Well it is a very important game coming up on Saturday. Coming from Leicestershire originally and supporting Leicester until I was 12 (before deciding to follow the team Mike Channon played for) leaves me with a family of Leicester fans to have a friendly rivalry with. Both my brothers are Leicester season ticket holders so after a few years of not playing them it is back to trying to get one over them with a victory. This of course got me wondering whether this is unusual or do most of you come from a family of Saints fans? If you do have split family loyalties which team do they follow?
my family are all saints, but my brothers girlfriends family are skates. trying to get my niece to be a pompey supporter
I come from a family who are totally disinterested in Saints, football, cricket, etc... Historically, I'm the only one who has represented any school, club or any sporting body. The only one of the family who were dimly aware that I represented at various sports at all for school, clubs, etc... was my Mum, because she washed my kits. When I was a kid I'd initially go to The Dell on my own, until I found some friends there of the same age. To this day, I get queried looks when I talk about Southampton FC to relatives. In the last few years, my eldest brother has come to follow Saints, very much from an armchair perspective, and he gets quite animated about it. He gets the queried looks too now, except when we talk together, of course. When he was young he used to follow Saints Speedway [other family did too] and a legacy of that is that I ride motorcycles, to this day, so that is where the family sport leanings are. A few years ago I took him to a game at St Marys, and he was completely blown away by the crowd and occasion. I think he found it slightly intimidating..! Thankfully, we beat the opposition that time [remember Liverpool, Riise own goal..?] and he was completely won over.
I used to follow Liverpool (was a big fan of Michael Owen) until my Dad bought me a Saints season ticket when I was 9. His family are Saints and Mum's family are Aston Villa, so there is a little bit of rivalry there. I was also brought up near Brentford so I have a soft spot for them.
Most of my dads family are either Liverpool or bristol city, and most of my mums family are Portsmouth / Southampton. Think I've converted my dad to a saint now though!
My old man is a chelsea fan being from S London, so not much rivalry there really. But all my mums side of the family are from P*mpey and are all avid skates fans. I'm the only Saints fan in the family, really need a win on 18th onf Dec, as I have had sh*t from all of them the last few years.
me - saints old fart - saints Brother - arsenal sister - arsenal mother - Chelsea grandad 1 - tottingham grandad 2 - man united grandad 3 - Portsmouth ( i dont talk to him) uncle - arsenal uncle - portsmouth step brothers (3 arsenal amd 3 tottingham) step dad - Leicester i lov my big confused family
Me - Saints Younger Brother - Arsenal Mother - Arsenal (says she's impartial but I don't think so) Mother's other half - United Uncle - Spurs Aunt - Coventry Other Uncle and Aunt - Sunderland Grandad - Any team managed by Martin O'Neill Nana - Newcastle Friends - all United scum
I support Saints. My Dad supports Pompey as does his sister and most of his family. My dad's brother is the clever one being a millionaire and he supports Saints I often have some friendly banter about how Twitchy has made a career of bankrupting clubs. i.e. Cherries, then Hammers, then Pompey, the Saints, then finishing of the job at Pompey. Good job Spurs have a lot of investment..........at the moment. lol
Interesting how many have both Pompey and Saints fans in their families. I lived in Loughborough which is half-way between Nottingham and Leicester but both my parents were big Leicester fans so supporting Forest would not have been tolerated. My parents took us to quite a few games once we were old enough and when they stopped going my oldest brother took me to games. Once I started following Saints they probably just thought I was a bit strange whereas if I had started supporting Nottingham Forest I'd probably have been thrown out of the house. Luckily for me there was a family friend who supported the Saints and he took me to games all over the Midlands. It wasn't until I went to Southampton Uni that I went to a home game (yes my football club was the only criteria when choosing which uni to go to!!). My hatred towards Nottingham Forest remains though - I hate them more than Pompey.
All of my Mum's side of the family is from Swindon, so got quite a bit of stick from my Nan in the last 2 seasons...up until we beat them 4-1 and they ended up going down of course. I was gutted that they did though really and always look out for them
When I was a nipper we were truly divided. Grandad Pompey, Uncle Pompey other uncle Saints, me mum no interest My Dad Dundee. Used to go to both local home matches because of family ties. In those days we used to meet up with our mates about a dozen of us youngsters got together, seven of which like me, used to go to both matches. We all stayed life long friends. Only a couple moved away. They often used to come around to grandads, with their Dads, especially Christmas time. There was always rivalry, always banter most definitely arguments, but always friendly. Out of us kids the numbers have dwindled alarmingly out of the 8 or so regulars there is only 3 today. Two Pompey fans and me the only Saints fan. The last of the adults, a Saints fans sadly went two years ago. The wife of the uncle who was a Pompey fan until I converted him in the mid seventies. Alas he wasn't a Saints fan for as long as he was a Pompey fan, he did however have a season ticket for Saints along with my aunt for over 35 years.
Me = Saints always: Older sister = Saints always: Neice = Saints always: Nephew 1 = Saints ex Manure: Nephew 2 = Saints ex Arse: A happy bunch at the moment.
All my family young and old Saints fans. Taking my son to football is part of life. My dad took me and I will take my boys. I hope they do the same. When it gets in your blood its hard to get out. Those that support different clubs than their dad's is amazing to me. Still each to their own. As far as mates goes you have the standard Liverpool fan who hasnt even been to Anfield and the Chelsea fan that you didnt know about until 5 years ago. Then you have the Man U fans who tend to be people at work who dont actually like football but say they do to partake in conversation etc.
Living only 10 mins from Villa Park I have to put up with Other Half and all her family being Villa. Not to bad i suppose.
My grandad has had a saints season ticket since 1976. He forced my mum to be a saints fan, who forced my dad, and they all influenced me! I think i went to my first saints game at about 3 years old, (1993). Never looked back...
