Leaving A Football Game Early

[Dave]

Thread inspired by Holloways rant the other night.

Whats your views on it? Would you ever do It? Have you ever done It? Why did you do it?

[Danny]

No. Pay your money to watch a football game, you go to support the team. End of.

[Panna King]

Do not see the point in leaving early, why go if you are more worried about getting back home or have somewhere else to be.   

[SirBalon]

Never ever left early at Arsenal because be it the old Higbury or The Emirates, I've always lived 5 minutes from the ground and it didn't bother me and infact would wait till the stadium emptied a bit to stroll out. My time living in Spain at the Camp Nou I'd also wait until the end because public transport is excellent in the city of Barcelona, but in Valencia I would leave early because the whole thing at the end was chaos and a nightmare to get out of the city (I lived 28kms from the city of Valencia) and a 20 minute trip by car turned into a 3 hour adventure.

[Smiley Culture]

Who really cares? It's used as a stick to beat people with by "real fans". 

Maybe Ian Holloway should ask himself why people were leaving QPR v Brentford with 10 minutes left? If he did, he'd work out that, for 91 minutes, QPR were second best in every department, were offering absolutely nothing in attack and were dire to watch. Only a daft goalkeeper error let them back in the game and saved Holloway from being put under pressure  

I've left games early loads of times, call me what you want. There's loads of reasons why I, and many others, have left early. I have tended to only leave when games are dead, but it's a rare occurrence. 

[Smiley Culture]

8 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

If you're not going to watch the full 90 minutes then don't bother going at all and give your ticket to someone who will actually watch the full game. People leaving early are the typical "I'll support the team when they win" brigade that are neither use nor orniment. 

I've left Goodison twice, once when we were 6-1 down to Arsenal in about 2006 and in the famous derby when Clattenburg was banned from officiating our games. Other than that, I've stood by my team, in my seat for 15+ years. 

You realise that you've contradicted yourself, don't you?

[HK85]

Loads of times and as recent as Sunday. Mostly away games.

I've been going long enough to know when a game is over with. I've only ever regretted it once.

[True Blue]

To be honest never left a game early and i wouldn't ever, however if someone does i wouldn't judge. You paid for your ticket and you can leave when you like. 

[Honey Honey]

Left early once in my life but not because of the football, had to catch a train.

Everyone here saying they don't leave early but the majority of fans do, interesting that they don't come forward

[Smiley Culture]

21 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Twice in 15 years? Hardly anything wrong with that. Much better than the mongs who leave at 75 minutes to get away from the car-park quicker. 

Surely, you should have your future tickets took from you and given to those who wouldn't leave early?

[Guest]

I've left early a few times, but it was all depending on the situation.

Whenever I go to an Universitario game I sometimes leave early to avoid outdoor brawls or to avoid traffic. I don't live so close to the ground so I rather not take 3 hours stuck in traffic just to get back. Of course that depends on the situation. If the game isn't finished then I'll stay.

When it comes to my job, I never leave if its something important. For example, on saturday when I was still in Cusco, I went to Real Garcilaso vs Sport Huancayo but I went really poorly prepared. I had a massive headache and only had 1 hour of sleep in 28. I also had to go to the Cusco airport to interview players and needed time to charge my iphone, so since it wasn't the important match of the weekend, I left early. Then for the final on sunday, I obviously stayed for the whole thing to do what I was supposed to do. 

When it comes to matches abroad, I've left early only when I had to catch a train or bus. This was my situation at Anfield. I missed Skrtel's late equalizer vs Arsenal 3 years ago because of that. I guess I can also say that I'll leave early if its a match that doesn't interest me much. For example if I'm on holiday in El Salvador and get invited to a match there but its a boring 0-0 by the 60th minute.

When it is of interest, I never leave unless its to avoid danger or catch a train. Otherwise, I have my a few excuses.

[Stan]

hate it when fans do it. We've got fans who do it when we win, draw or lose, not just the latter.

You've paid for it. Watch it. If you don't watch us when we lose, you don't deserve to be there when we win. Fully agree with what Holloway said on Monday after QPR's late draw with Brentford. A derby of all games and fans don't have the faith that the team will come back. Pretty sure some fans left around the 80th minute as well - karma though for them leaving and the match ending as it did. 

The only legit excuses I can think of to leave a match early are family emergency or illness. I don't buy the excuse of leaving 2 minutes early to 'miss the traffic'. You've paid so much for a game and you choose to leave early (not just 2 minutes, sometimes 10-15 minutes). You've wasted that money. You wouldn't pay £20-30 to see a film with your favourite actors/actresses in and then decide to miss the ending to 'beat the traffic'. 

[Spike]

I'd 100% leave early if the team was putting in a soulless, gutless, passionless performance. I'm not going to waste my time supporting a team that cannot be arsed.

[Toony]

I don't understand why people are so offended when other fans leave? They've paid for the ticket, if they want to leave, let them fuck off.

I've done it in the past, no point staying when the game is dead when you can get away from the traffic early. I try not to do it much but my brother likes a sharp exit and I hate sitting in traffic as well.

[Guest]

Well I rarely get to watch Arsenal and when I do I have to travel from Bristol so I never do. Anyone who has been to the emirates knows what it is like at the end of the match the que to the tubes is crazy but I stay till the end.  I suppose if you were going every week it would be different

[Fairy In Boots]

If we’re getting hammered we’ve been shit and it’s cold I fucked off a few times. If there’s a chance of something to play for then yeah I’ll stay but I’ve walked out. It was always under Lerner & Lambert at 63 mins 3-0 to counting Wigan 29th Dec 2012 I walked out with my mate caught the train into Town and had a pint in my hand by Full time. I’ve not been back since (shocked me it’s that long), I shamelessly stream it now, every local pub is full of 50-100 of me watching on a stream. 

 I’ll take my son to a game or catch the odd one on the future but the game I knew & loved died years ago. It’s all money orientated shite now, I haven’t watched a second live of the PL since Villa dropped, I catch snippets on Sky Sports news in the gym. Life’s more important, I question the sanity of those that follow home & away thick and thin when they blatantly don’t care in the top 2-3 tiers of the pyramid anymore. With financial fair play they rigged it so you couldn’t challenge the new established elite, FIFA & UEFA are corrupt rotting organisations that deserve a gas explosion. 

In fairness I don’t get any fan under 25 nowadays either they all seem to be glory hunting CR7 loving FIFA playing dabbing spastics. My sister brought her boyfriend round the other day this kid is 19 an Arsenal fan born and bred in Birmingham. He starts trying to talk about football to me, I just said “I’m sorry I can’t talk to you, you’re kind of fan, different topic please”.  I just can’t talk to them without calling them cunts, I find it so alien that you can profess a love for something you will never truly understand or be apart of. Football is tribalism pure and simple it’s why we loved it, I couldn’t give a fuck for the neatly packaged PR bollocks now I never will, fucking soulless shite it is. While we’re on the subject international fan clubs unless you’re an ex pat originally from the area of the club you follow, you’re a gimp in a shirt made in some sweatshop and you’re a fucking clown.