True Supportersor Bandwagon Followers? | Vital Football

True Supportersor Bandwagon Followers?

BBJ

BBJ

Father Of The Forum
I'm not sure if this is the right forum in which to post this so if the high head yins feel it should be elsewhere, don't hesitate to move it.
I have supported Aston Villa since, well, quite a while ago. I've been to Villa Park dozens of times over the years. Yet, I am reluctant to pepper my references to the club with the pronoun "we".
Meanwhile, I know more than a few people here in Ireland who will invariably talk about their favourite English team in the first person plural.
Isn't it surprising then that when I enquire as to the last time they were able to visit Old Trafford/ Highbury/Anfield/Stamford Bridge (it's usually one of those four, sometimes Elland Road for older types), the answer is often, "oh, I've never been!".
So, are they true supporters or bandwagon followers?
And, as I'm here - most of those on here are English and also from the West Midlands. Have you ever thought it strange that so many people in Ireland support English football clubs?
 
Its the way of the world these days, those who live in my sleepy Devon town support Manchester United/City and lots support Leeds (those 50+) and Liverpool (those 40+)

The age of the supporters reflects their affiliation to the club during successful periods in the clubs history..... you can count back the years.

What this gives them is the ability to be silent during a bad run of results and crawl out from under their rock when the team is on a good run, win a cup etc.
WE who support the club of our birth are here through the bad times, good times (please) and every other times.

I have to say the lack of Manchester United shirts in the months of June, July and August in recent year has been so refreshing. :2:

And they still look wankers standing in the airports heading for their Summer holidays in their Beckham shirts...... :3:
 
Alot of Irish always followed the Villa I have found. I suppose that was so many came over here and settled in The Midlands and the lineage just carried on. Ex is Irish so..

Sounds a bit like the jumping on the bandwagon thing to me BBJ with the clubs they talk about
 
Think (?) the Irish follow the Irish (just look at the support Ufc champion mcgregor is getting) and we've had some Irish greats over the years.

Plus good point above about our large Irish community in Brum.

 
I speak to Irish lads when I'm in the airport and those supporting us do so in large part because of Staunton, McGrath , Townsend, Houghton etc being here at the same time.
The young lads who follow Man Ure , Chelsie, Citeh and Liverpoo are simply following the tradition of glory hunters. Who's winning? I will support them then.
They tell me also that the lack of any quality football at home pushes them to support British Clubs. I know of a couple of guys who saw George Best and followed Man Ure ever since. Again that's a sense of belonging which to a degree is understandable.
 
Being Irish and a Villa fan, I fully agree with all the points made here.

As kefkfat said, the large Irish community in Brum, I know many people that have relatives there. And like Fear mentioned, we do tend to support our own all over the world, whether UFC, boxing, football etc. so it makes sense that people can be more drawn to clubs with prominent Irish players, and that was certainly the case with Villa in the 90's with the Irish quartet, and probably Liverpool when they had a few before that.

I think there are 2 reasons Irish people tend to support British clubs, Trekker mentioned one of them, the lack of quality football. In fact I don't think the quality is as bad as made out, just look at Dundalk holding their own in the Europa League, and Shamrock Rovers before them. The real lack of quality is in the infrastructure of the whole football system. There is no money there. Non-league English clubs look far more attractive. The FAI are a joke.

Secondly, for a lot of people (like where I grew up) there is simply no one to support bar your local team that play on a field covered in cowshite. Unless you're from Dublin or one of the other bigger cities or towns there is no club you can affiliate with so when people were watching the likes of Utd, Leeds, Liverpool, Arsenal on the box they would gravitate towards them.

It does annoy me a bit when people wonder why Irish people don't support their own clubs, but the fact is they do, Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians, Cork City, Derry City etc. are all well supported, but even those fans probably support an English team too because there is just such a big interest in English football and always has been.
 
col8 - 22/5/2017 08:41

The age of the supporters reflects their affiliation to the club during successful periods in the clubs history..... you can count back the years.
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This is certainly true in my experience. Most of my school mates back in the early 80s were Liverpool 'fans' as they were the ones winning everything going. We lived nowhere near Liverpool (in fact Coventry was our closest top flight team) and although they made attempts to disguise the fact they were glory hunters and claim some other tenuous relationship, it was pretty obvious even then why they supported them. Funny how no one I knew as a kid supported United, Arsenal or Chelsea....
 
Another point I would like to throw in, however is unknown to many is why so many Welsh follow Liverpool.

This goes back to the time when respect was shown when a player transferred to a bigger club. When John Toshack transferred to Liverpool from Cardiff City in the 70's it started a large following of Liverpool because of it. Likewise that continued with Ian Rush and so the generational thing has continued.

Mr KK follows Liverpool and Cardiff. He was a STH at Cardiff many moons ago! He is a tad converted to Villa however his first love will always be Cardiff.

Funny how these allegiances start: even before social mobility got wider and easier there is always a story behind the allegiances from back then..
 
I don't find it weird. My partners mom is a Villa fan and she's from Cork.

She wouldn't watch a game that often and has never been to Villa Park but listens out for the results. Her interest started when we had McGrath, Staunton, Townsend and Houghton.

Her son is a Leeds fan/follower. O'Leary, Kelly, Harte, McPhail. He does watch football but is more interested in rugby, Hurling and Gaelic football.

Are these fans?

Maybe there is a distinction between this kind of fan (someone who has an interest in a team for whatever reason) and a supporter that attends and buys the merchandise (funding and promoting the club) but i'm not sure. Many Villa fans can't attend games for whatever reason or afford merchandise.

If you like a sport you'll choose a team to follow. And if there's a league dominated by the media exposure then most likely you'll follow a team from that league. I like lots of sports so generally have a local team i follow or support, how closely depends on how much i like the sport.

I've also watched a few hurling and Gaelic football games whilst in Ireland. I have no local team or interest in the sport here in England, and only a fleeting interest in Ireland but it is definitely more whilst there. So who do i support? Someone or no-one?

Unsurprisingly i'd buy Cork or Munster kits, if i was to buy one. And i think i might. I've been meaning to for years.

So what does this make me? I wouldn't consider myself a fan, supporter or anything really but also wouldn't follow anyone else.

I think the oddity is in choosing a club to support rather than supporting a club abroad or not visiting the ground.

There is far more access to watch games without attending now than ever and it's not that easy when living abroad. But i never had a choice in which club to support. I was indoctrinated from birth, as was my son, and as will my daughter be. That's where i find the oddity, although i've no problem with it.
 
For me, a bandwagon follower is someone who supports any team that is winning. They show up in the kit for the final and celebrate like crazy but couldn't name the first XI.

There are lots of people in Malaysia who are bandwagon supporters. They support Chelsea, Man Utd, Man City and Spurs (this season). There are also hardcore fans who stay up until 3am to watch the matches and dream about going to Old Trafford, Anfield, etc one day. IMO, those hardcore fans are just as much fans as the ones who attend every game. The bandwagon supporters can FRO. lol
 
My mate down the road is a born and bred Geordie. Big Toon fan.

Saw his lad wearing a Man City shirt the other day. You would think that's just against the Geordie football religion wouldn't you .

What can you do nowadays.
 
No strong and stable leadership from your mate then?

See what I did there? Edgy political commentary on an everyday situation... :3:

My boy has lost all interest in football after the relegation debacle. He came with me twice last season (Wolves and Brighton) and noted on both occasions that the football was rubbish. It was hard to disagree with the lad.
 
I also think the "Irish" links to English clubs also relates to the fact that thousands of Irish moved to the UK in the 50's and 60's. The Munich air crash gave Man Utd a great deal of sympathy and many supporter too.
 
I think a lot of fans who follow Villa are just glory hunters.

Oh, hang on a minute................!
 
You do find a lot of people in their 50s all over Europe who tend to follow the Villa; all down to winning the European Cup in their teens. Weirdest football meeting was in Belgrade about ten years ago where I met a guy in his 20s who was fanatical about us. He knew as much as I do about the club's history, if not more. He'd been a fan since Savo and Curcic.
 
JuanPabloAngel - 10/6/2017 13:38

No strong and stable leadership from your mate then?

See what I did there? Edgy political commentary on an everyday situation... :3:

My boy has lost all interest in football after the relegation debacle. He came with me twice last season (Wolves and Brighton) and noted on both occasions that the football was rubbish. It was hard to disagree with the lad.
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Yes it certainly is a hard sell to the youngsters.

Primarily Villa being shite. But add to that hanging out with mates, XBOX, F1 and the fact that as daddy pays for Sky sports and football is on tap 24/7. It all means junior melon has rarely been to villa park in 3 years.
 
To me, a bandwagon jumper is someone who swaps one team for one doing well or seemingly improving. I have seen here in my home town, the rise of black and amber over the last decade as Hull City climbed the leagues and then entered the promised land for the first time in their history. I have seen many old workmates, old school friends etc who once wore their Liverpool, Man Utd, Leeds shirts with pride and now parade around in the colours of Hull City and they are fiercely loyal about it. I'm Villa to the core, almost 40 years and counting. Followed the Villa through good times and bad, always worn my Claret And Blue with pride. I may not hail from the Midlands but my loyalty to Villa is unquestionable. The true test for these Hull City fans will come when the Tigers' fall from grace sees them return to being a mediocre mid table of the second tier team or lower and we'll see just how big a crowd they get then. When Hull City were on the very brink of going under and a winding up order had been granted, the local paper printed a headline about the midweek fixture at home to Swansea City in the bottom division as being City's last game and urged fans to turn up.... under 3000 showed up and fortunately an 11th hour reprieve and new owner was found. The club survived and a decade later they reached the Premiership, great for the club, the city and the true genuine die hard loyal Hull City fans who had suffered years of absolute tripe football to watch and ridicule from those of us who supported other clubs. Gates in excess of 25000 for every home game in the top flight and every last one of them will swear they were there that cold winter Tuesday night when Hull City played Swansea City in the bottom tier. Bandwagon jumpers by the thousands. Never have and never will have any feelings for Hull City, I'm a lad from Hull, born and bred, but that is the only thing in common I have with Hull City, nothing more. Only one club in my life and that is Aston Villa FC till the day I die.
 
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