ur76spider wrote:What wonderful posts! I enjoyed reading them!
I am not going to repeat everything that I have said on the subject of low turnout at Richmond football games. I would just like you to remember that UR is a small school and therefore the chance of large crowds are very small.
As for those so called fans that tailgate outside of the stadium, then leave, they are only hurting themselves and they are casting a bad light on the school (UR) in the eyes of the fans of other schools.
In closing, most of them probably are not aware, or do not care, of how close UR came to dropping the sport after the 1979 and 1982 seasons.....when both years they went 0-11!
I hope that with the opening of the on campus stadium next fall (2010) the number of true fans will increase as evidence by their presence in the stadium thoughout the games. Time will tell
i Hope so as well, your program deserves it for what it has accomplished.
Cleets Part 2 wrote:
What London and Richmond has accomplished is NO MORE impressive than what Harvard or Stanford have to do every single year as well....
if Richmond is competitive like those programs - for a decade then we'll talk - so far so good... but lets not get too excited
For a decade?? Playoffs in 1998 (quarters), 2000, 2005 (quarters), 2007 (semis), 2008 (champs) and they are now undefeated and ranked #1 in 2009. I think that is a competitive decade. And it is tough to compare Harvard with Richmond, in that all the schools in the Ivy League are ultra competitive academically, so they should all be in the same boat. It is great that Harvard has been so strong in their league, but their academic / institutional standards have not really been much of a hinderence. There is much more academic / institutional variation in the CAA football conference. Stamford is in a much more similar situation, but while they have been good, they have never made it to the top. When was the last time they even played in the Rose Bowl? 2000, and that was the first time since 1972.
Col Hogan wrote:
Does that 8200 count the five bus loads of high schoolers and their parents (Lake Braddock HS band) who came to play at half time, then leave???
And why, when the critical discussion is about the fans, do you bring up the academic standards and the impact they have on the football team? Coach London seems to have found the way to make it work...very much CONGRATS to him (see my post above where I call him one of the classiest coaches in footbal)
But that has NOTHING to do with the students turning out (and staying) and alums and fans...which you have very few of, IMHO...
8,200 is paid attendance, so likely does not include the HS band that played at halftime, but might include the parents. So UR has 2,800 undergrades; UMass has 20,000. For the homecoming UMass-UNH game, there were 13,100 or so fans in attendance in nice enough weather, and you are complaining about Richmond's support on a crappy crappy day?
Col Hogan wrote:
Does that 8200 count the five bus loads of high schoolers and their parents (Lake Braddock HS band) who came to play at half time, then leave???
And why, when the critical discussion is about the fans, do you bring up the academic standards and the impact they have on the football team? Coach London seems to have found the way to make it work...very much CONGRATS to him (see my post above where I call him one of the classiest coaches in footbal)
But that has NOTHING to do with the students turning out (and staying) and alums and fans...which you have very few of, IMHO...
8,200 is paid attendance, so likely does not include the HS band that played at halftime, but might include the parents. So UR has 2,800 undergrades; UMass has 20,000. For the homecoming UMass-UNH game, there were 13,100 or so fans in attendance in nice enough weather, and you are complaining about Richmond's support on a crappy crappy day?
Unless Richmond is running some shitty style of ticket office system the band members parents also got in free. You can also bet at least a 700-1000 inflation of the attendance number. Book it.
