Should you support your local team?

Discussion in 'BigSoccer Polls' started by Deranged, Jan 14, 2014.

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Should you support your local team?

  1. Yes

    98 vote(s)
    73.7%
  2. No

    20 vote(s)
    15.0%
  3. Not sure

    15 vote(s)
    11.3%
  1. Lee Ballantyne

    Lee Ballantyne New Member

    Jan 20, 2015
    Club:
    Newcastle United FC
    In football, where you are born is hardly a superficial fact, at least in the English Leagues.

    Perhaps if we scale things up you can understand why I say only your local team. Who would you support during the Olympic games or the World Cup Finals? Your own country or some random nation? This is the same on a smaller, regional scale with English football.

    Local identity is why 2000 people will be passionately shouting at Spotland on a freezing cold, wet Tuesday night or why 4000 AFC Bournemouth fans will spend a good deal of money on a season ticket and follow their local team home and away along with many more fans with their respective clubs. Are they crazy? Is every match they watch exciting? What are their realistic achievements? the only way the two clubs mentioned could get into Europe is if they took a holiday there. This is not important to those fans, because the team is about so much more than just glory and winning, it's their heritage as I mentioned before.

    Mike Ashley's involvement with Newcastle and how supporters feel about him at our club is well known. He is not a Newcastle fan rather a ruthless businessman who has seized the opportunity to make money. Newcastle has been on the market for many seasons now, Ashley has not received a satisfactory offer yet. I should have included owners too when I said only players choose their team. Owning a team, even part of a team doesn't really make you a true fan. How do Manchester United fans feel about the Glazers for example?

    Yes, it's tough if you are born in Outer Mongolia and the standard of football in your area isn't quite the same as the Spanish league. Of course follow, support and cheer for a Spanish team if you find them exiting, there is room for everyone in football. But no amount of selfies with players, attendance of games or even Real Madrid tattoos will give you the history and connection the fans from Madrid have, it won't be part of your soul, not in your blood. Can you really expect to be considered as genuinely passionate as someone from the city?

    Even the players recognise the difference in support. Roy Keane's outburst regarding the support for Man U away in Europe compared to the "prawn sandwich brigade" as the media called them, at home games. Back then Keane saw how corporate hospitality and 'plastic' supporters were changing the atmosphere at games.

    If you take away the local connection in football you would be left with a homogenous mass of glory hunters shouting for the most exciting team regardless of which shirt the players wear. The likes of Torquay United, Bury, Swindon Town and the hundreds of beautiful smaller clubs through England would disappear under a tidal wave of plastic.
     
  2. CantonaSeagulls

    CantonaSeagulls New Member

    Dec 20, 2014
    New York
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    I think the most frustrating notion to me from your statements is that you *must* be in love with your local team. You mentioned Mongolia...and if you're from Mongolia and simply love the english football leagues and style of play?

    Are you still not a true fan even if you put all of your devotion into Newport County FC? How much would it suck to be one of the average 450 fans cheering on FC Ulanbaantar?

    The point you're making about the great local support of UK teams is well noted. Yet remember, if you're not in the company of dedicated fans it completely lessens the experience at games. If you image search "Torquay United supporters" or "Swindon Town fans" you get great images of the local supporters. Credit to them. Yet try searching FC Ulanbaantar fans and see if you can even find anything.

    In places where no one really cares about the local game, is it that much of an atrocity to love an English team, be it Man United or Notts County? and wish you lived somewhere in England so you could shamelessly support an English club without the judgment of others on internet forums? Hell, I'm sure it must be great to be a Bournemouth fan this year they're poised to go up. Those fans deserve it they have a great squad. But the dedication to teams in England is not really seen in many other countries. Denying someone that loves football a chance to support a club simply due to birthright is ludicrous.

    Do you only buy UK made cars? Surely the reliability and performance of the car isn't an issue to you as long as you buy a car produced in England. Of course not! If you like BMWs do you have to be in Germany to be a 'true consumer' of the automobile?

    Football is a globalized game in a globalized world. Doubt anyone involved with Manchester United Football Club begrudge supporters from buying merchandise and contributing to the pervasiveness of the team.
     
    barroldinho and whill4 repped this.
  3. El Chuma

    El Chuma BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 17, 2005
    San Diego
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    One of the greatest posts on BigSoccer in 2015...
     
  4. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Do you call yourself a plastic fan of New England Revolution, then? Why don't you support a San Diego club?
     
  5. El Chuma

    El Chuma BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 17, 2005
    San Diego
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I was born in Vermont and lived there the majority of my life. No plastic here, I do not own any UEFA jerseys...
     
  6. theFOOTBALLlover

    FC Porto, SC Freamunde & Fraser Park FC
    Jan 17, 2015
    Sydney
    Buying a car is completely different to supporting a football club. That has no relevance.

    As I've posted in the past, I think local clubs should be the clubs we support first.

    However, I can understand why people are passionate about the EPL - easy access and entertaining football. My question to you is this: Do you support a club in the USA or do you just support United?

    I personally have a problem when people are happy to invest their souls, money and time into a city (club) that they have no connection with when they DON'T support a team in their local league.
     
    guignol, Lee Ballantyne and El Chuma repped this.
  7. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    local clubs are the ONLY ones you can actually SUPPORT. of course you don't have to. you can just watch any team you want on TV and follow them in the papers. but SUPPORT is a current that goes both ways. you have to be in the stadium and not in a skybox. when a player needs that extra microgram of adrenalin to win a ball or make a run he doesn't get it from thinking, "gosh, how about all that merchandise we're selling in kuala lumpur! i'm so jazzed!" no, he gets it from the fans chanting and cheering him on from the kop.

    interested in the EPL as a league, most people are (not me really). find it the BEST league? pretty natural... but passionate? i'm not buying. not from johnny foreigner anyway.

    another very important thing. supporting means suffering. and one doesn't suffer by choice. not for long anyway. a real supporter can't have the option of saying fvck this, i've had it. you have to be married to the club for better or worse. it CAN'T be a choice. you HAVE to be stuck with it.
     
    La Magica and theFOOTBALLlover repped this.
  8. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    So it's your personal problem if I happen don't feel the support inside of me for my local club, but have been a passionate Arsenal (non-local club for me) fan for two decades? How come it's your business anyway?
     
  9. CantonaSeagulls

    CantonaSeagulls New Member

    Dec 20, 2014
    New York
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Of course I follow the local league, I love it in fact. I am quite a big fan of Philadelphia Union. I support them alongside United and have had the privilege to meet players on that team.

    Also, I'm planning on studying abroad next year - in Manchester. A big part of this decision is due to the fact that United are there, and I'd like to get the experience of living in England (but not London, as it is extremely globalized like New York City). I suppose living there for a year wouldn't change the opinions of some of the naysayers on this thread though.

    And to call you out El Chuma:
    Going by your logic you're a plastic. Your local team was NOT New England Revolution if you grew up in Vermont. Vermont Voltage, the 4th division USL Pro Team, should've been your side if you were concerned with supporting your "local" club. Surely that's one of those "beautiful smaller clubs" that Lee spoke about?
     
  10. CantonaSeagulls

    CantonaSeagulls New Member

    Dec 20, 2014
    New York
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    seems rather silly to be an advocate for supporting your local club when you don't actually support your local team!
     
  11. El Chuma

    El Chuma BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 17, 2005
    San Diego
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Vermont Voltage did NOT exist when I lived there...
     
  12. theFOOTBALLlover

    FC Porto, SC Freamunde & Fraser Park FC
    Jan 17, 2015
    Sydney
    If we don't support our own leagues, they will die off. People are already talking about a European Super League. It will kill off the other clubs.
     
  13. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    I'm not saying that support for local clubs isn't important for football. I'm saying one shouldn't be forced to support any other club than one wants.
     
  14. CantonaSeagulls

    CantonaSeagulls New Member

    Dec 20, 2014
    New York
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Voltage are only two years younger than Revs. So you lived in Vermont up until 1996 and just headed out west or something? Lol.
     
  15. La Magica

    La Magica Member+

    Aug 1, 2011
    Club:
    AS Roma
    A European Super League has been mentioned for years, part of me hopes it never comes to pass but then I think let the greedy bastards go and the casual gloryhunters with them. At least they will be rounded up in one place then.
     
    guignol repped this.
  16. El Chuma

    El Chuma BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 17, 2005
    San Diego
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Hi, in fact I did whats with the lol? When are you moving to Manchester?
     
  17. theFOOTBALLlover

    FC Porto, SC Freamunde & Fraser Park FC
    Jan 17, 2015
    Sydney
    And I'm saying that you should at least support your local club.
     
  18. Auriaprottu

    Auriaprottu Member+

    Atlanta Damn United
    Apr 1, 2002
    The back of the bus
    Club:
    Atlanta
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    What if the skybox has an open-air section and the player can still hear you?
     
  19. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    I'm saying it's none of your business whatever club I support (no hostility intended).
     
  20. CantonaSeagulls

    CantonaSeagulls New Member

    Dec 20, 2014
    New York
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    The lol is because you don't support your "local" team. Foxborough is further from Vermont than Manchester is to liverpool. You're not from the Boston area so you couldn't possibly have the "small, local connection" Lee wrote about that you so passionately agreed with.
    And I don't need to justify my support of Man United to you because I don't adhere to your set of rules. I'm fine with supporting a team that I am not from. And apparently you are too.
     
    barroldinho and Rana catesbeiana repped this.
  21. El Chuma

    El Chuma BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 17, 2005
    San Diego
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    UEFA is NEVER local...
     
  22. EvanJ

    EvanJ Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    Mar 30, 2004
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I believe in supporting your local team, but in the USA you can be hundreds of miles away from the nearest MLS club. There are no professional soccer clubs in northeastern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine. I have no problem with a person in Vermont choosing a New York City or New England/Boston team.
     
  23. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    wtf? have you ever seen the prats
    wtf? have you ever seen the prats in those sections? make noise? what a faux pas that would be!
     
    Auriaprottu repped this.
  24. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    :Dexcept in yurp.
     
  25. barroldinho

    barroldinho Member+

    Man Utd and LA Galaxy
    England
    Aug 13, 2007
    US/UK dual citizen in HB, CA
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Sitting on my Dad's lap as a toddler, being told we want the ones in the red shirts and white sorts to win. Taking that to heart and following it your entire life. The sheer ****ing delirium of seeing the team you've followed since the earliest memories of you almost-sixteen-year-old life, win the English title.

    Then having to deal with ignorant w-nkers from that point on assuming you're some kind of band-wagoner. Having people threatening to kick the sh1t out of you based on that misconception.

    My Dad grew up in the Northeast of England in the fifties and sixties and raised me a United fan. I didn't "support my local team" because nobody was spouting that at me until my team became resented for being the best in the country.

    I support Man United out of family tradition and a bond with my Old Man. That's every bit about my heritage as you supporting your local.

    https://barroldinhosoccer.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/festive-footy-advent-day-1-of-24-the-beginning/

    https://barroldinhosoccer.wordpress...y-advent-day-5-of-24-we-dub-thee-gloryhunter/
     
    Rana catesbeiana repped this.

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