City A.M. columnist Ed Warner issues a rallying call to those who cannot afford to go to the football. There are incredible sporting experiences out there for just a few quid, so get Goggling and take in a new sport.
Fancy watching your favourite Premier League team at an away match? Think again. You’ll likely need proof of your loyalty, maybe even an away season ticket, to bag a seat. Not that you’ll trouble it with your backside. More likely find yourself standing next to a young Herbert who’s more interested in taunting the home fans than watching the action on the pitch. Been there, done that (not as that Herbert myself, you understand, or not for a good few decades). No denying that three points can more than compensate, though.
The good news is that the laws of supply and demand don’t apply. Anxious to maintain the atmosphere generated by noisy fan rivalry, the PL caps away fan ticket prices at thirty quid. This doesn’t fully satisfy the lobbying of fan groups which had originally declared “twenty’s plenty”. They should quietly congratulate themselves on their negotiating skills, however. You can be sure that for the vast majority of top flight games, the market clearing price for an away ticket would be far higher than £20.
Mulling this over after a couple of away ‘experiences’, I’ve been searching for spectating opportunities, across sports, that can be had for £20 or under. It’s harder than I’d first thought. I started with the showpiece events for a couple of popular second tier sports.
Sport on a dime
Fancy watching the GB hockey teams at the Olympic Park in June? £25. The Yonex All England Badminton in Birmingham next month? Same price as the hockey, but with an extra £5.25 gouged from your wallet as a service fee. Just the sort of thing that gives the entertainment industry a bad rep. Can’t fault either organising team for their pricing strategy. Both appear very well sold already.
Taking my showpiece blinkers off, I did have some success. Here then is a shopping list for your sporting delight this year. And all for roughly the price of a day pass to Sky Sports – not half as much fun as being there in the flesh.
Starting for my old time’s sake with athletics, next weekend’s UK Athletics Indoor Championships are still on sale at £12 a go. These double as a selection trial for next month’s World Indoors in Glasgow. The best GB swimmers? Tickets from £11 at the British Champs in the iconic London pool. Paris 2024 selection at stake. Similarly, you’ll be able to get ground admission to the key warm-up tournaments before the Wimbledon tennis within the £20 limit.
Olympic value
Paralympic sports offer great value, especially if you want the chance to see the stars who will be competing in Paris. Come down to Cardiff in April for our Quad Nations and you can watch four of the eight teams in the wheelchair rugby Paralympics for a tenner. Or stand roadside in June (also in Wales, Swansea this time) for the World Triathlon Para Series. Paris qualifying points up for grabs. No charge! As to Paris 2024 itself, while Olympic tickets start at €24 (a sliver over £20), you can get inside a venue for the Paras for as little as €15, even for the athletics in the Stade de France.
There will be free roadside viewing opportunities there too. Which reminds me to flag the London Marathon. Year after year an unmissable chance to watch the world’s greatest distance runners glide past at speeds you could barely match in a long sprint. Listen out for the sound of their feet striking the tarmac. Barely more than a kiss. Top tip: head for the stretch of the Embankment near Temple tube. The station is usually shut on race day, so the crowds are thinner here and you can be sure to stand right on the roadside. Or stroll upriver at Henley Regatta if rowing is your thing.
Sport options for everyone
Elite women’s team sports – for now – still offer value for money while owners and bureaucrats work to build durable fanbases. England women’s cricketers in a T20 v New Zealand at Hove for a tenner; just £15 to see Scotland v England in the Women’s Six Nations rugby from the terrace at the Hive Stadium, Edinburgh; and how about Man City v Man Utd in the WSL at the Etihad for twenty quid?
While I’m on a team sport roll… Premiership Rugby at bottom of the table Newcastle for £15; a fiver more for Ealing Trailfinders, top of the Championship. ODI cricket at Essex for £18. London Lions BBL basketball in the Copper Box at the Olympic Park for a tenner. Chesterfield FC, currently top of the National League, £20. As one reader messages: “all footy fans in the Prem should adopt a local National League team. It’s a wonderful antidote.”
Finally, if you can keep your wallet firmly closed once you’re through the turnstiles, horse racing remains keen to lure you towards the bookies on their rails (Pontefract from £5), and there are still 21 greyhound tracks in Britain – you can get free entry at Crayford.
So, what are you waiting for? Set yourself a budget and get Googling!
Snow Joke
My phone pinged with a message from a former senior snowsport insider reacting to last week’s Sport inc. suggestion that UK Sport cease funding outdoor winter sports. I opened it with some trepidation expecting to be torn off a strip, but turned out I needn’t have been nervous. Having promised them anonymity, here’s some of their thoughts…
Eyes on the prize
Keep an eye on the ECB’s competition among its counties for control of eight first class women’s clubs. I hear that the governing body is expecting a huge private equity investment into The Hundred in the coming months. This will help shore up desperately struggling counties, but also create an even wider gulf between the eight ‘haves’ who currently host Hundred franchises and the other ten counties. If the same ‘haves’ also secure control of the women’s domestic game then the ECB really will appear committed (resigned?) to a two tier professional sport. I hope its leaders prove braver and more enlightened than to do that.
Ed Warner is chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and writes his sport column at sportinc.substack.com