TTE Survey Shows Reading Fans Cover The Globe

Thank you so much to all the Royals fans for letting us know whereabouts they reside in the world. It was fantastic to see how global Reading fans are. From Houston to Hanoi, Swindon to Stockholm, there are supporters in places a couple of miles and thousands of miles away from RG2.

I’m going to give a brief breakdown of the findings using some maps. Please note that these maps have been created solely from the submissions we received. We know that there are Reading fans in lots of other places but we can only go off the information that is sent into us.

So let’s start with supporters on our doorstep and the UK. Unsurprisingly, a large number of supporters live in the south of England. Reading and the surrounding area is understandably popular. We have some supporters residing in enemy territories, Oxford and Swindon; I hope that there is a Reading flagpole in the respective front gardens to annoy the neighbours.

We have supporters on the coast in Cornwall and Dorset. Maybe the megastore should start selling Reading-themed parasols and beach balls.

Across the Severn Bridge, we have supporters in Wales flying the flag for the Royals. At least trips to the Madejski are slightly cheaper now that they’ve dropped the charge of crossing the bridge.

As we move to the rest of the UK, there is a contingent of fans in the Midlands. The good thing for these fans is that their away-day mileage will be the lowest out of us all. A cold Tuesday night at Stoke may not seem as much of a chore if the distance is that bit shorter.

Going north, it was interesting to see a handful of fans living in Leeds. Supporters of Leeds United seem to have a chip on their shoulder about Reading fans (or lack of fans). I bet they are shocked to see a Reading shirt wandering through the city centre on a non-matchday.

Reading are represented too in Manchester, Warrington, Widnes and across the Scottish border in Glasgow and Perth.

Due to the Doyle, Long and Hunt successes at Reading, it didn’t come as a shock to see some Reading fans living on the Emerald Isle. Hopefully, the Irish fans can scout out some more unearthed gems for us.

Into the rest of Europe, a quick shoutout first to the Swedish Royals: Daniel, Carl, Anders and Gunnar. Great to see that you are waving the flag for Reading in Scandinavia. I’m sure many local Reading fans will be very appreciative of one of your country’s finest exports, IKEA, which now has a store not too far away from the Madejski.

Onto mainland Europe and there are Royals in major cities such as Madrid, Prague and Dusseldorf. I’d be interested to know whether many fans in the rest of Europe recognise a Reading badge and strip; perhaps from our stints in the Premier League or a certain FIFA Ultimate Team game.

A shoutout also goes to the three guys in Zermatt. They are all from Reading, and work as ski instructors by the Matterhorn, watching the games on iFollow. They’ve recruited a Man City fan too; good work! The megastore may want to consider introducing some Reading-branded skiwear. I couldn’t think of anything better than skiing down the slopes in the blue and white hoops.

I can’t forget the Maltese Supporters Trust representing the Royals in Malta. Keep up the good work!

Reading fans just in Europe? You’re wrong there. Let’s begin going further afield. Jerusalem, check! Dubai, check! Dubai might be home to some of the richest people in the world but I think a 2015/16 African Violet away strip might be out of their budget.

As we head further east, travelling across the ’Stans, we don’t find any Royals; those that we know of anyway. If you’re a Reading supporter in Kazakhstan, please do let The Tilehurst End know.

As we enter India, a country of 1.3 billion people, I think I spot something. Is that ‘Yakou Meite’ shirt from this season on someone? Yes, it is! In Ahmedabad, India, there is a Reading fan! It doesn’t stop there for Asia. We have supporters in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam, Manila and Cebu of the Philippines. Then there’s a Royal in amongst the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. Avid fans in Taiwan, China and Malaysia too.

We leave Asia and head down under. There are a handful of Royals supporters in Sydney, New South Wales. I kind of wish I knew this when I lived in Sydney back in 2018. I would have had someone to vent my frustration with at 2am after a 4-0 drubbing from Ipswich Town.

And congratulations to our furthest away fan, Shaun (unless we have someone on the moon), who resides in Wellington New Zealand. Kia Ora Shaun!

So from New Zealand, we go back in time and across the international dateline, reaching the home of Reading legends Marcus Hahnemann and Bobby Convey, the United States of America. And my gosh, there are plenty of Reading fans here!

Tennesee, New Jersey, Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Texas, Iowa and Maryland are where we now know Reading are represented. A North America Reading Supporters Club could well be formed along with Tim in Alberta, Canada.

Onto Africa and aside from the 52 million Kenyan Royals, rooting for Ayub Masika, we’re not represented. I’m sure this may change though when Masika scores his first Reading hat-trick on football’s return and the rest of the African continent hear the cheers from Kenya. I am surprised that a certain Mr Jimmy Kebe did not influence the people of Mali to choose Reading as their team.

Unfortunately, Reading FC is not represented on every continent. We didn’t receive any submissions from Royals in Latin America, although Marcus (currently in Zaragoza, Spain) previously followed the club in Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina. I know that Paolo Hurtado’s stint at Reading would have created many Reading fans but maybe there were some technical difficulties in Peru when The Tilehurst End initially tweeted and posted on Facebook. We’ll just have to hope for the rise of Brazillian Felipe Araruna to start us off in Latin America.

So there you go, it turns out that Reading fans are dotted across the world. If any Reading players are reading this just remember that next time you’re playing at the Madejski, you’re not just being watched from four stands but around the world. I expect Yakou Meite to score a belter before dedicating his goal to James in Shanghai.