<p>My daughter and some friends are going to an away college football game for the first time. She is so excited and I was excited for her. Then she called to say that she and her friends (all girls) are making posters and to look out for them (the game is going to be televised). She met up with a local friend for lunch (who is not going to the game) and he told them to be careful as the home fans can be nasty and were spitting at some opposition fans last week (yuck). So now instead of being excited for her I am worried. Anyone have experience of going to away games? We have worked at home games as a fundraiser and never really seen unpleasantness (well except for the home fan that threw beer at my then 17 year old daughter when she told him he could not take it into the stadium - he was consequently ejected by the police - or as they told him when he said he didn’t want to leave - you can leave and go home or you can leave and go to the local jail). I am hoping the nastiness her friend mentioned is an exception. When she called she was in a parking lot and they were surrounded by mostly home fans and were getting some dirty looks so were just being very nice and polite to everyone.</p>
<p>Hoping their seats are with other visiting fans.</p>
<p>I’ve gone to a lot of away games but as part of marching band, so my experience might be different since I’m not a typical fan.</p>
<p>It varies widely - I’ve been to some away venues where the fans are very nice and courteous to visitors and then there’s some where even as part of the band we’ve been booed, given the finger, etc. If they’re concerned about hostile fans, I’d encourage them to be quiet on their way into and out of the stadium (especially if their team ends up winning); it will draw less attention. I think people are a lot less likely to be mean to a group of girls, anyway, so I think they’ll be ok. </p>
<p>If they got tickets through their school, then they should most likely be in the visiting fan block.</p>
<p>I’m not sure where they got the tickets. I know she is in an end zone and I see a sea of her team colors in one end zone so I hope that is where she is as the other end is a sea of the other color! I did tell her to not be ‘in their faces’ if her team wins. It is a tie so far.</p>
<p>Well it was not a good experience at all. The girls left early because the home fans were so nasty. They were throwing things at them and cursing at them. And the home team was winning by a mile - I hate to think what they would have been like if they were losing. What a bunch of bad sports.</p>
<p>That’s too bad. But bad behavior at sporting events often happens with adults at pro events also. I wonder if alcohol consumption is the problem. I hear that many kids have pre-game parties where they are pretty well soused before they even get to the stadium.</p>
<p>Could be. She goes to all the home games and expected an away game to be a fun experience. We have worked home games and never seen behaviour like that - though I did dread half time when they would all flood out and drink then flood back. I don’t think she will be in a hurry to go to another away game. Such a shame. She said they were tearing up their own stadium which shocked her.</p>
<p>They are currently unbeaten but I really hope they get beaten now. I have watched a couple of their games and they are a brilliant team. It is sad their fans do not represent their school as well as the football team does.</p>
<p>I have to say I am shocked. When she said she was going I thought it would be a great experience. It wasn’t until her friend warned her today that it even crossed my mind that there could be such unpleasantness. I wish he had been proved wrong but I guess he knows what they are like (he lives there but does not go to school there).</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that! (I think I figured out what school you’re talking about…there’s only so many unbeatens left). That’s kind of discouraging when you drive all the way to the away venue and have to leave early.</p>
<p>Yes…a large part of the problem is due to alcohol consumption - tailgating (read: drinking) all day for a night game can get fans pretty rowdy. I guarantee you that the vast majority of incidences like that wouldn’t happen if the fans were sober…I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have fun before the game because tailgating is part of the tradition of college football, but I hate to hear about incidences like this.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to hear that. I go to home and away games a lot. Never had that problem in any sport, at any level at an away game. Had one bad situation at a home game because the away team parents were rude, and our parents did not respond graciously. Fault in both camps, IMHO. I would not hesitate to go to away college games, but I guess it is wise to find out the sport’s history and the history of the other school for these things.</p>
<p>Even the campus police warned them not to walk through one particular area and said they should stick together and be careful. As my daughter said “That’s reassuring”. Some fans apologized and tried to assure them that they are not all like that. From their point of view enough were that it made for an unpleasant experience.</p>
<p>The football team is really good. Shame about the fans. From googling them after hearing about this they do have this reputation - even being compared to English Soccer hooligans.</p>
<p>I haven’t been to a whole lot of away games, but even in terms of home games the “visiting” crowd can sometimes get really out of hand and obnoxious (usually involving very large amounts of alcohol). At least the school I go to (USC) has a “dry” stadium policy - no alcohol sold or allowed inside during the game. Still, there are two schools I remember that stood out as having particularly bad drunk fans while visiting USC (they will remain nameless, and no UCLA is not one of them )</p>
<p>On the other hand I have no trouble singling out the two that I remember most positively - Stanford’s and University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign’s fans were the models of class, even the time when Stanford pulled the 42-point upset against USC at home.</p>
<p>So I’d venture to guess it varies a lot depending on where the away game is - Lubbock, TX isn’t exactly the most accomodating football town in the US.</p>
<p>Wow- so sorry to hear that, SCM, my DD just did the rent a Winnebago sorority trip to a USC game at LA and had a blast, every one was fun and funny and it was a good time. Even the 'big game" long standing rivalry of Stanford-Cal has never produced grumpy fan stories. Sorry what should have been a fun adventure was ruined by boorish fans</p>
<p>My wife and I go to many college football games every year. I will have been to 12 games this year not counting a bowl game. We have had both good and bad experiences at away games. We have had absolutely amazing experiences as away fans at Va. Tech, Clemson and Kentucky. We have been some other places where the home fans were ridiculously obnoxious.</p>
<p>When I was a student I was in the marching band so I’ve travelled to a lot of campuses. Mostly good, but there are always some bad. I’ve had frozen fruit thrown at me at one campus. But, usually people are friendly. Heck, I’ve had friends who have been invited to tailgate by complete strangers at other schools.</p>
<p>That sucks that Tech fans were so rude, maybe it’s because they aren’t used to winning so much, or it’s the booze. USC games have gotten much better since alcohol isn’t served.</p>
<p>Navy throws cheese, incidentally. That was a while ago, though, I think they’ve stopped doing that. A pity-- it was kind of amusing.</p>
<p>I was drum major of a fairly infamous college band. I’ve had cokes thrown at me, I’ve had people insult my mother as I walk towards the stadium, I’ve had 109,778 people boo me while I was on the field. (Yeaaaah, most of that was deserved…) There are certain schools where football is the only show in town, and most of the folks in the stands are fans of the football team and probably couldn’t get into the university of the team they’re cheering for. And that’s just fine, but they often don’t have a sense of responsibility to the university that the team represents, so anything goes. There are also some students who have absorbed the university identity so completely as their own that they take it as a personal affront whenever anybody has the audacity to do something so awful as to root against their school’s football team (or call their city the tenth circle of hell… okay, <em>that</em> was probably uncalled for, too).</p>
<p>Still, there are a <em>lot</em> of schools out there whose fans are just class acts. Texas is pretty great so long as you’re not a bitter rival. I was really impressed with Michigan fans, who offered me tailgate fare and complimented my glockenspieling. The fans at Louisiana Tech offered me beer. Michigan State laughed at our jokes and invited us to hang out with them afterwards.</p>
<p>Tell your daughter not to write off away games entirely. Have her ask around about the opposing team’s fans before she goes, and better yet, ■■■■■ their fan message boards to see whether there’s a ton of bad blood before she packs her foam finger and facepaint. Often, away games can be a great experience, and I’m sorry that this one turned her stomach.</p>
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