From Sunbury to Reading - A Reading Four Viewpoint

By Loobs
April 12 2004

In this, the third part of The Craic's From Reading to Sunbury series, Loobs looks from a Reading Four viewpoint at the arrival of London Irish in Reading. He also recalls how he got sucked into the family that is London Irish.

This isn’t meant to be a history lesson, more a subjective view of London Irish moving to Reading and the effect on the fan base. Maybe a little look forward too.

In the aftermath of the ‘demise’ of the professional arm of Richmond Rugby Club, the newly-formed London Irish Scottish Richmond moved into the slot left vacant by Richmond at the Madejski.

Much was made of the concrete jungle, lack of ‘soul’, not a proper rugby ground (anyone been to the Millennium Stadium?), poor food, etc. Well, nobody could argue with the amazing view from anywhere in the ground, the comfy, by any standard, seats and the potential for growth in this stadium.

At the outset it must have been incredibly daunting for the senior management as there was the inevitable backlash from the traditional fan base at Sunbury and a 24,000+ seater stadium to try and fill. This continues to be a problem in many respects as it does not encourage any sense of urgency with advance bookings as ‘there will always be a seat’.

There will come a time not very long down the road when the people behind the decision to move to the Madejski will take a large pat on the back as the attendances grow to regularly top 10,000. Even with all the ground improvements throughout the Premiership clubs, only those in football stadia can hope to accommodate crowds as we did on 16/03/03, in excess of 18,500. Rugby is still growing into professionalism no matter what the IRB, ERC and RFU think. There are a lot of decisions to be made along the way, let’s hope the RFU can learn to recognise the good from the bad.

Back to the Madejski. The concept of the Reading 4 had been trumpeted to indicate that for every supporter lost from Sunbury, there would be four to replace them from the Reading area. This may have seemed like a grandiose statement at the time, but it does seem to have some merit now. On the back of last season, a bold (maybe fiscally inappropriate) approach was taken to getting the number of season ticket holders up and it worked with an increase from 1200 to over 3500. What percentage the Reading 4?

In addition to the Reading 4, the strapline ‘More than 80 minutes of rugby’ was coined. This is ever true of London Irish with supporters with a willingness to party like it is going out of fashion. Win, lose or draw there is always somebody to share the joy/heartache with over a pint or listening to a bit of music. Yes, the beer may be too expensive and the food still leaves a lot to be desired, but there is no denying that the larger crowds have led to an amazing atmosphere in the Stadium and it must hold some fears for visiting teams running out to the wall of noise. Given, the rugby probably doesn’t at present.

Earlier this season, there was a real possibility that it was going to become just 80 minutes of rugby. Due to work by the LISC in the main and some support from Seven Telecom and Nevada Systems, the band played on. Season ticket prices have been announced for next season and are still cheaper than 2 seasons ago, whilst becoming a little more in line with other clubs. Tell me where you can get top value entertainment for less than £15 anywhere nowadays.

There is still work to be done and sometimes I think we forget that there is only a small team of people working hard behind the scenes to try to keep all of the people happy all of the time. As evidence of the Reading 4 effect, at the recent game at the Kassam, there were 3 coaches from Reading and one from Sunbury. Ok, it’s not exactly scientific evidence but it does say something.

The growth in numbers at the Madejski is very slowly starting to be reflected in the travelling support to away games. Numbers have grown from 18 at Newcastle last season, probably 6 at Sale the season before to 3400+ at the Kassam. The trip to Toulouse had approx. 500. There must be a happy medium in there somewhere. Away trips are a great way to meet people.

On a personal note, I had been an armchair supporter for many years, then landed a contract with Rugby World Cup 99 to provide audio feeds from the post match Press Conferences to the various broadcasters, in addition to the paging systems, etc. for the Media Centres. This provided the opportunity to watch top class international rugby and get paid for the privilege. Although on a very wet Sunday in Wrexham watching Samoa demolish Japan it didn’t seem like it was such a good idea! The Press Conference was interesting though! Just don’t niggle Pat Lam, that’s all I will say.

Then came the Tetley Bitter Cup semi final double header at the Madejski, where we put together our own reading Four, now all season ticket holders to go and cheer for London Irish or just see some top rugby. The full house, the atmosphere and the mingling of supporters before and after was fantastic and outweighed the downsides that we still know, the queues for a drink/loos/etc.

Following on from that, three of us went to the Cup Final, but all of us were soon regulars at the Madejski. Train from Blackwater, shuttle bus return, lots of Craic and beer, what better start to Monday morning?

At the beginning of the following season, I took the plunge and bought a season ticket. Soon after, I discovered the virtual world of the Usual Suspects. Then for the Bath away cup game last season, somebody posted where they were sitting in the ground, which led to a long thread on the subject. I hadn’t been in my seat long when a voice said “you must be Paddy69”. It was Nigel_X and gang. A friendship begun (I’ve even changed my name and still can’t get rid of youse!). I soon added a whole lot of others to that. As Bisach said in his piece, “there are a lot of people I now know, but don’t remember exactly when we met”, that pretty much sums it up for me.

This season our group has grown to 6 season ticket holders with another one or two in the offing for next season on the back of St. Patrick’s Weekend just gone.

Long may it continue.