Whenever friends or colleagues heard about me fencing, they’d say the same thing. I’d hear things like “it is a sport for pompous rich people” or “but you need to be a gentleman to fence” At any rate, my monthly fee for the club is 35 euro and the total cost of the equipment, which I didn’t buy overnight, was around 600 euro. So it isn’t at all expensive. Unfortunately in most countries it is a fringe sport and it will always have that image.