THE SWANS FAN LIVING 1 MILE FROM THE CARDIFF STADIUM FACING 200 MILE ROUND TRIP FOR DERBY

Swans fans have become accustomed to the ‘bubble match’ with Cardiff. All fans bussed in from Swansea to the Capital with a heavy police presence but what if you’re a Swans fan that lives in Cardiff?

Tim Lewis grew up in Clydach and has always been a big Swans fan despite living in Cardiff for the past 15 years. Most of his family are Swansea season ticket holders and he makes the trip from Cardiff to the Liberty about a dozen times a season.

The South Wales derby in Cardiff is effectively a home game for Tim but it will turn out be far from that.

“We were told people who live in Cardiff or further away could apply to travel to the game independently, so I did the moment I secured my ticket.

“Despite living a mile away from the Cardiff City Stadium I’ve been turned down and will have to catch a coach from Swansea at 7.45am, more than four hours before kick off.

“There are no trains to get to Swansea at 6am on a Sunday so realistically I’ll have to travel the night before and stay with family. I then face having to go back to Swansea on the coach after the game before returning home to Cardiff.

“What should be a two mile round trip is likely to be more like 200 miles and take up half of my weekend.

“Ordinary football fans should not be treated like criminals just because they want to follow their team away from home.”

You can’t help feel that common sense has failed here somewhat.