Supporters
By Irish footballing standards, Derry City have a relatively large and deeply loyal fan-base. Upon the club's entry into the League of Ireland in 1985, crowds of 10,000 regularly flocked to the Brandywell to see their team. The "red and white army", as they are known in reference to the club's red and white colours, are regarded as being one of the largest, noisiest and most colourful groups following a team in the League of Ireland. Derry's average home attendance of 3,127 was the highest of any league team for the 2006 season and they are known to bring substantial numbers to away games, despite their isolation in the north-west. Furthermore, the highest attendance in the Premier Division was the last-night-of-the-season meeting between Derry City and Cork City FC at the Brandywell on Friday 17 November when 6,080 watched Derry exact some measure of revenge for their defeat in the reverse of the fixture the season before (which incidentally was also the highest attendance in 2005). Derry's supporters gave their team remarkable support in the club's UEFA Cup run during the 2006 season – around 3,000 travelled to Motherwell to see Derry beat Gretna FC 5-1 in Fir Park, while over 2,000 made their way to Paris to see their team play PSG in the Parc des Princes. Fans often use the high vantage point of the City Cemetery in Creggan to view games for which they have failed to source tickets or simply to view the games at a distance for free.
The club is renowned for its warm, close-knit, community spirit and the supporters have played a pivotal role in the survival and successes of the club over the years. When massive debts brought Derry close to extinction in the 2000-01 season, the local community responded en masse and saved the club. During the club's successful 2006 season, club legend, Peter Hutton said:
| “ | Nobody owns Derry City FC, apart from the people of Derry. Five or six years ago the club was on its knees, on the verge of going out of business. There was no sugar-daddy, no millionaire, no Roman Abramovich to save the club. It was the people and the city who saved the club. People, fans, ordinary people; they went out and banged on doors to collect money, they went around pubs with collection buckets, they did what they could to keep the club alive. Derry is a close-knit place, a small community, they care about their club and that's why we still have a club. And every bit of success we may get this season is down to them. | ” |
Support for the club crosses numerous social boundaries. Many fans reside in working class areas, such as the nearby Brandywell, Creggan and Bogside, while others are derived from more affluent regions of the city, like Culmore. While the Cityside is commonly seen as the traditional base of the club, and especially the Brandywell area, the Waterside area of the city, with its sizable Protestant population, boasts a significant support base. Despite the perception of Derry City being a nationalist-supported club, it does have numerous supporters who would be of a Protestant upbringing. With the city viewed as a focal point of culture and activity serving the north-west region of Ireland, Derry's support stretches beyond the urban border of the city and into the surrounding county. Limavady contains a significant support base, as does Strabane in nearby County Tyrone and even areas of bordering County Donegal.
Derry City Chat is a supporters' discussion forum website run by fans of the club. The club itself has from time-to-time made announcements on this forum.
Read more about this topic: Traditions Of Derry City F.C.
Famous quotes containing the word supporters:
“The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters. For his supporters will push him to disaster unless his opponents show him where the dangers are. So if he is wise he will often pray to be delivered from his friends, because they will ruin him. But though it hurts, he ought also to pray never to be left without opponents; for they keep him on the path of reason and good sense.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“The hydra of corruption is only scotched, not dead. An investigation kills and it and its supporters dead. Let this be had.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition. It reduces their supporters to that tractable number which can be managed by the joint influences of fruition and hope. It offers vengeance to the discontented, and distinction to the ambitious; and employs the energies of aspiring spirits, who otherwise may prove traitors in a division or assassins in a debate.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)