Just took a look at this and it has Dover, as a fifth tier team as having a third of the catchment area of Kent.
There is no weighting based on current and previous success, years spent in the football league and so on. I understand that this is the point, but it also means if Dover get relegated, suddenly a third of a million people from East Kent drop their alegance to the Whites and instantly become Gillingham fans.
It also doesn’t seem to take account any geographical boundaries so there are parts of England south of the Severn estuary that are classed as Cardiff’s catchment area. It looks like Dagenham’s catchment area is south of the Thames too. So a Dagenham fan, living in Dartford, that can’t drive, has to get a train into London and back out again to go to their beloved Dagenham ignoring half a dozen other clubs it would be easier to get to.
It also doesn’t seem to take account any geographical boundaries so there are parts of England south of the Severn estuary that are classed as Cardiff’s catchment area. It looks like Dagenham’s catchment area is south of the Thames too. So a Dagenham fan, living in Dartford, that can’t drive, has to get a train into London and back out again to go to their beloved Dagenham ignoring half a dozen other clubs it would be easier to get to.
Yes, the Thames once you get past Woolwich is a massive physical and psychological barrier, similarly you wouldn't have Dartford or Ebsfleet fans living in Purfleet or Grays
The DLR makes things much easier further in to London, someone living in Canary Wharf could easily get to Charlton or Millwall
The Valley is only the 10th nearest league ground to where I live now, due to the large number of London grounds with The Emirates top at 4 miles, and The Valley 10th at 11 miles
The infographic posted further up says the top 3 are:
1. Brighton 2. Birmingham 3. Brentford
Cardiff and Swansea were 3rd and 4th but technically some of their nearest support lives in Devon and Somerset so they removed them.
Yes, but it very much depends on where you draw the lines. There are too many people in the rest of Kent from the SE London diaspora (including myself) that have no family ties to Medway, which is the Gills domain, not Kent per se.
My mum recently moved into a lovely kent village and every one of her neighbours were originally from SE London and all originally from the catchment area of our beloved Addicks, for instance. Many had been to the Valley at some point in their lives.
If you add to that the fact that Charlton are a Kent club as well as being a London club due to their history - they are effectively Kent's London club. Their sports stories are covered on the non-London local television news, for instance, even though it is out of the catchment area for the viewers (apart from those in West Kent who mostly get London local news, that is). No other club has the same privilege and it reflects our support county-wide. As for Kentish London, that is the boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, Bromley and Bexley - which is an awful lot of people in of itself. Hopefully only a few of the Bromley residents have been successfully recruited by the stripey heron worriers - they are a Surrey club!
There is no way Gillingham can claim the whole of Kent; they are a Medway team and that area is highly distinctive as an identity within itself, not really representative of the whole county - not least because most people in West Kent are nearer London than Medway and identify more with the former than the latter due to proximity, work, London TV reception etc.
I still reckon that we have the potential for a huge catchment area, as long as we have a high enough profile and some success on the pitch. Hopefully one day.....
Thanks for that link Dave21. I knew CAFC was the nearest to me (Crayford) but was surprised and pleased that West Ham and Orient are closer than Sh*thurst Park
Charlton is my 5th nearest League ground. Nearest ground that I've never been to is Tottenham's new ground, although I saw Kingstonian at AFC Wimbledon's ground and Muse at West Ham's ground.
Charlton is 5th nearest in the football league for me. Brighton and Crawley within 25 miles. Gillingham is 41, Selhurst is 44 miles, whilst The Valley is 48 miles.
Bad news, folks: Croydon + Bromley = over 700,000 people
Bromley is the biggest London Borough, which I was very surprised to find out last week
About 3/4 of it is Kent
No it’s not - the clue is in the name........London Borough of
Talk to me when you've not got BR postcodes.
Postcodes are irrelevant - that’s to do with the Post Office - it’s about local government - people in London Borough of Bromley can vote for London Mayor etc - there are many people in DA postcodes (which is Dartford and surrounding area postcode) who cannot vote for London Mayor - but there are people who are resident in Royal Borough of Greenwich who have DA postcodes (Thamesmead) and thus have a Dartford area postcodes, but are in a London borough
Bloody hell this theory makes a fool of me. The valley is 81st out of 92 from me but I still cant follow anyone nearer, my heart just wont let me. I guess the guy who said earlier that if you support a team that you have no connection with you just cant have the same feeling. I make it to quite a few games but now I know I'm passing 80 other grounds on the way means I must be mental lol
For me The Valley comes in at number 78 closest, 147 miles away.
I have Rotherham United, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday all 3 miles away.
Before leaving Welling at age 4, The Valley was 4 miles away and the closest ground.
Dad is Charlton, his dad was Millwall, my daughter Charlton through and through. My first season in old third division, daughter's first season in League One. Glory hunters, lol.
The only exception to this rule I sometimes allow, is what I class as the weird ones , for example I have friend who avidly follows Dover Athletic because he managed them once on a football manager game , or the kid from Scotland in Argyle and Bute who decided to follow Plymouth.
Support Charlton because 50 years ago aged seven I joined in some Charlton singing walking back from school (Horn Park) and that is the very moment they became my team, even though I knew nothing about them. Scottish team is Forfar Athletic because I got them in my first Subbuteo set. Only seen them a couple of times though.
For me The Valley comes in at number 78 closest, 147 miles away.
I have Rotherham United, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday all 3 miles away.
Before leaving Welling at age 4, The Valley was 4 miles away and the closest ground.
Dad is Charlton, his dad was Millwall, my daughter Charlton through and through. My first season in old third division, daughter's first season in League One. Glory hunters, lol.
Strangely, the Valley is 78th for me as well. Closest is Old Trafford 😒
It's never been the closest ground to me 😢
Just looked up everywhere I've lived, and I've had:
For me The Valley comes in at number 78 closest, 147 miles away.
I have Rotherham United, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday all 3 miles away.
Before leaving Welling at age 4, The Valley was 4 miles away and the closest ground.
Dad is Charlton, his dad was Millwall, my daughter Charlton through and through. My first season in old third division, daughter's first season in League One. Glory hunters, lol.
Strangely, the Valley is 78th for me as well. Closest is Old Trafford 😒
It's never been the closest ground to me 😢
Just looked up everywhere I've lived, and I've had:
For me The Valley comes in at number 78 closest, 147 miles away.
I have Rotherham United, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday all 3 miles away.
Before leaving Welling at age 4, The Valley was 4 miles away and the closest ground.
Dad is Charlton, his dad was Millwall, my daughter Charlton through and through. My first season in old third division, daughter's first season in League One. Glory hunters, lol.
Strangely, the Valley is 78th for me as well. Closest is Old Trafford 😒
It's never been the closest ground to me 😢
Just looked up everywhere I've lived, and I've had:
Ranking distance to football league only from my home address, The Valley is number 38.
This could be a thread on its own- where does The Valley rank..
From my house, loads of grounds all the same distance, but in many directions...
Been trying to work out where you live, seeing that you are roughly the same distance away from London, Birmingham, Stevenage, Leicester and Brighton!
Swindon?
Decent trigonomotry They are the closest league club, and in the same county, but fortunately a good 30 minute drive (apologies to anyone from Swindon)...
Ranking distance to football league only from my home address, The Valley is number 38.
This could be a thread on its own- where does The Valley rank..
From my house, loads of grounds all the same distance, but in many directions...
Been trying to work out where you live, seeing that you are roughly the same distance away from London, Birmingham, Stevenage, Leicester and Brighton!
Swindon?
Decent trigonomotry They are the closest league club, and in the same county, but fortunately a good 30 minute drive (apologies to anyone from Swindon)...
Based on where I've lived for the last 30 years, it's Millwall at 2m, Charlton 3m, South Norwood Diving Academy at 5m and Taxpayers' Stadium at 6m. Of all those, the easiest to get to is The Valley.
Based on where I was brought up (6-18), it was Charlton at 6m, Millwall at 10m, Orient at 10m, Taxpayers' at 10m. I suspect that Upton Park would have come in at 2nd if it was still there.
Based on previous addresses between being 18 and moving to where I live now, the nearest have been: West Ham Orient Millwall Millwall Millwall Millwall
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Recommend using this.
👍
Just took a look at this and it has Dover, as a fifth tier team as having a third of the catchment area of Kent.
There is no weighting based on current and previous success, years spent in the football league and so on. I understand that this is the point, but it also means if Dover get relegated, suddenly a third of a million people from East Kent drop their alegance to the Whites and instantly become Gillingham fans.
It also doesn’t seem to take account any geographical boundaries so there are parts of England south of the Severn estuary that are classed as Cardiff’s catchment area. It looks like Dagenham’s catchment area is south of the Thames too. So a Dagenham fan, living in Dartford, that can’t drive, has to get a train into London and back out again to go to their beloved Dagenham ignoring half a dozen other clubs it would be easier to get to.
The DLR makes things much easier further in to London, someone living in Canary Wharf could easily get to Charlton or Millwall
Ranking distance to football league only from my home address, The Valley is number 38.
This could be a thread on its own- where does The Valley rank..
Same
My mum recently moved into a lovely kent village and every one of her neighbours were originally from SE London and all originally from the catchment area of our beloved Addicks, for instance. Many had been to the Valley at some point in their lives.
If you add to that the fact that Charlton are a Kent club as well as being a London club due to their history - they are effectively Kent's London club. Their sports stories are covered on the non-London local television news, for instance, even though it is out of the catchment area for the viewers (apart from those in West Kent who mostly get London local news, that is). No other club has the same privilege and it reflects our support county-wide. As for Kentish London, that is the boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, Bromley and Bexley - which is an awful lot of people in of itself. Hopefully only a few of the Bromley residents have been successfully recruited by the stripey heron worriers - they are a Surrey club!
There is no way Gillingham can claim the whole of Kent; they are a Medway team and that area is highly distinctive as an identity within itself, not really representative of the whole county - not least because most people in West Kent are nearer London than Medway and identify more with the former than the latter due to proximity, work, London TV reception etc.
I still reckon that we have the potential for a huge catchment area, as long as we have a high enough profile and some success on the pitch. Hopefully one day.....
No mention of the M.A.S.S.I.V.E ?!
Nearest ground that I've never been to is Tottenham's new ground, although I saw Kingstonian at AFC Wimbledon's ground and Muse at West Ham's ground.
Swindon?
I have Rotherham United, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday all 3 miles away.
Before leaving Welling at age 4, The Valley was 4 miles away and the closest ground.
Dad is Charlton, his dad was Millwall, my daughter Charlton through and through. My first season in old third division, daughter's first season in League One. Glory hunters, lol.
Nearest league ground I've not visited is the Taxpayers Stadium.
It's never been the closest ground to me 😢
Just looked up everywhere I've lived, and I've had:
Millwall
Millwall
Palace
Palace
Palace
Palace
Preston
Fulham
Wigan
Blackburn
Wigan
Man Utd
(I've moved a lot in the last eight years 😂)
How's the Range Rover?
Indeed.
Possibly a SOH CAH TOA natural
Based on where I was brought up (6-18), it was Charlton at 6m, Millwall at 10m, Orient at 10m, Taxpayers' at 10m. I suspect that Upton Park would have come in at 2nd if it was still there.
Based on previous addresses between being 18 and moving to where I live now, the nearest have been:
West Ham
Orient
Millwall
Millwall
Millwall
Millwall