As there is no football on at the moment, all the players and staff are on holiday and the only entertainment at the Cottage is a crappy farmers market what can we talk about ? The farmers who run these farmers markets must be minted by the price that they charge for everything. I know that farmers have had it hard for some years now, but 4 quid for a bacon sandwich The best smiley available : As someone who lives in London occasionally I see the odd Fulham fan around, furthest up in Finchley. We are moving to Newhaven in Sussex soon and I have seen a few FFC fans around there. Apart from Europa league games never seen anyone abroad in a Fulham shirt. Where is the furthest place away from the Cottage that you have seen someone in a Fulham shirt. What are people's perceptions of us as a club abroad for those of you who live outside England or have lived outside of England before now. Apologies if these are equally boring as life without football but we need something to talk about !!!!
In answer to your question - the Aventura Mall, Miami, Florida. On a slightly different tack, what about conversations started with complete strangers when they recognise you as a fellow Fulham fan. I live in Witney and work in Oxford. I've not been working at my current office very long but have two Fulham mugs on my desk - a morning coffee one and an afternoon tea one. One day a couple of months back a bloke came up and started talking to me about Fulham. Now he chats every time he sees me like I'm some long lost friend. Thing is - I have no idea what his name is, what dept he works in or where he's from and it would be too embarrassing to ask now - no one else in my office has a clue who he is either!
I imagine there are a quite a few fulham fans in the States given the number of American players we've had in recent years. Would have thought this has attracted some degree of support. I myself am at uni in birmingham and have yet meet another fulham fan here, whether a local brummie or a student, which is a shame give the number of londoners that go to uni here. Indeed, whenever I travel down for home games I have usually lost sight of all fulham fans once I reach Euston, when I usually become immersed in swarms of arsenal fans if they are playing on the same day. However as soon as I see/meet a fulham fan up here I will be quick to start a conversation with them!
I met a guy in Thailand in April - a local, not a tourist - who was a Fulham fan, but my dive instructor was a Chelsea fan because he was from SW London. And at Basel two years ago I was there for the Europa League game and met several Brits living in Switzerland and France who were Fulham people. I'm rather glad to be a supporter of a smaller team. If someone's wearing a Fulham shirt, he/she is a real fan. I live in Germany and travel frequently around Europe. And I see herds of people walking around in knock-off Chelsea and Barca shirts who probably can't name a single player on the team their shirt represents. I'm a real fan of a real team. My three shirts aren't a fashion statement about my association with some mega-club. They mean something to me, and that's it.
The Irish sports bar in Santa Babara /LA every Friday and Sunday Prem matches are shown, apart from Man U, Fulham have a large following in California,the last watched match there,when FFC were playing,what an atmosphere there were at least 40 people wearing Fulham shirts, needless to say most had the name Dempsey on them. A great atmosphere,and I must say they are not all ex pats.
Australia- you cant beat that! Sydney one year ago, whilst wearing my Fulham shirt someone came up to me, telling that they were a Fulham fan. i think they were a bit dissappointed to find out I was a tourist- they said they had never met another Fulham fan in the whole of Sydney! (also they had moved from Fulham to there about 10 years before, so dont know if that counts!)
Beware, fulhaman, if you're anonymous work colleague signs up for this site and comes across this thread, he'll know that you don't know who he is! I can't compete with the long-distance tales, but I used to work as a youth worker, and on my first evening at one particular club I was running when I moved to Bournemouth, I wore my Fulham shirt (I was playing football in the same hall straight afterwards). One of the older helpers (mid sixties at the time, I think) said, 'That's a good shirt,' which struck me as an unusual response in those days (early years of Al Fayed era). It turned out that not only was he a Fulham fan, but he was an ex-Fulham player as well. He was a goalkeeper who, as far as I can gather never made it beyond the reserves. His name was Del Summers (I don't know if he played as Del or Derek, but I know his as Del) and he was an absolutely top bloke. We became good friends, although I've lost contact with him now. Do any of the older contributors here know remember him at all. As I said, he never made the first team so I'm not expecting much.
Totally with you dr, you're supporting a proper team if you support Fulham, not a glory seeker. My story isn't remarkable in distance, but in SE London the local teams are Charlton, Millwall, Crystal Palace and at a stretch West Ham, although you're as likely to see Arsenal & Chelsea shirts round here. So I was surprised and pleased when I called a glazier out in the 90's, we were chatting as he was working and the subject of Jimmy Hill came up. I said that I didn't join in the general fun much of criticising Hill as I was a Fulham supporter, and it turned out he was too. The first I'd met over here and I've only met one or two since in these parts.
I totally agree with the title of this thread BUT its only just over 2 weeks to the start of the season!!!!!!!!!!!!! Other than on our last European tour I haven't seen any Fulham fans abroad and there aren't many here in Hertfordshire. Its mainly Arsenal and Spurs here - there used to be an Arsenal shop in town but it closed down which is quite funny. There are also quite a few Watford fans who I infinitely prefer. Having said that, when I lived in SW London until a few years ago I didn't see many Fulham fans either - we're very much outnumbered by Chelsea in our own neck of the woods. I think part of it is that, unlike fans of other clubs (partiularly the type of fans DR mentions) we don't wear our allegiance on our sleeves (or backs!) so we could be walking past other Fulham fans all the time but not recognizing each other as such. I don't mind that however, as DR says we don't support FFC to make a fashion statement. PS Fulhaman - I also have an FFC mug on my desk (love your idea of having 2) and an FFC mousemat. The mat isn't the best retail product Mo ever sold and is getting tatty but obviously I can't get rid of it!
That Mullery goal against Leicester in the cup was MOTD goal of the year. It happened just after the start and I missed it as there was a big crowd that caused queues to get in!
I saw a lad wearing a Fulham shirt at a bus stop in my local area a few years back... It's true what you say you just have to go an talk to them as you know they are true fans.
We just managed to knock together our goal in the garden (Rocky you may remember from previous threads??) and can I say how great it is!! I will try getting a picture on here to show you my finished product. My season has just started (in the garden that is)
