HARTY: On the Albion and Worthing Rugby Club

Go back 10 years, to when the club returned to Brighton from a two-year exile at Gillingham, and a seat at the Withdean was the hottest ticket in town.

Despite playing in the bottom division, almost every game was sold-out as fans couldn't get enough of the Seagulls being back "at home".

Since then, it's been a rollercoaster with back-to-back championships, a play-off final and a couple of relegations thrown in. Yet a decade later, there are fewer people wanting to watch the Albion, week in, week out. Is it all basically down to money?

Obviously, this country finds itself in one of its worst-ever financial downturns, so that could be a factor. Or could it be the standard of football? Hopefully, new boss Gus Poyet, given time and some activity during the transfer window, could rectify that.

Or could it be that Withdean, despite being in Brighton, up against the much-missed Goldstone is a dump, and the local footballing public are waiting for Falmer to arrive?

Hopefully, that is the answer. I've lost count of the people who don't go to the Withdean from one year to another but claim they will buy a season ticket at Falmer. And that's before they know how much it's going to be.

This actually is almost laying down a marker for the Albion.

I've no doubt, for the honeymoon period, they will all but fill Falmer every week. But one season in, there has to be a decent team on the pitch and perhaps, equally as important, realistic pricing at the box office.

Channel-hopping on Sunday, I came across the Championship clash between Middlesborough and Cardiff City, played out to a half-empty stadium.

When I first turned on, it was so long before a spectator came into shot, I thought I'd missed Boro being told they had to play a game behind closed doors.

Boro lived the Premiership dream and when the Riverside opened a decade ago, full houses were the order of the day.

I'm sure with the calibre of people behind the scenes at the Albion, lessons will be learned from elsewhere when it comes to opening the gates at the new stadium.

And finally I'm off, with a group of friends, to Worthing Rugby Club this Saturday for some quality hospitality in the shape of a pre-match Christmas lunch, when they take on Shelford in National League Two South.

All credit to Mike Perring and his team, who through tough financial times have managed to keep the sponsorship coming in at the required level. But then again, the product, i.e. the game, is always worth watching, and the welcome you get in the clubhouse is of a similar high standard.

The club are also very kindly entertaining a couple of youngsters, and their siblings, from Chestnut Tree House, this weekend, and I know all the boys are looking forward to some top-notch rugby.

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