Why do you support/ love your club?

[bruce29]

This is the best thing about footy. Watching the GF, and seeing the pure joy a bunch of blokes kicking around a footy can bring is awesome.

Quite simply, why do you love your club??

My story's boring. Was about 6, when I saw Essendon playing North, and liked the Bombers colours, and from then, about 30 years now, Ive been an Essendon man

SO whats your stories??

 

[Lakey91]

bit of a weird thread....

but i go for the swans because they are unfortunately the only NSW team
i fell in love with afl at an auskick program, and since then yeh...

my first game at the SCG was awesome

leaping leo took a flier - i still have the photo of it from the paper on my wall today

swans smashed kangas by 100+ points, and it was there "home" game in sydney

i also sat behind the goals and caught the ball after a goal!

it was quite an experience....

 

[Gibba]

Exactly the same circumstances as yourself mate, i loved the colour navy blue and that's how i ended up barracking for Carlton. It's only minor things like that influence your choice of club really, especially if you were an ardent follower as a child.

 

[jonoman89]

1) if i didn't, my brother would have killed me

2) watching diesel slot a lazy 5 goals against the cats in 95'

3) being hated by everyone else

 

[Burzum]

I don't even remember, I've always loved them.

 

[omit]

because my heart beats true

 

[yardenlavy]

weel since i was born even before. My family all barracked for hawks and i grew up listening about all these great forwards from my dad in dunstall ,dermoit, lockett, and Wayne cary and i decided i liked forwards the most so i knew hawks had a history of good forwards so i barracked for them

bad thing for me was at the time i was old enough and started to under stand it we had nathan thompson in front of goal and yeah nuf said......

but i can see the light now with Williams, buddy, roughy, rioli and a hard tough midfield

so yeah HAWKS 2008 PREMIERS

"here kitty kitty"

 

[griggisalegend]

koutoufides

 

[unstable punt]

because my heart beats true

yep, born and bred Demon from the day l was concieved

 

[Johnson#26]

Always Collingwood, never haven't been, but it all clicked in round 21, 1996 vs Adelaide.

 

[citizen-erased]

1990 grand final. i was a hawks boy up until that day. i was 8 and started to realise what supporting a team meant. went for the dons going into the game and never looked back. very glad i didnt go the other way
always had a soft spot for the hawks and dees as well.

 

[lidscogscotch]

I was a massive bandwagoner when I was a kid and remember watching this team of yellow and black in 1995 and decided they were going to be the team I would go for, little did I know how much success we were going to have after that!!

 

[FTW_]

Because my uncle threatened to never play backyard footy with my Mum ever again unless she went for Geelong. So I was born a Geelong supporter.

 

[KaLL]

I was born in 92. It came naturally

 

[theboxmike]

Although im not gunna say who (because no one would believe me)

But it's because im closely related to a very famous footballer from essendon.....

 

[bluengoldblood]

Can't remember when I started to actually take notice but I do remember watching the 1991 GF and feeling sad (was 6 at the time), 1992 came around and everything was right in the world.

I've always loved Football, from when I was a little guy right until now. It doesn't matter who wears the jumper, the love never fades.

In 2006, being a little older and realising how important the achievement was I really appreciated the celebrating and the difficulty in winning the competition.

I will forever be Blue and Gold; and only ever Blue & Gold.

If there was no more blue and gold, there would only be Black & White (For Swan Districts in the WAFL).

 

[Bombermania]

Interesting thread!!

I've followed Essendon for as long as I can remember! my closet relatives are a mixure of Essendon and Carlton! and it was my Carlton supporting uncle who use to take me to Waverly but he never tried to convince me to like Carlton!

I think its about Culture! Essendon is a football club with a large diverse supporter base from across all elemants of society!

I can't pin point when I started supporting Essendon, it just happened but the best things in life just happen!

I have been seen the ups of four premierships, the final campaigns which fell short and the difficult times like the past few years but looking at it all I think it comes back to culture!

There is something about a club that has a great combination of great history and great support base!

 

[bruce29]

maybe a better question is why do some clubs have more support than others?

the adelaide, perth, brissy and sydney teams being obvious (one city, one/two teams)

but why do say collingwood, essendon ot hawthorn have more support than melbourne and footscray?

 

[Bombermania]

maybe a better question is why do some clubs have more support than others?

the adelaide, perth, brissy and sydney teams being obvious (one city, one/two teams)

but why do say collingwood, essendon ot hawthorn have more support than melbourne and footscray?

That is an excellent question and in some cases its a combination of history and location and level of success

For many years people supported the local football club and since who you barrack for is passed though families this was reinforced to create areas with high levels of support for certain clubs

In many cases the smaller clubs are neighboured next to larger clubs, also the larger clubs tend to be centralised locations
For example Essendon is a large suburb with a surrounding Football league that feeds it.

Hawthorn and St Kilda are the only two clubs south of the Yarra.

Cubs like Richmond and Collingwood have strong traditional support combined with success have developed large support based.

Clubs like North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs struggle for their historical zones were in direct competition with the big local clubs like Essendon and while the world has changed since they joined the competition in 1925 unfortunately for them Essendon and Carlton had already been in existion for fifty years and had already cemented support bases.

Melbourne struggle for a similar reason as the Doggies and Kangers, but in their case they are historically in competition with Hawthorn and Essendon for Melbourne generally are supported by higher income people but location wise many of these people live near Hawthorn or Essendon and along the Bayside suburbs which would be considered St Kilda's heartland.

The Interesting thing is people move around a lot more than they did years ago and success attracts supporters but as much as things seem to change the more they stay the same.

Its for this reason and I know its a different issue but a second team in Sydney will not work unless you are happy with a club with a support base the side of the Western Bulldogs.

A short way of looking at it, It is Culture

 

[Spudregus_87]

Because:

i) We have the best club theme song...
ii) I truly believe we can get back to the top of AFL sooner rather than later...
iii) Matthew Richardson...
iv) I really am from Tigerland...
v) some really positive signs for the future (deledio, cotchin, newman, foley, mcguane, king, thursfield, morton, etc)...

From memory, starting barracking for the Tiges in about grade 3/4 because most of my friends did, and the above reasons have come to fruition despite numerous frustrating loses, poor coach selections, rare finals appearances and confusing trades (i.e. paul hudson, mark graham, kent kingsley, WTF?!) which i think makes the fact i still support them even more amazing. Love'em though!!

 

[IllBeTheJudge]

I have no frickin' idea sometimes

With the "male" side of the family pretty much all following the one club, I think I latched onto my older brother's team and haven't looked back. Even through the tough times (and I remember the 80s, getting down to Moorrabin every now and then and watching the likes of Barker, Cunningham, and some young bloke called Lockett) I am now proud to say that I have been a member for nearly 10 years

Even after moving to Sydney nearly 20 years ago, I couldn't change what my heart has always told me

Several games stick in my mind:
1. Lockett kicking a bag in the early 90s to pretty well single handedly beat the Swans (my first game at the SCG)

2. Riewoldt's mark back in 04 or 05, again at the SCG (have been going to that ground a lot!)

3. 97 Prelim against North Melbourne, and travelling to Wollongong with the old man so we could see it live on the telly. Unfortunately we played our GF that night

 

[Eastdog]

Ive supported the Doggies for nearly 11 years now being the only one in my family that supports them. My Mum supports Melbourne, Dad is not a big follower and my brother supports Collingwood. It was after a match I went to when I was 12 back in the 2001 season that I started going for them. We won the match by 30 points and Ive stuck with them ever since. The fighting spirit is also something I like about the club and that was on show in 1989 (the year I was born) when Footscray as we were known then nearly went bankrupt. The supporters raised enough money to keep the Dogs alive and get away from a possible merger.

 

[Kcrack]

Born into it. Great grandfather, grandfather and dad follow the Roos so it was natural.

 

[Dazb86]

Born into it.

 

[Igloo]

Even before I opened this, I knew it would be eastdog who bumped it .

I just chose the dogs. Liked the colours, and no one at my school went for them, so I decided to.