Yesterday Kristian Jack mentioned that someone Tweeted him to ask how he should go about picking a European football club to support. It kicked off a lively discussion over here at Footy Blog HQ, and revealed there are as many schools of thought on the matter as there are clubs to choose from.
I’ll begin by saying this is an old, controversial topic in North American circles, and the subject of bitter cultural debate. Each approach comes with their advantages and their weaknesses. Before we get into them, let’s agree on the Two Principle Commandments of supporting a football club.
I. Thou Shalt Not Support More Than One Club Not Separated by a Domestic League or at Least Three Divisions.
II. Thou Shalt Not Switch Teams, Ever. You Are X Until You Die.
Upon these hang the law and the prophets. And this is why no one should ever, under any circumstances, publicly declare for a club unless they’re absolutely sure they’re happy with their choice. Okay, how to pick a football club? Here are some options for how to go about making your choice…
1. Support your local team
The growth of Major League Soccer in the US over the past several years has been remarkable, and Canada is now home to three MLS clubs in each major population centre. This means there are fewer understanding pat-on-the-backs for soccer supporters on this side of the Atlantic who chose to bypass their local option for a better European team.
While only the hardcore USA-A-OKAY crowd would encourage you to refrain from watching European football altogether, many would make the not-unreasonable case that soccer can be enjoyed as a neutral, without the need to pick one team and follow them along their merry little way. You’ll learn a lot more this way, be less of a partisan jerk, and never, ever be disappointed (or elated by an unexpected cup run, sadly).
However we’re a tribal species, and odds are the “neutral” will eventually pick a subliminal favourite after months of watching Champions League or domestic league fixtures. Then the day will come when you want to buy a kit, and you’re stuck with a team you didn’t consciously choose to support, which means you might find a better fit down the line and kick yourself (don’t tell anyone though, remember commandment II). Which brings us to option two:
2. Watch a lot of football in different leagues and divisions, pick the team you like the best
This seems to me to be among the better options, but it comes with some significant drawbacks. Here’s one possible scenario to illustrate my point. Athletic Bilbao have been very, very interesting to watch since Marcelo Bielsa’s tenure began this season. No doubt they have gathered some admirers of late, and possibly even some bonafide fans in love with their compelling style of late which has led to an impressive run in the Europa Cup.
But when happens if/when Bielsa moves on? Perhaps Bilbo Baggins will roar on to Mordor without him, but chances are they’ll go back to being the same old Bilbao, doing their thing while perpetually staving off relegation. So you’re stuck with a not very interesting club anymore. Then you start sniffing around their history and you’re a bit suspicious of the Cantera policy. But remember Commandment II! This is your club now buddy, you’re stuck with it.
This is why you see many angry Chelsea supporters who climbed aboard during the Mourinho era, and why Napoli supporters who joined up for the Three Tenors will be stuck watching a lot of Serie B in a few years’ time when they disappear and Aurelio de Laurentis finally makes a good movie and gets on his bike, riding into the sunset.
The other problem with this approach is the “Where were you when they were shit?” accusation, but chances are those doing the catcalling are Manchester United/Liverpool/Real Madrid/Barcelona/Bayern supporters. Which brings us to the less-romantic of options…
3. Pick a team because they’re quite good and they win things and stuff
This is both the most widely hated option and by far the most popular. You will quickly discover, for example, that all of Manchester United’s estimated 500 million-strong fan base first came to support the club because of the Munich Air disaster, George Best, and Sir Bobby Charlton’s comb-over. It’s fair to say that at least some of them are lying.
This is the most popular option because everyone loves a winner, obviously. If you support Charlton, the only trophies you’ll be lifting will be the kind you get for promotion to the Premier League. If you support Barcelona, you will be alive to see their next European Cup win. Not only that, but you will get to watch several games, live on television, each week. You will follow a team in a title race. No using a Tune-In app on the way home from work in the hopes BBC London might have updates on Leyton Orient’s Johnstone Paint trophy game for you.
And this is this least popular option because you will almost certainly be considered a plastic, the very scum of the football universe, for taking it. You hunted glory but you won it cheaply, like machine gunning moose from a helicopter. That’s harsh yes, and chances are some of those making said accusations are projecting based on their own reasons for supporting a football club. But it’s grounded in some truth. Following a football team is in part about suffering. Or at least it should be.
United may have had Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scoring an injury-time winner to earn United their first European cup in thirty years and secure a historic treble, but that will never, ever match the sweetness of the on-loan goalkeeper Jimmy Glass coming up to score and keep Carlisle United in the football league. Like a fine single malt scotch, glory has to age and mature in order to taste great when (or indeed if, if) it arrives. Unfortunately that means staring at wooden barrels for 18 years.
4. Don’t go on results—go on history, fan base, etc.
This is a good option for those who want to avoid the “glory-hunter” accusation which almost all fans of good teams will face at some point in their fandom. If someone accuses you being a “tiki-taka fascist” by a Real Madrid fan for wearing the Barcelona colours for example, you can talk about the team’s history in relation to the Franco regime, and the impressive feats of Zoltán Czibor in the 1959 double, and they will grumble and walk away.
This is the thinking man’s choice. Always had a soft spot for old Dixie Dean highlight reels on YouTube? Everton’s your team! Like angry, socialist, non-conformist fans? Why not give St. Pauli a look?
Still, there is something a little “astroturfed” about this as well, although not in the same self-interested way as option 3. You looked through some history books and made an arbitrary choice. Part of the unofficial rules of football fandom leave room for happenstance, destiny. That’s why it’s so easy to appreciate the opening scenes of the Fever Pitch film, where a disinterested boy goes to Arsenal with his dad and falls in love. He was taken there, against his will. But in hindsight it was destiny. And so we have…
5. Go based on your roots
Does your dad have a football club he likes? Go with that. Even if you found this out at twenty-five years of age, you can always reverse engineer a Luke Skywalker-esque line about how you were Torquay like your father and his father before him.
If he (or your mum) don’t have a football club, don’t like football, are baseball people really, which is when they watch sports, which is hardly ever, then go to your family tree. If like me your family stretches back very far in a country with almost no stable club history whatsoever, find out when they made the original move.
For me, it was Birmingham. And hey look! A Whittall Street mere blocks away from Villa Park (just don’t pay attention to the Whittall Street STI clinic). So done and dusted. The only problem is if your family is originally from Gillingham. Good luck with that.
So there you have it. There are several variations on each of these approaches will you can regale us with below. My advice to you is to take your time. Once you commit, there is no going back. And you are allowed two only within the narrow confines of Commandment I. Good luck! And let us know how it goes.
or do what I did, start following the team that one of your favourite bands supports.
My journey to supporting Barcelona & Newcastle.
Barcelona: my first visit to Europe, and first exposure to footy culture in general, was in Barcelona. I fell in love with the city. There’s no two ways about it, it’s probably the best place on Earth in my books: great weather, great food, great footy, shopping, close to lots of other things that are similarly awesome, big but not too big, famous but not too famous, etc. When I got home I arbitrarily decided that I liked Barcelona (and I didn’t even know Espanyol existed) and started following them. That was 2007. It’s been… well, it’s been a lot of fun, but I feel like a bit of a dilettante at times. When I was in Barcelona I honestly had no idea how good they were, just that there was a team from Barcelona that played football and they were kind of famous and everywhere I went there were jersey’s for sale. My son & I both have our Blaugrana kits (he’s Messi & I’m Xavi, but he’s 2 and doesn’t know the difference yet, and I’m trying to talk the wife into being an Iniesta for us) and I catch them whenever I can, which is pretty damn often. It’s nice liking a winner.
Newcastle: In autumn 2007 now, back from my European honeymoon and looking into how I can digest and learn some footy. I bought PES 2008 for the Wii, started following along online where I could, and intentionally set my alarm to get me up early enough on a Saturday morning to catch an EPL match, since that’s what Sportsnet was showing. Who was playing? Newcastle & West Ham. I loved watching Obafemi Martins running down the flanks, whipping crosses into Mark Viduka. I loved their black & white kit, loved the atmosphere…. And when they won that match I arbitrarily decided that they would be my team. I was kind of disappointed when they went down for a year (it’s hard to watch Championship games when you hardly get any Premiership games) but I knew they’d be up sooner than later. In the interim I took a liking to Arsenal because they’re good but kind of picked-on by the big bad bullies of Man United and Chelsea, and because they played nice football. Since they’ve come back up, I make a point of catching what matches I can. This season, it’s easy to be a fan, naturally. I look forward to doing a bit of whinging in a few years when Mike Ashley runs them into the ground again.
I also support FC Edmonton, because that’s my home team. UP YOU EDDIES! Looking forward to the NASL season kicking off in a few weeks.
Or, do a combination of 2 and 4, then suddenly and forever be accused of 3 because they get bought by Emirati royalty.
To avoid this you could pick a team from bundesliga.
German teams can’t be bought. There’s a 50+1 rule,
to assure that the members of a club must at least
own 51% of it.
“If you support Charlton, the only trophies you’ll be lifting will be the kind you get for promotion to the Premier League.”
SCREW YOU WHITTALL!
I think he meant promotion to the Championship, to be fair. The Premier League feels like a long way away.
TFC, Chelsea, and Bayern
Local, Winning (I became a fan during the Mourinho era so it still counts), and Roots
Two of those three are infuriating me, while the other is in the UEFA Champions League semi’s, DFB Pokal finals, and in contention for another Bundesliga title
I’ll never forget seeing TFC in 2007 and Andrea Lombardo’s almost amazing header goal against Chivas in a 2-0 loss
I started watching the World Cup with my wife a few years back and I was taken in immediately by the sport itself. I then spent quite a while researching option #4. My wife liked Chelsea, so I looked into that as an option and it didn’t take me long to decide that was not the club for me. I chose to look into Robin van Persie’s career, as I had enjoyed watching him play the few times I had watched. I ended up at Arsenal and it’s been a fantastic match ever since.
Support Chelsea actually because when I was really young, I came down early on a Saturday morning when my brother was watching Graham Leggat on TSN. It was halftime between a red team (which was Man U) and a blue team (which was Chelsea), and blue was my favourite colour, and thus the choice was made. Also, I’d cheer against anything my brother cheered for, so I do still hate ManUre to this day (for more reasons than just that mind you).
Also support Salisbury City in the Blue Square, as my family heritage comes directly from the Waterless Hill Fort that place once was (even before the cathedral!). Locally, I’m rather indifferent towards all three Canadian MLS sides, but Vancouver is probably my favoured side (I did buy their new white home kit last year). Also hope that FCE and WSA Winnipeg have strong seasons and continue to grow in their cities.
I first started really following footy around the same time the footy blog podcast started. I remember finding it, though I forget how, and only having a couple months of old episodes to go through.
By really following football, I mean watching league football and not just the world cup. More importantly choosing to support teams in the world cup because of a connection to them, as opposed to cheering for them because they were flashy or whatever (until this time I was a fan of Brazil and, because of Ronaldo, Inter Milan).
I will admit, I looked at the premier league standings to try and figure out who to cheer for. I wanted a team that had a chance of winning, but I didn’t want to just pick the best team, I didn’t want to be jumping on a bandwagon. Of course at the time I didn’t realise that there were really only 4 teams with a chance of winning.
I don’t really remember who I picked anymore. I think it was Liverpool, but I’m not sure. The thing is that I didn’t have cable and couldn’t really watch games online much. So it was 1 game each week on sportsnet. Eventually I saw enough Liverpool games, and really enjoyed seeing them, that I started to cheer for them. It also helped that I very quickly hated Rooney and Christiano Ronaldo, so hating United made cheering for Liverpool easier.
Thus I am a Liverpool fan, for better or for worse.
I later realised that my grandmother, who is English, was actually from a specific part of the British Isles (who knew?), specifically Chepstow, which is near Cardiff. Yes, she is English, not Welsh, despite being born there. Some family of mine moved there, from England, a few hundred years ago. I actually have English, Irish and Scottish blood, but no Welsh, despite the fact that my closest immigrant ancestor is from Wales.
As a result of this, I also support Cardiff. For reasons relating to other family in Norwich (plus Simeon Jackson), I support Norwich as well. I don’t see a problem with this, because I always put Liverpool first. I am, and always will be, a die hard Habs fan. They are my true love. But that doesn’t mean I can’t cheer for other teams, such as in the playoffs this year.
For another example, I am in Ottawa. As such there is no team here to cheer for, so I’m willing and able to support the Canadian MLS trio. When they play each other I just hope for an exciting and interesting game, without caring who wins.
Sporting Clube De Portugal (Sporting Lisbon), no choice…born into a family that supported the team and that’s it for better or worse (mostly worse)…imposible to even contemplate something else.
Anyway, seen some good players wearing our shirt, some making their professional debuts, some just passing through:
Puulo Futre, Luis Figo, Jorge Cadete, Kasimir Balakov, Sa Pinto, Joao Pinto, Nani, Quaresma, Cristiano Ronaldo, Peter Schmeichel, Yvaylo Yordanov, etc.
I’ve played soccer my whole life, and for the most part I never watched it on TV. Back in the mid-2000′s, I started watching PL games on the Score (big shout to Budgie!) and really got into the sport with no allegiances. A few weeks in a row they ran Everton games, perhaps because the bigger markets got the games involving LFC, CFC, MUFC, etc. During that stint, EFC put in some great work-a-day performances against strong teams, and played up when they needed to. I knew they were my team, and I’ve been supporting them ever since. A perfect underdog team.
Great article. Keep up the good work.
Growing up I was a casual soccer fan, and other than having international loyalty to Denmark because of my heritage, I had no club ties. I liked to watch premiership and champs league matches when I could. In the summer of ’09 I spent the summer teaching English at a sports camp in Madrid and I fell captivated by Real Madrid. I was at the Bernabeu when Kaka was announced as the club’s newest member, and was in the city when cr7 came to town. The buzz around this club was amazing to me and I got caught up in it all. I get called a bandwagon fan by my Barcelona, Man U, Ajax and ‘Boro loyal roommates everyday. When they beat Barca in this year’s La Liga title race and maybe even the champs league final, it will be worth it.
Manchester City. 30 years ago I loved playing soccer and became fascinated by the English First Division. When I read ( just about my only news was from an occassional imported magazine) that Trevor Francis was a great striker in Europe and had just signed for City, I made up my mind to follow them. And, I have `supported`them from afar ever since. I actually once saw Chelsea at Stamford bridge, but I have never gotten to Manchester to see a game, yet. One day I will.
Montreal Impact. When they built Saputo Stadium a few years ago I became fanatical about the Impact and bought season tickets for two years running. I had to give up regularly attending games because it is an hour and a half drive from my house. And I am very pessimistic about their chances in MLS. Little fish, big pond.
Good article! My parents are South American (Uruguay) so I naturally support my dad’s local club from there (Fenix). Regardless, living in Canada it’s hard to support only a South American club as games are never shown unless you have satellite, even then it’s tough. So I pick my European clubs based on where my favourite Uruguayans are. This started with Recoba at Inter, which by default makes them my “go to” team in Europe.
After that I support the clubs where my other favourites are at: Suarez @ Liverpool, Cavani @ Napoli, A. Pereira @ Porto, etc
Born into the Arsenal coz of me Dad, went to loads of games as a kid. Moved to Canada, can’t stand “soccer” in North America. Also follow Barnet, just across the road from Islington – stay up lads!
Started watching a lot of footie when United’s Golden Generation (Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, Neville x 2, Yorke, etc.) were just starting out. Without knowing the so-called plastic nature of my choice, I started to cheer for them. They played really exciting footie. Maybe me mum’s Terrier wasn’t from Manchester, but so what – I liked the way they play. That was good enough for me, and for better or worse, they are still my team.
I have also, variously, cheered for Everton (Radz), Fulham (Radz) and Tottenham (Stalteri – sort of) because of the involvement of CMNT players in my favourite league. It is also why I can’t bring myself to cheer for Stoke despite a grudging respect for their urilitarian, result-getting style. While I still root for the other two, my affinity to Tottenham has been steadilly evolving for the last few years since I think they pretty attractive footie. Plus I hate Arsenal, so it was a natural fit. If anything, I would say my enjoyment of Spurs now matches United. And if I am not allowed to cheer for those 2 teams, well, okay.
Maybe some think I am plastic because I am a Manchester United fan. But I also cheer for Toronto FC and the Canadian Men’s national Team, so if you are going to begrudge me a bit of affinity for a winning club, you can go fuck yourself..
Oh, and I feel I need to add – The Score Footy Show with Sharman & KJ is the only football highlight and talk show worth watching, Sportsnet, Gol, Fox, TSN – dreadful, most of their “analysts” know nothing about the great old game.
Loved AC Milan ever since I watched my first soccer game, the 2005 champions league final in Istanbul! I was young then and when I saw AC score 3 goals in the first half I thought this must be the best team in the world! Only to watch them lose on penalties, and have my dad try and convince me that Liverpool was a better team then them. I was so stubborn and didn’t want to admit that so I kept telling my self AC Milan is and always will be the best team ever. And here I am today, still a huge AC Milan fan because I was a stubborn kid.
…And don’t regret a minute of it!
WOW! Let’s just say when I tweeted in my question, I never expected to see such a comprehensive post for an answer! Thanks alot TFS crew, this guide is insightful and is certainly going to make this decision alot easier. I’m glad it sparked so much interest in the HQ and in the community.
As per alot of the responses, I too started off with Sportsnet Saturdays and Score Sundays, with a sprinkle of TSN Champions League, when an English Club played. The game’s were limited, DVR/TiVO was not invented, so it was alot of early mornings on the weekends and skipping afternoon classes during Champions League weeks. Of course Manchester United was probably the most popular club at the time, maybe second to Real Madrid. Watching the Red Devils change from the superstars to the kids in the mid 2000′s was probably another draw for me. Ronaldo and Rooney, both less than 2 years older than me, coming into this great squad and adding a whole new dimension to the game, let alone the team.
As a Canadian though, I’m used to “supporter’s self-abuse”. As an Oiler’s fan who doesn’t remember the 80′s, it’s been rough these last few decades. As a Roughriders fan, going from Grey Cup Champions, to basement dwellers, and basically providing half the CFL with quarterbacks certainly is painful. Supporting any Canadian MLS or National team certainly comes with grey hairs, and mass alcohol consumption.
Being a Manchester United supporter, or any big club for that matter, does not gel with the rest of my team selections. And so, I’m constantly on the search for that “smaller” club that will entertain, frustrate and surprise me. I’ve flirted with the idea of Spurs, but this was before all this Top 4 push over the last few seasons, so I feel as if I’m jumping onboard at the convienent time. I had said to KJ I was looking for the Swansea of Italy or Germany or Spain, entertaining but not quite mainstream. So help me out guys:
AVAILABLE: One Football Fan, with allegiances up for grabs
WANTED: One Entertaining (maybe two) Football Clubs, not in the UK
1. Zenit St. Pertersburg
2. Olympique Marseille
SC Heereenveen – Eredivisie
I totally agree with that.
They are famous for their youth division. Lots of great players come out of Heereenveen.
That means they are really likely to stay interesting in future. Plus you’ll be likely follow the evolution of first rate footballers early on.
Most non-major clubs entertaining today, wont be tomorrow. Keeping a successful team together is difficult, meaning expensive. Unless by entertaining you mean flat out bonkers and unpredictable.
I’d say some of the top German clubs (outside Munich) are accessible and not commonly popular on this side of the ocean; and generally good young players meaning years of bragging about this or that player, new and old. Dortmund have had a couple years of consistency, some others like Hamburg SV have the history; plenty have great supporters.
In life I’ve mostly tended to like the ‘underdog’ – meaning most often the loser – so I prefer being around people who suffer because of their eternal hope for success. Who needs cups when you can have the illusion that next year ‘will be the year’ (knowing if it does happen, you’ll talk about the party for the next 20 years).
To me your team is a feeling, not clearly reasonable but related to your personality and experiences. Best way to start ‘feeling’ is being around people who already ‘feel’, lacking a trip, find some bar with local fanatics and see if they rub off on you.
Gunner till I die!!!!!!!!!
The method I used was which team I loved playing with in Fifa and PES!! All my buddies picked the same teams….AC, ManU, Juv, Int…..I wanted something different!! Same method used to pick the Blackhawks using #27 in NHL 93!!
Manchester Untied. It was in grade 7, so I must’ve been 13 and up until then I only watched Euros and World Cups…anyway, he was originally from Switzerland but lived in England for a long time. He had season tickets at Stretford End and at that time, me living in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere Canada, he was the only one outside my dad who would talk to me about football. He told me all about them and I started watching games and as the years went on I just loved the club more and more.
I’ve gotten a lot of my friends into football since then and I have to say, it’s annoying when people judge you because you choose a team that wins. I mean, any kid right now who doesn’t live in a European country that has a large football culture will probably support Barcelona. Because they play nice football and they’re winning. Same with as it was with United and Liverpool. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. As long as you stay loyal to the club for the rest of your life, who cares how you started supporting them? There’s got to be a few Manchester born United fans who are probably less dedicated than I am – having to wake up early with time zone differences and finding streams online and all that. What did Roy Keane call them? The prawn sandwich brigade, I think, lol.
Makes it really easy to pick a team when I found out at age 6 that my next door neighbour in Essex who I would pay football with in his backyard turns out to be Tottenham legend, Paul Allen.
This was brought up in a soccer blog and we decided the most important for people new to soccer should look at this [flow chart](http://i.imgur.com/ncFkW.jpg). May want to blog to help people out if you like
I became a Liverpool fan in 2004 because:
-I saw Milan Baros play at the Euro 2004 and thought he was good
-I liked Djibril Cisse’s hairstyle
-I love Carlsberg beer
No regrets!
YNWA
Great read, well done sir!
However the commandments that this article puts forth leads me to a potential problem next year…
…You see ever since I began to follow soccer I’ve been a Roma fan. All my friends were fans of either Milan or Juventus and I wanted to be different. At the time Roma was playing well enough, Totti was just beginning to break out, a Scudetto was only a few years away and every now and then I’d get to see them play on one of the few stations broadcasting calcio in Canada. So i began them to support them and have ever since. Roma was also the best team from central Italy, and closest to my father’s hometown, Pescara, thus I considered them my “local” team.
Pescara hadn’t been to the top flight since the early 90′s, their games were not broadcast here (actually you’d be hard pressed to find them on TV in Italy!) and the news/results I could find about them was never good. Despite all of this, I’ve always kept an eye on them (even when they crashed out of Serie B and into bankruptcy) in hopes that one day I could watch them line up beside the best in Italy.
This year Pescara is back in Serie B playing wonderful attacking football, under the guidance of one of the great coaches in the game, Zdeněk Zeman (another nod to Roma). Up until two weeks ago Pescara sat top of the table, and despite loosing points in their last few matches, they still are in a position to potentially make the jump to Serie A next season.
So this leads me to my question of “what if?”
If Pescara are promoted can I trade my Giallorossi for Biancazzurri? Can I support both of these wonderful teams? What happens when they meet twice next year? Am I wrong having chosen to support two teams “Not Separated by a Domestic League or at Least Three Divisions”? If so, then for these sins i guess I’m headed to football supporters hell (a room full of Juve fans somewhere in woodbridge)
Great topic!
I was traveling in New Zealand while the NHL was on strike and knew I wanted a sport to follow. While I enjoyed rugby, I knew I’d have a very hard time keeping up with it back home in Canada. I spent a year watching the Premier League to decide what team I wanted to follow.
I settled on Tottenham because I enjoyed how they played, liked their white kits, I knew that I liked Robbie Keane from the 2002 World Cup and just to cement my choice they went and signed a Canadian (Paul Stalteri.) The immediately went and had a great season but blew it at the end in lasagna gate against West Ham and let Arsenal pass them on the last day.
Infuriating as it may have been, it somehow felt like I chose the right team. I think that there could be an interesting study in how choosing a team in adulthood has been shaped by the teams you supported growing up. My uncle and I are lifelong Canucks fans and totally independent of each other came to support Spurs. Coincidence?
Norwich City fan.
My mum’s from Norwich and married a Canadian. Growing up we would visit the grandparents in Norwich every august. My grandfather was a Norwich season ticket holder and would bring me along to games. He died when I was only 11 but when I think of Norwich I always think of August afternoons at carrow road with grandpa.
1. Toronto FC. My local club and season seat holder since Day 1.
2. FC Groningen (Eredivisie). My family is from the region and are season ticket holders. I believe Sharms calls them Gron-in-in-in-gen!
3. Aldershot Town FC. My dad’s mum is from there originally. Those were the good old days of Aldershot before they folded. I’m surprised Dobby never came up with a Seaman reference for the Shots!!!
I’m pretty safe with all three…I don’t think they’ll be playing each other anytime soon.
Cheers!
I broke a rule.
Was a Juve fan because of family. Didn’t get to watch too many of their games growing up as access was limited so I guess I wasn’t ‘fused’ to the team. Then in my early twenties (early to mid 2000s) when I started to appreciate watching the game instead of just playing it, I visited Rome a couple of times (fell in love with city), began watching AS Roma and loved their style (especially the Spalletti years). Been a Romanista ever since.
Is changing teams allowed after enlightenment?
My local club: Toronto FC – season ticket holder and I drive 175km just to get to the games
My European club: Huddersfield Town – my grandmother was from Huddersfield and as a little girl she remembered when the Terriers won the old First Division (by the way they were the first English team to win 3 league titles in a row (1924, 1925, 1926), along with the likes of ManU, Arsenal, and Liverpool. Currently, they are battling to get out of League 1… damn.
I’ve got two clubs that I follow. TFC, and Manchester United. TFC for obvious reasons, and the reason I ended up following Manchester United was actually because or Ronaldo. I saw a couple matches when he had first joined the club and was just straight up amazed at his skill on the ball. I kept watching cuz I wanted to see how he would grow, and what he would do next. Naturally I eventually witnessed the guts of the club, with their seemingly endless injury time winners and never say die attitude, and just fell in love with the club. I did some digging on them to get a feel for their history and was amazed at what they’ve been through. When the time came for Ronaldo to leave for Madrid, I wondered to myself if I was gonna give up watching the club since he was pretty much the main reason I watched every single match for six years…but once he left, I found myself still catching every match, and still supporting United. I may not be a super die hard fan, having found them so late, but I think it’s fair enough to say I found them on my own, and I love em. Call me what you want, but I wear that jacket when they win, and I wear it when they lose. Someday I’d like to thank Ronaldo for introducing me to United.
I became a Liverpool fan in a rather odd way. My cousin was the only soccer fan in the family and he absolutely loved Manchester United. I began to instantly hate Man U (along with soccer as a sport in general), but when he got the FIFA 2004 (I think) I came over to play it and had to pick a team to be. Scrolling through the teams the LFC crest caught my eye, and when I looked at the team I saw Michael Owen and thought, “oh he’s Canadian, from Calgary I think.” I obviously mistaken Michael Owen for Owen Hargreaves. I would later learn that they are both traitorous scumbags. Since that day I have been a die hard Liverpool fan. Also Jerzy Dudek had a blue and red kit that looked like a spiderman suit that I thought was pretty awesome at the time.
-Been a Whitecaps fan since I was a kid growing in Vancouver so I have to support the local club.
-Began supporting Barcelona in 2008 due to their connection to UNICEF and grew to love the way they play! (I picked the right time, no doubt!)
-Schalke 04 is the “family” club,
-AC Milan is my son’s favourite club (due to Kaka and FIFA 06) so I have to support them!
-Second tier support for Arsenal and PSG.
Celtic. I have Scottish roots (albeit most of my family has been in the USA since the civil war) and visited the country a couple years ago. I went to a Celtic match in glasgow and loved it. They treated me very well, and they even had a special announcement before the game welcoming foreign fans. The atmosphere was unlike anything i had seen in the states. I felt welcome and can say it was undoubtedly the best sporting event I have ever been to. I will always support Celtic as a result.
Started supporting Manchester United at ten years of age, although I can’t recall why, it was a great decision and United are really the only sports team in general (except maybe the Argos) where I really care about the team.
Interestingly, my late grandfather, who live in London during his youth, supported QPR. No one told me until recently, and while I don’t support QPR, I do hope they avoid the drop.
Also, I like to see TFC do well, but I’m not too bothered by their results either way.
It wasn’t 5 for me. Dad is a Man Utd fan One brother supports Chelsea, the other AC Milan. So how did I become a Liverpool fan? Well I saw the name on TV when I was 7 and thought “What a weird name to call a team!” of course not knowing that was actually a real place :p till I actually saw them play. Was my first time watching club football and it was love at first sight. Can’t remember if LFC won or not but been supporting them since
good read. #3 dead on. Gooner from family in north London. First met my wife, she never watched “soccer”. One of the first games she watched was when Bergkamp scored his famous goal going around a Newcastle defender, she was hooked instantly too.
Good rules and a fun article that needs to be run out at least once a year as a reminder. Awesome Jimmy Glass reference. That YouTube clip still gives me goosebumps.
However you pick your team (geography, team name, playing style, kit colour, family allegiance) you must, must, must follow commandment ii. I found out, in my mid-20s, that my great uncle played for Bradford City, so I should probably adopt them as my second team but I simply can’t — by then I’d been a Charlton supporter nearly 15 years. Rightly or wrongly I’m Charlton through and through, no matter what happens to them.
To Dylan, who was looking for a club, I’m a big proponent of letting a team find you. Just watch a ton of games and ultimately you’ll find a team. Don’t force it.
My support of Chelsea FC, did not start with the 2009 Champions League semi-finals against Barcelona, but it was one of the first times I’ve ever felt the very high’s and low’s of supporting a team, and that one game said a lot for me.
#5 Micheal Essien (my fellow country man #Ghana) scoring that goal from outside box after coming back from his first major knee injury at the bridge. The elation I felt when that went in and the suspense of trying to hold out the entire match.
The anger, frustration, and sadness I felt when that Barcelona injury time (Fergi time to be honest) goal went in. I think I actually threw several household items around.
Not the first time my heart began bleeding blue, but momment in Chelsea’s history I can say I shared personally.
Long suffering Leafs and Jays fan, I wasn’t getting sucked in again. Went with the Whitecaps, watched most matches last season. Hassli is a beast. Doesn’t hurt.
Otherwise, up the Toon. Absolutely won me over last year. Waking up at 7am, madly hungover to see the Tyne-Wear Derby… Knew it was done.
Lazio till death do us part.
Loved them since I saw Signori wear the magical Sky blue.
I’m football crazy! Just like Giorgio Chinaglia.
Curva Nord forever!
I find it hard to develop the emotional attachment that I could respectfully describe as ‘my club’ with any Euro team. There are lots of teams I ‘favour’ and ‘prefer’ – often for a mixture of the reasons you posted above – but wouldn’t dare to claim any of these teams ‘my teams’ because I don’t feel I have nor will likely be able to pick such commitment that I feel the gut wrenching at every loss, and the beyond euphoria at significant wins. I’m just slightly sad and more than usually happy for the teams I like.
For me, I’m not sure I could figure out how to ‘pick my club’ – it would just have to happen. One day, I’d be watching a team “I like” play some relatively mediocre match, a bad error causes them to lose, I’m made unusually angry, and the team goes onto lose, sending me into a depression for the following hours. Wait that is TFC. I’ll have to wait a couple of years to see if these stupid emotions keep coming back after most matches, after years of experienced suffering I will declare TFC “my club”.
Living in Paris 2001-03, became friends with a Newcastle supporter and they had Bobby Robson managing – who I was sort of familiar with from Graham Leggett’s TSN show – and Alan Shearer as their striker. Done. And they were playing Champions League football. Like KJ I became a big fan of Shay Given, though in the mid- to late 2000s I began to wonder if it was a good thing when your best player is your keeper…
I know that you’re not supposed to have a second team, but I do have a soft spot for Fulham. Friends here in Winnipeg live on Fulham, and they are a scrappy little side that consistently keeps themselves in the Premier League.
Wouldn’t say I have any other commitments. Having lived in Paris, I kind of follow PSG, though I wouldn’t say I’m committed to them. Also like “Möchengladbach” because it fun to say “Möchengladbach”,
But up the TOON!
2 and a bit of 4, and I’m a Yid for life.
We had Setanta in our sports package when I moved to Canada from he Middle East (scottish family but dad was there for work) and Setanta happened to be in our sports package and I started catching premier league games,
My memory is hazy, but it was either at the very end of Clive Allen’s caretaker role, or the very beginning Jacques Santini’s reign, and the more I saw of Spurs, the more I was drawn to them for some reason I couldn’t explain… Robbie Keane, Simon Davies, Edgar Davids, I couldn’t get enough!