Your football team

[Mister Cairo]

I don't follow football myself, except when it's the World Cup or something like that and there are two cars in every garage and four flags on every car, but it seems quite a few people here support footbal teams.

I was wondering what made you choose that football team. I can understand supporting a team where you live, but what other reasons are there? Do you admire the skill of a certain player?

This is not market research, just curious.

[Borboski]

Well, you "trick" yourself, into thinking that it's really important.  For whatever reason.  Could even be a team you picked for a video game as a kid.  But then once you've picked, it makes watching the sport much more fun,

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I support Newcastle because half my family are from there. The other factor was I grew up with Kevin Keegan's side playing fantastic football and being involved in some great games. I can also boast that I supported them before they were in the top flight. When I was very young my brother bullied me into supporting Liverpool but I quickly grew up and told him to sod off.

I was born in Scunthorpe and I always keep an eye on how they're doing (they've recent stayed in the third flight for the first time (I think) in their history after being promoted so it's nice to see some success for them too.

As far as hated/dislike clubs go, there's only really one club I hate and it's not Sunderland.

[Doctor Stamen]

I chose to support Villa because my Dad supports them as well, plus they were the nearest team to where I lived, although West Brom was about the same distance as well.  To be honest, it's even a decision I can remember making.

[micanio]

I support Celtic because I was born Glasgow. I was actually born about a mile away from Ibrox (Rangers' ground) but, what with me being a Catholic (lapsed) and all that, I grew up supporting Celtic.

I always used to support Liverpool as well because my dad started supporting  them when Kenny Dalglish went there in 1977 but Gerard Houllier disgusted me and I decided to just concentrate on Celtic. I have developed a soft spot for Arsenal in the last few years because:

a) My best mate supports them and is constantly banging on about them and it seems to have wormed it's way into my brain

b) 2 of my all time favourite players play/played for thhem - Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp....

[hoverdonkey]

When I was about 7 and playing Subbuteo I thought that Tottenham Hotspur was the greatest name for a football team ever. In a world of United's and City's, there's only one Hotspur. Then when I started looking into it, Ardiles, Villa, Hoddle, Waddle, Allen - they seemed a great rock'n'roll team to support. Full of flair and fun. Mum was a QPR fan but Spurs were my team as soon as I was aware that I should have one team. 23 years later and I'm finally getting that Spurs back.

[Nuts 'n Gum]

My family weren't really interested in Football, but people at school were, and they mostly supported Villa, who had a good team (Bosnich, Saunders, Atkinson, Houghton, Townsend, Mcgrath, Ehiogu etc) and just got in the League Cup final in 94, so i picked them, and they were pretty much the closest to where i lived.

[Marvin]

Generally I've just supported Cheltenham Town, because I lived nearby and used to go and watch them play quite a lot - and it was fun because I grew up knowing a lot of the players etc.

For some reason at the age of 8 or 9 I decided I supported Liverpool and although I don't really anymore, it's always kind of stayed with me.

[Utter Shit]

When I was about 6 my best friend was a Tottenham fan so I decided to be one as well. Stupid reason to start following them, but I'm now one of the biggest Spurs fans you'll find, so all's well that ends well.

[Brutus Beefcake]

This is why I like pro wrestling, it gives you proper reasons to root for people rather than just living somewhere.

[Sovereign]

Huddersfield Town. Ta-da.

[king_tubby]

When I was three my family moved to Derby. It was there or Wolverhampton, so I got off lightly, all things considered.

[chimpoo]

Most of the people I know seem to support a team out of initially random reasons.  And we're all jealous of people who's motives are a little more romantic: the 'because my dad took me every saturday since I was six to support "our boys"' brigade; the thoroughbreads!

Personally, Sheffield Wednesday, because I found this Andy Sinton Merlin sticker I always thought looked pretty cool stuck to the back of the school bogs' door.  I'm neither gay nor particularly give a shit about fashion etc. but there's something bloomin' brilliant about football shirts.

[Mr. Analytical]

Chelsea because they're my local team and I've supported them since I was tiny and we were in and out of the old second division.

Having said that, I'm not a big fan of the current management.  I don't like 4-3-3, I don't like the recent purchases we've made, I don't like the apologia for cheating, I don't like a chunk of the players we have now and I don't like Mourinho's attitude.

If it wasn't for Joe Cole and John Terry I'd probably sever the emotional links I have to the club.

[TheWizard]

Gillingham, nearest club to where I lived for the first 18 years of my life. Only team I've ever had a season ticket for and only one I ever will. Even though I live in Reading now.

[jimmy jazz]

I just had to support Portsmouth, it's where I'm from. No thought into it whatsoever, I was just told I had to as a child so I did.

[weirdbeard]

Wolves.  Born there, raised there, etc.  Although there's times I sometimes wish I wasn't, cos we're in the middle of the most soul-destroying stangnant, lethargic and apathetic period at the moment.   It was Steve Bull's 20th anniversary game today.  We didn't even fill half the ground and 2,000 of them were Villa fans.  Not that the club put on half a show for him, four ex-team mates and a half-time presentation and that's your lot pal.  Heartbreaking to see that he couldn't manage 5 minutes on the pitch cos he knees are totally fucked from 15 years of being hacked to death from shit centre-backs and managers playing him when he wasn't fully fit.

[Timmy O'Toole]

Lincoln City. Properly became a fan around 14/15 when I started going with a group of friends. My Dad used to take me, but I was never that enthusiastic before, but once I could go and join in with the swearing and obnoxious chanting I was sold on the idea.

[mwude]

A large part of being a fan of a team is actually going to watch them play.  Which is why you should pick the team nearest to you.  

Although how many people actually "pick" their team?  Most just end up being a fan by default, surely?  I know I would never have "picked" Tranmere Rovers if there had been any sort of conscious decision-making involved.

[actwithoutwords]

An American sportswriter decides to choose and follow an "EPL" team: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060719

Very very interesting, it's done in the right spirit and he seems like a good guy. It's fascinating to see English football from a considered American perspective. Plus there are some unintentionally hilarious parts.
For example, his response to the Bowyer-Dyer on-pitch bust up a few years ago: "Now that's what I call a dysfunctional franchise!"

[Flook]

Plymouth Argyle cos if where I grew up and because you could get child fare on the train up to Plymouth, get served in the offies in the town and then get child admission into the ground. But also West Ham because the first game I ever, ever saw was the FA cup final on my mate's dad's TV (we didn't have one) and West Ham won. To give you an idea of just how far back in time that was, Trevor Brooking played a blinder for the hammers.

[Harfyyn Teuport]

That ESPN guy is ridiculous at times, butI can't help but like him, hope he really does follow them through it and get sucked in, it's a great feeling to follow a team.

I've supported Liverpool for as long as I can remember, but now that I think about it, I've never really considered myself a die-hard supporter. Now, playing football is, to me, still the best fun thing to do ever. I dread to think of a time when I can't stick boots on at a moment's notice and play an impromptu match with some friends on a summer day. But following football, I dunno, I've always felt a bit of a lightweight. I love watching games and would rarely miss one, but I've rarely had the experience others have had of being really, genuinely depressed at a loss or utterly, stupidly elated at  win. I'm unlucky enough to have two brothers whose enthusiasm and passion for following the game is so intense that I've never really felt I could compete with it.

Now, thats's club football.  Watching Ireland play international football is, actually literally like another ballgame, it just sucks me in completely, utterly, insanely and ultimately tragically. Good results are sweet enough to leave me quietly happy for a week while bad can genuinely leave me despondant for some time.

I atttribute my feelings thusly;

1. The entirely arbitrary nature of Liverpool as my team of choice. I support them because my brother did, and he did probably because they were really successful when he was of choosing age. Now, there are loads of great things about the city and club to reccommend them thereafter but the naggingly pointless initial basis for their being my team still remains. Hence the thrill I get from Ireland - the connection is real, the identification is real.

Conversely, I feel cheated that I was never properly brought up to support my local team, Derry City, as a child. Over the past few years I've tried to get back and see themas much as I can but still, compared to the die-hards feel like I've missed the boat to ever being a true fan.

2. I had a few fairly traumatic things happen very early in my life and as a result have never taken anything for granted and have a very finely tuned sense of perspective. When I lose a job or get sick or fall out with a friend, I can always rationalise it and am generally able to look at the bigger picture, realise how lucky I have it, how insignificant most of my daily problems are. I can't hold grudges, for example, I just don't see the point. If someone fucks me over in a way I can't understand, I cut them out but leave the door open should they ever apologise.

So, I don't know, if I can rationalise those things, well, to me it's just counter-intuitive to give that much of a fuck about the actions of eleven millionaires in shorts hundreds of miles away.

This is not a preachy argument about how people should grow up and get a life or worry about something else, or a sort of whining, "I wish I had less to worry about than football tsk tsk" type affair; after all, my brothers both went through the same trauma as me and Christ, I know people who've gone through tons worse and still religiously worship their teams, I'm just saying that's how my sense of perspective seems to have developed and I can't really help it, nor would I want to.

I like and admire the sort of passion and temerity with which people support their teams, the bonding unity of it, the good-natured rivalry, even the more abstract qualities it promotes such as handy application of maths and statistics, the way it makes young people proud to know as much as they can about something rather than outcast them as boffins or nerds as is increasingly the case with so many other spheres of knowledge. S'alright, football is.

[weekender]

I've never supported any particular team.  I know I was supposed to pick the nearest team to me with a ruler and a map, but that seemed fake somehow as I'd never have a true love for that club.  I've just never picked up on a team in the same way some people have.

That's why I've made it through life with a tremendous love of football, but never actually managed to support a team (England notwithstanding).

That said, I agree that it's far more interesting when you support a club/team.  That's why whenever I watch a match I randomly pick a reason to support either that club or even some of their individual players.  I'm sure I supported someone in the World Cup on the grounds that they were playing the Swiss and I don't like the noise that cuckoo clocks make.

Also, with the recent popularity rise in Fantasy Football, I've noticed that I take more enjoyment from the statistics (and their application in Fantasy Football) than I do from the actual game.  I've been trying to think why this would be, my best idea so far is that I'm a fucking twat.

That ESPN article was great, by the way, thanks for posting it.

[ccbaxter]

I grew up in North London, and was gifted a Spurs shirt for my fifth birthday - and thus Tottenham for life. My dad, though originally from Bristol, wanted me to support a local London side, and opted for Spurs instead of Arsenal or QPR because he'd always liked the club's style of play and history. Plus, the fact it was summer 1982, and the likes of Hoddle, Archibald, Crooks et al were flying high helped. I went to White Hart Lane for the first time in 1985, aged seven, after Spurs had won three trophies in the previous four years. Since then, they've won two...

My dad made an interesting decision when choosing to support Bristol Rovers as a kid. His own dad was a City fan, but he reasoned that if he opted for Rovers, they could  accompany each other to a home game every Saturday, rather than alternates. Laudable and sensible from a football purists' point of view.

But no child of mine shall ever set foot with me in the Emirates Stadium except once a season, in the away end, on derby day...

[Mr Skinnylegs]

Aberdeen. Born there. Brother supported them back in the day when they were THE team in Scotland. Only Scottish club ever to win two European trophies, donchaknow.

Yes. The Super Cup does fucking count.

[rudi]

This is why I like pro wrestling, it gives you proper reasons to root for people rather than just living somewhere.

But that's the BEST reason. Actually going to the games is what makes you a supporter, rather than just buying a shirt and wearing it when you're shopping.

Having said that, of course, I was brought up a Spurs fan cos me dad comes from a North London Arsenal-supporting family and he has a warped sense of humour. I live in Portsmouth, so, (until my finances disbarred me) I held a season ticket for Fratton Park, leaving my head and my wallet with Pompey, but my heart inexplicably still welded to the Lane.

Go figure...

[the midnight watch baboon]

Grew up in High Wycombe and still look out for Wycombe's results, but they were in the Conference when I was a lad. Supported Liverpool after watching the 1985 cup final, but then saw Spurs beat Liverpool away on the TV in about '86 and after realising that Geography favoured the North Londoners I stuck with them. Worth it too, for the 2 trophys they have won in 20 years.

[GoochDogHigh5s]

I support Leyton Orient (my LOCAL team) because in the days before corporate football ,Fever Pitch , Sky and saturation, that is what you did(it was the law)

[zozman]

Yeah, same for me.  Nottingham Forest because it was the closest team.  Well, actually it was Mansfield, but I'm not that desperate.  

I think clubs should send all kids a shirt with their name on the back on their fifth birthday.  They'd hook them in for life.

[SOTS]

Heart Of Midlothian.

My dad would have a fit if I showed support for anyone else. But he used to take me to games when I was little (one of the only ones there with his little girl, believe it or not) and everything so I don't want to support anyone else.

Apparantely when I was five at an Aberdeen game, I stood up on my seat and shouted "COME ON YOU BASTARDS!"

I'm not heavily into football or anything now though. I think the fighting for tickets. it's ridiculous. You can't turn up on the day and get a ticket, people have to reserve them on the bloody website. It's over the top.