Can a favorite team be "chosen"?

I've been giving this question a thought lately.

The thing is that, as a football fan ("soccer" for all of you people from the U.S.), I love football. I truly do. I enjoy the game itself and follow the matches of teams from all over the world: Spain, England, Italy, France, Germany, South America etc.

However, my "favorite team" has always changed ever since I was a kid. Perhaps because I've been moving from one place to another all my life, but I've never created any roots in any team. Of course, Madrid, Arsenal, Inter and Stuttgart have little corners of my heart, for one reason or another, but I basically swing my preference (and the time I spend following the team online and on the screen) depending on how good they're playing or a particular coach or player I like.

It's nice, because I don't get angry and at the same time I can enjoy all leagues and teams. However, sometimes I look at hardcore fans, how involved they are with their team, their history, etc. and how passionate they celebrate or cry their club's situations... and I wonder:

(a) How does it feel to love a club so much it hurts?

(b) At an advanced age like mine, is it possible to pick a team and love it?

(c) If it is, would the new fan be accepted as "legit" by the hardcore, lifetime fans?

Thanks for your input.

Originally posted by Seitse
I've been giving this question a thought lately.

The thing is that, as a football fan ("soccer" for all of you people from the U.S.), I love football. I truly do. I enjoy the game itself and follow the matches of teams from all over the world: Spain, England, Italy, France, Germany, South America etc.

However, my "favorite team" has always changed ever an be accepted as "legit" by the hardcore, lifetime fans?

Thanks for your input.

(a) How does it feel to love a club so much it hurts?
It's a roller-coaster. You can go from sheer ecstasy to depression and back within minutes.

Due to my travels, I also have some sympathy towards some clubs and follow them relatively regularly. But it's NOTHING like the way I love Porto. The emotion is completely muted. If such teams lose, it's more like "Oh, well, let's get a beer."

(b) At an advanced age like mine, is it possible to pick a team and love it?
I doubt it. You might get something similar with Mexico, though. Do you?

(c) If it is, would the new fan be accepted as "legit" by the hardcore, lifetime fans?
Legit? Sure. But it's not the same. You'll all be looking at us thinking "It's just football, man".

Originally posted by Seitse
I've been giving this question a thought lately.

The thing is that, as a football fan ("soccer" for all of you people from the U.S.), I love football. I truly do. I enjoy the game itself and follow the matches of teams from all over the world: Spain, England, Italy, France, Germany, South America etc.

However, my "favorite team" has always changed ever ...[text shortened]... an be accepted as "legit" by the hardcore, lifetime fans?

Thanks for your input.

(A) When you love a club as much as I do its a balance against the respect your club gets, what you win and how you perform against your rivals.

I'm 40 next year, so getting on .
As a Manchester United fan, all I want right now is to be recognized as the most sucessful side in English football history.
Liverpool have had this this recognition for over 30 years
so I want my team to overtake them in this respect more than anything.

It hurts when we don't win the league title because its another year we have to wait to reach our goals.
It also hurts when we are beaten by our bitter rivals like Liverpool because you have to work, live and and hang out with supporters of teams that hate your club even though in real life often these people are your best friends.

Its hard at times to follow a team when you are sucessful because every mistake your team makes is massively exerated by the press and rival supporters.

Its wonderful when you are sucessful, but it doesn't last because the new season only takes 10 weeks to start and things change quickly.

There are also many supports that follow teams passionately that ralrely win anything.
This can be very rewarding though because when you beat your bitter rivals the victory stays with you for weeks. Also you greatly appreciate great perfromances your team puts out for the fans.

(B)
I believe that you can pick a team and love it at any time (contraversal).
There are times when special players like Gazza, Gerrard, Henry, Rooney, Cantona and Shearer can join a team and you just want to watch the team to see what they can do. When these special players consistently perform to exceptional levels its easy to fall in love with a club.

Another legitimate way is to move to a new area and start watching live games locally, showing support like this irrespective if the team is sucessful or not makes you a legitimate fan, if people disagree its there problem.

(c) As long as you dont have a long history of supporting a different club passionately, you would be accepted by the hardcore "legit" fans irrespective if you went to the games or not.
You may be called a glory hunter if you started to suddenly support Chlsea or Manchester for example but over a few years this would pass.

In the 80's when Manchester United were a poor side I watched and supported Spurs almost as much as I did Manchester United.
I loved the way Spurs playerd the game, the flare players like Hoddle, Gazza, Anderson, Klinsman, Gough, Clemance, Ardelies, Clive Allen and Linekar.

I watched Spurs because they played the game the way I liked to see it played. If Spurs had managed to the find consistency to win the league in the 80's I would have been very happy but it never happened.

It didn't make me anyless a ManchesterUnited supported.


I would say that one of the hardest things when passionetely supporting a team is for your favourate players to not to get the recognition they deserve.

The 3 best midfield players over the last 12 years have been Roy Keane, Seven Gerrard and Patrick Viera, they never won and awards with european recogniton, this is a disgrace.

And as for Rooney, the stick the boy gets who turns 23 today is criminal.
Rooney has done far more at 22 than Ronaldinio did at 23, yet all he gets is overrated writeups from rival fans and the press, this is hard to deal with.

Hardcore fans will accept you because they want you to support the club they love.

Originally posted by Palynka
[b](a) How does it feel to love a club so much it hurts?
It's a roller-coaster. You can go from sheer ecstasy to depression and back within minutes.

Due to my travels, I also have some sympathy towards some clubs and follow them relatively regularly. But it's NOTHING like the way I love Porto. The emotion is completely muted. If such teams lose, it's ...[text shortened]... it's not the same. You'll all be looking at us thinking "It's just football, man".[/b]

(a) Yeah, the "let's get a beer" feeling is what I get as well... and sometimes I envy, deep inside, the feeling of "belonging" to a team.

(b) Not at all, because ever since I was a kid I moved a lot within the country, hence I never grew roots within any community, football or otherwise. Moreover, from a very young age I learned to follow and appreciate European footie more than local.

Originally posted by Rooney Once a Blue
(A) When you love a club as much as I do its a balance against the respect your club gets, what you win and how you perform against your rivals.

I'm 40 next year, so getting on .
As a Manchester United fan, all I want right now is to be recognized as the most sucessful side in English football history.
Liverpool have had this this recognitio ...[text shortened]... h.

Hardcore fans will accept you because they want you to support the club they love.

Wow, the time and effort you put in that post is GREATLY appreciated, R.!

A very passionate picture of what it means to be a fan of a club, thanks, mate!

For example, I have a tremendous sympathy for Atletico de Madrid, despite being traditionally identified with Real Madrid (what a contradiction!), and frequenting their e-forums has made me feel closer to their history, their joys and pains, and their feelings. However, when they kick the Mexican coach out (because he plays horrible footie, lol) I feel that my rooting for them will decrease, and I will go back to frequent the e-forums of Arsenal, because I love the way Arsene Wenger builds great players out of young fellas, Inter, because I have a great admiration for Mourinho, and Real Madrid, simply because it is my historic favorite.

That's the sign of a true fan.

Yes o.k. I support Chelsea but I now live in Taunton, Somerset and Taunton Town are rubbish.

It's whether you carry on watching them no matter what weather, no matter what league, no matter how many matches your team looses.


If you are a true fan then there is an easyier way to test yourself; try wanting your rivals to win and it should be impossible.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

Ok, that's very reassuring opinion from a true fan.

Now, next question: How can I fall in love/pick a fav team?

Should it be the one from my city or neighborhood? They suck. Oh well, Finnish premier league sucks big time, lol

I mean, I don't want to champions league frequent flyer necessarily, but something I can relate to.

Would you say the "feeling" when in a stadium is key?

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GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLO...

Goal?

😛

neh, he's got it all wrong....its

gol *5 second pause to get their breath*
goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooollllllllllllllllllll grande gol de del piero....

souyth americans - opfficailly the most annoying comentaters in the world.

as far as your question goes, because irish football is so bad we all turn to scotland or england. i grew up amongst man utd fans so naturally i'm an avid utd fan now. been over for a few games and you really feel it when they lose or win but for me personally its nothing like when ireland are playing, you couldn't talk to be for a week after we got knocked out my spain in the 2002 world cup. you most at least have that with the mexico national team?

Originally posted by trev33
neh, he's got it all wrong....its

gol *5 second pause to get their breath*
goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooollllllllllllllllllll grande gol de del piero....

souyth americans - opfficailly the most annoying comentaters in the world.

as far a ...[text shortened]... ut my spain in the 2002 world cup. you most at least have that with the mexico national team?

Hardly, mate, of course I'm happy when they do good, but in reality the Mexican football is a big, filthy, crooked, sicilian style mob, and I despise it. Moreover, footie is used in all Latin America as opium for the masses. As soon as the MX national team wins something, the stupid president milks their fame to his favor, and the biggest TV company owner also cashes in. So it's not as the people's team, but rather the people's drug... so, in secret, I wish they are defeated always.

Sad to say.

Originally posted by Seitse
Hardly, mate, of course I'm happy when they do good, but in reality the Mexican football is a big, filthy, crooked, sicilian style mob, and I despise it. Moreover, footie is used in all Latin America as opium for the masses. As soon as the MX national team wins something, the stupid president milks their fame to his favor, and the biggest TV company owner als ...[text shortened]... t rather the people's drug... so, in secret, I wish they are defeated always.

Sad to say.

i was really disappointed with football in south america, easily the most popular sport to watch but played like a pub team in england. i when to see peru play colombia expecting to see a better tactical game than there is in england or even scotland but it was so bad they didn't have a clue what they where doing on the pitch....looked a bit like when i used to play as a kid everyone running after the ball and gaps left all over the field. the game ended 1-1. a few months later argentina came to peru so naturally i though i was about to see a world class team slaughter peru but peru brought them down to their level, it also finished 1-1. all the club football that i watched was just awful, well in argentina it was pretty good but the rest (didnt go to brazil) was just pathetic.

you couldn't beat the atmosphere at the games though, that was something special. especially at the peru argentina match, peru scored in the last min and everyone went wild.

Originally posted by trev33
i was really disappointed with football in south america, easily the most popular sport to watch but played like a pub team in england. i when to see peru play colombia expecting to see a better tactical game than there is in england or even scotland but it was so bad they didn't have a clue what they where doing on the pitch....looked a bit like when i used l. especially at the peru argentina match, peru scored in the last min and everyone went wild.

In America the best footie is played in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. Period. What you saw holds right: the smaller teams bring the big ones to their level. That is why you simply cannot understand that a team that ends 1-1 with Peru, like Argentina, or 0-0 with Bolivia, like Brazil, or 0-1 with the U.S., like Mexico, then deliver fantastic football when playing Netherlands, England, France or Italy.

The match Mexico - Argentina of the last world cup was gorgeous. Brazil facing Germany is a tactical delight, and so on, and so forth.

With a few exceptions, the best matches in the South American Cup (the equivalent of the Euro Cup over there), involve these 3 teams I mentioned. Out of that, it's a bore to watch Paraguay against Peru, or stuff like that.

At club level it works the same way, IMHO, and a final Guadalajara (MX) vs. Boca Juniors (ARG) is as pleasant to the eye as any top notch Champions League match involving Madrid, Roma, Chelsea, Man U, etc.