Ian Hart
23-01-2011, 12:23 AM
Three of my friends (Mk Dons fans) attended this match today. This was officially designated a "Daggers Against Racism" match, and with the agreement of MK Dons, they implemented two interesting experiments.
1. There was no segregation of fans (this was exactly as it used to be when I first attended matches, years ago) and indeed they specified "both sets of fans are encouraged to mix freely and enjoy the match"
2. Ticket prices, especially in the "terracing areas" were slashed. The terracing prices were 99p, and 25p for concessions!
Not surprisingly, the terracing was sold out days in advance of the match, and Dagenham had their biggest crowd of the season.
I've spoken to one of my friends as to what it was like. He said there was no trouble whatsoever, and the fans enjoyed the atmosphere throughout. He said he and one of the other two enjoyed it more than any previous away match, but did add that the third one hadn't enjoyed it so much, because the MK Dons fans were spread in little groups all around the ground, and he hadn't felt the "togetherness" feeling you usually feel as an away supporter in a larger group.
I'm not sure such an experiment would be risked in most grounds, and probably wouldn't work in many, but well done to the Daggers for giving it a go.
1. There was no segregation of fans (this was exactly as it used to be when I first attended matches, years ago) and indeed they specified "both sets of fans are encouraged to mix freely and enjoy the match"
2. Ticket prices, especially in the "terracing areas" were slashed. The terracing prices were 99p, and 25p for concessions!
Not surprisingly, the terracing was sold out days in advance of the match, and Dagenham had their biggest crowd of the season.
I've spoken to one of my friends as to what it was like. He said there was no trouble whatsoever, and the fans enjoyed the atmosphere throughout. He said he and one of the other two enjoyed it more than any previous away match, but did add that the third one hadn't enjoyed it so much, because the MK Dons fans were spread in little groups all around the ground, and he hadn't felt the "togetherness" feeling you usually feel as an away supporter in a larger group.
I'm not sure such an experiment would be risked in most grounds, and probably wouldn't work in many, but well done to the Daggers for giving it a go.