Motives For Supporting A Team

[Eco]

7 minutes ago, nudge said:

That said, I admit I find it extremely weird when someone tries to forcefully find a team to support and asks for help in choosing one based on whatever criteria, as if it's some logical process similar to choosing a pack of crisps in the store; it just feels so wrong... 

I understand, but maybe @Mpache was just trying to gain insight into some of the local cultures that otherwise would be pretty impossible to know otherwise. I'm not sure personally, but just my thought. 

I think their were times I 'forced' a team in the EPL, and it never stuck, yet without a team, I felt like I wasn't part of it. Odd, but it's something I understand. To this day, I rarely watch the EPL because their isn't a team that I have any connection with whatsoever. This may change a bit next year with the addition of Leeds, and certainly will if Forest can get promoted as well. But Football is very much a culture thing, or at least it should be, so someone asking for some insight doesn't seem as strange as to me personally. 

[Eco]

38 minutes ago, Happy Blue said:

It's a different culture in the English colonies so i can forgive you, in the mother land we are born into a tradition of following your local team (at least when i was a kid anyway) right from being a toddler i was kitted out in snide City kits (we was poor in the 80's) you didn't have a say in it, it's just how it was  ..NFL is my favourite sport, i've watched it and played it since i was a small young boy, there are teams i watch more than others but i cant feel like a real fan of any team, it feels strange having no connection with the area, same with NRL  ..maybe i'm just odd 

I understand where you are coming from. 

Interested to see what @DeadLinesman thinks about this, as I know he's an NFL fan, and Vikings fan at that. Not sure if he's been to Minnesota, if he has a fetish for Vikings, or just likes the color purple? But he is certainly a fan and would love to get some insight as to how that came about. 

[Happy Blue]

3 minutes ago, Eco said:

I understand where you are coming from. 

Interested to see what @DeadLinesman thinks about this, as I know he's an NFL fan, and Vikings fan at that. Not sure if he's been to Minnesota, if he has a fetish for Vikings, or just likes the color purple? But he is certainly a fan and would love to get some insight as to how that came about. 

I think it's something to do with them big DT's bending over in them tight white pants 

[nudge]

1 minute ago, Eco said:

I understand, but maybe @Mpache was just trying to gain insight into some of the local cultures that otherwise would be pretty impossible to know otherwise. I'm not sure personally, but just my thought. 

I think their were times I 'forced' a team in the EPL, and it never stuck, yet without a team, I felt like I wasn't part of it. Odd, but it's something I understand. To this day, I rarely watch the EPL because their isn't a team that I have any connection with whatsoever. This may change a bit next year with the addition of Leeds, and certainly will if Forest can get promoted as well. But Football is very much a culture thing, or at least it should be, so someone asking for some insight doesn't seem as strange as to me personally. 

I actually didn't mean him, haha. It was more of a general observation regarding all those "who should I support", "help me choose a club to follow in [insert league name here]", etc kind of posts throughout the years. I understand that many people can't get properly into it if they are not following a certain team, that absolutely makes sense to me. What I don't get though is the proposed idea that one can actually choose a club rationally, based on some sort of information provided by random strangers, and expect to develop a connection with it based on that. In my mind, it's like going to a bunch of strangers and saying "hey, I just got into a new school and there are 20 guys in my class; whom should I fall in love with???"  

[Guest]

2 hours ago, nudge said:

And that's how it should be; all in all, nobody can tell how you are supposed to feel about something.

That said, I admit I find it extremely weird when someone tries to forcefully find a team to support and asks for help in choosing one based on whatever criteria, as if it's some logical process similar to choosing a pack of crisps in the store; it just feels so wrong... 

It's a problem in football I think.  I don't think it is so common in other sports but in football fans seem to think they can tell other fans how to act 

[Stan]

6 hours ago, Eco said:

I understand, but maybe @Mpache was just trying to gain insight into some of the local cultures that otherwise would be pretty impossible to know otherwise. I'm not sure personally, but just my thought. 

And he still chose Millwall

 

[DeadLinesman]

7 hours ago, Eco said:

I understand where you are coming from. 

Interested to see what @DeadLinesman thinks about this, as I know he's an NFL fan, and Vikings fan at that. Not sure if he's been to Minnesota, if he has a fetish for Vikings, or just likes the color purple? But he is certainly a fan and would love to get some insight as to how that came about. 

I started watching NFL back in 2000 watching Ray Lewis and the Ravens. I watched the Bucs win in 01 and the rise of the Patriots with a Steelers win in 05. I didn’t love the game back then, but the RB’s stood out for me. I watched the Chargers in my early years due to LT, but heard of Adrian Peterson at Oklahoma and began watching him. 
 

I’d read and seen YouTube stuff on the ‘98 Vikings. I love the Nordic theme, purple is my favourite colour and their fans seems pretty hardcore. Also, they hadn’t won anything of note in decades, so I couldn’t be a glory hunter! When AP signed, I became a regular viewer. I watched America’s Game to learn about the history of previous winners and the intricacies of the game. It took years to really understand the positions and various formations but I eventually got it. 

[Smiley Culture]

8 hours ago, Gunnersauraus said:

People can support who they want. No one has the right to tell someone who to support. 

Ultimately, this. 

 

[Lucas]

I've supported Leeds all my life.

Was I born in Leeds? No.

Do I have family from Leeds? No.

My old man is a Man City fan since the 60's so again, did he try and force Man City on me? No.

I supported Leeds because it was the first team my old man took me to see play live when they played Southampton at The Dell. I got a match programme signed by Gordon Strachan, Gary Speed, Gary McAllistair and David Batty and I was sat near the Leeds fans who were vocal as you can imagine.

Leeds was imprinted on me that day. 

From that moment, my interest in Football peaked, I got a Leeds kit that Christmas and I was sold. That was my team and the love of my life.

Yes, I am gutted I can't go every week not being local. I agree that there is nothing like being able to go every other week to each home game and sharing that experience. But it was my decision to support this club and that's a sacrifice I had to make.

I roughly get to 7/8 home games a season which isn't bad from where I am, and whatever I can get my hands on away, if lucky. And because I can't go every week, when I do get up for those 7 to 8 times, it still gives me a buzz eachtime because it's not as regular as what others are used to. When you go every week, sometimes you can take it for granted easily.

According to The Artful Dodger, I am probably not a 'real fan' as I'm not from Yorkshire and not cut from the same cloth, but I can definitely say I've got a lot of Leeds mates up North who have never treated me differently for being from the South. Leeds are a worldwide club. We have support everywhere. You only have to do the Leeds salute on holiday to someone in Leeds shirt and you have an instant bond.

I've never regretted choosing Leeds despite how generally shit it has been. Not a lot to shout about but there is something about this club which makes it stand out from so many others. It feels special.

I could never imagine supporting anyone else and up to this weekend gone, I've never been able to celebrate hardly anything supporting this club but you know what, when you aren't used to success and when your day finally.comes like it did for me Friday, it makes all those years in the doldrums worth it.

Every. Little. Bit.

 

[Eco]

2 hours ago, Stan said:

And he still chose Millwall

 

Yeah, of you consider the fact that Millwall are a misfit club, and Brian feels like a misfit sometimes, the connection makes sense in some way.

[Eco]

5 minutes ago, Lucas said:

I've supported Leeds all my life.

Was I born in Leeds? No.

Do I have family from Leeds? No.

My old man is a Man City fan since the 60's so again, did he try and force Man City on me? No.

I supported Leeds because it was the first team my old man took me to see play live when they played Southampton at The Dell. I got a match programme signed by Gordon Strachan, Gary Speed, Gary McAllistair and David Batty and I was sat near the Leeds fans who were vocal as you can imagine.

From that moment, my interest in Football peaked, I got a Leeds kit for Christmas and I was sold.

Yes, I am gutted I can't go every week not being local. But I roughly get to 7/8 home games a season which isn't bad from where I am, and whatever I can get my hands on away, if lucky.

According to The Artful Dodger, I am probably not a 'real fan' as I'm not from Yorkshire but I can definitely say I've got a lot of Leeds mates up North who have never treated me differently for being from the South.

I could never imagine supporting anyone else and up to this weekend gone, I've never been able to celebrate hardly anything supporting this club but you know what, when you aren't used to success and when your day finally.comes like it did for me Friday, it makes all those years in the doldrums worth it.

Every. Little. Bit.

 

I honestly didn't know, or care you weren't from Leeds until TAD brought it up again, again and again. 

I've never seen or known you to be anything but a Leeds supporter and if you're from London, Portsmouth (you said South), or Djibouti, I honestly believe that changes nothing.

[Mpache]

5 hours ago, Eco said:

Yeah, of you consider the fact that Millwall are a misfit club, and Brian feels like a misfit sometimes, the connection makes sense in some way.

My dad told me the same thing, don't need to push it on me  

[Eco]

Just now, Mpache said:

My dad told me the same thing, don't need to push it on me  

Ha, I was just guessing why you may feel any connection to Milwall. Nothing personal intended. 

[Mpache]

14 hours ago, Smiley Culture said:

Bermondsey is supposed to be getting quite trendy. Though there’s bound to still be awful places there. 

If you want a proper misfit side, it’s got to be Milton Keynes Dons. 

To be honest, I'm not scared of anywhere in London. I've been to Cerro el Pino, Villa el Salvador, some of the worst areas in Rimac, etc. Lima is way more violent than London is. For me it's nothing, even if it could still mean I can get mugged. I'm aware of certain precautions.

[Azeem]

This is a football issue only and understandable because of the tribal history and origins of the sport. 

In other sports hardly anyone cares

[Mpache]

Just now, Azeem said:

This is a football issue only and understandable because of the tribal history and origins of the sport. 

In other sports hardly anyone cares

I remember when Toronto Raptors were still crap, I was the only supporter in my school. Everyone else were Miami Heat fans. The year we became good, suddenly everyone became Raps fans. The bandwagon culture is especially present in some areas. Though I was still a teenager in high school, so maybe it was just a youth thing.

[Smiley Culture]

8 minutes ago, Mpache said:

To be honest, I'm not scared of anywhere in London. I've been to Cerro el Pino, Villa el Salvador, some of the worst areas in Rimac, etc. Lima is way more violent than London is. For me it's nothing, even if it could still mean I can get mugged. I'm aware of certain precautions.

You’d be fine in London. I doubt you’d find many hotels amongst some of the rougher parts of pockets of London. There’s some nice pubs and places to eat near London Bridge (which is where you’d use to get a connecting train to South Bermondsey). 

[The Artful Dodger]

People can support whoever they like, nobody is going to stop them. However, I don't think it's wrong to worry about the future of our game now that nearly every game is televised and every kid can watch top quality Premier League football. Football is one of the greatest cultural achievements of this country,  there are lot of bad things about football culture but at its best it is the lifeblood of our towns and cities. It is a game which is far more inclusive than other sports which rely far more on pure physicality and it is a game made for the less well off (not true of most English sports). The more we have people not going to their local sides the more the game slowly erodes until we will have the 'Super League', if we don't already. People get very defensive when you call out people for not supporting their local side but it isn't a personal attack, it genuinely a concern with what this is going to lead to in the end. 

With this COVID situation ongoing I fear even more for our league structures, many clubs will go bust and you'll have a wealthy elite running the game for their own interests. Ultimately that interest may lead them abroad where more lucrative deals can be struck and the communities they were originally representing are forgotten about. I wouldn't be surprised if you have football clubs aligning themselves with other huge corporations in the end. Disney Liverpool v Amazon Arsenal. Now you can say that's far from removed from little Oscar in Berkshire supporting Manchester United/Liverpool etc but it's all part of it. If you only get the demand for a certain few clubs then eventually the other ones will die. I know we live in the world of 'i'm alright jack' and tough shit if you're a loser but I'm not sure people will like where we're heading.

[ScoRoss]

15 hours ago, Spike said:

Whaddya reckon about those that have no clubs nearby? Nearest? Whomever?

I think I addressed that with the fact I'm lucky to have one right on my doorstep, so it's hard for me to understand what it's not like. Obviously it's very different not having one as opposed to overlooking the nearby team(s) and choosing one elsewhere.

[Honey Honey]

In many lower league towns you'll find people tend to fall into one of 3 categories

1. Go to the games of the local team

2. Say they are fans of the local team and have a Premier League team

3. Support Manchester United 

The interesting thing is success changes people from 2 to 1 and sometimes 3 to 2. Long term shiteness makes 2 and 3 more likely. 

A decade ago now I went to uni with 3 lads from Leicester. The Leicester of their teens was shite for years. 2 of the 3 supported Manchester United. I doubt that would have happened if they grew up now.

[Smiley Culture]

I don’t worry too much about smaller clubs disappearing because of the continual behemoth of the Premier League and the prospect that we’ll eventually move to a product where you can watch any Premier League game live, whether it’s in the form of a Netflix style subscription service or whether we eventually get the 3-5pm “downtime” broken permanently. I worry more about the damage a global pandemic and a possible recession could do to clubs. 

I think the whole cost thing, distance to the club they support and general difficulty in getting match tickets for big clubs, in terms of having to have a paid membership just to get the privilege of applying for whatever tickets are, sees some people end up floating towards a more local, smaller and easily accessible side to support. I reckon a decent proportion of lower league fans, more so of clubs in Leagues One and Two than the Championship have started life off as a fan of a Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, United etc and ended up following a Cheltenham Town or Carlisle United. I don’t think that would change dramatically if more Football was televised here.

[Danny]

On 20/07/2020 at 00:16, Smiley Culture said:

Bermondsey is supposed to be getting quite trendy. Though there’s bound to still be awful places there. 

If you want a proper misfit side, it’s got to be Milton Keynes Dons. 

Peckham is trendy  Areas of London I had no intention of visiting as a kid and nowadays white kids with degrees from Sussex or up north setting up bars and brunch places where people used to get robbed

Goldsmiths Uni has a video tour of local areas, markets etc and advertises Peckham as a great place for students to go

[Danny]

On 20/07/2020 at 15:41, The Artful Dodger said:

People can support whoever they like, nobody is going to stop them. However, I don't think it's wrong to worry about the future of our game now that nearly every game is televised and every kid can watch top quality Premier League football. Football is one of the greatest cultural achievements of this country,  there are lot of bad things about football culture but at its best it is the lifeblood of our towns and cities. It is a game which is far more inclusive than other sports which rely far more on pure physicality and it is a game made for the less well off (not true of most English sports). The more we have people not going to their local sides the more the game slowly erodes until we will have the 'Super League', if we don't already. People get very defensive when you call out people for not supporting their local side but it isn't a personal attack, it genuinely a concern with what this is going to lead to in the end. 

With this COVID situation ongoing I fear even more for our league structures, many clubs will go bust and you'll have a wealthy elite running the game for their own interests. Ultimately that interest may lead them abroad where more lucrative deals can be struck and the communities they were originally representing are forgotten about. I wouldn't be surprised if you have football clubs aligning themselves with other huge corporations in the end. Disney Liverpool v Amazon Arsenal. Now you can say that's far from removed from little Oscar in Berkshire supporting Manchester United/Liverpool etc but it's all part of it. If you only get the demand for a certain few clubs then eventually the other ones will die. I know we live in the world of 'i'm alright jack' and tough shit if you're a loser but I'm not sure people will like where we're heading.

So what you're saying is you think I'm the best supporter on this forum by swapping Premier League for League 1

[Eco]

On 20/07/2020 at 10:41, The Artful Dodger said:

People can support whoever they like, nobody is going to stop them. However, I don't think it's wrong to worry about the future of our game now that nearly every game is televised and every kid can watch top quality Premier League football. Football is one of the greatest cultural achievements of this country,  there are lot of bad things about football culture but at its best it is the lifeblood of our towns and cities. It is a game which is far more inclusive than other sports which rely far more on pure physicality and it is a game made for the less well off (not true of most English sports). The more we have people not going to their local sides the more the game slowly erodes until we will have the 'Super League', if we don't already. People get very defensive when you call out people for not supporting their local side but it isn't a personal attack, it genuinely a concern with what this is going to lead to in the end. 

With this COVID situation ongoing I fear even more for our league structures, many clubs will go bust and you'll have a wealthy elite running the game for their own interests. Ultimately that interest may lead them abroad where more lucrative deals can be struck and the communities they were originally representing are forgotten about. I wouldn't be surprised if you have football clubs aligning themselves with other huge corporations in the end. Disney Liverpool v Amazon Arsenal. Now you can say that's far from removed from little Oscar in Berkshire supporting Manchester United/Liverpool etc but it's all part of it. If you only get the demand for a certain few clubs then eventually the other ones will die. I know we live in the world of 'i'm alright jack' and tough shit if you're a loser but I'm not sure people will like where we're heading.

I keep thinking about this, and I want to ask you a question. 

Couldn't you argue that outside fans and investment is actually a good thing? The largest clubs in England are all full of foreign support and ownership from Russia (Chelsea), America (Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal), Dubai (Manchester City), Thailand (Leicester), and that influx of money has most certainly helped the economy in the surrounding cities of the clubs, and have put these cities on the world map for their achievements. 

While certainly the influx of all this foreign influence takes away from the local feel of the clubs, but at this moment I feel like the economies and clubs are doing better than ever and that's a good thing. 

Of course, I'm thinking of it as a business, which I think it the exact opposite of you. But while we have a sad state of affairs with the Wigan and potentially Birmingham clubs, I feel like the sad of these clubs, and their financial security, is much better than other businesses, so overall while it's sad to see clubs struggle financially, we are in the midst of a financial crisis and because of all this foreign investment, I believe that clubs will be better equipped to survive COVID. 

[Smiley Culture]

12 hours ago, Danny said:

Peckham is trendy  Areas of London I had no intention of visiting as a kid and nowadays white kids with degrees from Sussex or up north setting up bars and brunch places where people used to get robbed

Goldsmiths Uni has a video tour of local areas, markets etc and advertises Peckham as a great place for students to go

Worked in Bank and the amount of people from outside of London that moved to live in Brixton, Southwark, Peckham and the like was mental.