SA Footy

How did everyone come to support their team?

For me, i could not stand soccer, but became a fan of it around 2000 and more so in the 2002 World Cup as a mate from Primary School was into soccer heaps. I started supported Leeds as the Australians, Kewell and Viduka were playing in it. I also didnt mind Chelsea back then. Dont know why exactly, but they have always been my 2nd team. Unfortunately Leeds are down in League 1 now, but i still keep track of the results even if i cant see the games on TV.

Liverpool and Anderlecht because my old man is a scouser and my mum is from Belgium.

I grew up watching the 1 hour EPL highlights show and loved watching Kilnnsman score and all of Gazza's antics, so followed Spurs ever since.

Jumped on the Burnley bandwagon last year after JTC had me up for a game.

well funny you ask, during the late 80s i was following Liverpool. But then moved back towards AFL, being all my mates followed that and just went along with the bandwagon. Then 1997 after watching my belovered Essendon finish second last in the AFL season i decided to move back to English football. Watched a few games in the 97/98 season and Liverpool didnt seem to be the team i used to watch so made a move the Arsenal and its been like that for then until now

As a kid, was a bit of a Man U fan, basically as I had no idea who else was around.

About 11 years ago, I met my wife, and her family who are from Burton upon Trent and surrounds. They are MAD Derby people and my Uncle gave me a shirt as a welcoming present ! They both worked for the brewers there as well, and there local team was Burton Albion who have just been promoted to League 1.





My Dad is from the Netherlands and his closest "big league" team is Vitesse Arnhem, who I have a passing interest in.

As a kid always stayed with my Grandparents and my Grandfather was a mad soccer fan comming from Birmingham. He loved Birmingham city but back then they were rubbish and he told me not to worry who they were. Used to watch the Premier league with him and I loved Mark Hughes and Paul Ince and ever since then have been on United. Have developed a soft spot over the years for Birmingham as I've gotten older.

Grew up in one of those "stereotypical Aussie" families where Footy was religion, with Cricket and Tennis not far behind.

Sunday mornings as a youngster (I dunno prob 8 years old) I use to get up too early and eagerly await the Football Show they used to run with, and generally there wasn't much of interest on back then, but I managed to find an English Footy show, and Liverpool were the team they seemed to show the most (that I can remember anyway).

Suddenly I got hooked on Dalglish and Ronnie Whelan and co., and the masses of crowd and noise ... I had no idea of Liverpool's success or standing in the game (hell I didn't even know the European Cup existed until about 7 years later, and still never really understood it), they were pretty much the first I saw and the ones I fell in love with straight away.

It was a tough battle because I was lambasted throughout my family for talking about them all the time "Wogball isn't football mate" would be the blunt replies continually thrown at me. (Apologies for the "Wogball" reference, but that was how many referred to it back in the day)

Anyway I continued to follow them thereafter, although throughout the 80's there really wasn't much coverage, just the likes of FA Cup finals mostly.

Interestingly the Boston Celtics also became my team via exactly the same situation - Whilst both clubs haven't enjoyed anywhere near the same success in the last 20 years, I still love them both, particularly the Reds.

Whilst some on here will frown upon those that don't have family or geographical ties calling themselves "true supporters", try following them for that long when every member of your family is trying to outlaw it.

In recent years I've been trying to read as many books and articles as I can to get a feeling for the city of Liverpool itself and the mad Red fans that live over there, because the club has that whole feeling of being about more than just the 11 they put on the pitch every weekend.

My grandparents are mother grew up in a house on Green St. No choice really.

Started following Birmingham when Stan Lazaridis played for them. Not a big club, not a shithouse club either. Always the underdogs, which is fine by me.

I was a Liverpool supporter as a kid - mainly because Craig Johnston was the only footballer I knew of.
However, hadn't really followed it much until the past five years.
My wife's family are staunch Newcastle supporters, while I also have an uncle who is.
Anyway, we were having a family dinner one night and my father in law says "Truth be told, I was born in Sunderland Hospital and lived closer to there than Newcastle".
So that was it, I stirred my passionate Mags brother in law up about the fact he really should be a Black Cat.
It was at that point I decided I was going to follow Sunderland.
My mother was in England around that time and she came back with a Sunderland shirt for me, ensuring I'd never change.

Interestingly, recently I found out that my Newcastle supporting uncle actually grew up in Hull and my great grandmother was born in Scotland but lived in Newcastle for the first 15 years of her life before moving to Australia.

So, if you take family connections into consideration, my brother in law should be a Cats man and I should be a Mag!

Bulldog wrote:Well funny you should ask, during the late 80's i was following Liverpool. But then moved back towards AFL, because all my mates followed that and I just jumped on the bandwagon. Then in 1997 after watching my beloved Essendon finish second last in the AFL season, I decided to move back to English football. Watched a few games in the 97/98 season and Liverpool didn't seem to be the team I used to watch, so I made a move to the Arsenal and its been like that from then until now.

Hey Bully it is possible to follow teams from more than one code you know! Pity you weren't still on the Bombers in 2000! I hope Arsenal keep your faith... Seriously, it is hard for those with no family or geographical ties to know which team to support. Basically for me, for the same reason I support Essendon, my favourite player plays for Liverpool. If it needed confirming, after the FA Cup final of 06, it most definitely was! And now my 2 favourite players play for the Reds, with El Nino joining the fold (and signing a new long-term deal, great to hear!). I think that first game at Anfield he played for the Reds v Chelsea, when he scored early on, and then made Terry look like a goose when Terry was gobbing off at him, made him an instant favourite!

how did my teams go this year well

bet lifeline never expected this call last monday

in the premiership( well til last week) newcastle united. when i started playing when i was 8 and use to watch the week delayed match of the day . as stated earlier i followed liverpool back then jeez they showed them each week .. i started following newcatle the year they got promoted back to the big one.

millwall- ill blame magpiespower for that one.... but hey cant ignore passionate fans

and in scotland celtic ..

well now u can see y last monday was HELL!!!!

but one result went my way southern knights beat elizabeth grove ( sorry whufc )

The Jack wrote:

Bulldog wrote:Well funny you should ask, during the late 80's i was following Liverpool. But then moved back towards AFL, because all my mates followed that and I just jumped on the bandwagon. Then in 1997 after watching my beloved Essendon finish second last in the AFL season, I decided to move back to English football. Watched a few games in the 97/98 season and Liverpool didn't seem to be the team I used to watch, so I made a move to the Arsenal and its been like that from then until now.

Hey Bully it is possible to follow teams from more than one code you know! Pity you weren't still on the Bombers in 2000! I hope Arsenal keep your faith... Seriously, it is hard for those with no family or geographical ties to know which team to support. Basically for me, for the same reason I support Essendon, my favourite player plays for Liverpool. If it needed confirming, after the FA Cup final of 06, it most definitely was! And now my 2 favourite players play for the Reds, with El Nino joining the fold (and signing a new long-term deal, great to hear!). I think that first game at Anfield he played for the Reds v Chelsea, when he scored early on, and then made Terry look like a goose when Terry was gobbing off at him, made him an instant favourite!

ture but just cant get into any other code except English Football. I watch AFL only when mates are over for a piss up or we are out for a night seen as none of them like English football

My dad played with Derick Doogan (Woolves) and George Best growing up in Belfast and we all moved to Manchester b4 the move to OZ so we all supported Man U. (we have a lot of gear Best gave to my dad b4 the big move)

That was untill a FA Cup Final between Man U and Arsenal and me and my brothers had a huge blew and for some silly reason I alligned with Arsenal.

Bulldog wrote:

The Jack wrote:

Bulldog wrote:Well funny you should ask, during the late 80's i was following Liverpool. But then moved back towards AFL, because all my mates followed that and I just jumped on the bandwagon. Then in 1997 after watching my beloved Essendon finish second last in the AFL season, I decided to move back to English football. Watched a few games in the 97/98 season and Liverpool didn't seem to be the team I used to watch, so I made a move to the Arsenal and its been like that from then until now.

Hey Bully it is possible to follow teams from more than one code you know! Pity you weren't still on the Bombers in 2000! I hope Arsenal keep your faith... Seriously, it is hard for those with no family or geographical ties to know which team to support. Basically for me, for the same reason I support Essendon, my favourite player plays for Liverpool. If it needed confirming, after the FA Cup final of 06, it most definitely was! And now my 2 favourite players play for the Reds, with El Nino joining the fold (and signing a new long-term deal, great to hear!). I think that first game at Anfield he played for the Reds v Chelsea, when he scored early on, and then made Terry look like a goose when Terry was gobbing off at him, made him an instant favourite!

ture but just cant get into any other code except English Football. I watch AFL only when mates are over for a piss up or we are out for a night seen as none of them like English football

Fair enough! Time to get some new mates I say! I also have a mate (believe it or not!), who while not following Liverpool was probably converted to the world game by the same FA Cup final. GERRAAAAARRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like Chelsea because there is this really hot girl at school called Chelsea.

hearts on fire wrote:I like Chelsea because there is this really hot girl at school called Chelsea.

She probably costs too much, isn't as good as the others say, and spits the chewy for all the world to see when she doesn't get her own way .. Be warned!

She's like playing Russian roulette.

Been Lazio since I was born it's the team closest to were my family are from in Italy, Started going for Chelsea in the 90/91 season cause they were the first team I saw in blue in England and they were playing against the red team (I was 5). Didnt really start following EPL till about 96/97 when Vialli, Zola, Di Matteo, Casaraghi all got to Chelsea. However I'm Lazio first and Chelsea second. In Australia went for Adelaide city of corse and now I'm United.

Similar to CP really in that I was brought up in an Aussie household, it was all footy really as that is what my Dad followed and the reason why I go for North. Cricket just passed the time inbetween footy seasons.

Coverage was pretty limited, kids these days don't know how lucky they are with Fox showing most games, Viewers Choice etc, but good ol' SBS used to show a highlights package and I saw a team wearing red and white so started following them. Just lucky that they ended up being successful I guess as they weren't winning a lot back then, and have given me a lot more success than my beloved Roosters have. Of course they then signed Cantona, and Beckham rose through the ranks. Both favourites of mine and it was hard not to like United.

I started following Cardiff probably in the mid-90s. I was getting older and started to develop an interest in my family's history, knew my Grandpa was born in Pontypool which is just outside Cardiff so that's why I chose them over Wrexham and Swansea (thank God I did!). They were in the 3rd tier then and the only way I got scores was by reading the 'Sports Digest' part of the paper.

I was lucky enough to see both live in action a few years ago when I was in the UK and would love to spend some more time over there at some stage in the future and watch more than a couple of games.