Why have southern clubs( not London) and East Anglian clubs never been big?

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Football was always a working class sport, played and supported by working class people. The big clubs flourished in the big industrial centres where there was lots of heavy industry.
 


Smartie said:
Football was always a working class sport, played and supported by working class people. The big clubs flourished in the big industrial centres where there was lots of heavy industry.
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It wasn’t always a working class sport.

Take a look at early FA cup winners.

I think that it took hold as the big working class sport when it became professional. I might be wrong.
In 1873 wanderers beat oxford university in the Cup Final, the match took place at 11:00 to avoid a clash with the Boat Race.
 
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Rugby was certainly a big factor in the late 1800 in the south and is still today. For instance Northampton Saints rugbY club are a far larger entity than Northampton Town Football Club

Bristol also has a very well supported rugby club
Stevie Freestein II said:
It wasn’t always a working class sport.

Take a look at early FA cup winners.

I think that it took hold as the big working class sport when it became professional. I might be wrong.
In 1873 wanderers beat oxford university in the Cup Final, the match took place at 11:00 to avoid a clash with the Boat Race.
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I know the northern league was a strong amateur league post www2 but there was an abundance of amateur clubs in the south. Wimbledon for instance didn’t turn professional until what the 1960s and in Cambridge Cambridge City an amateur club was far bigger than Cambridge Utd who played in the old eastern counties league. It was similar in oxford with Oxford city larger then Headington Utd now Oxford Utd
 
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KENT-FTM said:
It could be to do with class....affluent classes playing Cricket, Rugby etc...

The North invented football...it was their religion.

It's such a difficult question to answer.
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People from the north east live and breathe football, folk down south don’t on the whole.

I live in the Home Counties towards East Anglia and while all of my lads mates from school support teams the only ones who actually go to games are him, a Sheff Utd lad and a Millwall lad, it all comes from their fathers.

Hate to be stereotypical but it’s passion v interest
 
NE sporting attendance is remarkably intolerant of any sport but football mind. Has never sustained any kind of competitive legacy at either rugby code. Or cricket.
 
Stortford said:
Very true though Durham Wasps did very well till your lot bought and ruined them with your Geordie Nation shite
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Ice hockey was never a sport that drained support from the football obsessed attendances of the region. Durham rink might have been full at peak of success which meant Hartlepool/Darlington levels of support. And many turning out on Sunday evening spent Saturdays at SJP or Roker
 
PLymouth has massive potential if anything good ever happened for them. Bristol have two teams which divides things. Pompey seem the most fervent. Southampton currently the biggest , but purely down to current staus and new ground.
 
Stortford said:
People from the north east live and breathe football, folk down south don’t on the whole.

I live in the Home Counties towards East Anglia and while all of my lads mates from school support teams the only ones who actually go to games are him, a Sheff Utd lad and a Millwall lad, it all comes from their fathers.

Hate to be stereotypical but it’s passion v interest
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only read this up to this post I’m replying to but in my experience this is the difference.
the north east region seem to follow, support whatever u want to label it as far more seriously than people in other regions.
I’m not saying all of the people in all of the regions but in general wherever I go, on holiday, for work or whatever, 9 times out of 10 I’m asked where exactly are u from and who do u support?
I’ve always thought this is a normal question but as I’ve got older and visited more places met more people and stuff I tend to find it’s only really asked to us.
other people see it as a starting point of conversation.
we seem to be pigeonholed into football terms.
Geordie or Mackem ?
red and white or black and white ?
thing is, over the years wherever I go I can always sniff out one of them and distinguish one of us.
im not a mackem by birth iM from Gateshead but I e followed us for 30 years.

in summary I’ve got no idea what the original question was 😂
 
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