Why do you support the team you support?

[AFCA]

Why?

PS. Only one team of course.

[sonicdream]

Good question, but difficult to answer.

I support only Ajax even though I don't live in A'dam. Have been supporting them for over 10 years.

It started - like everyone - out of envy. We first read about the fabled youth system and the players that came through the ranks. You know, that small county/small club who was able to produce all those players aura etc etc.

My "curiousity" of Ajax really started when JC came back to A'dam and won the Cup Winners' Cup in '87. Also went on to the final in '88 but lost.

Then, in '90, under Beenhakker when they won the Eredivisie they again got my attn.

Then, during 92/93 season, they started showing Ajax matches sporadically, mostly on Spanish language tv. Loved the way they played their football. Always a young team, always dominating possession. Always looking better than the opposition, etc.

Then, finally, from 93/94 till 95/96, for 3 glorious years, ESPN2 showed a significant amount of Ajax matches. More matches than A'dammers ever saw on their own tv. Now I'm hooked.

I booked a flight and made my first pilgrimage to A'dam in early '95. Saw deMeer, Meerzicht bar, tram no.9 etc. Now I'm a lifelong fan.

Then in '95 they WON IT ALL - proof that my choice, my team allegiance was the right one. (There was no second choice, really! No other team fascinated me; none.)

Since then, I try to make it to A'dam at least once a year.

But it probalby doesn't make sense to others how a team can completely fascinate and dominate my attention and praise, and being so far away from it all.
All the swagger, the forward play, ball posession, ball distribution, dominance.....no other team plays quite like Ajax.
Back then, Ajax was not a club that embraces faraway fans. It was very domesticated, not like the marketing machines/allure that big clubs have like Man U, Juve or others. It was the small club appeal that also fascinates me.
You'd really have to travel to A'dam in order to appreciate and experience Ajax and to buy souvenirs. All this was as recent as '95.

Today, they are moving towards more global recognition and that's all ok, in their efforts to keep up with the times.

But a lot of the original luster of the small time club (in comparison to other European Cup winners) is now gone. But my allegiance will never sway to others.

Either that or I'm completely nuts....maybe I should cheer for Phila Eagles or something like that. But I cannot cheer for fat 300lb players and game stoppage every 10 seconds....

To me, football is Ajax and Ajax is football. Period.

[Maczebus]

Because I'm evidently a masochist.

Supporting either of my teams (QPR, PNE) is hard work at times.

[bocatuna]

*climbs on high horse and proclaims*

Football Fans Ten Commandments.

1. Thou shalt only support thy local team, regardless of their postion or standing.

*climbs off high horse feeling smug and superior*

[AFCA]

For me... I always knew the word Ajax (being from Amsterdam) but never knew what it was actually. Until I was about 5 or 6 and I saw them on TV once and my dad said 'that is Ajax'.

It was in a time that Ajax was not particularly popular (around 87) that I really started to feel some sort of connection, purely on chauvinistic grounds, being 7 of age. People around me didn't care, and PSV being Holland's nr 1 at that time many silly schoolkids 'supported' PSV. That only made feel more connected with Ajax and it happened on a few occasions that I knocked some of 'em over the head. They made me very mad :D

In 87 we won the EC2 but it didn't mean THAT much to me at the time. It was Euro 88 that made me football mad. All of a sudden I was shaking like an epileptic patient while watching Holland matches. We won in the end and I'll never forget Holland - Germany (running to my room after Germany's 1-0, all in tears) and the atmosphere around it. And I'll never forget the massive celebrations after the final and my parents being drunk, dancing on the tables with everybody else on the Rembrandtsquare. Too bad I was only eight by that time :-(

But from then on I was all football. So it was Ajax. Experiencing everything as taking much longer than it actually does when you're young I remember Ajax being the eternal nr 2 behind PSV. But in 1990 that changed when we became champions in Nijmegen. This was also my first match (with my nephew) and my first expierene with football violence. It fascinated me and to be honest... I thought it was pretty cool. It was a great day, going down 1-0 (needing a tie) but making 1-1 afterall.

From 1991/1992 I visited some more matches with my nephew and I went to my first European match; KAA Gent at home. I remember being sick but I was desperate to go. It was fantastic. Before the match, on the square there was fireworks everywhere. Inside it was even worse. I remember not being able to actually see the first goal as there was hardly anything to be seen from the thick smoke. But it was a fantastic night that made me fall in love with the whole support thing for once and for all.

From 1994 on I started going to home matches about 10-15 times a year (you didn't need a season ticket to be sure of a ticket back then) in the F and E stands behind the goal with my friends. That was pretty cool and how I eventually ended up with the F.Side. Since 1996 I frequently visit away matches in Holland and Europe with a steadily growing group of acquainted F.Side people. I must be on friendly terms with at least 150 people now, 20/30 of which are good friends of mine. And although a lot of the atmosphere from my early days is gone it's still the most important thing in my life, especially on a social level. Except for my girlfriend and 2 other friends I only have Ajax friends. I can't imagine a life without Ajax, F.Side or football in general. It's without a doubt the most important thing in the world. Pretty silly, but it is.

And I even got to know 2 BS posters... a little bit :-)

[AFCA]

Originally posted by bocatuna
*climbs on high horse and proclaims*

Football Fans Ten Commandments.

1. Thou shalt only support thy local team, regardless of their postion or standing.

*climbs off high horse feeling smug and superior*

True and not true. In Holland some villages and small towns that are miles away can have a tradition of being feyenoord/Ajax/utrecht... or both... it passes on from generation to generation.

[mr magoo]

I grew up in family of sunderland fans. But being the person i am i had to be diffrent and i decided that newcastle was the team for me. Scince the age of 6 i have supported them and i can say from the bottom of my heart i think i made the right decision in dumping sunderland.

[AFCA]

I have known one Sunderland in my life and he was the mouthiest piece of shite I've ever known.

I know some Newcastle (not very close, but enough to 'know' them), and their allright. So I guess you did make the right decision :D

[mr magoo]

when it comes down to it all sunderland fans can do is mouth off becasue there team will never acount for much.

There best days were in 1890's and they will never repeat them.

[sonicdream]

Originally posted by bocatuna
*climbs on high horse and proclaims*

Football Fans Ten Commandments.

1. Thou shalt only support thy local team, regardless of their postion or standing.

*climbs off high horse feeling smug and superior*

Not if you're living in friggin US where it costs $10 to park your car, $35 to as much as $150 for ONE tix of a sport that glorifies BIG business and even MORE BIG business...where there's only 10 to 30 pro teams in the entire league...where leagues do not have fan loyalty because the almighty US dollar is a team's biggest concern...where teams will say fu*k off to its fans and move to another city...it's ugly.

SURE, support my "local" team till death do us part....yea, right.
Not if you're living in a city where it's all about money to support its sports teams.

It's Ajax for me....4000 miles away and it's still ok.

(BTW, it costs about Eur 170 per SEASON tix, at Ajax).

Grrr...I've gotta move to A'dam !

[AFCA]

To be a bit more exact... 168 euro's in the cheapest section. But they're not allowing any new seasonticket holders in there untill.... who knows.

But there are also whole sections that cost 2 to 3 times as much.

Move to A'dam... (it would probably have to be Amstelveen then) why the hell not?

[Leto]

Because Harps are my local team. Amn't I great? :)

[RichardL]

I really have no respect for anyone who chooses to support a big club over their local team. It's be like going to school sports day and cheering somebody else's son in the 100m because he has more chance of winning that your own does.

[AFCA]

My dad did it all the time :D

[sonicdream]

Originally posted by RichardL
I really have no respect for anyone who chooses to support a big club over their local team. It's be like going to school sports day and cheering somebody else's son in the 100m because he has more chance of winning that your own does.

There's no football club in Phila. for me to support....where I live.

Just Amer. football, baseball, ice hockey & basketball.

[sonicdream]

Originally posted by AFCA
To be a bit more exact... 168 euro's in the cheapest section. But they're not allowing any new seasonticket holders in there untill.... who knows.

But there are also whole sections that cost 2 to 3 times as much.

Move to A'dam... (it would probably have to be Amstelveen then) why the hell not?

I'm semi-serious about moving to A'dam. Maybe for a few months.
I'd like Vak410. But a most of my A'dam friends are F-siders. My English friends are sitted everywhere around the ArenA.

[AFCA]

Vak410 is quite nice. F-side is closed for new people for 'security reasons' or something.

But it's hard finding a house IN A'dam, especially for a few months.

[sonicdream]

For Ajax-NEC match we were sitted in Vak409 and it was great; had a great view.
That's why I would choose Vak410 or somewhere close by.

I'm aware that apartments in A'dam is difficult to get, especially for a non-EU.
I dunno, I'll keep researching....

...and dreaming....!

[gildarkevin]

1. Because I'm not from Manchester; and
2. Because I only like supporting front running teams. Next year, for instance, if we don't win the EPL, I'll be supporting Arsenal or Liverpool.

I figured I'd throw that in there b/c that's what everyone assumes as soon as I tell them who my team is. But let's not be mistaken about this, I'm not a "casual" fan that only watches because United win. I watch every game that's available on tv, even if it means cutting out from work or taping it and watching at ridiculous hours, and listen on the Internet to every one of the others. Trust me, I also know plenty about the history of the team, have been to Old Trafford, and actually went so far as to get a tattoo of the team's crest at age 30. I'm a member of the US branch of the supporters club and consider the Treble video my favorite movie. I steadfastly refuse to be any other team when I play FIFA2003 on my playstation. My friends think I'm nuts.

The real reason that I found myself in the midst of this situation is:

When I was in HS, my club soccer coach was from England. This was the late 80s, so there was no Internet or satellite television readily available. My impressions were formed from tapes he'd have sent over by friends which he used for teaching purposes. A lot of these involved Manchester United. Around the same time, he also gave my dad, who managed all the administrative affairs for our team, a gift in the form of the book "The Day a Team Died". To read that story pretty much sealed the deal.

[RichardL]

I've got no problem with people who live in an area without a local club supporting a far off team, just people who have lived, for example, in Reading for all their lives and support Man Utd or Liverpool instead. One of the nastiest atmosphere's I've been at was at a Reading v Man Utd cup tie a few years ago. Nothing to do with the official Man Utd fans, who were meek little lambs in the away end, but all the arrogant tossers who stood in the home end of their home town club to cheer on the other team. Quite a few even celebrated Man Utd's first goal. None cheered when Utd's other two went in. An ugly day.