Why did you choose to support your team?

thusspakeblixa · 17-05-2008 11:55PM

Manchester United- My uncle and his best mate had a bet when I was a baby that the 1st person to get me to say their teams name would win a tenner. My uncle tried to get me to say ''Man U'', his friend tried to get me to say ''Leeds'', eventually my 1st word was ''Man U'' and ever since I've been a Red!
And then VfB Stuttgart- It's a family tradition to follow VfB, we emigrated from Stuttgart way back when, so it comes from then!
VfB ftw!

KERPAL · 18-05-2008 12:03AM

Probably more my Dads influence but my earliest memory of a united match isnt a good one
FA cup final 1995, losing to everton, remember crying and bein in an awful state, aged 6, and ever since then they were my team!

KERPAL · 18-05-2008 12:08AM

Real football fans have the urge and need for live football and atmosphere. Football fans who have the urge for football on TV's are nothing but imitations.

I do have an urge to watch live football in the shape of Man U every week but thats simply impossible because of obvious reasons.

allybhoy · 18-05-2008 12:24AM

I supported Liverpool cos when I was younger all my mates did etc. My dad is from Glasgow and supports Celtic and was always trying to get me to support them but I had no interest in Scottish Football In fairness to him he brought me to Anfield a couple of times when i was younger. then when Celtic drew Liverpool in the Uefa cup (2003), he brought me over to ParkHead for the first time ( i wore a liverpool jersey,my da was in his hoops), and from the moment I walked up the stairs and out into the Jock Stein stand and heard the noise I started supporting Celtic. We also went to the away leg in Anfield, where fat arse Hartson himself scored an absolute cracker and left the Kop faithful stunned.

I normally dont post in the soccer forum as there is so much Celtic bashing, scumbag dublin fans, **** league,what have they got to do with us etc, but trust me if anyone has been to Parkhead or any of the away European games they would see things differently. Ive brought 5 different mates (utd,liverpool,arsenal supporters) to old firms,milan away last year and Barca this year, And they are now born again Celtic supporters.

I still like to see Liverpool do well, and most of all I love it when Utd get beaten although this season it hasnt happened that often!

Eirebear · 18-05-2008 12:26AM

allybhoy wrote: »

I normally dont post in the soccer forum as there is so much Celtic bashing, scumbag dublin fans, **** league,what have they got to do with us etc, but trust me if anyone has been to Parkhead or any of the away European games they would see things differently. Ive brought 5 different mates (utd,liverpool,arsenal supporters) to old firms,milan away last year and Barca this year, And they are now born again Celtic supporters.

!

Theres nothing quite like a wee bit of paranoia on a saturday night!

thusspakeblixa · 18-05-2008 12:27AM

allybhoy wrote: »

I normally dont post in the soccer forum as there is so much Celtic bashing, scumbag dublin fans, **** league,what have they got to do with us etc, but trust me if anyone has been to Parkhead or any of the away European games they would see things differently. Ive brought 5 different mates (utd,liverpool,arsenal supporters) to old firms,milan away last year and Barca this year, And they are now born again Celtic supporters.

I'm a united fan myself, was only ever at 1 Celtic match, and I can DEFINITELY see why they're so well supported!

eZe^ · 18-05-2008 12:34AM

Barca, lived there as a child, got Catalan in my blood, enough said?

Gavin "shels" · 18-05-2008 02:52AM

KERPAL wrote: »

Real football fans have the urge and need for live football and atmosphere. Football fans who have the urge for football on TV's are nothing but imitations.

I do have an urge to watch live football in the shape of Man U every week but thats simply impossible because of obvious reasons.

The obvious reasons that they play in a foreign country, and are a foreign team true and ture.:rolleyes:

raheny red · 18-05-2008 11:29AM

Shels because they are my local club and the fact that Sky Sports failed to brainwash me - I'm above that :cool:

sionnach · 18-05-2008 11:38AM

My younger brother and I supported the teams of our older sister and brother respectively, Tottenham and Liverpool. When we were about 5 they decided we couldn't support the same teams as them so we drew from a pack of top trumps of the top flight teams at the time. I drew Arsenal, he drew Aston Villa, poor sod.

20 Times 20 Times · 18-05-2008 11:42AM

Dundalk FC , Second most successful team in the LOI , and my local team that i have followed through all the up's and downs that we have had.

It cost me €10 on a Thursday night to go stand in a shed with 1000 other males with high testosterone levels , screaming abuse at the ref , and I love it !

Would i change to support a UK/Foreign team , Nope. Do i have anything against people that do ? No!

zuchum · 18-05-2008 02:42PM

Liverpool FC...I have no recollection of why...i do remember my brother supporting Man U and maybe it was a sort of rivalry thing... and they were the team I heard most about, and they had Titi Camara!

AC Milan were my first team to support because I saw them playing Ajax in what was the first Champions League Final I remember...i dont even know what happened then...

*wikipedias*

Mikeyt086 · 18-05-2008 02:46PM

Supported Manchester United because of Eric Cantona at first, and from ages 4-9 i think i went to every single home game for Bray Wanderers with my dad but one day, i cant even remember what it was because i was 9, but my Dad and a whole load of supporters were treated like **** because Nottingham Forest were playing and the red carpet was rolled out, but my Dad swore to never go again and i havent been since.

As i said i supported United when Cantona was there but when i was 7 i had a chat with Dennis Irwin in an hotel and he was the nicest man ive ever met, he was my hero, so i got alot more serious about United and have been over to a game each season since, still being in school i cant get over as much as i would like but im finished this summer.

genericgoon · 18-05-2008 03:12PM

Started supporting United mainly because if my Man U brother. I suppose I really got into it after the 1996 FA cup final. Such a great memory

ecksor · 18-05-2008 05:16PM

I was basically a neutral until I ended up living in Reading for a few years so I started following them.

taidghbaby · 18-05-2008 05:20PM

i blame a cousin for my fanatical hair tearing out support of liverpool

Rikand · 18-05-2008 07:38PM

I was 12 years old and just going into Secondary School. I never bothered supporting football teams as such up until then but my friends all told me, I was going into the big world now, I "HAD" to support a team. I remember Blackburn Rovers finishing second from the season before, so I picked them. The friends all laughed at me, but I stuck with them and then the following season, they won the league.

For about 3 years after that, people were all " Oh you only followed them cause they won the league. " As soon as they got relegated, I didn't really hear much about it anymore

tdv · 18-05-2008 10:55PM

I don't really support any team I just follow the players I like & teams who play attractive football. The last few years tho I've taken Milan to heart because of Cafu,Maldini,Serginho & Costacurta. Now that there finished I'll probally pay close attention to Sevilla.

Seville play nice easy on the eye exciting football so I'll probally watch them for a while & hopefully with me supporting them we can knock Madrid off there F**king perch.

Come to think of it the Waffer Cup is where it's all happening next season.

Predhead · 18-05-2008 10:59PM

Moved to a new town when I was 7 back in '86. Started following Utd as one of my first new friends (God rest him) followed them so got into them and went from there. It was tough first 4 years!! :pac:

marco_polo · 18-05-2008 11:34PM

Long time ago but I think a part of the reason I support Liverpool is because I felt sorry for them when Mickey Thomas denied them the league in 1989 with his 89 minute goal.

I was too young at the time to realise how successful they had been over the previous two decades so my sympathies might have been slightly misplaced.

Apast from that it was probably because they had a few Irish player playing for them around the same time such as Whelan, Houghton etc.

Crapjob Sean · 20-05-2008 02:44PM

gimmick wrote: »

I am from Cork City. Therefore a Cork City fan.

I grew up near Tolka Park, so I'm a Shels fan.
I like watching the English league but find it difficult to understand how anyone Irish can have any affinity for one particular club over the other. Seems ridiculous to me, but it's an old argument and I just let people be. Wanting to be English seems like a very sad thing for an Irishman to be though.

If I watch the Prem, I generally don't care who wins, just like to see a good match. In honesty, Manchester United have the most annoying and numerous fans, so I would generally root against them. If they have a good game and deserve it, good luck to them. Arsenal usually give a good game.
If I'm ever in London, I'll usually go along to a Prem match - don't care who - Chelsea, Fulham, Arsenal... whatever's available.
I think, in general, money has ruined the competitiveness of the English game.

In disclosure, I haven't been to see Shels since the recent unpleasantness.
Been thinking of going around to Rovers as they are now my 'local' team.
Can't quite bear to though.

raheny red · 20-05-2008 03:24PM

Crapjob Sean wrote: »

I think, in general, money has ruined the competitiveness of the English game.

In disclosure, I haven't been to see Shels since the recent unpleasantness.
Been thinking of going around to Rovers as they are now my 'local' team.
Can't quite bear to though.

There's a link

Crapjob Sean · 20-05-2008 03:32PM

raheny red wrote: »

There's a link

Touché.
It was like watching an alcoholic friend slip deeper and deeper into the abyss.
You could see it happening, but there was nothing you could do to stop it.

Roar · 20-05-2008 03:40PM

i live a mile from where my local team play, which is why i follow cork city

invincibleirish · 20-05-2008 05:13PM

Crapjob Sean wrote: »

I like watching the English league but find it difficult to understand how anyone Irish can have any affinity for one particular club over the other. Seems ridiculous to me, but it's an old argument and I just let people be. Wanting to be English seems like a very sad thing for an Irishman to be though.

I grew up in Cork for the most part, support Aston Villa, My family are Villa, Our extended family live in Birmingham and theres Villa & Brum (but no WBA) fans there too, My childhood memories of trips to VP, watching Teletext for Villa results and idolising stars like Mark Draper were all part of the experience of being immersed in Villa (having Villa bedsheets!).

Im also 100% Irish, played Hurling and partake in road bowling, I enjoy Irish literature and have a passable (not fluent) knowledge of the irish language,im probably more Irish then you ever will be and love my country in spite of narrow prejudices like yours, so stop trolling with ridiculous statements like "Wanting to be English seems like a very sad thing for an Irishman to be though" and get a life!

DSB · 20-05-2008 05:15PM

Its a fairly valid point and he wasn't exactly being rude or offensive about it. No need to be so defensive about it.

invincibleirish · 20-05-2008 05:20PM

DSB wrote: »

Its a fairly valid point and he wasn't exactly being rude or offensive about it. No need to be so defensive about it.

My spidey senses tell me there is a barstool republican behind the poster i replied to, just getting my POV across.

And he equates following a PL team to wanting to be English, you might not consider that statement as rude or offensive, but it is stupid and illogical.

taidghbaby · 20-05-2008 05:33PM

eZe^ wrote: »

Barca, lived there as a child, got Catalan in my blood, enough said?

a course of penicillin would clear that up in a fortnight for ya

SantryRed · 20-05-2008 05:54PM

invincibleirish wrote: »

And he equates following a PL team to wanting to be English, you might not consider that statement as rude or offensive, but it is stupid and illogical.

Seems true enough.

Support Shels because there the closest team to me and me Dad brought my down over the years.

Like to see Watford do well because my Dad's from there.

Crapjob Sean · 20-05-2008 06:05PM

invincibleirish wrote: »

im probably more Irish then you ever will be and love my country in spite of narrow prejudices like yours

Thanks for that. My Da was Padraig Pearse, so there.

I think I said that it's an old argument and I just let people be, but it's still something I believe in.

I've lived in various cities and countries due to the nature of my work.
Newcastle when the team is doing well is a fantastic place to be. Milan when either of the teams are playing too.
Ditto for Baltimore and the Orioles or Philadelphia and the Eagles.
It's a fantastic thing to behold when a town or region gets behind a team that's their own. It's special and hard to describe, but it's absolutely, without mistake, part of what gives the city and its people their identity. Ask anyone that's lived in those places, it's part of what binds them.
We get something similar with the GAA - not so much in Dublin though, only here and there.

We've kinda traded that in, that passion, that sense of belonging, for some plastic version of it and I would say that we're missing something because of it.
I will honestly never understand why a man from Athlone or Mallow will deck himself out in Liverpool or Manchester United colours and live or die for a team that's in another country and call them 'we'. Why you would invest that much passion into something that's not your own. I just don't get it. Never have, probably never will.

People think that because they do it and all their mates do too, there's nothing odd about it, but there is as far as I can see. If you're not English and you're wearing an English top and say 'we', I think you look daft. Sorry, but I do.

I'll be watching the match tomorrow night with everyone else down the pub and hoping for a good game. And I'll probably still see 4 or 5 Premiership games next year too, I just don't care what ground or end I'll be standing in.
The real buzz for me will be in Parnell, Tolka or Croke Park(s) though, cos they're my teams.

I'm not having a go, it's just what I think.

Why did you choose to support your team?

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