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. SoccerMaestro523

    SoccerMaestro523 New Member

    Dec 5, 2014
    Club:
    Flamengo Rio Janeiro
    Personally, I support my local team, Flamengo. Flamengo may not have many all-star players such as those in elite clubs like Barcelona or Bayern, but to me, Flamengo will always be my team. I have friends who root for teams such as Barcelona and Real Madrid even though they are not Spanish. Some of them don't really act as if they care as much as others.

    My opinion is that you should root for the team that has the deepest emotional connection to you, it shouldn't matter if the team is from a different nation or from the same.
     
    Rana catesbeiana and augiechen7 repped this.
  2. bestvaluestore

    Sep 21, 2014
    Club:
    Paris Saint Germain FC
    Yes.I completely agree here,well said.
     
  3. sokorny

    sokorny Member

    Nov 6, 2014
    Westerm Australia
    Club:
    Perth Glory
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Personally I support my local club in the Australian league, but also support other clubs overseas. Aston Villa is my EPL team.

    I personally think you should follow a local team (one within your country), especially if you live outside of Europe. You need to support your local club. Of course you can also support another "big" league team, but how often do you get to their games? (in Australia most European games are on around midnight too, so no excuse not to follow the local game either).

    I understand that some fans in countries with a football pyramid may support a local team but also support an EPL/Serie A/Bundesliga etc. team too (especially if their team has little to no chance of ever making the top flight).
     
  4. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    I honestly don't get why anyone "should" support any certain club. I mean I know it's good for a club to get local support, obviously, but it's not my obligation to support a local club if I follow football, and I wouldn't have the nerve to tell anyone what clubs they should support. I support whatever team(s) I want, end of story, and I'd reckon everyone else does the same.
     
  5. Dmed10

    Dmed10 Member

    Apr 16, 2014
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Pakistan
    Club:
    ''Paris Saint Germain FC''

    are you from Paris bro :D
     
  6. bestvaluestore

    Sep 21, 2014
    Club:
    Paris Saint Germain FC

    Yes,I think you are right here.
     
  7. RichardL

    RichardL BigSoccer Supporter

    May 2, 2001
    Berkshire
    Club:
    Reading FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Doesn't it strike you as even slightly odd that somebody wouldn't favour the team that represented their local community?

    OK, I can see why the appeal isn't that strong if your local team plays in front of 60 people in a ground whose biggest structure looks like a small bike shed, or if you live in an area that doesn't have an obvious team to support, but supporting a big club over your home town team is a bit like cheering another family's kid on sports day.
     
  8. Gosling

    Gosling Member

    Dec 22, 2014
    Watertown, WI
    Club:
    Aston Villa FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm American in a region without an MLS representative or anything that has the slightest promise of wanting to be MLS anytime soon. The nearest thing we have in professional terms is the Chicago Fire, and in Wisconsin, Chicago does not qualify as local; in fact, Chicago is usually the rival. The turf is regarded as Wisconsin, all of Wisconsin and nothing but Wisconsin.

    The top product in Wisconsin is fourth-tier amateur ball which was fifth-tier ball until just recently. Which wouldn't be so bad except that the US doesn't have promotion/relegation and any movement through the ranks is done by applying to move up or volunteering to move down. So unless I'm willing to spend my time trying to follow an amateur team in a country where there is almost no chance of that ever being properly reciprocated, I'm kind of stuck. We are actually better off trying to agitate for worthwhile clubs to just show up here for a preseason friendly and maybe hoping we can get a new team to be freshly founded higher up.
     
  9. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    I'm not saying I'd see that as "not odd" or "odd", I'm just saying that in my opinion, that somebody should support whatever team he feels like supporting, regardless of whether I think it's odd or not. I'm also not questioning the appeal of supporting a local club, but again: not a problem to me, if somebody else doesn't feel that appeal.
     
  10. bestvaluestore

    Sep 21, 2014
    Club:
    Paris Saint Germain FC
    No,I am not from Paris but I support the team.
     
  11. RichardL

    RichardL BigSoccer Supporter

    May 2, 2001
    Berkshire
    Club:
    Reading FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Perhaps one of the nastiest atmospheres at a Reading home game I've been in was about 20 years ago, when Reading played Manchester United.

    You had local people, from Reading, cheering against their home town club, stood in the Reading end, among other locals.

    I can fully understand kids doing it, and I can fully appreciate adults still maintaining a following for the club they grew up supporting. Smaller clubs have a huge number of fans who grew up supporting "a club off the telly" and still take an active interest in their results. You also get fans who stay fans of that bigger clubs, but take an interest in their local side.

    There are fans though who never lose that blind-spot for anything not involving the elite clubs, who can parrot tv pundits viewpoints as if they are their own, who don't seem able to see any appeal in supporting sides who aren't competing more major honours every year.

    If that is a fan's mindset then that's just the way it is. You couldn't persuade someone like that to support their local team (and it'd be daft to try) as they just have a different motivation for supporting a club. If something happened which meant that club was no longer a contender, they'd just lose interest, or even switch to another club.
     
  12. Dmed10

    Dmed10 Member

    Apr 16, 2014
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Pakistan
    where are you from?
     
  13. bestvaluestore

    Sep 21, 2014
    Club:
    Paris Saint Germain FC
    Bulgaria.
     
  14. Dmed10

    Dmed10 Member

    Apr 16, 2014
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Pakistan
    Nice, how did you become a PSG fan?


    And isn't your country home to Aziz lol
     
  15. mrtandy

    mrtandy Member

    Oxford United
    England
    Mar 12, 2003
    Banbury,Oxfordshire.
    Club:
    Oxford United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    I'd have thought the best rational reasons for supporting your local club, as in attending games not just watching on the telly, would be cost & convenience.
    Oxford United were the nearest league club to Banbury when I started supporting them, it's probably Northampton Town now that both clubs have changed grounds, not that I'm going to change my allegiance now. Most of the lads I went to school with supported one of the big red clubs. Now there's nothing wrong with that, but having been to Anfield with a Liverpool supporting mate several times over the years I'm fairly sure going up and down the M6 every other weekend would get a bit tiresome, petrol isn't cheap in this Country either so going to local games saves a fortune over the course of the season.
     
  16. bestvaluestore

    Sep 21, 2014
    Club:
    Paris Saint Germain FC
    Do not know.Just like them very much since many years now,since I was a kid probably.
     
  17. bestvaluestore

    Sep 21, 2014
    Club:
    Paris Saint Germain FC
    Yes,my country is home of Aziz,lol,unfortunately.But I prefer my country to be famous not with that person which has awesome voice but I just do not like that kind of music very much:).
     
  18. rudygestedeshead

    rudygestedeshead New Member

    Oct 29, 2014
    Club:
    Blackburn Rovers FC
    In the late 1800's football clubs were set up in order to unite communities and be a reflection to of them to the rest of the country e.g. west ham reflected the iron workers and blackburn rovers reflected the mill workers, you must take pride in your local team being yours and nobody elses. Football is becoming an elitist sport and the gap between the biggest and rest is ever growing. EPL fans get very annoyed that people from Shanghai, Melbourne etc are continually aquiring tickets at the expense of local people, largely due to extortionate prices. Support your local team.
     
    El Chuma repped this.
  19. reallymadrid

    reallymadrid New Member

    Jan 3, 2015
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    I think its whays expected. To support your local team national. Team etc
     
  20. MattyB316

    MattyB316 Member

    Mar 30, 2014
    Delco, PA (137 H)
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    First off, let me say that I do not necessarily agree with people supporting other teams, IF they have a local team. However, I do think there are many good reasons to support a team elsewhere that are totally acceptable.

    Up until 2010, Philadelphia had no MLS representation. The closest teams would be DC or NYRB...and hell will freeze over before any Philadelphian resorts to supporting a NY/NJ/DC team. Because of this I didn't really follow MLS. I didn't want to jump on the ManU, Chelsea, Liverpool bandwagons either.

    This is when, like multiple other people here said, my team chose me. I caught a couple West Ham United games and got hooked on the team. A blue collar history like Philly teams, it was something I could identify with. The attitude of the fan base was something I could identify with. And then came a player named James Tomkins. (My last name is Tompkins). Since then I follow them rabidly, and consider myself as much of a "supporter" as possible living a few thousand miles away.

    Also, when it comes to my national team I have always, and will be always, Germany. Like I said I never really followed MLS, so I had little interest in USMNT. I am of German heritage. If I had my mother's name I would be a Voelker. I studied German for 4 years in school and fell in love with the language and the culture. My father also studied German in school and was able to visit twice. I got hooked watching Michael Ballack as a kid and the torch was passed on to my favorite player of all time Bastian Schweinsteiger.

    Branching off of that, when I'm able to catch Bundesliga/UEFA games I follow Bayern Munich. Again, not a frontrunner thing, but with the connections of Schweinsteiger and other Mannschaft players it was natural. Also helps that Munich is my favorite German city and one my father told me many stories of from his travels.

    Now, come 2010 and the Union joins the MLS. Took me a little to catch on but I soon found myself taking them as my #1. I took it as an opportunity to really be a supporter in the real definition of the term. I joined the SOB and have been going to as many games in TRE as I can. I take the Union over any team they will play, however I think I'll be between a rock and a hard place if a Union vs West Ham exhibition ever came to be lol

    I think that since my teams wont ever really be in competition with each other, there are no problems with me supporting them. Anyone think I wrong for supporting any of these teams?
     
    theFOOTBALLlover repped this.
  21. theFOOTBALLlover

    FC Porto, SC Freamunde & Fraser Park FC
    Jan 17, 2015
    Sydney
    I completely agree on the concept of supporting your local team. My definition of local may be different to most - clubs have been around for many decades in Europe and people have moved around a lot. Example: I don't see anything wrong with a person living in Porto and supporting Benfica (from Lisbon) because you are still supporting a club in your country.

    Also, most people in Portugal support their local club and one of the big three. As a result, I grew up with FC Porto due to my grandfather but eventually also started supporting my hometown SC Freamunde who have moved up and down the second and third tier in Portugal for most of its history.

    In Australia, it was different because the A-League has only been around for 10 years and when it started I started supporting Sydney FC.

    However, I have 'supported' English/Spain/German clubs but only because of the football they play or who's at the club. There is absolutely no loyalty to those clubs unlike my loyalty to Freamunde, Porto and Sydney. I would never show more loyalty to foreign clubs then I do my local clubs.
     
    El Chuma repped this.
  22. Lee Ballantyne

    Lee Ballantyne New Member

    Jan 20, 2015
    Club:
    Newcastle United FC
    Always your local team without exception. How else can it mean anything to you? Only players choose teams. It's about where you are from, your team represents your heritage. How can anyone have real passion following a team they have no connection to? It's a false emotion. Although I can appreciate and enjoy watching other clubs I could never support any other. How many times have you been to match against a top team where the stadium is full of plastic fans and the atmosphere is sterile, because it really isn't important to them? Respect to any fan who pulls on their local colours week in and week out regardless of the stature of their club, that is football!
     
    theFOOTBALLlover and El Chuma repped this.
  23. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    There is a huge amount of people who support a club outside their region, and they never "chose" the club they support - for some reason, they started to support them. Is this false emotion, lack of real passion, plastic, sterile etc. No.

    Besides, I don't know how one can put oneself to a position where what he does is right/real, and what others do is wrong/fake, when it is about which club one supports. There are, for example, people who breathe and bleed Real Madrid in USA.

    I agree, of course, that the connection to local matters is part of identity and heritage. But where you are from is not the only aspect of one's identity, let alone the decider in what stuff matters. What matters is what you feel matters, be that local or global. Not to mention there are million different scenarios in which the question of local club gets tricky.

    For example, let's say live in Lapland Sweden. There aren't that many football matches around, but there are low-level local clubs. I see EPL in tv regularly, and I'm always very excited, nervous and thrilled when Liverpool matches are on. But now you're telling me that's fake, plastic? I dunno. I feel like I have all the right to support them if I want, and if you call my supporting fake, that's your attitude problem, but hardly an accurate depiction of my support. To complicate matters, I could have moved to Sweden Lapland just three years ago from Manchester, in which I never happened to like football - Swedish amateur clubs don't then represent my heritage, and Manc clubs represent my then-region, but not really who I am, more than bands from there I don't listen to.

    Less judging of other football fans, I'd say. Your way to support is great, but not the only great way.
     
    CantonaSeagulls repped this.
  24. CantonaSeagulls

    CantonaSeagulls New Member

    Dec 20, 2014
    New York
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    With respect Lee, I see your points but I disagree.

    You're a geordie and a Newcastle supporter and that's great. But taking that logic in consideration, suppose someone is from, oh I don't know, Indonesia.
    No disrespect to the Indonesian Super League, but watching Persipura Jayapura every week seems an awful lot less exciting to many than supporting a more widespread and publicized league. Also, must really suck to be born on Marshall Islands and not have anyone to root for. Ever.

    Going on a similar note, how can Mike Ashley be the owner of Newcastle? That wasn't his local club. Do you think he owns Newcastle while supporting his local team Milton Keynes Dons? I guess I fail to see why someone is obliged to support their local club.

    I'm a Manchester United supporter from the United States and feel no reason to explain myself but I suppose I will. I've seen United play, have had the chance to meet some of the players, haven't missed a game in years and quite literally own part of the club (I'm a minuscule stockholder but hey, counts for something). Does that discredit me as a supporter, simply for not being a Manchunian by birthright? Am I less of a supporter than Joe who was born in Manchester and calls himself a United supporter but doesn't follow Premier League at all? I would hope not. Passionate fans, now that is football, regardless of where you were born.

    On a final note, I find it laughable that people will ridicule supporters of large clubs such as United, Real Madrid, Bayern, etc as being bandwagonners, yet they will support a team for the sole purpose of not being perceived as a glory hunter. If you're an American Stoke (or similar club) supporter simply to avoid being called a bandwagon fan then you're an idiot.

    No matter how you get there, you support the team that you support. Shouldn't be influenced by others telling you that you can't support a club for a superficial enough reason like not being born there.
     
    mwulf67 and whill4 repped this.
  25. bestvaluestore

    Sep 21, 2014
    Club:
    Paris Saint Germain FC
    Yes,you can support any club you feel it is the right for you.Some people probably do not get it but it is some emotion everybody is attached to that certain club.Of course your most favorite team may be your local team.It is normal.But in time you can get attached to some more teams outside your area.Probably it is the love that we have for the game,I do not know.
     

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