Have you seen your team play more than once?

[CyberRose]

following on from Revol68's addmission that he has only seen his beloved club - Manchester United - once.... it's a poll for football fans to see if they can match Revol68's feat or heaven forbid even beat it!

So have you seen your team play more than once!?

Funnily enough I've been to see Sheff Utd play Man Utd at Old Trafford but we couldn't get tickets in the away end so we had to buy tickets in the home end and sit with the Man U fans!

 

[revol68]

round the time you say you got into it, moran, mcgrath and whiteside were all half out the door - who was left?

yes because at 8 years old you are bang up to date on the internal politics, infact i remember discussing Fergusons crusade against the alkie brigade with my wee mate in class.

 

[Chorlton]

Funnily enough I've been to see Sheff Utd play Man Utd at Old Trafford but we couldn't get tickets in the away end so we had to buy tickets in the home end and sit with the Man U fans!

interesting poll - how many people do not support man united but still have seen them more times than revol....

 

[Lad]

"oh catcha grip it's hardly a real hatred, certainly not comparable to the troubles here."

I didn't say it was but it's a real hatred.If you don't know that you don't know the team you support.In no way are L.F.C. any better in this respect.You just throw around the abuse without understanding it.You've never really been to the game but think you have to spout shit to show your credentials as a proper fan.I don't think you a good fan but a gegger.Truth is most mancs and scousers have a bit of respect for people who support their local team.There's plenty of Belfast accents at Anfield btw.

 

[passenger]

interesting poll - how many people do not support man united but still have seen them more times than revol....

your cruel

 

[Chorlton]

yes because at 8 years old you are bang up to date on the internal politics, infact i remember discussing Fergusons crusade against the alkie brigade with my wee mate in class.

not sure i follow you, i'll repeat, in the time period between 88 and 89 those three irish players left the club, this is the time period you say you got into them not least thanks to the irish players there.... they were hardly at the peak of their careers (altho mcgraths rejuvination at villa was spectacular) yet down the road you had whelan, houghton and aldridge in spectacular form... just wondering like....

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

I haven't been to see west ham since our relegation season in 2003, cos that was the last time i was in the UK.

Didn't go as much as some though, probably once-twice a season, too bloody expensive and I was up to my ears in debt. If I go back will insist with Mrs RD that I get a season ticket now that we've saved up some money - that is, if we're playing well (note: this isn't meant gloryhuntingly, I couldn't care less if we are in the nineteenth division, it's more about the total lack of caring that I see from the players at the moment)

Keep meaning to go and support my local team Dalian Shide but keep never getting round to it.

 

[revol68]

interesting poll - how many people do not support man united but still have seen them more times than revol....

Like I said plenty of out and out glory hunters I know have seen Man Utd alot more than people who have been fans since primary school.

I'd imagine that if i'd grown up in Liverpool i'd have been at every game with my dad and spent most of my teenage years trying to defend Duncan Ferguson, I didn't. Soo fucking what.

 

[revol68]

not sure i follow you, i'll repeat, in the time period between 88 and 89 those three irish players left the club, this is the time period you say you got into them not least thanks to the irish players there.... they were hardly at the peak of their careers (altho mcgraths rejuvination at villa was spectacular) yet down the road you had whelan, houghton and aldridge in spectacular form... just wondering like....

You forget I am a northern ireland supporter, my main interest was Norman Whiteside and obviously the historically legacy of George Best whose testimonial I remeber staying up to watch in my Northern Ireland away kit. Anyway I never said my primary reason for supporting them was the irish players, i said the reason those teams have historical folllowings has alot to do with this, it played big role in the profile of those clubs and why their games were broadcast.

 

[revol68]

and anyway this is all shit because you pick your team and that's it you stick with them. Plenty of my mates were glory hunters who supported Liverpool, to me they aren't glory hunters now because they've stood by the team and not fucked off to Chelsea or whoever.

 

[Bazza]

It's bad enough that you support a team who have absolutely nothing to do with you but you then go and choose the McDonalds of football. Why not support Nottingham Forest or Birmingham - plenty of Irish people in those cities. Or if Irishness has nothing to do with your choice how about Barnsley or Scunthorpe?

To be fair to Rev, he's given pretty good answers on this thread and my old housemate is from NI but picked Sheffield Wednesday and I can't knock him for the absolute passion he has watching the results come in every Saturday despite only having been to Hillsborough once. I'd wind him up with much of the same kind of things said on here (I don't get why he loathes the Blades so much!).

Like you say, it's the pantomine of it all.

However, when someone slates my team it is comforting to be able to comeback and say "do you watch them ever?".

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I've been lots of times, probably into the hundreds, over 20 years.

I don't think there's anything wrong as such in being a TV only supporter. Football isn't the be all and end all and as someone said already there is such a thing as a sense of proportion - I have no desire to be one of those blokes who won't go to weddings because the reserves are playing away or something.

It's not the same thing as actually going though, however much they might want it to be, and I wouldn't take anyone seriously who bangs on about how much of a fan they are when they never go. And you can argue till you're blue in the face that it is the same - but how would you know?

 

[revol68]

It's not the same thing as actually going though, however much they might want it to be, and I wouldn't take anyone seriously who bangs on about how much of a fan they are when they never go. And you can argue till you're blue in the face that it is the same - but how would you know?

of course it's not the same, but when you live in Northern Ireland it's not a simple matter of choosing to sit and watch on tv over going to the game. I'd lvoe to be able to see Man Utd play live everyother week, i'd love to travel to away games but I can't afford it either in terms of money or time.

I mean if i was sitting here spouting off about Glentoran and saying I supported them but hadn't been to game that would be a different matter.

 

[Bazza]

I don't think there's anything wrong as such in being a TV only supporter. Football isn't the be all and end all and as someone said already there is such a thing as a sense of proportion

This is true, I think Revol is just getting stick because of the way he slags other teams, fans, etc....

Suggesting the fans of my team spent Sunday doing Nazi salutes and then admitting he's only been to one game does make him look like a mug in my book but I think his answers on here have all been fair enough.

I've been living in or around London all my life so I can't really compare.

 

[revol68]

This is true, I think Revol is just getting stick because of the way he slags other teams, fans, etc....

Suggesting the fans of my team spent Sunday doing Nazi salutes and then admitting he's only been to one game does make him look like a mug in my book but I think his answers on here have all been fair enough.

I've been living in or around London all my life so I can't really compare.

I don't think you get the fact that this kind of stuff is just pantomine, well that and the fact that Chavski have always had a loyalist contingent. So in truth the loyalist chelski scum are probably of more relevance to me than some wee lad from Salford.

Don;t youse realsie that northern irish liverpool and man utd fans slag each other from no age? Alright it maybe doesn't have to rival cities thing but there is a definite football rivalry. And as for songs about scouse bin hokers, well scousers reputations are international and more to the point football chants are hardly rational in the first place.

 

[passenger]

I don't think you get the fact that this kind of stuff is just pantomine, well that and the fact that Chavski have always had a loyalist contingent. So in truth the loyalist chelski scum are probably of more relevance to me than some wee lad from Salford.

the only ground i have been to that's offered me the NF Times or something like that

 

[Bazza]

I just don't understand this loyalist contingent at Chelsea to be honest. I bought a fanzine once called "Blues Brothers" and it was just some Rangers-Chelsea-Linfield hooligan love-in. (I didn't have a clue that's what it would be by the way).

I appreciate it's had a big impact on your life but sectarianism in football is a very odd thing in my opinion......especially in England and Scotland.

 

[revol68]

I just don't understand this loyalist contingent at Chelsea to be honest. I bought a fanzine once called "Blues Brothers" and it was just some Rangers-Chelsea-Linfield hooligan love-in. (I didn't have a clue that's what it would be by the way).

I appreciate it's had a big impact on your life but sectarianism in football is a very odd thing in my opinion......especially in England and Scotland.

yeah sectarianism probably plays a huge role in why english football is soo big over here. From the troubles ruining the Irish league, to people wanting to be able to have abit of banter and rivalry without the sectarian overtones. I mean a Man utd fan and a Liverpool fan mouthing off at each other in a belfast pub is all just a bit of a laugh but if it was a Cliftonville and Linfield fan it'd have far more potential for serious trouble.

 

[revol68]

I dont want tell you who to support revol but why would you have to pick a Belfast team rather than Larne? Its hardly a million miles away and Larne must play quite a few games in and around Belfast.

yo sorry i misread this earlier. I thought you meant why didn't I just support a Belfast team. Well the reason I don't cheer on Larne is cos I've no one to go with, to many sectarian pricks I grew up with go to the games and I have no desire to mix with them. There's also a more Dallasesque factor involving my da falling out with the old chairman, the splitting of the local youth team and fraud but i'll leave that wee story for later kiddies as i'm out of work now.

In short I've no great love left for Larne as a team, a club or the supporters but couldn't really bring myself to support another irish league team.

 

[Chorlton]

yeah sectarianism probably plays a huge role in why english football is soo big over here.

i would dispute that entirely.

in recent years cliftonville have become a 'nationalist' side as the make-up of that area has changed, and there is now donegal celtic in the league but in the past the supporters of the clubs that make up that league have almost exclusively been from unionist areas...

if you were to say that is why more people from nationalist backgrounds support english clubs, i could kind of see where you are coming from based on the above, but i don't particuarly think and i'm sure you would agree, that the support of english clubs is split along political lines


stop blaming The Troubles© for everything

 

[tbaldwin]

I just don't understand this loyalist contingent at Chelsea to be honest. I bought a fanzine once called "Blues Brothers" and it was just some Rangers-Chelsea-Linfield hooligan love-in. (I didn't have a clue that's what it would be by the way).

I appreciate it's had a big impact on your life but sectarianism in football is a very odd thing in my opinion......especially in England and Scotland.

It started in the 80s when certain right wingers took an interest in loyalism. Before that Chelsea always had a lot of Catholic Irish fans from places like Kilburn and Willesden and the unofficial supporters club shop proudly displayed a Celtic scarf....

 

[revol68]

i would dispute that entirely.

in recent years cliftonville have become a 'nationalist' side as the make-up of that area has changed, and there is now donegal celtic in the league but in the past the supporters of the clubs that make up that league have almost exclusively been from unionist areas...

if you were to say that is why more people from nationalist backgrounds support english clubs, i could kind of see where you are coming from based on the above, but i don't particuarly think and i'm sure you would agree, that the support of english clubs is split along political lines

What are you on about? People from both sides support english clubs not just nationalists. The point isn't that people didn't follow football, it's that even people from protestant backgrounds who supported teams like Glentoran always supported an English team too. Cliftonville fans will support a team in England as well. My point is that English football serves a role in that it provides a kind of neutral sphere away from sectarian tension. I'm not arguing that people who support English teams aren't sectarian, I'm saying that even sectarian bigots have a need and use for neutral spaces.

 

[Chorlton]

My point is that English football serves a role in that it provides a kind of neutral sphere away from sectarian tension.

and i'm saying, thats balls.

thats like saying coronation street provides a kind of neutral sphere away from sectarian tension.

 

[revol68]

and i'm saying, thats balls.

thats like saying coronation street provides a kind of neutral sphere away from sectarian tension.

Well in so much as it's a sphere enjoyed across communal boundaries and is not colonialised by sectarian signifiers it is, infact it provides a common discourse for my ma and her prod co workers in the nursing home.

It's also a fact that alot of parents pushed English football as an alternative to the Celtic and Rangers binary, though my da was happy enough with me wearing a Celtic shirt till I was 14 (after that he thinks it's just part of sectarian shit). You also overlook my point that the troubles destroyed Irish league football, leaving it the pile of shit it is today.

 

[tbaldwin]

and i'm saying, thats balls.

thats like saying coronation street provides a kind of neutral sphere away from sectarian tension.

Yeah but having a baddie called Charlie could put a lot of young uns off drugs.

 

[Chorlton]

though my da was happy enough with me wearing a Celtic shirt till I was 14

i think you miss the point, after the age of 14 you shouldn't be wearing any teams shirt was perhaps the point yer da was trying to make - and quite right he was too

You also overlook my point that the troubles destroyed Irish league football, leaving it the pile of shit it is today.

i did overlook it.. firstly i didn't see it... and secondly - i don't think The Troubles© really have that much to do with why you support man utd or billy from tigers bay supports linfield, rangers and Liverpool... and i'm baffled by your insistence on shoehorning it in?

 

[editor]

And sure don't you worry about my tickets, sure if i keep at this IT shite I might end up as comfortable as your goodself, then I can go see them alot more.

How do you know my financial circumstances?

 

[Bazza]

How do you know my financial circumstances?

You're the guy who drives through Brixton in the big Rolls Royce aren't you (Have you seen that?)

 

[editor]

You're the guy who drives through Brixton in the big Rolls Royce aren't you

Two Rolls Royces, actually. One for me, the other for my pots of gold.

 

[Gromit]

Heathen. You should use a Bentley for the gold. Have you no class?