Unusual football traffic 21st August 2021

[Mugby]

Today, Portsmouth F.C. played away at Doncaster.

I got the 1128 EMR service from Derby to Sheffield and noted several Portsmouth fans onboard who changed at Sheffield onto the TPE service for Doncaster.
When I returned after 1800, again I noted Portsmouth fans at Sheffield boarding the EMR London service but even more strangely, several travelled on the 1856 XC service, which I was on.

Wouldn't the obvious way have been Portsmouth - London, then Kings Cross - Doncaster and vice versa?
To return via Birmingham and presumably Reading seems a ridiculously convoluted way of getting back to Portsmouth after 1900 in the evening.

What would the attraction of these routings be? would they actually work out cheaper?

 

[75A]

Today, Portsmouth F.C. played away at Doncaster.

I got the 1128 EMR service from Derby to Sheffield and noted several Portsmouth fans onboard who changed at Sheffield onto the TPE service for Doncaster.
When I returned after 1800, again I noted Portsmouth fans at Sheffield boarding the EMR London service but even more strangely, several travelled on the 1856 XC service, which I was on.

Wouldn't the obvious way have been Portsmouth - London, then Kings Cross - Doncaster and vice versa?
To return via Birmingham and presumably Reading seems a ridiculously convoluted way of getting back to Portsmouth after 1900 in the evening.

What would the attraction of these routings be? would they actually work out cheaper?

Might depend on where they live, I support Pompey and when I go by train ,my local station is Nuneaton

 

[Qwerty133]

For a start not everybody who supports a particular club will live in the area around the home stadium so these people may well have been travelling from places other than Portsmouth (in fact, even as somebody who has been known to spend most of a day travelling in order to watch a sports team, given the distance between the clubs involved and the relatively low stakes of the game in question I'd be surprised if the fans were from south of Birmingham).

 

[DarloRich]

Today, Portsmouth F.C. played away at Doncaster.

I got the 1128 EMR service from Derby to Sheffield and noted several Portsmouth fans onboard who changed at Sheffield onto the TPE service for Doncaster.
When I returned after 1800, again I noted Portsmouth fans at Sheffield boarding the EMR London service but even more strangely, several travelled on the 1856 XC service, which I was on.

Wouldn't the obvious way have been Portsmouth - London, then Kings Cross - Doncaster and vice versa?
To return via Birmingham and presumably Reading seems a ridiculously convoluted way of getting back to Portsmouth after 1900 in the evening.

What would the attraction of these routings be? would they actually work out cheaper?

You don't have to live in the town you support.

 

[johnnychips]

Perhaps they were in the Navy and got an affiliation to the club when they were based there?

 

[Jurg]

I support a non-league club in the Midlands that is much smaller than Pompey, but no longer live in the town that gives the club its name. I often (well, did pre-covid anyway) travel all over the country supporting my club. On those travels I often arrange to meet with fellow supporters who live in different locations all over the country.

In the words of the old Welsh crooner, it's not unusual.

 

[Mugby]

I wouldn't have thought it unusual if it had been two or three but I noticed about a dozen, and not all together.

 

[gerryuk]

Would it cost more to travel via KK than Sheffield?

 

[furnessvale]

You don't have to live in the town you support.

Hence the Manchester United fan base.

I'll get my coat.

 

[paul1609]

Today, Portsmouth F.C. played away at Doncaster.

I got the 1128 EMR service from Derby to Sheffield and noted several Portsmouth fans onboard who changed at Sheffield onto the TPE service for Doncaster.
When I returned after 1800, again I noted Portsmouth fans at Sheffield boarding the EMR London service but even more strangely, several travelled on the 1856 XC service, which I was on.

Wouldn't the obvious way have been Portsmouth - London, then Kings Cross - Doncaster and vice versa?
To return via Birmingham and presumably Reading seems a ridiculously convoluted way of getting back to Portsmouth after 1900 in the evening.

What would the attraction of these routings be? would they actually work out cheaper?

Pompey have supporters clubs all over: https://www.thenorthernblues.co.uk/

 

[Bald Rick]

Pompey are a well supported club, and always have good away support, amongst the loudest of all clubs.

 

[DarloRich]

Pompey have supporters clubs all over: https://www.thenorthernblues.co.uk/

You don't have to be a member of a supporters club, in fact most fans aren't. It is generally only if you want to travel on the coach or sometimes use the bar at the ground that people join. Most fans don't bother.

I wouldn't have thought it unusual if it had been two or three but I noticed about a dozen, and not all together.

That isn't out of the ordinary. When I go to matches there will often be 8-10 of us by the final stage of the journey. You tend to pick people up over the years and end up travelling as a loosely defined group. Once you get to one of the major interchanges people tend to go in every direction.

 

[pompeyfan]

I think there was about 1200 away fans to Doncaster, but as many said they might not live in Portsmouth.

Routing wise there’s a large Portsmouth fan base around the M27, a change at Birmingham might put you into the last XC service to Southampton for stations towards Fareham etc.