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I picked this up from the AFCW m/board. It's taken from a posting on a Crystal Palace m/board but sums up precisely what I love about our club and non-league football in general. I thought it worthy of a wider audience.

Crystal Palace have just shut off the front of A & B block due to crowd trouble which produced the following post from someone who is giving up to go the non-league instead and I felt his post was worth repeating as it does remind you what you have got:-

"I go to the football for the atmosphere, the banter, the drinks, the camaraderie, the banter, the once a week opportunity for me to shout and get openly passionate about something i really enjoy. The football and football alone isn't worth £30. Well, for me it's not. What is worth £30 is meeting up with your mates, the pre match buzz, the walking to the ground slightly tipsy, the chance to stand sing and shout in the ground. I don't pay £30 to be searched by a stranger, being told I cannot smoke in open air areas, have cameras and police pointing at me for 90 mins treating me like a criminal when i am not, is £30 worth it to feel like a criminal for having the audacity to sing and support my team? Why is it my pre-match routine is getting worse, the football culture in this country is being erroded and they are charging me more for it? Maybe you don't do these things, which is entirely your choice and i respect your choice, but alternatively (not sure whether this has crossed your mind) but people do go to football to experience more than 11 strangers purporting to be playing for your team, kicking a bit of leather around for 90 mins. Non-league football on the other hand is worth the £10 entrance fee. Going to a town and trying to find a ground in the middle of nowhere, taking in pubs along the route, a large group of you getting to the ground without the aid of a police escort, being trusted and treated like adults, drinking until 3.10 and arriving in the ground to stand where you like with your mates, thus enabling you to produce a bit of atmosphere, witty songs and banter without being warned, threatened with a ban, or having the area cordoned off the next time you turn up. You can stay in an extra 10 mins at half time to finish your pint which your brought for a human price of £2.75, arrive back in the 2nd half without having to ask the whole row stand up to tuts and moans. The whole point about football is so much more than 22 players on a pitch, at least it used to be anyway, which in my opinion is the problem these days. Too much emphasis is placed on thick characterless players and not enough emphasis is placed on what being part of your club means to each individual fan."