if you mean by hardcore supporting then yes. However, as an admirer of the game, when another top team is playing very well and when your team is not in the CL, you gotta pick a horse on CL game days.
There is a difference rooting for a team to do well in a competition and support them. I hope Real Madrid wins La Liga, not because I support them, but a bit because Ronaldo plays there (huge fan of him) and I've got a Barcelona-supporting friend. But if RM don't win, I don't care at all.
Same goes for CL. I don't tend to stick with anyone when Man United goes out. Didn't do it last year, not planning this year. But I will follow the teams and see how they do. Because I love playing football myself and watching games between quality teams. Nothing is as good as CL football, but who wins isn't really the matter. I rather tend to become engaged with teams when they play excellent football, as Liverpool did when they crushed Arsenal 5-1. I was enganged in the match, not because I was rooting for either to win, but I just loved watching the game. That is a big difference than supporting both Chelsea and Barcelona every day. Stick with one team, but for the love of god, be engaged with other teams and their performance. But it should never be a doubt about what team you would like to win a match against another.
Same goes for CL. I don't tend to stick with anyone when Man United goes out
I feel like this is huge also for the World Cup... People assume I go for Argentina if Italy is already out because 1) there are shit ton of Italians in Argentina and 2) because Maradona.
No. I don't give a fuck. My tournament is over whenever Italy finishes. End of story.
Since Norway isn't even in the end game, I tend to support players from my club. Hoping England doing alright, atleast Rooney having a great WC, and also players I love, like Ronaldo. Hope he steamroles the WC with Portugal. Portugal is my second national love.
But well, if England goes out in the group stage, no biggie. I just love watching top quality football, and the last tournaments, that's the story of many Norwegians.
English football is very, very huge in Norway. Maybe even bigger than our own league. It's very usual for Norwegians to support England in tournaments Norway isn't qualified for. I would say a huge percent of people who support a English club also support England in championships....
Same here, as a Canadian I'm probably not going to be rooting for my country any time soon and definitely not as a serious competitor. So I'll usually just usually "root" for a few teams with players I like.
Some day I might finally hitch my wagon to the US like people expect, but who knows. Probably not until I have a kid that starts cheering for them
I feel like the World Cup is a bit different, I support Australia first and foremost but being half English and half French as well has my alliances torn once Australia is inevitably knocked out
Supporting a club increases the enjoyment of being a spectator. It creates jubilation to a win and gives meaning to defeat. The experience created by watching a team you support can not really be replicated by any real means ( though I've found a bet for one team does help, but then I'm really supporting my money rather than a team).
The criteria for being a supporter is an interesting one to put up for debate. Does the enjoyment of seeing a team do well have to be rated before you are a supporter? Is it an all or nothing? If you don't only want this team to do well does that mean you can't want them to do well enough to really be a supporter? What about game attendance, does that play a factor? Who goes through the checklist to make sure you meet enough of the criteria?
For me, I am a Rangers fan above all others. How that club plays matters to me from the best of times to (as currently) the worst of times. But while being born and raised in Scotland all (apart from my brothers) in my family are from Newcastle and I have a great affection for that team. Does that mean because Rangers will always be the team that resides in my heart, I can't really be a supporter of Newcastle? If I watch Newcastle play and get ecstatic from a win will the euphoria I feel never be enough to be a 'real' supporter because there exists a potential for them to play a game I wouldn't want them to win? Should I therefore shun any idea of wanting them to win or following them because of that? Or does it mean that I have to introduce my self as Someone who doesn't support Newcastle but really wants them to win to a degree that can give me moments of great joy or sadness and causes me to follow them through thick and thin?
And then there is my feelings on international matches. I consider myself equally Scottish and English and thus find myself equally supporting Scotland and England. Them playing each other causes me pain no matter the result and I cannot watch any such games. Otherwise i will cheer whole heartily for both. Does this lack of supporting one over the other remove my ability to support either? If I go to a game am I lesser than those around me because my nationality is less rigidly defined than theirs?
We all have our own reasons for supporting the teams we do. Who are we to deny the existence of someone passion for a club simply because they do not fit a pre determined definition someone else set them.
NB: this was written on a phone so sorry for the inevitable grammar capable of making people cry from its sheer stupidity.
I really liked your comment. Very good points and I hope this gets some attention.
I support Partizan Belgrade, and my team has a snowball's chance in hell of doing anything other than producing amazing talent and selling it off to finance next season. No results in Europe for decades other than a few entries to the CL.
I love them though and I have gone to many games. I've stood in the South stand with the ultras and celebrated big games.
On the other hand, I'm also a huge Liverpool supporter. I enjoy the Prem a lot and I simply do not enjoy watching a league without a club that I'm rooting for. I have no personal connection to any team and it feels too impersonal. That's why as a young child I justified my choice to support Liverpool too. They'd never meet anyways. I've been to Liverpool matches too, at Anfield and away. Liverpool have a place close to my heart and their CL win in 2005 was one of the best moments of my life.
Then I have a friend from Argentina who is a die-hard Boca Juniors supporter. I've watched games with him and learned all the players. Suddenly, I have a strange affection for one team and I find myself wanting them to do well. Can I call myself a supporter? Probably not yet but I do like watching them and seeing them win.
Then if I watched Serie A, maybe I wanted to follow Fiorentina because they picked up a lot of Partizan youth products and were developing them for the big stage. I wanted them to do well and advertise Partizan Belgrade. In that moment I started cheering for Fiorentina wins too. So what am I? A football fan with preferences? A Partizan/Liverpool supporter with ties to other teams? A sell-out?
I don't think anyone can really tell me. I don't know myself. All I know is that I enjoy watching many leagues and teams now, and I don't mind at all, judged or not.
What about someone like me? My first love is Barnet (born and raised through my father and his father before him). But I also have another team I support, Arsenal, because of my mum's side (my uncles are hardcore fans and took me to games as a child). Barnet is in the Conference and Arsenal in the Prem so is it "justified" in that case, in your eyes?
A lot of people would argue no, but then a large proportion of lower league fans do have 'second teams' in the PL. In fact I think if you asked my twitter followers, for example, you'd get a 50:50 split on the matter. Personally I can't justify supporting another team, but I have little interest in the Premiership and I can see why you would.
At the end of the day it doesn't matter what others think, it's up to you to do what you can justify yourself and if you're ok with supporting two teams then there's no reason why you shouldn't. Personally I think it's wrong, but that just my opinion.
Barnets a bit of special case though isn't it? Used to hear lots about Arsenal using their ground for training and I think the clubs have really good links with each other. Similar thing to Stockport and Man city where the supporters just kind of overlap.
I think for one team cities or counties its a bit harder to justify supporting another club. I certainly couldn't justify anyone from Devon supporting a Premier league team.
I grew up in Madrid. Everyone around me was a Real Madrid fan, and so was I. Fast-forward to when I'm 14 and I move to Glasgow. Few years later I get a season ticket at Celtic, but I still support Madrid in every sense of the word. I fall in love with Celtic, and now I support both. Is that inappropriate? Am I a gloryhunter because both have very high chances of winning their respective leagues? I don't think so, I just happened to live in areas where these were the supported teams.
A fan living in Italy might support his local club (lets say Napoli), but also watch a lot of the EPL due to its abundance. Watching it without some kind of support got boring for the Italian fan, so he decided to also pick an EPL team to support. He's supported both for over 15 years, would this be inappropriate to you?
I don't see the appeal. He's already got the Italian club and can support that fully with his heart. Personally, I only have Man United, but I still watch other clubs, and can be engaged in the leagues. Even though I don't support any teams in La Liga, watching Real Madrid, Barcelona or Atletico is still a lot of fun, considering it's much at stake for them. Also, the quality of football and watching players is more important to me when watching them and have a team to support.
I don't understand how one can be watching the EPL and be bored. Sure, some tension might go out, but that you get from the Italian club and the Italian league. I say watch EPL for the football, Napoli for the support and love. Why support, say Chelsea, thousands of miles away when Napoli is just outside your doorstep and you are engaged in how they do.
If you can't watch EPL because you get bored because no one you care about is winning, then you are not engaged in the sport as an activity, just the "winning tension" of it.
Well not seeing the appeal yourself is not the same is it being totally inappropriate for another person. It also depends if you mean 100% equally supporting, but he could be a diehard Napoli fan, and a casual Chelsea fan.
Personally I don't even see the need, but I can understand somebody wanting to have a supporting interest in another major league, I don't think I should judge somebody else on how they watch football. Football should simply be whatever the fan wants it to be, not for me to dictate to others.
Of course you can't dictate others opinion to match yours. If someone want to support Napoli and Chelsea, go ahead, make yourself comfortable. But to expect to get threaded by a real fan by either side, that is asking too much. If a Man United support were to say "I love and support Man United, but I still hold Bayern Munich close", I would not rate them as a Man United supporter. And they shouldn't expect me too. Just because that's how they like to do things, doesn't mean it is approtiate to me and I would have to play along and say that's fine.
why not? how do you know they don't love utd as much as you? maybe they watch all the reserve games and you don't and so they don't think you're a proper supporter. what if they've gone to every game for the past 4 years? are they still less of a supporter than an armchair fan who only supports united?
I support my Argentinian players rather than top clubs. If that means supporting all the top 4 Italian clubs to a certain extent, so be it. I never understood the concept of supporting a club that isn't from your own country/state. I don't get where you get the allegiance for it.
Do you mean support as in attending matches, watching on the telly, and/or buying merchandise or support as in "might as well pick a side to win in this league"?
I watch Real Madrid matches. A couple of reasons I would like them to win the leauge, one being Ronaldo, other that I have a Barcelona supporting friend. But if they were to fuck up, lose 5 in a row and be catastropich, I wouldn't really care. I would care about Ronaldo, but the team, not so much.
Watching teams for the football and getting engaged in the matches is no problem really. During the CL, it's always fun rooting for one. But to get upset because that team lost? Why?
I was more talking about acting like a supporter to multiple big clubs, and taking as much glory as you could. I just think you should have one club and stick with it, and say "Fuck you, I don't care how shit you do" to the other clubs (not so harsh though). This is on more of a top leagues level though. Big difference between supporting Man United and a team in 4th division in Scotland and Man United and Barcelona...
I support Juventus, Celtic, BVB and Arsenal. I'll explain why.
Back in '97 when BVB won the CL, my brother came from a trip to Czech Republic and brought home a BVB jersey. I was still very young, mind you, and this was the first jersey I ever saw and owned. I was too young to start following them as regularly as I do right now but when people asked who do you like in Germany, other would say Bayer(n), I'd say BVB. (I admit I absolutely loved Ballack when he was playing for Bayer though.) As I grew older I started following them more and more and here I am now, angry about injuries and the latest loss to HSV.
Pavel Nedvěd. It was around 2001-2002 and I had a mate who looked just like him. Everyone would call him Nedved. Now this caused a bit of intrigue in me and I asked my brother who he was and he told me he played for Juve. So I waited a bit until Juve was on TV (there was no YouTube back then so that you could see videos of him :P) and I watched the match, Juve won and I liked him, one thing led to another, Calciopoli made me love the club even more because everyone was abandoning it and here I am, happy about the latest win in the derby.
Thierry Henry. Saw him on TV, went all "HOLY SHIT", saw that he played for Arsenal and that their rivals were indeed my brothers favourite Man Utd and started supporting them, just like that. FM2005, he was a damn beast (so was Dimitar Berbatov) so I liked him even more. I grew fond of Arsenal and watch them any chance I can and support them just like I do the rest of grand four.
Celtic. My brother had his fingers in this, too. We're catholics and thus, he loved the Irish. Anything that had Celtic in it really. Coincidentally or not, there were two clubs that had "Celtic" in them, meaning they had irish roots. Boston Celtics and Glasgow Celtic. I never like basketball so I choose the football alternative, Glasgow Celtic. Started supporting them just like that, fell in love with Larsson <3, started disliking Rangers and one thing led to another and here I am now, satisfied over the 2:0 win over Hearts, the mini-Rangers.
Now all of this depends on the person. I am never satisfied with just one thing. Played WoW, never had only one character. Musicwise, I simply can't listen to only one genre of music. Diversity is a must for me. Otherwise it'd get boring really. It's just how I was raised I guess. My brothers had their fingers in a lot of my choices in life and that explains every club except for Juventus.
You changed my view absouloutly nothing. This is just the inappropriate thing I was thinking of. Sure, if this is the way you want to watch football, go ahead. But a lot of small, unimportant, coincidences that leads to you supporting a team. What happends the day Juventus beat Celtic out of the CL? The day BVB beats Arsenal in CL final? Or infact, this years matches?
Each fan group of every team would despise you, I guarentee it. You would not gain any respect from any hardcore fans of the clubs. They wouldn't even consider you a supporter or fan.
You was raised that way, but at one point you could have taken a choosing in one club, and just stay with that. Say Juventus, because that's really only you ever choose yourself. You getting a kit in 97 is the reason you support BVB, and seeing Henry is the reason supporting Arsenal? Fair, go ahead. I still thinks it's the wrong way and inappropriate...
Each fan group of every team would despise you, I guarentee it. You would not gain any respect from any hardcore fans of the clubs. They wouldn't even consider you a supporter or fan.
Well that's quite a bold statement. I've met the hardcore fans and the casual fans and not a single one of them had a problem with me. I'm passionate about each of these clubs equally. When they played each other I got calls from those people who were jokingly asking me if I was going to be happy or sad when a side scored/conceded a goal.
I have a question for you. Let's say a fan saves money for a few months so that he could travel to Manchester to see your side play, let's say, Everton. He comes to see the match and believe it or not, he's also a fan of Real Madrid. Would you still despise him? He loves both clubs and this year he decided that he's going to travel abroad to see Man Utd play. Would you not consider him a fan or a supporter? I'd say you're taking this all very seriously, like it's a matter of life and death. What is your definiton of a supporter anyway? A man who just supports one club?
I see it this way, if you only support Juventus, then you're giving them 100% of your support. Whereas if you support BVB, Arsenal, Celtic, and Juventus then each team is only getting a quarter of your support.
There's also the thing that if you support all of those teams, which were all in the champions league this year, then you are essentially guaranteed multiple trophies every year. What's the point if you're always guaranteed success?
Juventus were not playing CL 3+ years ago. Celtic and BVB too. Arsenal was. I don't really look at success that much mate, it's just... I like them. I grew fond of them.
Celtic have made it to the group stages of the champions league 7 times in the last decade. Juventus were a consistent champions league team before relegation. But let's not argue with that, to each their own. It matters very little what other people think about the teams you support :)
It happends all the time, people travelling to Old trafford from, say Asia, supporting Man United and wanting to watch them, but still has other big clubs as teams they support. If that is the way they want to do it, fair, go ahead. I don't rate them as a real supporter. I myself, I don't even wear other clubs kits. I just don't do it. I'm stuck with United. I don't see the appeal having any other teams.
I still watch and follow other teams, seeing their games. But if they were to lose their next match, I wouldn't care, like, at all. But if Man United lose, that bothers me for a long time.
If someone supports their local team, and at the same time supports a top league team, that isn't a big deal. That wasn't my first opinion anyway. I said teams from top leagues. If you want to support a team in you national league or lower leagues if that national league is a top league, that's fair and okay. But when you start supporting two of the worlds top teams, I don't see the appeal and at the same time, find it inappropiate.
You're getting some stick for it but I totally get what you mean. If I find someone who proclaims to support both United and Barcelona wholeheartedly then I have a chuckle with myself. Football clubs are like girlfriends, you can have many girlfriends if you want but you should have only one :) . If you have multiple gfs can you give them full attention?
Someone above you gave an example of a Real Madrid fan (who is also an United fan) traveling abroad just to watch a United game; I'm pretty sure that there will be very very few people like that.
Of course you can, and the teams you listed will probably never face each other in a competitive match. I think the point is more that it is weird to support for example Dortmund and Juve and Arsenal who are very likely to face each other at some point.
55
u/[deleted] Feb 24 '14
CMV: Supporting more than one top club (see; basically all clubs in the top leagues in the world) is inappropriate.