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Just who are Saracens fans - and where are they all?
There are expected to be fewer than 5,000 Saracens fans at Saturday's Champions Cup final
It is hard work finding a Saracens fan. They might be the most successful English rugby club of the last decade, with the chance to be crowned European champions for a third time against Leinster this weekend, but take a walk in the streets around their Allianz Park home and there is almost zero chance of spotting a Sarries shirt. Indeed, beyond a few electronic billboards advertising season tickets on the West Way and North Circular, it feels the club might as well not exist.
To find 'Sarries country' you must delve deep into that odd hinterland where north London suburbs blend into Hertfordshire green belt. The fans you find there seem a passionate bunch, albeit characterised by a certain civilised gentility. Ask why this turbo-charged club, boasting some of the world's finest rugby players - including England captain Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and the Vunipola brothers - remains something of a fringe interest when it comes to support, and the answers tend to be the same: the area's big football clubs, Tottenham and Arsenal, suck support away.
Indeed, for many Saracens fans, football was their first love. Fraser Collett-Gorton was a lifelong Arsenal supporter but a combination of falling for rugby culture and the soaring prices of Premier League season tickets have made him a Saracens devotee - even if he is careful to point that his enthusiasm has limits. “I wouldn’t describe myself as fanatical, that has certain connotations that I am not comfortable with it," he says. "But I would say that I am passionate about Saracens."
Saracens' problem is that followers like Fraser are an endangered species. There are expected to be fewer than 5,000 fans travelling to Saturday's Champions Cup final at St James’s Park in Newcastle, with the majority of the sell-out crowd of 51,500 expected to be wearing either the blue of Leinster or the red of Munster, the latter having bought tickets in advance and will attend regardless of their side's 32-16 defeat to Saracens in the semi-finals.
Saracens cannot be accused of not trying to swell their ranks. A travelling fans' group - Sarries on Tour - was set up by Collett-Gorton and Claire Gonzalez, another who converted to rugby after many frustrating years supporting Newcastle United, in a bid to boost the numbers of travelling fans.
One striking aspect of the club's support is the number of women - and in particular single women - who attend matches. "With Sarries on Tour we get a lot of single women coming with us," Collet-Gorton says. "It is difficult to know why but Saracens is very friendly and a very sociable environment. I think women feel safe and comfortable coming to games by themselves. There is a lot of women in the Sarries on Tour group that come on their own and they make friendships because of it. It's not about looking for love but fair enough if they find it!”
John Trigg, Chair of the Saracens' Supporters Association, who are officially linked to the club, puts it another way. “I am not sure if they would set up a dating agency in the club but I dare say they could if they wanted to!”
Frenchwoman Veronique Landew, another who swerves the 'fanatic' label in favour of “Saracens aficionado”, believes the “convivial” atmosphere at Allianz Park, where supporters can sip on craft beer and chow down on wood-fired pizza, has helped broaden the club's appeal.
The club is certainly keen to target a younger demographic and have made inroads into their local community through setting up Saracens High School and initiating projects such as working with young offenders, but attracting supporters from outside middle-class backgrounds has been a struggle.
“I sometimes think that is rugby's downfall," adds Gonzalez. "I think rugby is still seen by a lot of people as being a public school thing in England. I would like to see that change - I have met people, and not just Saracens fans but others, who are very snobby about the sport in general.”
In the mean time, it is about taking baby steps. One of Gummer's more innovative projects is a recent deal to play their London derby against Harlequins at Tottenham’s new stadium, part of an effort to tap into that area's working-class background. “We are trying to reach out to new audiences and if we can get the football audience in north London some exposure to rugby that might help us to grow rugby in this area,” he says.
"We hope to create content that would appeal to both sets of fans. We have a lot of similarities, we both work with Nike as a brand, we both have leading England players. There are so many nice parallels that would work well from a marketing perspective.”
An advertising campaign featuring two England captains in Owen Farrell and Harry Kane would be the definition of an easy sell. But in the mean time, Saracens and their band of 'aficianados' will have to keep punching above their weight, off the field at least.
Always a Wasp
Topic: OT Just who are Saracens fans - and where are they all? From the Telegraph (Read 3014 times)