Is it socially acceptable in England to support more than one team if your main team is an EPL team and your other team is a league 2 or non-league team? I'm just curious if people out there support more than one team. What's the appropriate etiquette?
I don't but plenty do. Nothing much wrong with it in my opinion. I've always been of the opinion that supporting a club is more about roots and tradition than personal choice though so I'm stuck with West Ham and no one else.
Unfortunately for yanks like myself I'm not able to "feel" the tradition of Man Utd. like my counterparts across the pond. I'm stuck watching every old dvd I can and reading as much about the roots of the club as I possibly can (I'm a high school history teacher). One day soon I hope to make a trip over and catch as many football matches as I can. The only team I'd be able to support based on geographical location (there is no tradition) would be Red Bull New York. And since watching MLS matches is coma enducing I stick to my first love, Man Utd. I just wondered if people supported other teams or if they felt like they were "cheating" on their first love.
I understand mate, like I said there's nothing wrong with it. I reckon about one in five people who support Premiership teams in England have a second team lower down the leagues. And about feeling the tradition, I'm not sure many do in England anyway (not just Man Utd). These days people pick and choose. Understandble for overseas but it shouldn't be like that here. It was one of the main things that made this sport different from others. Almost tribal. Now people are fans of clubs like they are fans of bands. I just can't see how it help the game.
I guess I can see where most of those sorts of people are coming from. Especially when you consider that the American sports market is based not on hometowm teams but whoever is popular for more than a few years (I.E. Dallas Cowboys in the NFL, and the Boston Red Sox in MLB) Granted there are plenty of people who stick to their local teams even if they are awful but it seems like the majority of American sports fans behave in this fashion. I only wish we had teams in America that had such rich history like many of the English football clubs.
I didn't start supporting United because of trophies, I did because of Roy Keane. I live in an area where the closest sports teams are Dallas (3 hours) Houston (4 hours) and New Orleans (5 hours). I don't have a favorite professional team from any of these markets simply because I was attracted to certain teams/players as a kid that weren't around here, and I don't think I'm the only one thats like that. (Just for the record-Rapids, Bucs, NY Rangers, Royals, and 76ers are my US favorites)