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What has happened to the fan support for soccer in our area? I remember when I played back in the 90's, home or away we always had a good turn and so did the other teams. I have seen pics of the stands at nb stadium and they would be full. Go to a game now and it's almost like watching sat leagues with just the parents showing up. What has happened?

People just aren't interested anymore i guess...

It's probably going to get much worse in Southern Ohio due to the lack of U15 rec league programs in the county. Only a few schools were able to field quality teams and several schools didn't even have enough kids to make a team. I think it has to start at this rec league level and hope to keep the interest of the players.

fan support is waning in all sports. turnout for football and basketball has been spotty at almost all venues. sure a few games were well attended but for the most part it was down.
i agree that rec leagues build the future and right now u 15s are down county wide. not really sure why? maybe the high school teams should take more of an interest. who knows?

What is the reasoning behind most Scioto county schools not having junior high programs? Piketon, Waverly, Eastern, and PCA all have a school sanctioned program as well as many schools in Ross and Jackson county. This is a great stepping stone to the high school program.

Cost of Bus trips and cost of coaches I would guess socman. I know this has been the reason at a few local schools.

I hate to see a good match not watched by many.

Referees! We can't cover high school games with what we have. Teams with lights are forced to play later due to refs covering two games a night.
Also travel costs for schools.

What do refs have to do with lack of fan support?

I was answering the question of why junior high programs are hard to start. Should have attached the quote, sorry about that.

jeepmadness wrote:What has happened to the fan support for soccer in our area? I remember when I played back in the 90's, home or away we always had a good turn and so did the other teams. I have seen pics of the stands at nb stadium and they would be full. Go to a game now and it's almost like watching sat leagues with just the parents showing up. What has happened?

we had all 4 of our fans at EVERY game this year so our support is flourishing in glouster.

One thing that I feel is a strike against attendance at Soccer games is the fact that other school events are scheduled at the same time as the Soccer games, such as volleyball, golf, cross country, etc.

murmur,
thats not any different than it used to be. People just are not attending games.

also remember back in the 90's that NB was the host of all District games from Sectional final through District final and even Regional semi occassionally, so you may have been looking at pics of tourney games which tend to be better attended.

To keep soccer popular and to get more people interested, I believe the high school coaches need to get together and form a Jr High league. It would be more exposure and would be a great feeder program for the high school teams. The cost would be minable except for refs (which I know there is a shortage of), uniforms (use old high school), busses, etc., could be paid out of gate and concession.

I couldn't agree more. I think that a jr. high league would be great. I think it would also improve the younger players by doing more traveling and playing new competition to ready them for the next level.

Awesome point wsoccerman, awesome point.