1,000 Miles For a Football Match?

Meet the St Andrews student who follows Fulham FC everywhere they go

As deadlines roll in, following your favourite football team becomes increasingly difficult. For fourth-year football fanatic James Dunne, however, there is always a way. Last week, The Saint sat down with the Fulham fan to find out more about how and why he does what he does.

As a child, family friends inspired Dunne to become a Fulham fan, offering him their spare tickets on matchdays at Craven Cottage. “My friends growing up were all West Ham fans, but Fulham was the more accessible option for me.” By moving to St Andrews, Dunne couldn’t have made it more difficult to support the team from West London. As a fifteen-year-old boarding school student, Dunne’s chief concern was acquiring permission to travel to a game on a Saturday, a struggle which pales in comparison to the 1,000-mile round trip that he now faces for home games.

The nearest Premier League ground is St James’ Park in Newcastle, which still takes almost four hours to reach by train. Away trips regularly take Dunne as far as the South coast, and all of that travel comes at a cost. Including his match ticket, he reckons he spends £100 each game — a number he has forked out over 50 times since coming to St Andrews. Dunne took a sharp breath after doing the maths, as if reality were only now dawning on him. How on Earth can any student afford such a lifestyle?

Dunne has needed two jobs to fund his football addiction. Working as a bouncer at the Union, most students have probably encountered James before — although you may not remember it. Multiple night shifts a week and working as a Deliveroo cyclist have made away games a possibility.

Any money left over from work goes to an equally interesting endeavour: travelling the world. In his four years in Fife, Dunne has visited over 40 countries, taking him across continents and throughout Europe. He has visited most of the countries in South America, which he described as his favourite continent on account of the countries’ “welcoming cultures.”All of these excursions require rigid planning, which is why Dunne details each game on a spreadsheet. Alongside the times, results, and modes of transport, it was the “Notes” column that made for the best reading. In his colour-coded list, there were two consecutive missed games highlighted in dark red, and a note saying ‘George and Armenia.’ The nonchalance with which James travels is almost unnerving, but to him, it’s just something he needs to do.

“I’m quite a restless person,” Dunne told The Saint, as he began to explain the importance of football in his life. Meeting up with old mates at least once a month, standing side by side and cheering the team on, James has found Fulham to be a “therapeutic relief” from the St Andrews bubble, which, as we all know, can be suffocating at times.

Of the 30 grounds he has visited on his travels, Dunne has picked up some fond memories along the way. When I asked him for his favourite game, he replied instantly, “Definitely the League Cup quarter-final against Everton. We don’t get to semi-finals often, and winning on penalties made it so much more exciting.” 

Fulham have garnered a reputation for its middle-class fanbase. “Yes, I have seen a Fulham fan eating a cheeseboard on the train,” Dunne said with a wry smile. “I know it’s a stereotype, but the truth is that we’re a family club. People criticise our fans, but you don’t have to take yourself so seriously all the time.” Dunne denied ever bringing a charcuterie board on an away day, but did admit that he is partial to a beer on the train.

In fairness, if I had to watch Fulham, I’d drink too.

Photo by James Dunne