I’m going to break from writing about gaming for a moment to discuss something that is equally as important to me.
Growing up I was always asked one question when I told someone where I was from: “Are you from the claret or blue side of the city?” To many people in the UK this question is easily understood but for my readers who have no idea what this question pertains to, I will briefly explain. I am from Birmingham, England. As you probably know, soccer is a national obsession there and one city that demonstrates this perfectly is “Brummagem”. In the city there are two ‘major’ teams that have an intense hatred for one another. Aston Villa and Birmingham City. If you are born in Birmingham, chances are you will be born into eith
er a claret (Villa) or a blue (City) family. I was born blue and regardless of results or league position I will always be cursed with this.
However I went to school with (mostly) Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and a couple of West Brom fans. Most of these “glory hunters” (exclduing of course for the West Brom fans) had never been to Manchester, London or Liverpool and they were viewed by the local teams fans as another level of fan. A lower level. “It’s easy to support a team like Man Utd” they would say, “because they are a good team. Try supporting Birmingham (a then newly promoted Premier League side), now THAT is being a true fan.” This same sentiment, based purely on georgraphy, was echoed in the stadiums. I used to be a seaso
n ticket holder at St. Andrews (arguably the home of football…OK I did say “arguably”) and whenever we played teams like Manchester United, chants of “at least we support the local team!” would ring out across the stadium, directed at the few thousand ‘travelling’ fans. I admit, I used to chant this too. I sometimes needed a break from accusing the referee of self love or singing “sh*t on the Villa” (a popular folk song from home). It was wrong of me though and the first part f the chant is what botheres me the most: “at least…” I say this after maturing, I know. This sentiment has bothered me, especially in my early twenties, because I now no longer live in Birmingham and have spent a good chunk of my life loving sports and leagues that are in other countries. For instance, over the past few seasons I have come to love Bayern Munich. A couple of weeks ago, I sat down to watch them play VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. It was a
hard fought match which resulted in a Bayern win thanks to a magical scissor kick by Thiago after a perfect cross from Rafinha. It was a moment every soccer fan wants to see and watching Bayern as much as I have over the last few seasons, I have seen magic many times. I’ve never been to Munich. I’d love to but I’ve only ever driven through Germany. Should the fact I’ve never been to the home of Bayern stop me from supporting the team? No, and here’s why.
I enjoy watching Bayern. I like the players, their personalities and their skill. I like the organisation and their “German talent first” mentality. So there you go. I challenge you to give me a good reason why I shouldn’t say I’m a fan. Sure they are the best team in Europe and of course I like that, but so what?
Now that’s settled, I have another example. I now live in Ottawa, ON and have done for about three years in total. One of the reasons I chose this city is because of the NHL team here, the Ottawa Senators. I was a Sens fan before I came to Canada. I had grown up a Red Wings fan thanks to a combination of visiting Detroit when I was 8 and liking Steve Yzerman, Brenden
Shanahan and Chris Chelios. I loved these guys but when they started to retire or leave I felt like I wanted to pick a new team that I wanted to identify
with, and in my thinking, “grown up” support. By this I mean, follow a team through highs and lows.
I picked Ottawa partly because it’s a Canadian team (and I love Canada), partly because of Daniel Alfredsson and partly because it was a fairly new kid on the block and didn’t make me think of the knuckle-puck first and NHL second (sorry Ducks fans). Supporting an NHL team from England is difficult. When you are far away from the team, you tend to be with people who don’t care about it. I’d go out wearing a hockey sweater only to be looked at strangely. I’d talk about how the two line offside pass is no longer in the league, and I’d be ignored. It was tough not supporting a loca
l team, or even a local sport. Now I’m in Ottawa surrounded by Toronto, Montréal, Pittsburgh, Boston fans etc. I have gone from being one of those fans that should be told by Blues fans to “support my local team” to being a supporter of my local team. Cool, right? I mean, it really makes a difference, right? Our survey says, EHH EHH! Wrong. It makes no difference. Sure, I know the Canadian Tire Centre like the back of my hand now, which I didn’t five years ago, but apart from that I love the Sens just as much. It’s made not one jot of difference. In my opinion, geography is, or at least should be, of little concern to fans.
I have one more point to make before I get off my soap box. Unless you have been living under a rock, you will know that the Seattle Seahawks are currently Super Bowl Champions, and they are a team I’ve been watching and supporting lately. I used to be really into the NFL but stopped following it until this season when I decided to start watching again. I used to like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (due to many a holiday in Florida when I was young) and the New England Patriots, but decided on a fresh start. A new team.
I chose the Seahawks for a few reasons. Here they are:
1) They are in a different conference to the Patriots, a team that my friend really likes.
2) I played as them on the Madden 25 demo before the season began and won my games using them.
3) Seattle is the nearest team to where I used to live in Vancouver, BC.
4) The personalities of players like Richard Sherman.
I shouldn’t have to justify myself, but there you go.
The term “bandwagon fan” is being thrown about all over the internt right now and I really don’t like it. Sometimes being a fan from afar is hard. Seahawks gear is really hard to come by; your friends are most likely Brady fans and your team is never on local TV. Sometime
s it takes more work to like a team that is thousands of miles away. You have to keep up via NFL.com (or it’s equivalent in NHL, Premier League, etc.) and you have to pay for viewing packages or cable to watch the games. You have to go out of your way to find fans of the team you like to stay part of that community. It really isn’t easy. I chose the Hawks before they were Super Bowl bound, but even if I didn’t, why should it matter?
I’ll end with this. Next time you see a guy or a girl wearing a Manchester United jersey or a Sidney Crosby sweater, don’t judge them. Sometimes these people are hard core fans who might know more about the sport or the team than you do. You being an idiot about it will only make you look bad.
Simply Monkey 