With all the gloom that has surrounded West Ham in the last few months, I thought it would be nice to try and write something light and provide a break from the depressing reality of the Hammers season, so far.
With that in mind, I’d like to share with you some of my odd or even possibly deranged rituals and superstitions both before and during a match that I’ve had over my years of watching the Hammers, attempting to find a way of helping them to victory. The way I see it is that we need all the help we can get!
The biggest one has been the usually fruitless attempt to find a ‘lucky’ shirt, where I believe the team will do well as long as I wear it on a match day. Seeing how this is West Ham we are talking about, it is rare that said shirt will even survive two weeks of being considered lucky. But nonetheless I still try.
My best run at this was surprisingly enough in the relegation season of 2010/2011 with Avram Grant at the helm, where the away shirt for that year held sway for a number of matches. This was the white one with claret and blue hoops. I wore it when we defeated Stoke City in the League Cup 4th round at home, then when we beat Wigan Athletic in the league, also at home.
In such an abysmal season, I was almost starting to believe this shirt did have some sort of power. This belief grew much higher when I attended the quarter final of the League Cup that season (with my lucky shirt on of course), and witnessed the quite incredible 4-0 demolition of Manchester United. If a team comprising the likes of Jonathan Spector, Luis Boa Morte and Radoslav Kovac were able to pull this off it must have been the influence of the shirt…surely?!
Alas of course it wasn’t to last much longer. Even that shirt couldn’t help the hapless Grant for much longer, but it will always be remembered of course. As will this season’s home shirt, present when I watched West Ham humiliate Spurs on their own patch 3-0 in October.
When I was younger I had some bizarre antics when watching my beloved West Ham on TV. Of what I can remember, if the opposition team had a free kick in a dangerous area, or a corner, I would have to stand up from my position on the sofa until that danger passed. I’m not quite sure of the logic of this – whether my extra height was supposed to be a presence to help defend the set piece I don’t know.
Then (I think) I had to clasp my cup of drink whenever West Ham had possession. It became very extreme at one point, and I ended up having to use a stress ball after my parents most probably became concerned by these peculiarities. Just shows you what watching West Ham can do to a person! How the stress ball did results wise I cannot really remember however!
In recent years, when I usually go to a pub to watch any away match – that I am not able to attend – myself and my friend try to persist with one that West Ham seem to do well in with some surprising results.
Two years ago in the Championship campaign, the Hammers won every game we watched in one particular establishment, and it must have been in the region of five or six. But inexplicably, last campaign we couldn’t buy a win whilst watching in that pub, (which might have been to do with our dreadful away form last time out). We are on the hunt for a new lucky pub.
As for home games, which I attend, I’ve never really had any pre-match ritual aside from the shirt theory. It is rare I go into one of the pubs outside the ground for instance.
So, is it just me that has weird superstitions when it comes to watching West Ham, or do fellow supporters have certain things they have to do when seeing the Hammers live?!
I’ve been go to UP since 67/68. At every game (home or away), and just before kick off, I have to shout “Come on You Irons” (as many do) but followed immediately by “You Lucky a Boys” (got this from an old fellow in the North Bank in the late 60s). Hense my family have always referred to WHU as “The Lucky a Boys” as do I. If I don’t do this, I’m convinced our fortunes will truly fade and die!
I’ve been singing ‘Bubbles’ for a good many years now but I seriously believe that we should ditch this (what I believe to be unlucky) song. The lyrics are all doom & gloom with nothing positive. We need to be singing something cheerful. Someone should be able to compose a new song with which to take us forward into the OS.
I’m only a young hammer (15) and have only been to 10-15 matches over the past 4 or 5 seasons. A tradition that Myself, My Dad and Grandad have every single home game is go to a local Indian Restaurant Khana Khazana (formally Moe’s). This often brings us luck as i’d say maybe 9/15 games have been wins! (whether they be 4-0 thumpings of Blackpool or a cheeky 1-0 over Aston Villa last season!)
I live in South Africa. Even though I watch most of the games taped after they are played, I still have to wear the scarf – even if it is 30 C.
My partner. If she watches it, we seem to have more success. Though she left for a week and we won three times and climbed to 10th so maybe I’ll enforce her but to watch any games from here on in.