How do fans decide which team they support?

[Nugett]

84 grand final. The rest of the family was cheering on Essendon, as they hadn’t won one for a while. I went Hawthorn as they were winning. That last quarter still hurts. The following year, where it was once again Essendon and Hawthorn, my sister became an Essendon supporter and I stayed a hawthorn supporter. Loved 1986 where I could finally remember seeing my team win one! I’ve seen another 7 since then

 

[Engimal v3]

I’ve always thought you are just born that way.

It's truly hard for me to imagine myself as anything other than a mad Kangas fan

 

[Breretonisahood]

As a little kid I liked the poo and wee colours. It helped my toilet training.

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

I am perhaps one of the worst cases of a family deserter cos the rest of my family are hardcore Carltonites and my old man actually played reserves footy for the blues (i.e a better reason than most to support a team) but what happened was my old man was living and working overseas for a period so it ended up being my North supporting uncle that took me to my first football game in '91, to his credit my uncle didn't even try to convert me (he was one of those old school blokes that spoke about 5 words every 2 hours) but I liked the colours and the kangaroo is one of my favourite animals and NM won that day with Horse Longmire kicking a bag, so the synapses were fired up and the insufferable-sports-nuffy lobe in my brain was activated.
Unexpectedly paid dividends for the rest of the 90s!
........21st century mmm....not so much ay

 

[Irish BlueBagger]

The highlights for AFL games were shown on the tv every week here in Ireland. So i'm a fan of the sport since the late 90's.

There was no team i followed as such. I just watched as a neutral, but then Carlton recruited Setanta O'hAilpin who comes from my hometown of Cork.

So i decided there and then that Carlton will be the team i support. I don't regret the decision at all.

Sure the past two decades have been disappointing, but i don't regret choosing Carlton. It's a great club with great history and tradition.

Besides all teams go through their barren spells. You support them through the thick and the thin, that's what it's all about really.

 

[Coolangatta]

There were lots of teams I liked in the 90s. Plugger's Sydney, Sheedy's Bombers, Carey's anti-inflammatory Kangas, Harvey's Saints, the old heave ho Dockers (went on a school excursion of their facilities). But my brother was a Brissy fan and unintentionally converted me. I jumped on the Voss bandwagon but decided to stay the course and settle on them.

My dad's a diehard Blues supporter cause his favourite player was Syd Jackson, and now that Vossy is there I have a soft spot for them but still.... there's something tragically funny about Carlton jokes and the number of times they choked last season in games they should've won; they continued that trend all the way till the end of the home and away.