By Glen Leat
May 29 2002

Listening to "Any Sporting Questions" live from Lansdown Cricket Club on Five Live last night the question of sports clubs joining forces came up and one of the panel suggested there was too much tribalism in sport and for economic reasons we should be thinking more about club and ground sharing.

I have to say that one of the reasons I follow sport, and Bath Rugby in particular, is because of that very tribalism. I think we have to be careful that we don't confuse positive tribalism with the worst form of chauvinism or believe that "real" supporters consider the financial elements of their club to be more important than their passion. I was born in Bath and watched my first game of rugby at the Rec in 1970 and have been hooked ever since. I have said many times before on this site that if it was a choice between England and Bath, I would choose Bath every time; I support England but I have a passion for Bath, simple really!

I find the thought of ground sharing or, heaven forbid, joining forces with Bristol totally abhorrent and I would hope that our fellow fans at the Memorial Stadium feel the same. I believe I am a reasonably rational and intelligent person but I cannot consider a time when I would ever want to support a joint Bath and Bristol team - I would probably just walk away and be miserable.

If sport loses its passion and focuses solely on money it is lost and I for one will not want to be part of it. I'm not saying we should return to amateur rugby but I think we have definitely lost something from our game over recent years. We are currently discussing the variety of players who may or may not join our club. For all my frustrations about our poor performances this year I do not want us to sign players who are just in it for a quick buck, I need them to want to play for Bath and if that means missing out on a few of the mercenary stars floating around the globe then so be it. This may all sound a bit "holier than thou" but "my" club means more to me than just winning games.

Finally, it is worth making a comment on the Roy Keane affair. Most of us would pay a fortune to experience a fraction of what these great sports stars enjoy (for which they get paid a fortune) and still they are not satisfied. To give up the chance of playing in the biggest sporting tournament in the world because of an inflated ego is total madness.To have been able to trot on the the Rec for Bath for one minute at the end of game we were winning by 50 clear points just to say I had done it would have been a dream come true and perhaps some of our own players ought to spend a few minutes before each game looking around the ground at their adoring fans and think "I'm a lucky man!".

Why not vote on your tribal instincts on the "Current Poll" on the front page.