• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Football teams on trains

Status
Not open for further replies.

Art1983

Member
Joined
6 Dec 2017
Messages
37
3 national league games were postponed today after sutton (due to play away at fylde) dagenham (due to play away at stockport) and Dover (due to play away at barrow) were all stranded at euston due to a sad incident south of bletchley which happened in the early hours this morning. very risky sporting teams with long journeys travelling on the same day but I think Dover and sutton were taking a big risk, stockport should have been ok but the circumstances were unfortunate
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Essexman

Established Member
Joined
15 Mar 2011
Messages
1,380
Most non league clubs can’t afford hotel costs for overnight stays. Good to see them using trains.
 

mmh

Established Member
Joined
13 Aug 2016
Messages
3,744
I'm a Sutton supporter, the team often travels by train - I've been on the same train about half a dozen times. A coach meeting them at the destination station can be a lot more practical than a coach all the way.
 

BlueFox

Member
Joined
20 May 2013
Messages
759
Location
Carlisle
Most non league clubs can’t afford hotel costs for overnight stays. Good to see them using trains.
I heard the Barrow manager on the radio earlier. He wasn't happy that Dover weren't travelling until today. And with a schedule that left no room for delays. They were expecting a crowd of 3,000, so the match being called off has cost them a lot of money.

He said Barrow have one of the lowest budgets in the division but they always travel the day before if they have a long way to go.
 

Art1983

Member
Joined
6 Dec 2017
Messages
37
Clearly today was just a very unfortunate incident with unfortunate timing as I've never known 3 games called off in footballs 5th tier due to a railway issue before.
 

43055

Established Member
Joined
8 Mar 2018
Messages
2,884
Coming back from London early this year I had QPR traveling up to Sheffield on the same train as me. Even got a at seat first class service because we couldn't get though to the buffet for the weekend first class service.
 

Ianno87

Veteran Member
Joined
3 May 2015
Messages
15,215
I do wonder what the environmental footprint of shifting teams and thousands of fans up and down the country every weekend is....

Teams travelling by rail is to be congratulated!
 

MDB1images

Member
Joined
9 Jun 2018
Messages
654
No problem with them travelling by train at any level(makes sense on ECML and WCML)
Suspect there maybe a review of the situation as Dover and Sutton wouldn't have left much room for error/delay (09:30 ex Euston for Dover, heading to Barrow and 10:30 ex Euston for Sutton heading to AFC Fylde by all accounts )
 

duncanp

Established Member
Joined
16 Aug 2012
Messages
4,856

syorksdeano

Member
Joined
7 Jan 2011
Messages
725
Can't remember which league team it was, but wasn't they a manager who decided that if they could get to an away game by train then they would?
 

mmh

Established Member
Joined
13 Aug 2016
Messages
3,744
I heard the Barrow manager on the radio earlier. He wasn't happy that Dover weren't travelling until today. And with a schedule that left no room for delays. They were expecting a crowd of 3,000, so the match being called off has cost them a lot of money.

He said Barrow have one of the lowest budgets in the division but they always travel the day before if they have a long way to go.

Barrow can take a running jump. They have no place to be taking the high ground. Never been to the football ground, I and about 150 supporters, and the team, got as close as Preston before we were told the game was off the other year. Lots of us had hotels booked, so frankly my heart doesn't bleed for him.
 

MedwayValiant

Member
Joined
8 Jan 2013
Messages
363
Teams travelling by rail is to be congratulated!

Absolutely it is, but there is a problem: the three teams who failed to arrive for their away games today are likely to be fined for it. Barrow in particular have been shooting their mouth off about Dover's non-arrival, demanding that Barrow are awarded the points by default, calling Dover a "tinpot club", and so on. It is claimed that when Dover's supporters - on a coach - arrived at the ground, a Barrow official informed them that "Your bunch of c-words haven't bothered to come".

Will teams such as Dover "risk" travelling by train again?
 

Spartacus

Established Member
Joined
25 Aug 2009
Messages
2,907
Will teams such as Dover "risk" travelling by train again?

These days you can be in much the same boat if there's an accident on the motorway, and it doesn't take a fatality to do it either. I think the best bet is for them to travel earlier, depending on the kick off time. I don't know if they still do but I Arsenal seemed to be big fans of travelling by train under Arsene Wenger, often using the 'Pretendolino' with seats being filled by travelling fans, or just travelling in First on regular services, I seem to recall them arriving in Leeds on the morning of an FA cup match in 2011, but that was an evening kick off.
 

sharpley

Member
Joined
18 Aug 2018
Messages
240
The German national team took the Bakerloo line to Wembley a few years ago. Manager Joachim Low pictured below
article-2509557-197E645900000578-545_634x372.jpg

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/w...tars-Tube-Wembley-training-England-clash.html
 

sprunt

Member
Joined
22 Jul 2017
Messages
1,156
Will teams such as Dover "risk" travelling by train again?

If they've got any sense. The issue isn't mode of transport, it's travelling that distance on the day of the game. A coach journey from Dover to to Barrow will afford many opportunities to be catastrophically delayed.
 

sprunt

Member
Joined
22 Jul 2017
Messages
1,156
Manchester United do (or did until recently) often travel to games in London by train, from Stockport as a rule.
 

Edders23

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2018
Messages
549
I support a non league team and have never known the away side to come by train even when the ground used to be next door to the station (it's 2 miles away now) they have some pretty long journeys as much as 150 miles and always a team coach arrives with the away team
 

Clayton

On Moderation
Joined
15 Apr 2018
Messages
259
Man City travel by train! Though if they were going a distance like Dover to Barrow I imagine they’d fly.
 

Parham Wood

Member
Joined
13 Jun 2011
Messages
329
Liverpool used to travel to London games by train presumably the night before and return the same evening. I used to travel the Euston - Liverpool route frequently when I worked for the railway in Liverpool. It was not unusual to see the whole team sitting in one half of a first class coach with the likes of Emlyn Hughes, Kevin Keegan, Steve Heighway, etc. walking past at times. Nobody bothered them.
 

island

Veteran Member
Joined
30 Dec 2010
Messages
15,982
Location
0036
I support Wigan Athletic and live in London. A number of times I have found myself on the same train back to London as the opposition team after a match at the DW Stadium.
 

Scotrail84

Established Member
Joined
5 Jul 2010
Messages
2,360
Man City travel by train! Though if they were going a distance like Dover to Barrow I imagine they’d fly.


Man city also have a deal with virgin trains that give fans a discount when travelling to away fixtures by train.
 

Scotrail84

Established Member
Joined
5 Jul 2010
Messages
2,360
If I recall correctly Arsenal received heavy criticism a number of years ago for flying to an away fixture with Norwich from London when going by train or coach would have been easier surely? Flight lasted like 18 minutes or something.
 

Cletus

Established Member
Joined
11 Dec 2010
Messages
2,227
Location
Dover
Dover have been travelling by train for many years, mainly up north where the ECML and WCML can be used, hiring out 1st coaches. The squad meet in London, players rarely live in Dover anymore.

Games at Macclesfield, Tranmere, Harrogate, Fylde, Wrexham, etc. Sometimes involving coach transfers to avoid using local services, eg in August I arrived in Leeds and transferred to Northern, they went the rest of the way to Harrogate by coach.

Today we probably would have gone by coach from Lancaster.

Today was first railway failure, perhaps they should have left Euston on the 0830, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Occasionally we fly, eg to Hartlepool the other week.
 

baz962

Established Member
Joined
8 Jun 2017
Messages
3,280
When the 2010 volcanic ash cloud cancelled flights all over Europe, Liverpool FC were due to play Atletico Madrid, in Madrid.

They travelled by train for some legs of the journey

  • Runcorn to London Euston (Virgin Trains)
  • Euston to St Pancras (by coach)
  • St Pancras to Paris (Eurostar)
  • Paris to Bordeaux (SNCF)
  • Bordeaux to Madrid (by plane)
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2010/apr/20/liverpool-atletico-madrid-travel
Euston to st pancras by coach is plain lazy lol.
 

sannox

Member
Joined
1 Mar 2016
Messages
384
It is just unfortunate- the Dover statement notes that the railways are often more reliable than roads.

I remember a Hearts v Kilmarnock game being called off because the Kilmarnock team bus got stuck in an M8 motorway closure. Irony was a lot of the fan buses got there because they diverted- the team bus being early got stuck in the closure section.
 

eMeS

Member
Joined
12 Jun 2011
Messages
954
Location
Milton Keynes, UK
We got to Bletchley this morning for the train to Euston, and whilst I parked the car, my partner was told that Euston was closed, and was advised that we travel to Bedford for a London train from there. We drove to Luton Airport Parkway, got to London late, and when we returned to St Pancras for our return journey to Luton Airport Parkway at about 17:20, found that no trains were travelling north, due to a "person hit by a train" somewhere south of St Albans City. Eventually we were allowed past the barriers, and caught a delayed train stopping at St Albans City etc., and terminating at Bedford.

Thoughts with all concerned.
 

50039

Member
Joined
8 Mar 2015
Messages
487
Location
Tring
Without going too far off topic - it would make more sense to have the old ‘north’ and ‘south’ divisions to avoid lower league clubs with limited funds having to make such journeys - Dover to Barrow is a heck of a journey for anyone!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top