Chelsea: Price hike reaction shows absurdity of mainstream support tag

Twitter and other mainstream social media platforms are awash with reactions of Chelsea fans, mostly those of the match-going variety. This is after the news dropped that the Blues plan to triple the price of season tickets. Many of these reactions are completely understandable. Many supporters likely have budgets set aside for season tickets and football-related spending, this price hike throws a wrench into any said plans for the coming season. Football is still recovering from a pandemic and many clubs are finding different ways of dealing with it.

These reactions highlight the absurdity of the condescension that has often been demonstrated by certain sections of the fanbase toward non-match-going fans. For awhile, some match-going fans have dismissed the opinions of international supporters on the basis that these individuals don’t regularly attend Chelsea games. This condescension is silly, short-sighted and childishly arrogant.

The reaction to Chelsea’s price hike is absurd from a small portion of fans

The capacity of Stamford Bridge is about 42,000 seats, this means that only a lucky few of the Blues’ millions of fans will get the opportunity to attend any given home match. To think it’s the most loyal and fiercest supporters that go to games would be refusing to acknowledge the fact that sheer willingness is not all you need to attend a Chelsea game. Attending live sporting events is expensive. It’s even more expensive for those who live thousands of miles away from the team they support. Fans living in London have to worry about ticket prices, fans living outside of London have to worry about transportation into London and ticket prices.

International fans have even more to worry about. First, they have to worry about a flight ticket and plans to transport them to London. They also have to take into account the hotel/lodging for the duration of their time in the English capital. In addition, they have to factor in transportation to the location of the game itself. This is all before the price of admission itself. These are the reasons why it’s extremely disgusting to see someone make a comment about those who do not frequent the Bridge, but still support the club. Perhaps even worse is when another person chimes in with comments like “I bet he’s never even been to the Bridge.”

Many of the regular match-going fans have all three things in their favour. They live close enough to the stadium that they can go there regularly, they have the money to afford ticket prices and they show the commitment and willingness to spend that money on football. All three things. The new ticket prices will affect one of those three, and many match going fans are incredibly irate.

There are fans who are already acknowledging that they either wouldn’t be able to go to the games anymore or wouldn’t be able to go nearly as frequently. That’s OK, but that also shows that there are things that can prevent people from going to games that are out of their control. Chelsea has over 50 million fans worldwide. If one-tenth of them decided to start living in London in other to be close to the stadium, 90 percent would still not be able to go to the stadium. If it was as simple as going to the game because of your love for the club, or the extent of your support, the season ticket price hike would not be an issue, but that’s clearly not it.

Admitting that going to the games regularly has an element of privilege is not a bad thing. Privilege in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, it’s what you do with it. The match-going fans who make condescending remarks at other supporters who don’t have that opportunity abuse that privilege are what is wrong in this situation. The aim of this piece is not to gloat, it’s not a “serves you right” piece. It is extremely frustrating to have to suddenly budget much more for something you spend on quite regularly, you don’t even need to be a football fan to know that. However, the reaction to the price hike shows that many things determine who’ll be a match-going season ticket holder. Some of these would be within one’s control and others would be out of it, and that’s OK. There’s no need to dismiss the opinions of non-match-going fans because one disagrees and wants to belittle others. It’s childish and shows incredible cluelessness as to what the real world looks like.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!