This evening I joined fellow Bath City fans at Twerton Park. City weren’t playing; instead our inferior tenants, Team Bath, faced a crucial “top of the table clash” against Kings Lynn. Lynn are a famous and historic non-league football club, and their fans have a good relationship with City supporters.

Team Bath are a university project, part funded by the taxpayer. This financial advantage has seen them climb the football pyramid at an alarming rate. The club is looked down upon by many non-league football fans as they are more of a “project” than a “football club”. Their support is very poor, even for non-league standard.

Throughout the game, the City fans joined the travelling supporters in cheering on Kings Lynn. It isn’t usual to see a lot of Team Bath supporters, in fact we were lucky when we found 1. I say “lucky”… this fan didn’t take too kindly to going a goal down and having a man sent off and reacted by hurling personal abuse and threats towards an innocent Kings Lynn fan, who was simply enjoying the game. What a nice man.

For the final 10 minutes, we moved behind the dugouts to see how the Team Bath management team were coping with being 2-0 down. Our support for Kings Lynn continued, and we were rewarded when they were given a penalty, which they converted, making it 3-0. At this point, Team Bath head coach Andy Tillson, had a go at ME for not supporting HIS team and questioned my reasoning for attending the game.

Team Bath very rarely get any support to speak of, and when Tillson was asked by a fan if he could handle a crowd, he replied “I would rather not have one”… sums it up really!

With my hand on my heart, I can honestly say, throught the whole match, I did not swear, use any personal insults towards Team Bath staff or players, or incite trouble. I was simply joining Bath City in supporting Kings Lynn – a proper football club. If the Team Bath staff cannot handle the support from football fans, they should quit the game.

I wasn’t the only fan to receive a telling off. Other City fans were on the receiving end of a lecture and I even heard reports of fans being sworn at by Team Bath fans and staff (although for legal reasons, I cannot verify this).

The game ended Team Bath 0-4 Kings Lynn.

As I left the ground, the travelling supporters thanked my fellow fans and me for our support. What a nice gesture. A million miles away from what I heard from the Team Bath bench.

Good luck, Kings Lynn!

Obviously the Team Bath bench didn’t read the sign