Changing your football team

I had a point in the early 2000s were I supported both Barcelona and Boro. I never worried about the two meeting.

Although we were 90 minutes (and sadly 4 goals) away from playing them in the 2006 European Super Cup I guess.

I can see how people follow other teams, but surely your main support can't change?
 
I think any Chelsea fan should be able to switch away to another club.

Kids following Liverpool, Spurs, Man Utd.. should get one chance to support their hometown team or be forced to live their lives as a complete twonk.

Kids supporting Sunderland or Newcastle born in Teesside (including Darlington) should have rotten veg chucked at them without consequence.. and farts blown in their general direction.
 
The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
I'll go and watch Hitchin Town if the Boro aren't playing, but I feel nowhere near the same emotion as I would watching Boro.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah definitely the same. 100%. I enjoy watching Maidstone United or Dulwich but there is little or no emotion there, other than enjoyment from watching a game with family and family friends. The last time I watched the Boro I was unbearable to be around for a good hour or so during that match TBH.
 
Boro will always be my number 1 team and will never stop supporting them, but I do also follow Liverpool as they were the team I watched when I was a kid as Boro weren't on TV. I loved the Daglishe, Rush, Grobalar etc players who were just amazing. I also quite like watching Man City now as they really do play beautiful football. The other thing is watching individual footballers who are poetry in motion when they play, like Rashford, Greiling, Forden, Sahla, Sterling etc.....But Boro are and always will be my team regardless of who we are playing
 
newyddion said:
I think any Chelsea fan should be able to switch away to another club.

Kids following Liverpool, Spurs, Man Utd.. should get one chance to support their hometown team or be forced to live their lives as a complete twonk.

Kids supporting Sunderland or Newcastle born in Teesside (including Darlington) should have rotten veg chucked at them without consequence.. and farts blown in their general direction.
Click to expand...
Will there be any tomatoes in that rotten veg? ;)
 
Living in America and adopting teams in sports I'd previously never cared for has given me a slightly different perspective, especially when it comes to Americans following "soccer" teams.

When I moved to Washington DC in 2016 I began watching the Washington Nationals baseball team and got quite into it at one point (helped that they had a very good team and even won the World Series in 2019). When I moved to Chicago in 2019 I started watching the Chicago White Sox and have found my alliegences naturally switching over time (baseball is far better in person than on TV).

I also got into ice hockey and began watching the Washington Capitals (again got lucky and saw a Stanley Cup victory in 2018). Despite the fact that they're now as bad as the Nats, I haven't switched to the Chicago Blackhawks since moving (mainly I think because I watched more hockey on TV than in person when in DC anyway).

The weirdest one for me is my NFL team. I've been a Kansas City Chiefs fan for a long time (red and white, non-glamorous, local support only, just like the Boro) but now whenever anyone asks who my team is, I feel like one of those American glory supporters who follow Arsenal or Chelsea after their recent successes in the Super Bowl. I find myself feeling the need to justify my team and wonder if I should downgrade to another side (I used to go and watch Baltimore Ravens instead of Washington Redskins when I lived in DC) to avoid feeling dirty lol.
 
goalscrounger said:
Living in America and adopting teams in sports I'd previously never cared for has given me a slightly different perspective, especially when it comes to Americans following "soccer" teams.

When I moved to Washington DC in 2016 I began watching the Washington Nationals baseball team and got quite into it at one point (helped that they had a very good team and even won the World Series in 2019). When I moved to Chicago in 2019 I started watching the Chicago White Sox and have found my alliegences naturally switching over time (baseball is far better in person than on TV).

I also got into ice hockey and began watching the Washington Capitals (again got lucky and saw a Stanley Cup victory in 2018). Despite the fact that they're now as bad as the Nats, I haven't switched to the Chicago Blackhawks since moving (mainly I think because I watched more hockey on TV than in person when in DC anyway).

The weirdest one for me is my NFL team. I've been a Kansas City Chiefs fan for a long time (red and white, non-glamorous, local support only, just like the Boro) but now whenever anyone asks who my team is, I feel like one of those American glory supporters who follow Arsenal or Chelsea after their recent successes in the Super Bowl. I find myself feeling the need to justify my team and wonder if I should downgrade to another side (I used to go and watch Baltimore Ravens instead of Washington Redskins when I lived in DC) to avoid feeling dirty lol.
Click to expand...
I took a different route, I followed Houston Dynamo, going to most home games for a number of seasons but not away, Dallas was the nearest away match and a four hour drive.

I struggled with the American sports, trying all of them (except ice hockey). The Astros baseball team more than the Rockets (basketball) and Texans (lasses rugby).

I've followed three other football teams other than the Boro over an extended period. Viking (Stavanger),:Feyenoord and Cork City. I went to Viking and Feyenoord away games, but only one each.

Never felt the same as the Boro, nowhere near, but Billingham Town do now
 
h_m_boro said:
Know a few people who have "switched" from Man U to City, or let their kids be City fans. Mind, they are more plastic than Barbie's t*ts.

I totally understand the appeal of following a smaller club - I could never stop following Boro, it's my life choice, but due to price and locality go to as many Stockport games to get a footy fix.

Probably why I'm not bothered about Boro being in the PL 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️
Click to expand...
I used to live in stockport and went to watch them for a couple of years. You can get dragged into an emotional attachment.

Didn't stop me supporting my home town club, but I couldn't get to many games, hence stockport county
 
To be honest I would like to change teams. Support someone local that I could go and watch every week. Someone more affordable also. Especially recently as it's getting more difficult to get tickets. Have tried a few non league teams but they just didn't take. Went to see harringay borough but it was even more alienating hearing a bunch of cockneys chanting "cam on Boro". Not nearly as much fun watching a football match non partisan.
 
I used to go and watch South Bank as a kid but only when Boro played away. Started following the Boro to away matches from my mid teens onwards. Even now nearly 50 years on, I still get excited going to the first game of the season. I have been to see other teams but nothing could ever come close to the Boro.

I even messed up in a relationship because of the Boro. My then girlfriend had said to me that we were invited to a party in a week's time. I replied that there was no chance of that, I was going to Derby to watch the Boro that day. She said that she thought that sometimes I thought more of the Boro than I did of her to which I replied f**k me, I think more of Sunderland than I do of you. The relationship didn't last long after that, not surprisingly unfortunately. Gordon Steele actually used that line in one of his plays.
 
newyddion said:
Was this actually a thing from Gibbo?
Click to expand...
Yes, from the horse’s mouth following 2009 relegation. He said, almost word for word on BBC Tees, “the majority of Stockton people support Sunderland”.

The only possible explanation for it was that he got Billingham (one area of the borough of Stockton) mixed up with the whole of Stockton, but even then I think he’d be wrong.
 
BoroLioness said:
The other thing is watching individual footballers who are poetry in motion when they play, like Rashford, Greiling, Forden, Sahla, Sterling etc.....But Boro are and always will be my team regardless of who we are playing
Click to expand...

Can see your point about good players BUT Sterling??🤔🤷‍♂️😕 REALLY?!!

Could be the most frustrating player I have ever seen… often forgets how to kick the ball, runs down blind alleys, can’t cross, passing not that great and poor finisher… but every now and then does something superb… a modern Matt ale Tissier
 
atypical_boro said:
Yes, from the horse’s mouth following 2009 relegation. He said, almost word for word on BBC Tees, “the majority of Stockton people support Sunderland”.

The only possible explanation for it was that he got Billingham (one area of the borough of Stockton) mixed up with the whole of Stockton, but even then I think he’d be wrong.
Click to expand...
that was a daft thing to say.. and completely untrue. mind you it was around this time that we changed the badge and went courting Gordon Strachan.

One would be forgiven for thinking that Steve had been experimenting with some mind altering toad secretions..

Hartlepool starts to go a bit odd when they move away from their home team.. the deluded ones go Newcastle and the thick ones go Sunderland.

Darlington has a solid boro following after the rugby.. still a spattering of Newcastle and Sunderland but not as much as Hartlepool.

Boro is solid, Stockton and Redcar the same. I would say the eider North Yorkshire are is primarily boro too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top