Both myself and my son (5) wear our shirts on a regular basis. No hassle at all where we live. Generally get positive comments. Only reaction i had was when i was taking my mother to the local hospital, and this bloke was giving me the big stare. A pompey fan sat in casulty next to a saints fan in Whitby hospital. Small world. In his defence he was not a bad bloke
See quite a few pompey shirts about,see alot in bursledon tesco actually,don't say nothing because i'm not a vile piece of s**t! and afterall it's only football.Mind you having said that,it does kind of annoy me because of what i've heard about saints fans getting abused in pompey.
You dont often see a Pompey shirt in Southampton,but this is the time of year when they do occasionally turn up,as there are only about 70 shoplifting days until Xmas. I used to race greyhounds down at Pompey a few years ago,and one day found out that one of my dogs was racing in the Portsmouth FC Supporters Club Trophy Race, to be held a few days later. Me and a friend decided to take his 3 year old son down to the track with a Saints shirt on under his coat,so that if the dog won,i would take his lad up for the Trophy presentation,and get him to undo his coat for the photo. All went to plan,dog won,and got the photo done with lad in his shirt.The people presenting the Trophy laughed about it,but we got a few boo's and scummer chants from the people on the sidelines.
I live in Denmead, a place filled with Pompey fans as it is right next to Waterlooville. So Yeh, I only wear saints shirts on matchday. Once I was walking in Winchester in my Saints shirt after football, and had a white van drive past me with the passenger shouting "you faaaaaccckkkiinnnn scummmmaaaaa'", which was odd. Ballsiest thing I've witnessed was way back, when my then best mate Rory wore a saints shirt into Gunwharf keys when we went to the cinema and bowling complex. Balls of steel.
About 20 years ago when I was 8 I wore my saints shirt on a trip to southsea ( young and foolish) I was picked up an dangled off the Pier by a couple of skates. Blame my parents as much as them for letting me wear it!
There seems to be a theme here about Pompey fans picking on kids in Saints shirt. Hope it doesn't happen the other way. Pompey kids suffer enough.
I never once wore my Saints shirt when I lived in Pompey, but I did once wear my Croatia shirt with a jumper over the top. Unfortunately the very bottom of the shirt wasn't covered by the jumper, and the red and white cheques were made to look like stripes. It was only after walking past a mirror, having had four different men give me awful looks during my walk back from the shops, that I realised it (after the 3rd man called me a scummer, it was obvious to me that they somehow knew I was a Saints fan, but initially I just could not work out how they knew!). Suffice to say the Croatia shirt quickly found company with my Saints shirt, never to be worn in the area again.
I tease Pompey fans I know and vice versa (though they've gone strangely quiet lately), but there's no malice in it. Do Pompey fans take this more seriously (i.e. nastily) than we do?
I think there is more animosity from Pompey fans towards us,mainly because of their inferiority complex.
Wore an away shirt as a brave 14 yr old in southsea once - wasn't allowed in the arcade by bouncer on account of it! Also living in Bournemouth down the years i never used to gey comments but got quite a few things shouted by some 16 yr old wannabe hardnut cherries fans on a bus one time and around last yr when the rivalry kicked up I was jogging with my saints jacket and got a brick thrown at me which was just lovely, I often get scummer comments which always pisses me right off - only because scummer is nothing to do with them! Always annoys me that.
I don't wear my replica shirt, except to the match. My son seems to live in his, and a couple of years ago, we were at Centerparcs, him in his shirt and we crossed another Dad and lad, the Dad in question wearing his Pompey shirt. As we passed, the Dads exchanged a knowing smirk, and the lads viewed each other with suspicion. Nice moment actually, which was more about fatherhood than football. The strangest one (stop me if I told you this already........no? Ok, I'll go on) was when I was in the Saints shop at West Quay. A couple of youngish lads wandered in, one sporting his Pompey shirt. I watched, wondering what he was doing there. After a few minutes of wandering around, he made his way to the door, and said to his mate as he left, "I feel contaminated!" Its sad to hear, though, about any kids being abused for wearing their local teams shirt, whether it's a Saints one, or any other.
I don't wear mine a lot to be honest, just for exercise or when Saints have a big game or I watch them on the telebox. Lots and lots of Palace fans up here in Bromley and I've never had a problem!
I was on holiday in Egypt a couple of years ago,when Pompey played Chelsea in the cup final. I had noticed that there were a few Pompey fans around during the week,so decided to go into the hotel bar showing the final wearing my Saints top, as i was confident of seeing them take a right hiding in the final. There was about 9 or 10 of them sat together,and when i walked in and went to the bar and all i could hear was a few murmurings of "fecking scummer". I went and stood with a couple of Chelsea fans,and after taking a bit of abuse when they got their penalty,and then giving them loads back when they missed it,let the biggest cheer in the bar out when Chelsea eventually scored. One of the most enjoyable cup finals i have ever watched.
I was in Italy when they beat Germany in the World Cup. All the British holidaymakers naturally sided with the Italians and were given prime seats with the waiters at the hotel. Very enjoyable and then the waiters carried a coffin draped in the German flag and threw it in the pool...bit OTT and they got in trouble for that but we enjoyed it!
Scousers have always been OK about the shirts I have worn to the gym over the years. Blues particularly love it when we have beaten the Reds and vice versa. When we were going through the dark days a lad about 10 wearing an Everton shirt pointed to the Saints badge and asked if we were the club currently in the dod-doo (not his exact words). When I confirmed it he just said "that's really S*** mate. Hope they come out of it" and off he went. When we got promoted last season I didn't pay for a single drink in my local pub when I got home late on the Saturday and went home wasted. Scousers know their football, and respect fans of other teams.
