Reading this headline may make you snigger under your breath about the fact I support West Ham United, the Championship football team from East London. Fair enough. The Hammers are not the most successful football team in the world, or indeed the UK, but if I ask you to find a team with a more passionate support for their side, you would struggle to find a fan base beyond West Ham.
I love West Ham. I love the club, the fans and the real family community the club brings. I have supported West Ham all my life and that will never change. I will support West Ham until I die.
The majority of people who support West Ham are based in the London and Essex area. This shows they care about the team in general. If you ask someone in f, Northampton or Tokyo for example, who they support you could get a whole list of teams ranging from Manchester United to Liverpool. Now if this is the case, I can’t call them a true fan because they are very unlikely to go and watch a game on a Saturday because of the location of the team they support. The most likely reason a person supports Man United is because they’re a glory hunter. I can’t call someone a true fan unless they live or used to live in the area where their team is based and really care about the club they support.
Life as a West Ham fan is different compared to teams at the top of the Premier League table. We don’t expect success. Not at all. We are not one of these teams that needs to win a trophy every season. If we play a good style of attacking football with the team pushing for Europe, that will do us. Since our formation in 1895, the only major honours’ we have won are three FA Cups in 1964, 1975 and 1980. There is also the minor Intertoto Cup in 1999 and maybe even the World Cup in 1966. There however, haven’t been any league titles won in the first division/Premiership. Our highest place finish was third in the 1985/86 season, with Tony Cottee and Frank McAvennie nearly guiding us to a historic triumph. Alas, the Irons just fell short. I would be very surprised if West Ham ever get close to winning the League in my lifetime. But you never know….
Matchday at West Ham is different to a matchday at any other club. When I go to watch matches at West Ham, I make it a day out. Whether I see the match with my Dad or with my friends, I usually have a drink in the pub and generally have a bit of banter with fellow supporters. During the game itself, I join in with the singing as much as I can and enjoy the game whilst having a laugh. Obviously, you can’t spend a whole day in the East End of London without indulging a bit of pie and mash. A great way to end the day, even better if we win.
Now if I was to talk about the match-day at Man United or Wembley Stadium, the events would be different. Many people who go to Old Trafford are not real fans. The lack of local people in the ground is immense, coming back to my point about real fans. They are not die-hard United fans, they are most likely people who watch the football in the Far East and immediately start supporting the best team. It’s a similar situation at Wembley. Whenever the second half of any match begins, the middle tier is always empty. This is because businessmen or “The FA Partners” are still sitting in the bar or still tucking into their pre-match venison. At West Ham, there is none of this nonsense. We all turn up to watch the sport and the team we love and we don’t care about having a steak and kidney pie and a pint at half time.
I hope that in future, West Ham will be playing Champions League football every season and challenging for the Premier League title. We can all dream can’t we? And as they say in that famous song, “… And like my dreams they fade and die.” But, seriously, in the next few years it would be great if we get promoted from the Championship and also hopefully attract more investment to push the team on. Even that may not be a realistic aim because West Ham is seen as a yo-yo club, which is true. One good season is followed by a terrible season and near relegation. That’s not exactly appealing to outsiders looking to buy the club. What will attract people is our fantastic support, never-say-die attitude and happiness at watching the club we love.
That is life as a West Ham fan.
Bill, you’re absolutely spot on, my dad first took me to Upton Park when l was 3 and from that day on, it was in my blood, now l’m in my 40’s and my dad has sadly passed away, but when l go to a game, l still get excited like l did, the first time he took me. Coming out of Upton Park station, the buzz walking down Green Street, the smell of the ‘horse burgers’ cooking, then you see the ground, makes me feel like a kid again…..I love it, all of it, Bubbles still gives me goose bumps everytime l hear it and always will. But you’re right, being a West Ham supporter isn’t all about the expectation of winning something every season, it’s about the club, your fellow Hammers, moaning, swearing and the love of the claret and blue, every season as well as every matchday if full of expectation, only those of us who have been blessed with being West Ham supporters will ever know what it truly means, l am and always will be West Ham ’til l die……..COYI ‘><'
Whilst I respect you as a die-hard fan and also your club, to say your supporters don’t expect success is nonsense. You’ve only got to visit KUMB to realise the vast majority of your fans expect to roll over every other Championship team easily. Like so many other “big” clubs that finds themselves in the Championship your supporters seem to expect a divine right to the Prem – well welcome to reality, the reason you are where you are is because you’re not good enough to be in the Premier League. Good luck for the rest of the season and Merry Christmas.
I think this is utter nonesense. There are fan clubs strethced all over the world! I am 28 years of age and from Northern Ireland! I have been a Hammer all of my life and first managed to get to Boleyn Ground when i was 9 years of age! My father and I have followed our Irons all over England and everytime we go to East end we are welcomed with open arms and for you to come out with this utter nonesense is an insult to every hammer supporter who you believe is not in a certain radius to the ground!!! I am recently back from a 4 month round the world trip and Hammers cause has always been first in my mind where i was always streaming and keeping to tabs with all the recent news coming from upton Park. But there again you are entitled to your opinion, most wont agree with you but i really dont care what you think. People talk bout Northern Ireland and their history and everyones religion – my religion is West Ham United football club and idiots like you wont ever bring my club down. Heres to a good xmaas and new year for all us self professed irons!!
So what you mean mate, is that because im not from England im not a true West Ham fan? bollocks, my dad started to support West Ham in 1963 and it went on to me, i,ve been a true West Ham fan since 1975 and was founder of the danish fanclub of West Ham called Hammers of denmark, and now my son Kevin is also a true West Ham fan, we visit Upton Park 3-4 times each year spending loads of money on souvenirs, i got an English wife who lives in Rugby and i bought tickets for the away game boxing day against Birmingham where my wife, my dad, my son and myself would be present, anyway i want to wish everyone a merry christmas come on your irons
I fundamentally agree but there are many real supporters who do not come from East London and Essex. I am a foreigner having been raised in West London and now living in Kingston upon relatively posh Thames but that does not mean that I am not as irrationally devoted to The Irons as Bill. But the rest of what he says is true; WHU supporters are not glory seekers, we are Fans with a capital F. We wear our hearts on our sleeve and occasionally the cufflinks on our shirts especially if we’ve just won.
I think your find we also won the European Cup winners cup in 1965!!!!
you wont get more passionate or loyal fans anywhere in the world. Been supporting west ham over 40 years, me and my 20 mates from aldershot have claret and blue blood running thru our veins we adore our club thru thick and thin. i remember us all leaving school early as teenagers to go to night games and stand in the west side what could beat that atmosphere. the saturday games going to the hole in the wall outside waterloo at 11 am then on to plaistow to the pubs and then on to the match, still do this to this day, great day out and west ham will be in our hearts till we die. coyi!
I just love westham. I’m not going to go on about why, or how often I go to the Boleyn. What I know is once Hammer always a Hammer!
I was born in West Ham. My Grandfather was at the 1923 Cup Final. My uncle was at the War Time final. I first went to Upton Park in 1957 to see them play Bristol Rovers. I grew up within sound of the ground and have been a season ticket holder since 1963. Before than we used to have about six or seven family members going along.Either myself or a family member have been to every major match involving WHU. So I think that my credentials are pretty well established. I moved out of the area over 40 years ago but am still drawn back on match days. The point is that it is in the blood. It is impossible to support any other club. It is equally impossible not to support WHU. A curse or a blessing? A bit of both but the point is that the support never wavers regardless of those fortunes that more often than not are always hiding. This is what West Ham fans different from many others. Possibly not unique but who remembers how Chelsea and Arsenal fans deserted their clubs in droves when their clubs under performed? You just don’t get that at WHU even though many fans no longer live in the area.
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