Why the South Coast ?

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tomogull
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Why the South Coast ?

Post by tomogull »

Now here's a question that Southampton Gull might be able to answer - why has the south coast become such a soccer hotbed? There's Southampton challenging for Europe (and playing attractive football), Bournemouth battling for a Premiership place, Eastleigh just outside the Conference play off places, Havant & Waterlooville and Gosport in the Conference South play off places and Poole Town and Weymouth in the Evostik South play offs. This purple streak doesn't stretch along the coast as far as Brighton and the only team not benefitting from whatever is in the south coast water is - ho, hum - Portsmouth :whistle:

Is there any common factor for all these successes, SG? I was wondering if the lower ranked sides like Havant and Gosport are picking up players who don't quite make it through the very successful Southampton and Bournemouth youth set-ups ?
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Post by Southampton Gull »

I think the catalyst was Saints rapid rise after winning the JPT while in League 1. The momentum stayed with them and everything seems to have fed off of that. Certainly Eastleigh's rise opened up other avenues for local based players as they looked wider for their recruits and Gosport and Havant reaped the benefits. Interestingly it wasn't that long ago that Gosport looked like they would follow Fareham Town and cease to exist.

In the case of Bournemouth it was a case of good manager starts his career at a time when a money man comes in and if you look at them in conjunction with Saints and Eastleigh people with money invested at similar times.

Poole have been waiting years to sort out a ground but with an area like Sandbanks on their doorstep financial backing was never far away and they will rise through the ranks in the not too distant future. Weymouth have a good following and are one of those clubs that could push for Football League status if a few things fall into place.

Brighton had the impetus of a new ground to rise from the ashes but seem to have hit a bump of late but in all cases I think you can look no further than investment. The South Coast is quite an affluent area, there isn't a rival sport like Rugby taking centre stage like there is in the South West so naturally Football has been a real beneficiary. There is definitely a real buzz around the area that's for sure.

The youth set-up of Southampton is producing some fine players, a large percentage of those that don't make it seem to end up at Bournemouth but I'm not so sure there are that many being picked up by the likes of Eastleigh, Havant or Gosport.
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Post by Gullscorer »

Perhaps if money man comes in to Plainmoor, good manager might kick-start his career again..?? :)
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Post by tomogull »

Interesting reply Dave SG - thanks. I thought that probably the Saints successes have had something to do with it and the fact that the south coast has become a prosperous area. I agree that Poole in particular could well be a club that will in the Conference with us before long. Hadn't given much thought to lack of other sports - e.g. rugby - in the area. That must also be an advantage, although I remember seeing that Beach Volleyball was played at Weymouth (Olympic Games ?). Now that is a sport that would certainly rival 'football' at Plainmoor these days. Makes my eyes water to think of it ........
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