After watching the game between West Ham United v Manchester United at Upton Park in the FA Cup 3rd round fixture, I looked across to the Manchester United fans and much to my surprise I saw a sign saying ‘Chelmsford Reds’, which brings me to the purpose of this article. What is a true supporter?
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Being a West Ham fan after to inheriting it from my father, who got it from my grandfather and so on and living in the heart of Essex, with a father from London and Family background originating in Dagenham, I like to think I have valid reasons for supporting West Ham United without being classed a ‘glory hunter’ or ‘fake fan’. But what are the boundaries of acceptance when it comes to supporting a premier league club without being falsely stereotyped or labelled? Well here is what I managed to come up with whist having a debate with a friend of mine.
When you are a young lad or girl, without question your parents will embed their teams colours into your DNA from the moment you enter the world. Parents will go to the extremes of dressing you in the colours, to wearing the logo, to eating out of bowls and plates with the clubs crest on it. Therefore from an early stage you have no option but to support the club they chose, leaving you with two choices, number 1 – stick with the club you were given, or 2 – break the rules of a football fan and change clubs, resulting in one outcome… you are stuck with the first club all your life.
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Other than growing up and supporting your family team, there is only one other acceptance which has ground, that is ‘where you are from’. Nothing angers me more than seeing a friend of mine or someone on the street that is from somewhere completely different to the club they support. I know plenty of fans that support the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea, yet live nowhere near them? Fair enough maybe 2/10 have valid reasons, but the majority literally have no reason for supporting their team.
As you can imagine after the game I left a status on Facebook linking to the match, however it was based on the ‘Chelmsford Reds’ sign in the away stand, which started a debate. Being from a village close to Chelmsford, I thought how can they support Manchester United, yet be from just around the corner from where I live? Yet I am a West Ham fan? It just doesn’t add up to me, call me old school but unless your family support the team and they are from that area or you are, you shouldn’t support another club but your local team, or if you’re going to support a Premiership team pick the closest one to where you live.
I understand some people like to go their local team’s matches and then support a Premier League team and that’s something I can understand as the Premier League is the best in the World and not all teams will reach it.
The person I had the debate with brought up a question, “what about the African children who are given football shirts?” well in terms of people in this situation it’s completely different. These are children who are not privileged like most UK citizens and with the Premier League teams being popular globally, of course they will support the best clubs, but I am quite sure they support 1 of their local teams in Africa too. Look at Brazilian players, yes they dream of playing in the best leagues, but many of them will return to Brazil and play for their boyhood clubs until they retire.
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I have no problem with people liking to watch teams from other countries and supporting them as their second and third teams and so on. I myself like to follow Benfica, Olympiakos, Corinthians, Barcelona and Leyton Orient, as they play great football (no so sure with the latter), but they are not my first team as I am West Ham through and through.
Things I don’t agree with is when a fan supports a team because of a player, these are something I like to call ‘Patriot fans’ or ‘Mercenary fans’, because where ever that player goes they go too, there is no loyalty to one club and if this was the case with every fan, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robin van Persie, Andres Iniesta and so on, would have a never ending list of fans and plenty of clubs would be fan-less.
Another reason I don’t like fans supporting clubs that aren’t local to them is because they’re glory hunters and literally support the club because of its history or what they are currently achieving (Manchester City for example winning the league and large amounts of money) at the moment too lately.
Supporting a club is more than just following a team because of the players, the glory days or because they are popular, it’s about sticking by a club because it’s the right thing to do, keeping the colours running through to the next generation, cheering on your local team through thick and thin and not jumping ship and joining the bandwagon of fans being mesmerised by the sun shining of the ever growing silverware in the top teams cabinets.
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Am a local Cumbrian lad and u can’t get much more northern than what I am but am a side hard west ham fan and season ticket holder son is my father and so on its ran in the family fronts long as remember and ave stuck through thick and thin and the last thing u can call fans like us is glory hunters. Poor article. U have no right to judge people on who they support just because are local to that area if anything I must be a more hardcore fan travelling the distances I do every weekend
Couldn’t agree less….
Born in Warrington Lancashire, I saw my first game at UP aged 11, and am now a season ticket with my nine year old son.
My family did not follow football, so I no no guidance…. I saw WHU on TV and liked them instantly.. possibly aged 7/8…
My northern roots are there and I am proud, but I am as proud a WHU supporter as any man born within the sound of Bow bells. Passion and loyalty fall where they do, if I wanted to support a team with lots of trophies in the cabinet… I suppose I could have, it’s not about that, and I doubt it is even for the vast majority of fans at the more successful clubs at least if it is, that is beyond my comprehension..
Agree totally am from Carlisle Cumbria and ave been a die hard hammer along with my dad and grandad since I was born
To be honest. I see you’re point. Nothing winds me up more than the ‘Cockney Reds’ especially when it is bred from glory hunting. Especially since they have a respectable premier league team down the road. However people have different reasons for supporting teams. Some just want to feel part of something victorious and therefore will glory hunt. Others have other affections, for instance, I have a friend from Columbia who is a Newcastle fan because of the time they used to have Asprilla. Even though he is not there anymore, that was his team when he was a boy and he has stuck to em and that I think is fair enough. A fan is anyone who is willing to go to the games and follow their club passionately and as long as they do this, then I see no problem.
Absolute nonsense. Man United are a GLOBAL football club and they are bound to have supporters in every corner of every city because of their impact. The fact that they went to an away fixture to support their team tells you their dedication and it doesn’t make them any less of a supporter. I also disagree with you on the ‘patriot fans’ comment. This is because as a young boy, you do tend to look up to a footballer. I was never interested in football until I saw Beckham on one of these card games when I was 10. I had then decided to follow his team ( I didn’t know who Man United were at the time). I didn’t go and support Madrid after because Becks was a sidekick by then. I am now 25 and a regular United season ticket holder. I get stressed, depressed, cry and go through every emotion. United are a big part of my life that I take seriously and that was a result from ‘patriot fans’.
My dad is a Man U fan because his dad was. I was originally a Man U because my dad was. When I was about 7 my Uncle (mums brother-who is a WHU fan) took me to my first ever football match. It was West Ham v Leicester and I remember the ball heading towards me and my uncle put his hand out to stop it hitting me in the face. My dad took me to 2 Man U games after, which were both at Selhurst Park.
When I was 12 I thought about when will I realistically ever go to Old Trafford. Thats when I thought about changing teams and went out to the local sports shop with my saved up pocket money and came home with a West Ham kit. Never looked back since
I agree but to be fair to man united, they still had the biggest support in the country even when they were crap.
I remember watching orient at old trafford in 1974 in the old division 2 and there was 45000 fans there, it was incredible, they had more fans in division 2 than any team in division 1 had.
Fair points made in terms of if your a season ticket holder and go to the games, yes you are loyal supporter I am not saying your not. The question I ask is why not choose your local team unless your family have had an influence? Fair point made on the fact a fan can be drawn to a side because of an inspiring figure such as “Beckham” but still, why not watch a local teams game and be drawn to their star players?
I came across this article & found it a very fascinating read. Bear in mind the fact that I hate West Ham, but I have respect for their fans for supporting their local team.
I myself am from Birmingham and I am a passionate supporter of the Blues. I respect anyone that supports their local team. Football ain’t about winning or losing, it’s about pride and passion of where you come from. Whether you’re from Hull, Bristol or Norwich, it’s about your local team.