Why do some people pretend to support certain football teams?

riffmongous

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

Fair point.

I went through a period of collecting Serie A jersey's as they were by far the most stylish

I also remember Boca and RP had some beauts in the 90's too

Check out classicfootballshirts some time, although all those good ones are really dear now

You might also appreciate this

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156872525054798&set=gm.2121377374609653&type=3&theater&ifg=1

Church on Tuesday

gandalf wrote: »

I started supporting Arsenal because they had a number of Irish players at the time, Brady, Stapleton, O'Leary and Jennings. Also my neighbour supported Spurs and I hated that fecker so Arsenal were a good fit

Don't forget Pat Rice

Greyfox

IAMAMORON wrote: »

It is really sad to see Irish clowns throw on a Liverpool or Manchester United jersey and think that they are part of something or that they belong to something, really really sad. The reality is that all the real Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man u fans just think you are " another phucking Paddy" and don't really understand why you are supporting their team. They are laughing at you, you are a joke to them, believe.

lawred2 wrote: »

even if they did watch all the matches and know all the players - they'd still be saddos.

You both have no idea what your talking about, maybe yous just dont understand football. Supporting an english team gives enjoyment and breaks up the monotony of the working week, what's so wrong with that? All the English teams NEED foreign fans as their team would be relegated if their foreign fans deserted their team.

world class wreckin’ cru

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

A lot of people get international jerseys of other countries or pick up ones for teams in mainland European teams.

Don’t know many who’d be wearing “premier league” jerseys but not actually supporting the team.

What I have noticed is that you don’t actually see as many Man Utd “fans” as you would have a few years ago.

A lot of the ones I knew are now League of Ireland fans. Claiming they enjoy going to “live” football and that it’s a “purer” form of the game.

Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s great to see the LoI getting numbers at the games but, as I’ve said previously on this site, I’d be worried about those numbers dropping if United sort them sort themselves out. Don’t see it happening for a few years yet though.

All very disingenuous, from where I’m standing.

Funny how your little anecdote nobody can verify fulfils your bias against fans of a team you perceivably dislike. You’re making it up.

JohnnyFlash

Even if I didn’t support an English team I’d take tremendous pleasure in seeing Manchester United lose. And watch with glee as they continue their decline into mediocrity. Poor old Ole Gunner was nearly in tears a few weeks ago being interviews. Gave me a right good chuckle.

super_furry

It's to get chicks. The chicks love that exact behaviour, they think it's 'cool'.

Those chicks :rolleyes:

IAMAMORON

Greyfox wrote: »

You both have no idea what your talking about, maybe yous just dont understand football. Supporting an english team gives enjoyment and breaks up the monotony of the working week, what's so wrong with that? All the English teams NEED foreign fans as their team would be relegated if their foreign fans deserted their team.

You could always find a more endearing hobby mid week. Take up Badminton or even shoot some Darts at your local? I am not going to put too many ideas in your head. But you should never excuse having bland interests on there being nothing better to do. That is entirely your fault, lots of people keep themselves occupied whilst not following English soccer.

It is disparaging that your interest has become so emotional that you are showing concern for English soccer clubs, insofar as they might not exist without the interest of foreign soccer fans? How many Irish people do you know who support a club like Leyton Orient or Exeter City?

As I said, most of these poor people are victims of a creative marketing team in Sky Sports 30 years ago.

As the famous quote from Glengarry Glen Ross says,

" Is there a hell on earth ? Yes. Will I live in it? No "

cj maxx

gandalf wrote: »

I started supporting Arsenal because they had a number of Irish players at the time, Brady, Stapleton, O'Leary and Jennings. Also my neighbour supported Spurs and I hated that fecker so Arsenal were a good fit

Fcuk , you're old

EmmetSpiceland

Nervous Laugh wrote: »

Funny how your little anecdote nobody can verify fulfils your bias against fans of a team you perceivably dislike. You’re making it up.

It is not “made up”. Do you see many United jerseys around these days?

The last group I saw were outside a pub on Dame St dancing and singing with “glee” when Liverpool lost 3-0 to Barcelona.

That’s right, they went to the pub in their United jerseys just to cheer whomever was playing Liverpool. I’ve no “skin” in that game but I was delighted when Liverpool turned it around in the second leg.

Talk to any recent, in the last two to three years, convert to League of Ireland and they will give you a “song and dance” about what it means and might throw in that they used to, or still, “follow” United but they’ve stopped supporting EPL.

My “beef” is that I question if they were ever true fans in the first place.

Greyfox

IAMAMORON wrote: »

You could always find a more endearing hobby mid week. Take up Badminton or even shoot some Darts at your local? I am not going to put too many ideas in your head. But you should never excuse having bland interests on there being nothing better to do. That is entirely your fault, lots of people keep themselves occupied whilst not following English soccer.

It is disparaging that your interest has become so emotional that you are showing concern for English soccer clubs, insofar as they might not exist without the interest of foreign soccer fans? How many Irish people do you know who support a club like Leyton Orient or Exeter City?

As I said, most of these poor people are victims of a creative marketing team in Sky Sports 30 years ago.

No need, watching English football doesn't get in the way of my other hobbies. Bland interests? Hahahaha... last time I checked football was the most popular sport in the world. My best mate is a Liverpool fan and in all my years knowing him I've never seen him so happy with his life. I couldn't care less about LO or Exeter. Poor people? Hahahaha life must of been terrible for Manu fans under Alex Ferguson.

Bobblehats

And so the preoccupation continues. There’s a match on ‘lads’

IAMAMORON

Greyfox wrote: »

No need, watching English football doesn't get in the way of my other hobbies. Bland interests? Hahahaha... last time I checked football was the most popular sport in the world. My best mate is a Liverpool fan and in all my years knowing him I've never seen him so happy with his life. I couldn't care less about LO or Exeter. Poor people? Hahahaha life must of been terrible for Manu fans under Alex Ferguson.

Soccer as a sport is fine, I have played it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think you are slightly misinterpreting my argument.

It is wasting your time following a team from another town, in another country that I don't understand. It is entirely soulless.

8-10

IAMAMORON wrote: »

Soccer as a sport is fine, I have played it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think you are slightly misinterpreting my argument.

It is wasting your time following a team from another town, in another country that I don't understand. It is entirely soulless.

Yet some people get a lot of enjoyment doing so. It's hardly the most outrageous thing you don't like that other people do like.

I follow an English team and it's far from a waste of time, I get a lot of joy in doing so.

MrAbyss

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

What I have noticed is that you don’t actually see as many Man Utd “fans” as you would have a few years ago.

A lot of the ones I knew are now League of Ireland fans. Claiming they enjoy going to “live” football and that it’s a “purer” form of the game.

Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s great to see the LoI getting numbers at the games but, as I’ve said previously on this site, I’d be worried about those numbers dropping if United sort them sort themselves out. Don’t see it happening for a few years yet though.

All very disingenuous, from where I’m standing.

LoI jerseys are very chic now. Mind you there are loads of LoI plastics too who'll only go to the big games like Bohs-Rovers, Rovers-Pats, Dundalk-Rovers, Sligo-Finn Harps but will call themselves die hards.

Zaph

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

Don't forget Pat Rice

And Sammy Nelson.

Greyfox

IAMAMORON wrote: »

It is wasting your time following a team from another town, in another country that I don't understand. It is entirely soulless.

I disagree, I think your post is silly and naive. Following a foreign team is awesome.

IAMAMORON

8-10 wrote: »

Yet some people get a lot of enjoyment doing so. It's hardly the most outrageous thing you don't like that other people do like.

I follow an English team and it's far from a waste of time, I get a lot of joy in doing so.

As I alluded to in an earlier comment, Irish soccer fans who support English soccer teams are only really watching it from the outside looking in. It is not unlike a provocative episode of the Twilight Zone. You are never really there, are you?

The real fans in England wear their team on their chest. It is an identity. It is like being part of something. It makes them what they are. It is essentially modern tribalism. They support their local team and all the others are just the opposition.

In England following a team is like a religion. It is part of their make up. It is eating scran of mushy pees and deep fried sausages on a freezing cold night outside Bramall Lane. Or going for a few pints with your crew before or after the game. It is ripping the piss out of the away fans who have been crammed into the worst corner of the stadium. It is watching football focus or match of the day afterwards. It is on the bus on the motorway for 5 hours from Barnsley to Portsmouth, singing disgusting non PC racist chants or pulling mooners at fit birds driving by.... that is what the real English fans get out of it. That is before a ball even gets kicked.

The plight of the poor foreign fan is mediocre in comparison. You are never really smelling the bread on a Monday morning after Spurs bet you 3-0 at home in the FA Cup. You are not really living it.

I get that top 4 fans will get a certain endorphin release when they win a match or the team plays well. I can fathom it. But you are not really living the game like the real fans are. You are just watching it from the outside.

olestoepoke

I got chatting to a guy wearing a Celtic jersey one time. Forget what year it was but Henrik Larsen had 4 or 5 games to score a certain amount of goals to pick up the European golden boot. I asked the guy if he thought Larsen would do it and get the goals he needed. He looked at be with this blank expression. He didn't know who Henrik Larsen was.

Greyfox

IAMAMORON wrote: »

As I alluded to in an earlier comment, Irish soccer fans who support English soccer teams are only really watching it from the outside looking in...

The real fans in England wear their team on their chest. It is an identity. It is like being part of something. It makes them what they are. It is essentially modern tribalism. They support their local team and all the others are just the opposition.

If Liverpool win the league this season the Scouser gets a better experience but the Liverpool fan in Ireland still gets a great experience. This real fans nonsense that some people come out with is for children or close minded people who don't realise football is a global game.

IAMAMORON

Greyfox wrote: »

If Liverpool win the league this season the Scouser gets a better experience but the Liverpool fan in Ireland still gets a great experience. This real fans nonsense that some people come out with is for children or close minded people who don't realise football is a global game.

Doing what exactly? Enjoying bragging rights with your Manu mates down the local or in work?

Meanwhile in Liverpool the city gets closed down for an open top bus. If you watch Sky News you might get to see pictures of the bus cruising around with all the players waving. Big Deal. You won't get to go down your local in Liverpool and really party. Party like you havn't won the 1st division in 30 years. Party like it really means something. Party in places that a Manu fan wouldn't even know existed. Liverpudlians will feel the victory ( apologies to any toffees or Tranmere fans reading this), it is in them. It will make a difference.

Football is definitely a global game, but the fans in Boca Juniors or down in Naples won't give two hoots if Liverpool win the Premiership this year. They simply don't care, they have their own team to worry about.

MrAbyss

olestoepoke wrote: »

I got chatting to a guy wearing a Celtic jersey one time. Forget what year it was but Henrik Larsen had 4 or 5 games to score a certain amount of goals to pick up the European golden boot. I asked the guy if he thought Larsen would do it and get the goals he needed. He looked at be with this blank expression. He didn't know who Henrik Larsen was.

You never see the same numbers of Celtic jerseys in Ireland that you once did. In fact you don't see people wearing British soccer jerseys of any kind in the numbers they once did. It you see someone in a footie jersey these days nearly always an LOI one, or Barca or PSG I have noticed.

Greyfox

IAMAMORON wrote: »

Doing what exactly? Enjoying bragging rights with your Manu mates down the local or in work?

Enjoying watching great football, the main reason people watch football is for enjoyment. Why is that so hard to understand? Surely you realise how enjoyable watching sport can be? The fact of the matter is hundreths of millions of people outside of the UK have an emotional investment in the EPL, I get it that you don't understand why and that you think thats sad but that doesn't change the fact that the emotional investment is there and that it is very real.

EmmetSpiceland

IAMAMORON wrote: »

Doing what exactly? Enjoying bragging rights with your Manu mates down the local or in work?

If you can find one, I!

IAMAMORON

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

If you can find one, I!

I think your comments on the plight of the United fan is very relevant Spicer. You definitely see less of them around at ground level. It must be tough on them, they were winning everything for 2 decades, now their " glory days " are over.

Mind you they have been replaced by rampaging plastic Liverpool fans. They now have their tails up cause they are winning things. They feel vindicated with their " passion " for the reds.

I find it nauseating going for a few pints at the weekend and seeing grown men glued to the Television set, shouting at something that is happening in another existence, it is almost surreal. It is not unlike shouting at your golf ball for 4 or 5 seconds after you have missed it 20 yards to the left. The ball simply can't hear you, the physics of your strike is now in the past, shouting " go right " at it will not affect the outcome. It is not unlike Munsterwegians in pubs telling other punters to shush during conversions at Rugby matches. The kicker just can't hear the silence, so what is the point?

But I do hope that the Liverpool fans take note of the plight of the Manuman's who are now struggling to recreate the glory days of old. Nothing lasts forever and you are only a few bad seasons away from not being able to dress up in your flecky jersey and shout at the television in the corner of your local pub, all whilst thinking you are part of something which you really aren't.

I would rather be on the train to Brighton, with a thousand half pissed Notts County fans, on a cold Wednesday night in January for a 3rd round replay. Drinking warm cans of Tennants and pulling the emergency stop button every 5 minutes. Singing national front anthems and giving one of my mates a wedgy whilst his head is stuck out the window. Preparing on how to deal with the "old bill" when they reach the station in Brighton. At least I would feel more part of something than sitting in a pub in Dublin at 5pm on a Sunday evening watching the telly and shouting " come on Liverpool ".

pgj2015

IAMAMORON wrote: »

I find it nauseating going for a few pints at the weekend and seeing grown men glued to the Television set, shouting at something that is happening in another existence, it is almost surreal. It is not unlike shouting at your golf ball for 4 or 5 seconds after you have missed it 20 yards to the left. The ball simply can't hear you, the physics of your strike is now in the past, shouting " go right " at it will not affect the outcome. It is not unlike Munsterwegians in pubs telling other punters to shush during conversions at Rugby matches. The kicker just can't hear the silence, so what is the point?





its worse when they clap after a score in a pub, i find that so cringy.

cj maxx

IAMAMORON I share some of your thoughts . I am a liverpool fan .always have been and always will. But I saw those people when I stopped to watch the city game. Roaring at pep Guardiola like he could hear them ? Fcuking eejits
Liverpool were winning leagues/ European cups when I was young, then the lean times , now maybe the good times are back ??
Either way I know the team are millionaires that have nothing to do with me and I them. People who get caught in this shyt are morons ( sorry)

8-10

IAMAMORON wrote: »

At least I would feel more part of something than sitting in a pub in Dublin at 5pm on a Sunday evening watching the telly and shouting " come on Liverpool ".

You don't know that though. I don't have a local LOI team or much interest in that league. I very much feel part of something watching Liverpool. It's my team.

pgj2015

8-10 wrote: »

You don't know that though. I don't have a local LOI team or much interest in that league. I very much feel part of something watching Liverpool. It's my team.

west brit

doughef

People who say

‘Down the pub’
‘He’s only gone and done it’
‘He’s on the floor (when it’s grass)’
‘Who are ye’
‘Avin it’
‘Get in’

These people are what’s wrong with the world

Omackeral

Or people who refer to themselves or other Irish people as Mancs or Scousers. Special place in hell for them.