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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not understand the allegiance that some people have to sports clubs?

201 replies

MuseumofInnocence · 08/03/2019 16:03

I have some friends and family who are fans of certain sporting clubs (I'm referring to football mainly). I can sort of understand it for those who have some connection to the club (maybe they grew up near the club or their parents did), but I have friends who became fans of clubs hundreds of miles away when they were children, have been a handful of times to a game, but act as if they're the biggest fans ever.

Am I unreasonable, or is this weird?

OP posts:
10IAR · 08/03/2019 18:30

I get irritated with glory hunters. The team I support has had a particularly successful couple of years and I've loved every minute of it. But then I also remember when it was shit, and the stadium was half empty so I'm quite enjoying the recent successes.

But I get irritated with the folk who are only interested when it's good.

x2boys · 08/03/2019 18:31

I don't follow football at all, but it's like any hobby some people like it ,my Dad and all his siblings are all.but Man United fans but they were brought up in Longsite Manchester well after moving from Ireland .

minionsrule · 08/03/2019 18:46

I am not from Manchester but my ex was and i started going to City matches with him in the late 80's ( can't call me a glory hunter Grin). We split up mid 90's and i couldn't afford to attend matches (screwed me over financially) but 20 years on i still listen to commentary or watch on the telly and yes i would say i am a huge fan.
My scouse family were horrified for a while but they got over it (p.s before city i didn't really bother with footy so i didn't 'switch teams').
P.p.s i saw some real dross in the 80's and 90's!

IndigoSpritz · 08/03/2019 18:51

I'm not a sports fan by any means and consequently, I find the fandom bizarre. One of my colleagues is a Liverpool AFC supporter even though he's not from anywhere near the city, has never been and never goes to the games. He was less than a year old when the Hillsborough debacle happened yet feels a personal connection. I can't explain any of that. Another one, in the nine years I've known him, is supporting his third football team. His current lot (my boys, as he calls them) is Manchester City. Before, it was Liverpool and it was Leeds United when we first met. Classic glory supporter. I also know Spurs and Newcastle United supporters with no obvious connection to these clubs. I don't get it.

Disclaimer. I am not seeking to downplay the significance of what happened at Hillsborough thirty years ago.

derxa · 08/03/2019 18:57

MNetters in general hate football. It's too lower class for them. DH supports Celtic even though he lives in England and has barely been to a match. Brendan Rogers is a mercenary traitor according to him. DS supports Arsenal and I'm not allowed to speak during matches.
Both stick to their teams through thick and thin. That's the point. A sense of loyalty and belonging.

ScreamingValenta · 08/03/2019 19:05

apparently under a third of season ticket holders have a Manchester postcode.

Does that mean anything, though? They might be Mancunians by birth or upbringing, but have moved away as adults, or they might be lifelong supporters for other reasons.

Original poster
MuseumofInnocence · 08/03/2019 20:12

To be fair for me, the same could be said for any sports team (football, rugby, or tiddlywinks). I don’t think I have the need to belong to something in such a concrete way. Perhaps abstractly maybe (I’m British and that’s an identity)

OP posts:
onthenaughtystepagain · 08/03/2019 22:59

There are many things people do that I don't understand eg watch reality TV, Star Wars, Fools and Horses etc but I don't think it's ever bothered me, I am mature enough to see that people are different.
There must be people on this site who are in a permanent state of worrying about irrelevant trivia, they need to decide what's important!

Amanduh · 08/03/2019 23:08

I don’t get how people ‘don’t get’ it. Not want to, not feel the same, don’t have the need fair enough. But surelt you can understand the basics of why people do?!

TitsAndTomatoes · 08/03/2019 23:48

YABVU.
People can be passionate about different things. No harm in that

Klopptimist · 09/03/2019 00:58

I also think it's hilarious when football fans refer to their favourite team as 'we', as though they themselves were on the team

On the other side of the coin, a lot of footballers and managers will refer to the "twelfth man" on the team - the supporters.

ForalltheSaints · 09/03/2019 06:55

minionsrule I remember at the time Man City were in the third division and over 30,000 attended a midweek game. So I would never class Man City fans as I do the glory seekers following the team from just outside Manchester.

Frank Skinner's point about songs is a good one, though some are sadly hateful.

FrangipaniBlue · 09/03/2019 07:37

DS(11) is football crazy and supports a particular premiership side, has done since he was about 6/7.

I can't stand football, DH feels "meh" about it and other than occasionally watching MOTD to see who won what he's generally not that interested.

None of DS friends support the team he does. Not one.

He has never been to a match, although I have in the past (unsuccessfully) tried to get tickets.

I literally have no clue where he gets his love of football or why he supports this particular team - baffles me!!

WillGymForPizza · 09/03/2019 10:06

My DF and DB are huge fans of our local club and season ticket holders. They are a lower league team, and they get annoyed at all the Man United/Liverpool etc fans who live in our town, but then also get very annoyed when the team plays well and all the 'glory' hunters turn out. It's very confusing for me I admit.

AngeloMysterioso · 09/03/2019 10:12

I would understand it more if football clubs still had local players playing for them, but when the only local thing about the club is the location of the stadium and the players come from all over the world, I just don’t get it.

10IAR · 09/03/2019 10:13

AngeloMysterioso the team I support does, in fact half of the usual squad (including subs) are products of the youth academy which is something I'm quite proud of. DD is training with them, her aim is to join the women's team when she grows up.

AngeloMysterioso · 09/03/2019 10:17

10IAR are they a not particularly wealthy or high-ranking team? I find they do tend to place a bit more emphasis on home-grown talent. I was referring more to the Arsenal, Man City, Chelseas of this world.

RosaPfirsich · 09/03/2019 10:21

I don't get it.

We have a friend who gets incredibly affected by the results of 'his' football team. We steer clear when they lose as he is miserable for days. He's a ray of sunshine when they win. I struggle to get my head round it.

LL83 · 09/03/2019 10:32

If you chose to support them at age 8 because you liked the strip or a player then developed a love of the team why is that not a valid enough reason?

More effort than following the closest team or the team your dad supports. (I support the team my dad supports so nothing wrong with that either)

WillGymForPizza · 09/03/2019 10:39

Totally OT, but are Man United not actually in Manchester then? I know they are fairly close to the Trafford Centre. But it's still in Manchester isn't it?

x2boys · 09/03/2019 11:04

It would be classed as Greater Manchester Will

WhoWasIt · 09/03/2019 11:12

It's hard to describe. I'm a massive lifelong fan of a football team from my own country. No matter how many team changes or managers, they're still my club. They're not my local cities team either, but a city some 50 miles away. Though obviously I can't get to many matches due to being here, I watch every game live on my computer. I buy that season's top each season too. Each winter my clubs hat and scarf is worn. My coffee is drunk from my team's mug.
I loved my team's former manager, I was devastated when he moved to a new club, most of the fans were. To my husband's amusement, I fancy him like mad too.
I make a point of going home to attend the derby when they're playing our biggest rivals.
Equally, my husband is a lifelong fan of his club. He watches every match. It's not a team local to where he was born, although when we first moved here, he did persuade me to live where his clubs grounds are! He wears his team's latest top and drinks from his team's mug too.
It's hard to describe the loyalty, the hopes, the highs and lows. The feelings and the tears, oh the tears.
You want your team to be the best, you may have respect for rival clubs, but you hate them at the same time and would like nothing more than to see them squashed into the mud by your team. Silver wear is important. It is the one thing we chase.
Mine and my husband's teams have recently played each other, my team lost. You can imagine the atmosphere in my home that night 😂

Bit of trivia for you. Did you know that, according to research, men who have loyally followed a club all their lives make the most loyal, faithful husbands.

WhoWasIt · 09/03/2019 11:15

I can't stand ' plastic ' fans either.
There when the going is good and melt away when it's not.
Pathetic.

AngeloMysterioso · 09/03/2019 11:16

Bit of trivia for you. Did you know that, according to research, men who have loyally followed a club all their lives make the most loyal, faithful husbands.

I never though my DH being a lifelong, die-hard Arsenal fan would be a good thing...

WillGymForPizza · 09/03/2019 11:28

X2Boys thanks I didn't know that. I know Ive seen Old Trafford from a plane when taking off from Manchester a few times, but the airport isn't actually Manchester either is it.

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