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Why do you support who you do?

  • 18-02-2008 01:00AM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭


    Okay, a lot of threads are getting derailed and going down this road so I taught a specific thread for this subject might be handy.
    I'll get the ball rolling.

    I support Arsenal. Why? basically when I was a kid my grandfather (an Everton fan oddly enough) gave me an Arsenal jersey. Arsenal were 12th in the league at that point but pretty much everybody I knew supported Man United so I decided to support this middle-of-the-road team as my personal FU to the world. :cool:

    Anyone else got any heart warming stories?


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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,456 ✭✭✭stick-dan


    I was raised in a liverpool frenzied family and followed suit. My family supported liverpool for decades and am proud to be part of a family that could never be accused as being band-wagon supporters. My aunts and uncles all go to anfield about 6 times a year and my obsession started also when i was given a jersey with ince on the back. The memories!i may dig up that jersey.


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 23,139 Mod ✭✭✭✭Bounty Hunter


    .... Paul McGrath


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,259 ✭✭✭✭Melion


    My uncle supported Liverpool and ive followed them for longer than i can remember, there are pictures of me as a baby in the old yellow away strip. First shirt i can remember getting was the yellow crown paints shirt.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 41,077 ✭✭✭✭Xavi6


    Manchester City 5-1 Manchester United, 1989.

    I was four when I saw the highlights on Match of the Day. Being young and impressionable, I thought "Hmmm this team must be good". Oh how wrong I was.

    My whole family is United or Leeds, massive rivalries and all that, then I come along in my sky blue jersey with 'Quinn 9' on the back to completely break the trend. Best thing I ever did though cause I wouldn't want to support a fashionable team really, despite all the hassle I used to get in school.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,437 ✭✭✭luckylucky


    I supported Man U as a kid just because most of my family were into them and all of the other kids were into Liverpool - back when liverpool were top dog. I actually lost interest in United when they became successful. Now I really don't get why most Irish soccer fans support an English Team at all. I don't know where that whole thing started from in the first place. I enjoy watching any decent soccer match, but about the only team I support is Ireland and I'd really like an Irish club side (any of them) do well in Europe.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 41,077 ✭✭✭✭Xavi6


    luckylucky wrote: »
    I supported Man U as a kid just because most of my family were into them and all of the other kids were into Liverpool - back when liverpool were top dog. I actually lost interest in United when they became successful. Now I really don't get why most Irish soccer fans support an English Team at all. I don't know where that whole thing started from in the first place. I enjoy watching any decent soccer match, but about the only team I support is Ireland and I'd really like an Irish club side (any of them) do well in Europe.

    It's all about exposure at a young age. City were the first club side I really saw so that's why I got into them. I also got into Shelbourne around the same time as my Dad took me to Tolka to see Leeds play them in a preseason friendly. Naturally I wanted his team to lose so I supported Shels! Have done since. Best of both worlds.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,692 ✭✭✭✭OPENROAD


    Largely I have David Rocastle to thank for supporting Arsenal, remember the first time I was him play was for England,it was against Denmark in 1989,he was absolutely superb,thought to myself, wonder what club he plays for,I started to get into Arsenal around this time, yes it was the season we won the league at Anfield, and I got a lot of slagging from my mates that I was jumping on the bandwagon. What sealed it for me was going to my first ever soccer match, happened to be on a trip to London with my parents in September 1989 and I asked my dad to take me to Highbury, it was very like that scene from Fever Pitch, I walked up the steps of the West Stand to our seats,and was just taken in by the stadium, pitch, supporters,I can even remember as we walked down to our seats what song was playing, Richard Marx, Right Here Waiting, and when I hear that song now, it brings me back to that moment that would change my life.:)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,915 ✭✭✭✭menoscemo


    My older brother was always a Liverpool fan so I became a Man United fan to spite him. This was early 80's and it was always the highlight of my year when United always beat Liverpool despite them winning the league every year.

    Always remember them big matches on ITV back when they only showed 3 or 4 live league games a year.
    Russel Beardsmore was a legend!!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,894 ✭✭✭Nunu


    My older brother is a Utd fan so that helped, but Utds Cup run in '85 coincided with my first experiences of football and is my earliest football memory.
    They had McGrath, Stapleton, Moran in their team then and the fateful day when I knew I was a Utd supporter was when I watched the semi-final v's Liverpool in my older cousins house(who are also Man Utd nuts!)...first time I got really worked up about a match and was praying for a Utd win. Also, I idolised Robson, despite being only 5 years old!...I had an eye for a great footballer even then:D

    Edit: I can't believe there is footage of the game on youtube! Just look at Robsons(my first fooball hero) opening goal:eek:
    Watching that brought back great memories. I'm feeling all nostalgic now! Thanks OP for opening the thread:)



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,924 ✭✭✭shoutman


    Paul McGrath, Andy Townsend etc.. all the lads.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 38,227 ✭✭✭✭Guy:Incognito


    My cousin was over from Germany when I was about 6 and gave me his Liverpool Jersey ( Crown paints one, ahh the mid 80's , what a time :)) . Here I am, nearly 21 years later and it's been Liverpool for me ever since.


  • Registered Users, Subscribers, Registered Users 2 Posts: 47,402 ✭✭✭✭Zaph


    Been a Leeds fan since the early 70s. They were the first team I remember seeing win on tv, and that coupled with a couple of older kids who lived across the road from me being Leeds fans swayed me in that direction. It's been a hell of a rollercoaster for the last 30 odd years.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 28,128 ✭✭✭✭Mossy Monk


    I have no idea why I support Arsenal. I have done since I was very small.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,983 ✭✭✭leninbenjamin


    when i was younger i started supporting ManU, no idea why, but i know it was reinforced by my mother telling me my grandfather used be mad about the busby babes back in the day (i used love history as well so i knew all about the history of the club even as a wee chap). anywho, long of the short i stopped supporting them, mainly because Cantona left and the brand had become bigger than the football (i always hated how they dropped the FC from the crest, it just seemed that they were completely abandoning their traditions and roots which were what had me hooked in the first place). Now i just follow whoever i think plays good football... Arsenal for the past few seasons largely...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,951 ✭✭✭DSB


    Shels were the first team I ever saw in the flesh. Well Slugo Jugomagnat too but I don't think they count.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 27,856 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    All of my immediate family support Man Utd, so I didn't really have a choice. I was indoctrinated from a young age. Stopped following football for a few years and then came back to it relatively recently and remembered why it's so great :)

    Can't change teams now.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,617 ✭✭✭✭PHB


    I know the answer I give to this question, but I can't actually remember that far back anymore, so can't really remember if its true or something I thought as a kid :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,778 ✭✭✭✭Kold


    Come from North London almost equidistant from White Hart Lane and the then Highbury. Gary Lineker and Paul Gascoigne.


  • Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 9,741 Mod ✭✭✭✭mayordenis


    Re*ac*tor


  • Posts: 12,761 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Arsenal supporter since I was a nipper. Me Da is too, so I just followed him along. Still have a couple of JVC shirts lying around somewhere, with the much nicer older crest!


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16,658 ✭✭✭✭Peyton Manning


    Man Utd.

    First match I ever saw was United vs Liverpool when I was about 4 or 5. My 2 brothers and my Dad were backing for Liverpool, and seeing as I always fought with them and disagreed with them for kicks, I backed for United. Never turned back since - best decision I ever made.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,235 ✭✭✭iregk


    Was brought up in a house being shown videos of the old Milan sides of the 50's & 60's by a father who always said english football was unclutured. Grew to love the Gre-No-Li with a passion. Followed Milan since them.

    The Chelsea love started pretty much in school when nobody knew what I was talking about. This strange world of Calcio was lost on them and to stay in the conversations I had to follow an English team. Our school yard lunch time football game was United -v- Liverpool fans with the sprinkling of arsenal, villa and spurs being mixed in. If you weren't the big two you had to pick who you played for. My sisters bf was a Chelsea fan so I revolked and followed them. Ever since 7 I wore a blue jersey and played for the United side of our school yard. Thats well over 20 years ago now!!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 41,926 ✭✭✭✭_blank_


    DSB wrote: »
    Shels were the first team I ever saw in the flesh. Well Slugo Jugomagnat too but I don't think they count.
    +1

    Except for me I don't think Karpaty Lviv count.

    I stood behind the Drumcondra End goal, and my picture was in the Star the next day :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,303 ✭✭✭✭event


    Leeds

    my Dad was a leeds fan so i started cos of that, back in 89 or 90


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 424 ✭✭Obni


    Grew up a Liverpool fan.
    1992 BSkyB took over premiership TV rights.
    No more live free-to-air top flight football.
    Thought f*** Pool and the rest of the money-grubbing f***ers.
    Stuck a UHF aerial on the roof, tuned into the Big Match on HTV and decided to follow the team from the only town in England in which I had relatives... Bolton.
    Best thing I ever did. I've learned more about football following a team like Bolton, than I ever did following a big-money club.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,867 ✭✭✭Third_Echelon


    Everton....

    My family had emigrated to Australia around 1986/'87. My mother's cousin's husband (through marriage) was an Everton fan and they were the only relations we had there (he was more like an uncle really). I was about 6 or 7 at the time '86/'87 era, so they were pretty successful and I liked blue, so I thought I might as well...

    Stayed faithful to this day. The 90's were tough though, but we had at least 1 trophy in that period :p


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,398 ✭✭✭MIN2511


    My whole family(mum included have supported Man Utd). As kids, my siblings and i never asked my dad for anything during the match. And when the match was over and Man Utd won, we asked for heaven and earth!!
    I haven't been to Old trafford yet but i do wear my jersey on match days :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,639 ✭✭✭Iago


    Started playing football when I was 6, I was a goalkeeper at that stage and had blond hair. The lads on the team used to call me Gary Bailey after the United Keeper, I've supported them ever since.

    get over anywhere between 6 and 12 times a season now (wife permitting!) and everytime is like the first time when the teams come out on the pitch and the roar goes up.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,677 ✭✭✭genericgoon


    My Brother. Oh and the FA Cup final 1996 and Cantona.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,713 ✭✭✭keano_afc


    1987 Littlewoods Cup final. I was 7 years old and was a big Charlie Nicholas fan if I remember rightly. We beat Liverpool 2-1 and I was a Gooner form then on. Lived next door to a Liverpool supporting family and the follwing year when we won the league at Anfield is still a fantastic memory.


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