand used to segregate the fans. I would think that the management at Bloomfield Road would be fairly annoyed at the lost revenue.

Good on dagenham, its always a good thing to raise public awareness of issues such as racism, which is still at play in our society. Great PR for the club too, so good luck to them.

Shame the segregation thing didn't work out, soccer is one of the very very few sports in which this happens due to obvious security problems. I don't think failure to create an atmosphere is sufficient reason to segregate fans, instead it causes an 'us v them' mentality between fans which provokes hostile behaviour. Its about breaking this mindset of fans in the firstplace, though that is easier said than done. I wouldn't be 'intergrating' Cardiff and Leeds fans together any time soon haha. Might be a while before fans can all sit together and enjoy football and a friendly rivalry without worrying about hooliganism.

I'm confused.

99p games I like

Anti-racism I like

But what have hey got to do with each other? Does someone think that minorities are only going to come if the game is cheap or something?

As for segregation, it's little to do with the clubs, the local police decide.

Excellent idea and well done the Daggers for doing it, especially with how prevelant the BNP was in the area before the first fixture.

I'm still undecided on the non-segregation idea but fair play to them for giving it a go.

A big congratulations to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ - for publishing this 4 days AFTER the event took place !!!

As a Watford fan, I really appreciate the financial difficulties that a small club like D&R have when they reduce ticket prices in the hope of increasing fans. We have many 'Family' days at WFC and let kid in for £1, this creates an even more family friendly atmosphere around the ground than is already there as you have parents taking advantage of the prices to take very young kids to the game so they can experience a live game.

We have also had a few games were away fans have openly mixed with the home support (although there was designated 'home' and 'away' sections). I seem to remember watching WFC vs Chelsea in 06-07 season where I sat in the Lower Rous and had Chelsea fans sitting mixed with WFC fans, all proudly displaying their respective colours. This didn't cause any trouble and in fact lead to both home and away fans talking to each other in a civil manner on the way out of the ground. I seem to remember that WFC weren't victorious on that occasion and yet there was still no trouble.

Another example of where both sets of fans can mix together without trouble is last season's FA Cup 3rd Round game between Chelsea & Watford (again!) where we were able to mix with Chelsea fans in pubs before the game and were allowed into the Chelsea Megastore (they have stewards on the entrance and exit of the shop) just to see what a big clubs shop is like and had plenty of light hearted banter with the Chelsea fans.

Games like these show that non-segregation can work. It's just a few idiots that spoil it for the rest of us, so once we can kick those idiots out of the game, then we will all be able to enjoy the game without racism like our great grandfathers did back in the early 1900's.

29. At 1:32pm on 26 Jan 2011, hackerjack wrote:
I'm confused.

99p games I like

Anti-racism I like

But what have hey got to do with each other? Does someone think that minorities are only going to come if the game is cheap or something?

As for segregation, it's little to do with the clubs, the local police decide.
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Dagenham has a higher proportion of ethnic minorities than most places in the UK however the demographics of the crowd show that a very small percentage of those attending are non-white. Making tickets so cheap may persuade some people, whatever their race or colour, to attend where they might not of done otherwise.

It was not specifically a promotion because it was an anti-racism day but to combine that with an initiative to attract more fans of all types. Maybe if the ethnic minorities can see the club as being anti-racist, they may be more inclined to come more often.

Nice comments Paul and some others towards a very nice and inclusive football club.
I too was there on Saturday with my son and friends and found it a refreshing change to my usual matchday, (Spurs supporter).

Firstly, on the non segregation. We were in the area of the terracing just by the half way line where the MK fans had congregated. I thought it was a fabulous atmosphere, and certainly not one of intimidation, just good banter. I must congratulate the MK fans on their behaviour, they were exemplary. The final couple of minutes saw a bit of "handbags", but that's all it was. Youngsters and a few plastic gangsters squaring up. But to be honest it was hardly worth mentioning, and I never felt the slightest concern for my sons safety even though we were yards from the "action".

With regards to the reasons behind the day, I'd like to say that whatever the reason, whether it be to highlight a cause or just to entice more attendance, positives must be taken from it. Yes, the anti racism message gets accross, (and I agree entirely with Thompson's sentiments), but also you can't measure the effect it will have on future following. I have been to D&R a few times, and Saturday was by far the best atmosphere I've witnessed. My son is also a regular at Spurs, but in some ways he much prefers to go to D&R because I think he feels more a part of the experience.

Well done Daggers, a win-win all round.

I'm sure that if someone actually made a few phonecalls and got a few clubs on board, the media would jump on the story and we could have a 99p or £1.99 anti-racism day accross the whole football league before the season ends.

I've no doubt many clubs would be against the idea; but being shamed into something because the majority is in favour works 9 times out of 10; attendance records could be broken, new fans could be made, but most importantly, football could genuinely claim to care about getting a message accross to as wide a range of people as possible, that racism isn't an acceptable part of life.

not much to say on the subject tho i don't think that football is the kind of sport where non-segragation can happen.

However, I just fancied putting forward that I went to Dundee FC's Dens Park last Saturday and they were asking £3.30 for a pie!!!

Is it just me or is that compelete robbery.

PC brigade are out in force. Free speech but only when the lefty liberals agree... And we wonder why our country is in a state.

Hey, 37, we let you have your say, we're just telling you how stupid it was.

Good article Paul. Great initiative by Dagenham given the problems they have had in their local politics. It would be nice to see clubs like Burnley, Bradford and Millwall taking similar initiatives given the history of problems in their areas/clubs.

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#37.... why not tell us why you think it was boring? Looking at your previous posts it would appear that you are an internet troll just trying to get a reaction and we were all daft enough to fall for it. BRAVO!

One of the reasons our country is in a state is due to mindless morons trying to get a reaction from behind a keyboard and stirring up trouble where none should exist.

#37 is someone known where I'm from as an Internet Gangster.

Anyway well done the Daggers, if only more local teams could come up with such ideas.

Yeah lad x

Yeah right love! Sorry wrong blog. Richard Keys (now booking as an after dinner speaker).

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As a Dagger myself I was in the pack of Dagenham fans involved in the chanting (not the handbags though I might add!). I feel though the handbags were more as a result of when MK scored and how, with us Daggers left feeling very aggrieved at getting nothing from the game.
On the racism subject I agree completely with Cheese and Biscuits on the cultural makeup of the local area and demographics of those in general attendance at the club.

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That's an amazing price for a game - puts the price of my Manchester City season ticket into perspective!

The lower league clubs need to do all they can to bring people into the grounds, and this sounds like a great initiative, even if it's unlikely to be too much of a regular thing.

Great post as always Paul - would love to know what you think of the Premier League infographic we posted recently, a comment would be greatly appreciated!



Thanks Paul

Living away from London right now has made me pine for home when I find articles like these that give us a bit of spotlight for once.

Although it is a well publicised issue in the area anyway, so if it had to happen, it would have been there, I feel proud my club have at least seized the inititative.