Reasons for supporting teams

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Prevenger17

Prevenger17

Great turn of pace, an eye for goal...
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I know a Shelbourne fan who regularly criticises the rest of us for supporting English clubs and not doing our bit for the League of Ireland. In a way, I can see what he means. The League of Ireland isn't competitive in Europe and that won't change without support and money. Also, the abundance of Man United and Liverpool fans, and now the sudden upsurge in Manchester City and Chelsea fans would suggest that fans are being acquired mainly through the broad marketing reach of financially successful clubs above all other factors. It drives him mad and, as I say, I do see his reasoning.

But looking at the amazing EFC fanbase in the States, Tony Hibbert's Scandinavian fanclub, Ric Wee and all the random places that Toffees sprout up, how important is locality really? My Shelbourne friend is a rare voice among the rest of us followers of the EPL, but the argument about Irish people supporting English clubs is pretty widespread over here and I was wondering if anyone else that isn't from Liverpool ever experiences the same thing. Why do you support Everton?
 

My first footballing love was my home town team Fortuna Sittard. Without them, I'd probably never found out I was a chosen one. When the two met in 1985 I was undoubtedly rooting for the boys in yellow and green. Still, since that draw for the 3rd round of the ECWC my love for the Toffees has only grown and still is to this date. My love for both clubs is equal.

There have been quite a few questions from my mates over the years about were my loyalty really lies and that you can only have one true love in your life. Is it though, I mean really? Who do you love more, your daughter or your son?
 
No local teams in the part of the USA where I live. My first team that I supported was Pumas UNAM of Mexico (still love them) because that was the first professional game I attended when I was 7 or 8. My reasons--likely shared with a lot of USA folks--for supporting Everton are fairly arbitrary. A friend suggested I might like them back in the late 90s, and more recently they've had a few Americans on their team, so Everton it was. I don't have a legacy for supporting them like folks in L4 or other parts of Liverpool. But once you learn about their "do more with less" workmanship, it's infectious. And I met a few Evertonians in the DC airport about 3 years ago--they flew over when Everton toured the US--they were incredibly friendly and fun, so this also sealed the deal.
 
This is one of the problems with supporting League of Ireland:

Deceased LoI clubs (and its by no means complete)
unless you are supporting one of a very small number of (usually Dublin based) clubs, you are not exactly likely to pass on your allegiance to your kids.

And yes, this is entirely a chicken or egg thing, they aren't going to survive without local support, but I'm on my third "allegiance", and even that is a bit shaky owing to being underwritten by a property developer in post property crash Ireland!
 
No local team to support. If I'm going to randomly pick a team, Everton is as good as DC United. Well actually, it's far far better. If they put an MLS team in St. Louis, I'll support them. I'll learn to be polyamourous.
 

Prevenger17 said:
I know a Shelbourne fan who regularly criticises the rest of us for supporting English clubs and not doing our bit for the League of Ireland. In a way, I can see what he means. The League of Ireland isn't competitive in Europe and that won't change without support and money. Also, the abundance of Man United and Liverpool fans, and now the sudden upsurge in Manchester City and Chelsea fans would suggest that fans are being acquired mainly through the broad marketing reach of financially successful clubs above all other factors. It drives him mad and, as I say, I do see his reasoning.

But looking at the amazing EFC fanbase in the States, Tony Hibbert's Scandinavian fanclub, Ric Wee and all the random places that Toffees sprout up, how important is locality really? My Shelbourne friend is a rare voice among the rest of us followers of the EPL, but the argument about Irish people supporting English clubs is pretty widespread over here and I was wondering if anyone else that isn't from Liverpool ever experiences the same thing. Why do you support Everton?
Click to expand...

I'll be honest, my reasons for supporting Everton were because, I was born a Blue, I did not choose, I was chosen...:coffee:
 

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