Following more than one club?

[Dark Savante]

I'm not trying to be controversial here. I'm just trying to get my head around the concept of supporting more than one club.

How does it work?

Where do your alligiences lie ultimately? As in, if both teams are playing at the same time or happen to meet in a competition (if that's possible) how do you root/watch (for) one over the other?

I get that some people have travelled and/or lived for a long time in one country or another, but in the end, doesn't one of those teams have your heart over the other one?

People, care to explain to this simpleton? :)

[Motterman]

Club Team and National Team

There isn't any room for more than that.

[Vermont Red]

I think that its possible to cheer for more than one time, but I agree that only one is in your heart. I could probably find an MLS team to cheer for (if I could stomach it) but it wouldn't be in my heart. The closest you can come is like Motter said, root for a national team, too.

[jayro75]

I could probably find an MLS team to cheer for (if I could stomach it) but it wouldn't be in my heart. .

You should become an LA Galaxy fanboy.. You've got the United connection with Becks, and since they have Landy Cakes as well you can explain your cheating on United by saying the Galaxy is a womens soccer team.

[The Jitty Slitter]

i find it fine to support St Pauli locally (200m round the corner) and go to games etc - and still follow the gunners.

The PL is the ultimate circus. My local team is great fun, brilliant support, and awful footie ;) ;)

[holytoledo]

Club Team and National Team

There isn't any room for more than that.

Agreed. I suppose I could support a MLS team but there isn't one anywhere near me so what would be the point?

[DutchFootballRulez]

It's easy when clubs will not ever play against each other. DC United & Barcelona, will probably never ever play each other in anything ever. DC United is the local, so I'll never turn away from them. Barcelona is sort of a fancy that grew from my fanboyism of Kluivert, Luis Enrique, Guardiola and Rivaldo.

[GrodZilla]

I'm not trying to be controversial here. I'm just trying to get my head around the concept of supporting more than one club.

How does it work?

Where do your alligiences lie ultimately? As in, if both teams are playing at the same time or happen to meet in a competition (if that's possible) how do you root/watch (for) one over the other?

I get that some people have travelled and/or lived for a long time in one country or another, but in the end, doesn't one of those teams have your heart over the other one?

People, care to explain to this simpleton? :)

To me it basically comes down to thesame behaviour that every time you watch a game with two random teams you will probably end up cheering for one. If the game is irrelevant for Manchester I pick a team for a number of reasons or none at all.

In the same way I may wish that a certain team do well in La Liga, Ligue 1, The Swedish League etc. Simply because you will feel more for one club. I'm probably a bad example because I only have one team in my heart.

But I'd still like Barcelona to win La Liga because I like the club. I'd like Lyon to win the Ligue 1 because it's always fun to be a part of something historic as their run is right now. I used to have a favourite Serie A team as well but that league is dead to me. When they play the Champions League I'd like them to do well b ut there is no rivalry between Utd and Barcelona. And I might switch those allegiances at any given time.

[Invincible]

I dont see how anyone can do it either. There's only room for two teams in my heart, and that's the Red Devils, and the Soca Warriors.

[dannytoone]

My club is Benfica, and they always have my allegience no matter what. My second club s Boavista, and they have second place.

Then other clubs come in like Valencia and Manchester United...which I support, but if they faced any of my other two clubs, would lose the support.

[Vermont Red]

Then other clubs come in like Valencia and Manchester United...which I support, but if they faced any of my other two clubs, would lose the support.

And be the poorer for it.

[SirManchester]

I think it mainly has to do with where you grow up and what you grow up with. So far I've lived on two continents and three distinctly different parts of the world and in each one I grew up differently from the other. You can support the first team you knew but if you live in a region outside of where said team is from, you're bound to be in contact with another team, it's inevitable, and if a connection is there, you might end up supporting them.

I for one still subscribe to the theory that a club chooses you instead of the other way around. One can support their local team and a completely foreign team IF the right connection is made. This is very much my case, which I've explained before and don't want to get into straight away, but ultimately one club stands above the rest. A true fan will never split his loyalties equally between club teams.

Also, I think of football on two levels, club level and international level, and it's perfectly fine to support a club and national team.

[johno]

I think its easier if you don't really have a local team to support. Then you become a fan of the beautiful game and not really a fan of a team.

True, diehard fans of one team care about the team a great deal and that's because a bond and a link has been formed for whatever reason. Football or whatever the sport may be is no longer simply a game and I think that's what seperates us from the others. If footy is simply a game then a bunch of teams you like to watch really doesn't seem that ackward.

Me - I've been infected with the Red Devil virus...

I'm United through and through...

but, there are 2 other teams I like to see do well....

1. Possibly ahead of United or just as much - The Soca Warriors.

2. WConnection - they can never challenge United because all the reaons I like them are reasons that drew me to United.

a. team centered around youth development
b. great attacking play
c. all the teams - from the U-14s up play the same 442 (a diamond)
d. 90s cult CM hero with a knack for timely goals Carrington (Keane)
e. great wing play, probably 2 best wingers in T&T in Ronaldo Vianna and Andrei Pacheco (Ronaldo and Giggs)
f. talismanic old ass support striker Earl Jean (Teddy)

[bigdush]

i find it fine to support St Pauli locally (200m round the corner) and go to games etc - and still follow the gunners.

The PL is the ultimate circus. My local team is great fun, brilliant support, and awful footie ;) ;)

Good evening everyone. I lurk way more than I post, but I figured this for a good spot for me to wade in a little.

I agree with the generals of how jitty posted. But I also like add that, especially in the states where the game has to continue to grow, it is essential to support the local MLS team. Without fan support the league shuts down. Without the league this country has a snowball's chance in hades to ever field a national team that will challenge for anything meaningful.

In my opinion, it is tough to say that you support the U.S. Nats without forking over some dough and a little bit of your heart, to truly support the local/closest MLS team.

Fervent support breeds more support (people like to join in on something that looks like a good time). To say that you pay to see games, without showing any heartfelt support, won't cut it for growing the sport here. The future, big money advertisers/sponsors need to see the support before they will sign on and invest the money.

..............and thus ends the official longest post by bigdush on bigsoccer.

[llcc]

I'm not trying to be controversial here. I'm just trying to get my head around the concept of supporting more than one club.

How does it work?

Where do your alligiences lie ultimately? As in, if both teams are playing at the same time or happen to meet in a competition (if that's possible) how do you root/watch (for) one over the other?

I get that some people have travelled and/or lived for a long time in one country or another, but in the end, doesn't one of those teams have your heart over the other one?

People, care to explain to this simpleton? :)

DS, what would you do if you could only follow Man Utd from afar? Obviously you'd still love the club, but as a football fan, would you attend games of the local teams? If they played attractive ball with passion and were scrapping in the table or in a cup, and you found yourself really pulling for them.....

If you're really trying to understand, put yourself in the shoes of a fan who is from another part of the planet who fell in love with the amazing ball movement, the glorious attacking, the passion, commitment, history and all else that makes it the club it is. If I were so lucky to be from the area, there's not a lot I wouldn't sacrifice to go see Utd play live as often as possible. Somewhere on my list of dreams is a flat near Old Trafford with season tickets, but thats a looooong way off... In the meantime, if I want to see live footie, its the l.a. galaxy, for better or worse. No, I don't feel the same commitment. I hope they meet Man Utd someday. I'll be wearing red.

That said, I couldn't see supporting two clubs in the same league, if thats what you're getting at.

[mhtwins113]

Fervently support United, Galaxy (local club), and the USA.

Like watching Barcelona, support them in La Liga, but don't follow their news and their results that closely. Basically, if I see them in any match that isn't against United, I'll support them. But that's all.

[Numquam Moribimur]

One Love -One Heart - One Soul = MUFC

:)

[Mac_Howard]

No problem supporting the two teams mentioned in my list - Man Utd and Perth Glory. As the two stadia are 11,000 miles apart it's not often I have the choice of attending both at the same time so no problem there. It is possible that both would appear in matches on tv simultaneously, though it hasn't happened yet, in which case I would watch Utd and record the Glory, partly because "my heart" is with Utd for historical reasons and partly because it's a lot more pleasant watching Utd than the Glory.

The Glory used to be known as the Man Utd of Australian football but then they had ownership problems. Oh, but wait ........... :rolleyes:

[Dark Savante]

DS, what would you do if you could only follow Man Utd from afar? Obviously you'd still love the club, but as a football fan, would you attend games of the local teams? If they played attractive ball with passion and were scrapping in the table or in a cup, and you found yourself really pulling for them.....

If you're really trying to understand, put yourself in the shoes of a fan who is from another part of the planet who fell in love with the amazing ball movement, the glorious attacking, the passion, commitment, history and all else that makes it the club it is. If I were so lucky to be from the area, there's not a lot I wouldn't sacrifice to go see Utd play live as often as possible. Somewhere on my list of dreams is a flat near Old Trafford with season tickets, but thats a looooong way off... In the meantime, if I want to see live footie, its the l.a. galaxy, for better or worse. No, I don't feel the same commitment. I hope they meet Man Utd someday. I'll be wearing red.

That said, I couldn't see supporting two clubs in the same league, if thats what you're getting at.

I understand watching more than one team, sure. I am talking about supporting though i.e putting your heart and soul into a club.

I know that's a bit OTT for some as footy is only a game, but I would say Man Utd has evoked more ( a vaster range of) emotion out of me in my lifetime oin a day-to-day basis than almost any person has. I mean, your family and friends are a constant, from day-to-day you hopefully see or speak to them and as long as they are OK healthwise, your emotional state remains constant - you don't have extreme highs and lows with them every single week of the year, if you follow my meaning? If you did you'd probably have a nervous breakdown.

Come matchday and the days preceding it, my moods can dip and swing wildly because of a result and I think that's the same for many people. In this sense, I don't 'get' how you can have such an emotional attachment and bond to more than one club. In a sense, if you have two clubs you're no longer a supporter, rather a viewer, no?

I mean, I can watch many teams from many leagues, but I have no emotional attachment to them at all. Their results, their problems etc mean nothing to me as soon as the 90 is up. When United lose I go through an 'acceptance process' that many others do. Depending on how the loss occured, my thoughts, my mood and my emotional state will reflect that. My gf used to think it was an act or that it was quite pathetic to see a grown man angered/sulking or whatever after a bad game, until she realised it really does affect me greatly.

I've never understood how that level of emotion can be generated if you have more than one club alligience - I can understand having an interest in another team and their results, but I can't see how there can be a resvoir of emotions to dip into with spliced loyalty?

It's funny because sports are one of the few things in the world where indoctorination is acceptable. You'll often mimic the habits and behaviour of those whom you grew up with, with regards to sport and I think footy generates more emotion and bizarre out-of-keeping-behaviour in grown men than any other sport in the world. The tribalism, and sometimes hooliganism and so forth of men 'defending' their badge like it were a coat of arms...it's absurd...if you're looking at it from the outside in, really.

You mention having a dream of one day living within a few hundred yards of OT. That's some statement, no? Wouldn't that then mean that one club has captured your heart over another? It's not the kind of thing people tend to say in passing. I also found, courtesy of the internet, that many a Red who are based outside of Manchester or England set themselves definitive dates to get to OT by and to fend off the criticisms of those who will shout JCL or OOT or many other acronyms, they'll ingratiate themselves in their club's culture to an extent that many of your average English fans don't. The sense and need to belong fuels this, surely there's a crossover point where you then become a one club man/woman?

A few years back I was in Austria on business for four weeks, I had no access to Manchester United news or games and I swear, after one week I was going up the walls...if you've ever seen Trainspotting you'll get the idea, lol. I couldn't get my fix and it felt like I was going cold turkey. I ended up watching FC Telfs and had access to Die Bundesliga, but it was all so meaningless. That's the most surreal experience I've ever had in regards to supporting this club. I can only imagine what it used to be like for emmigrants who left England and went to the other side of the world where their club was not the centre of the universe.

I'm warbling on. I should stop. Perhaps somewhere in there you get what I mean though. I think there's a vast difference between watching two teams or more and supporting a single club and from that POV, it is still a question that intrigues me even though I can take what you said onboard.

[Stud83]

Does rooting against someone count? :cool: