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Original poster

Football supporters. Can someone please explain...

82 replies

WildRosie · 26/09/2021 11:27

I'm not a sports fan so I'm on the outside looking in, in wonderment. How does a person become a supporter/fan of a football club for which they have no plausible connection ? At my workplace, the local club is a Premier League side and I can count on one hand the number of fans among my colleagues. The other football fans support clubs such as Liverpool, Manchester City and United and Newcastle United. Yet, they are all locally raised and resident. One oddity is a chap who does support the local Premier League side but also has a Glasgow Rangers tattoo - he is not Scottish! Whenever I've genuinely enquired as to their support choices, I've received some peculiar answers, such as who won the FA Cup on the day they were born or the town where they first got their leg over. I kind of understand familial connections - my nephew was born in Middlesex yet supports his Dad's local side, i.e where he was born. One chap I've known for about a decade has supported four different Premier League sides in that time!

The explanation may be a lot more simple - glory supporters, associating themselves with a fashionable, successful club for their own self-validation. I wouldn't be so bold as to suggest this in person to these people - I have to work with them, after all - plus no one would be likely to admit it!

OP posts:
Original poster
WildRosie · 26/09/2021 20:45

To their credit, whenever I've asked someone to explain their choice of non-obvious football club, they have volunteered it, even if it made no sense to me. No doubt it's clear to them!

OP posts:
Crunchymum · 26/09/2021 20:56

Me and DP are north Londoners. The nice side Grin

My family are all Arsenal. His half Arsenal and half Tottenham.

We are all local to our teams though.

VienneseWhirligig · 26/09/2021 21:25

My DS supports both our local team (not Premiership but doing well in the Championship) and Man City. He's liked Man City since he was a small child and my dad would take him there as his companion when he had tickets from work. My dad is an Arsenal fan because his own father lived near the ground in his youth and supported them. I support our local team but also have a fondness for the Bolton Wonderbras (because of a daft joke about their name when I was a teen). They're are so many different reasons for liking a team, even within the same family.

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Football
VienneseWhirligig · 26/09/2021 21:27

@unfashionable has your team recently returned from a stint as a groundsharer? If so we are neighbours Grin

Orangejuicemarathoner · 26/09/2021 21:29

The explanation may be a lot more simple - glory supporters, associating themselves with a fashionable, successful club for their own self-validation. I wouldn't be so bold as to suggest this in person to these people - I have to work with them, after all - plus no one would be likely to admit it

I don't understand why you are describing this in such negative terms?

There is absolutely nothing wrong in becoming interested in a club because you admire its achievements.

You are speaking as if such a choice of football club is somehow morally wrong or inferior. No it isn't! In fact it is nobody else's business

RunningFromInsanity · 26/09/2021 21:41

It’s not just Liverpool fans that are affected by Hillsborough.
I’m Arsenal and it was/is devastating.
As someone who goes to matches and has family and friends who go, it is devastating (and was inconceivable) that so many football fans, especially the younger ones, went to watch their beloved team and didn't return home.

Original poster
WildRosie · 26/09/2021 21:50

@Orangejuicemarathoner

The explanation may be a lot more simple - glory supporters, associating themselves with a fashionable, successful club for their own self-validation. I wouldn't be so bold as to suggest this in person to these people - I have to work with them, after all - plus no one would be likely to admit it

I don't understand why you are describing this in such negative terms?

There is absolutely nothing wrong in becoming interested in a club because you admire its achievements.

You are speaking as if such a choice of football club is somehow morally wrong or inferior. No it isn't! In fact it is nobody else's business

As long as there is a loyalty to the club that is maintained if the glory days should disappear. Even with my limited knowledge of football, I can confidently say that supporters who stick with their chosen club through thick and thin and don't drop them like a hot brick when the going gets tough aren't going to be vilified like those who are impatient to jump on the next successful, fashionable bandwagon. There's a reason these people are called glory supporters or fair weather fans.
OP posts:
Rockbird · 26/09/2021 21:53

It doesn't matter why you support the team that you do, but choose wisely because it should be illegal to change allegiance at any point in your life. Cut any of my family open and we've all got Arsenal running through us like rock. So that's what I'm stuck with Wink

MadisonAvenue · 26/09/2021 22:11

Ones that will go to a late kick-off mid week match are the local ones, who are less likely to be as well off as the more recently acquired fans from further afield. Plus the ticket prices for the champions league game was around £40 but the Carraboa Cup was £12.50.

DH is a City fan btw. And we couldn't afford for him to go to the champions league game, as well as league games. It's £10 just to park the car. But he did go to the cup, as that ticket was much cheaper and the rest are part of his season ticket. We still need to budget carefully for that many home games so close together.

We’ve got season tickets so the cost of games is taken care of in one go, although we’ve had to pay for Champions League tickets, but we’ve got three home games this week so there’s the expense of travelling (whether we get to the next two due to the petrol situation remains to be seen though).

I don’t drive (yet, I’m having lessons) so until my son passed his test four years ago we relied on trains. We could manage 5.30 kick offs but couldn’t do 7.45 or 8pm ones, our last train home was just after 10 from Piccadilly so we’d have to leave early in the second half to make sure we caught it so it wasn’t worth going. I know we weren’t the only ones who had this problem.

Glaghirl · 26/09/2021 22:14

Massive Celtic fan here. It's in the 🩸
My dad was a ball boy for Celtic when he was a kid. He sold his car in 1967 to get cash to go on first trip abroad to see Celtic be the first British club to win the European Cup. I have seen video footage of him there Smile
He started taking me to games since I was 4 or 5 and I've loved the hoops ever since.
I believe football is a family, tribal thing that you never lose.

ParkheadParadise · 26/09/2021 22:27

@Glaghirl

Massive Celtic fan here. It's in the 🩸 My dad was a ball boy for Celtic when he was a kid. He sold his car in 1967 to get cash to go on first trip abroad to see Celtic be the first British club to win the European Cup. I have seen video footage of him there Smile He started taking me to games since I was 4 or 5 and I've loved the hoops ever since. I believe football is a family, tribal thing that you never lose.
HH
Timeisavirtue · 26/09/2021 22:28

Everyone has a story! Mine is my best friend supported chelsea, I wasn’t really into football, my dad didn’t like it so we didn’t really watch all too much, grandad supported Brentford but they were lower league so we’re very rarely if not ever on tv. So I was at my friends house, her family all supported chelsea, they were watching a match and I became hooked. Here I am 22 years later still a hardcore fan. Some of my family support arsenal, some Liverpool and some leicester.

Timeisavirtue · 26/09/2021 22:29

We are all still supporting Brentford aswell, now more than ever.... was soo happy with the result yesterday v Liverpool, what a game..

Original poster
WildRosie · 26/09/2021 22:29

What's the attitude towards betting in the football supporters community ? I expect anyone who placed a bet against their club for potential financial gain would be regarded as disloyal at the very least.

OP posts:
WhatIsThisPlease · 26/09/2021 22:30

I support Newcastle, my Mum is a geordie and that was the team we wanted to win when we used to watch Grandstand on a Saturday afternoon.

I can assure you there is no glory whatsoever to be had supporting this team 😂

WhatIsThisPlease · 26/09/2021 22:31

Should add that I live nowhere near Newcastle. Haven't even been!

Unfashionable · 26/09/2021 22:42

Many fans will bet on their teams, but they are mug punters because they can’t be objective. Bookies must love them.

I don’t bet on football. It’s a mug’s game, for many reasons. I obviously couldn’t bet against my team. Not ever. I can’t bet on my team either, because I know I’m not objective so how can I rationally analyse the odds? I suppose I could bet on Billionaire United vs Real Zillionaire in the CL, but meh....

ThePurpleOctopus · 26/09/2021 23:04

@PiggyPlumPie

Derby born here so a ram through and through.

DH is a Chelsea fan and they are actually the closest team to where he was born so I will forgive him that.

DD1 had a crush on Steven Gerrard when she was 6 and has followed Liverpool ever since. At that age she had no idea about football and her love for the sport has grown over the years.

What a shame about the result yesterday..... Wink

(In all seriousness though, even as a Blade I can see it's a bit a shit at Derby right now, sorry dude. Seriously bad financial management).

AlanThePig · 26/09/2021 23:04

Stoke supporter (for my sins). Local team for me and although not something I was introduced to young it was something dh loved when we started dating. He'd often take me to the ground and 28 years later I still go to the odd match with him.

I do have a soft spot for wolves though. I went to uni in Wolverhampton, parked on the car park there daily and several of my lectures were in the building that overlooked the pitch. Spent many an afternoon watching their groundsman do his thing and not actually doing any work myself.

WeAllHaveWings · 26/09/2021 23:44

With ds and his friends the attraction to a club was initially a high earning celeb player. Ds(17) changed to his local team a few years back, now supports them with a passion, and attends every home and away game he can. Thankfully because they are not a city team the season tickets are cheap and there is rarely a problem getting away tickets or a seat on a supporters bus!!!

A lot of his friends still support the same big teams they have no connection to, have never seen live, but supported when younger. The initial attractions are the players and glossy merchandise and it sometimes sticks.

AdoptedBumpkin · 27/09/2021 00:01

I opened this expecting a thread about rude chants Grin

Not an active supporter of any team, but at school in London I couldn't fathom why some of the lads supported northern teams.

Poppyscone · 27/09/2021 01:37

I was once forced by my brother to sit through a match and really enjoyed it. It was Manchester United against Chelsea. Manchester United won, red was my fab colour and I thought Mark Hughes (in his younger days) was really fit. So I have always supported them.

stayathomer · 27/09/2021 03:53

I support the most random club because they're underdogs but with so much heart they deserve their own film!!! My dh supports his because his dad followed them because he once got tickets to a match and they were the underdogs and won (they're huge now)

TheLeadbetterLife · 27/09/2021 04:00

When you think about it, isn’t the idea of lifelong loyalty to a sports club weirder than changing who you support now and then, just because you fancy it? It’s entertainment.

MiddleParking · 27/09/2021 04:15

One chap I've known for about a decade has supported four different Premier League sides in that time!

I can’t think of much less supportive behaviour. That’s just a dickhead who doesn’t understand or like football.

I support United because my whole family on the more influential side do, and they’re my nearest team. I’d take an interest in various other teams for various reasons (eg my brother’s team which is different to mine, local non league teams) but you only have one team.