Glory hunters ...

... or is it simpler than that.

I was recently travelling back from a walk near Whitby, Beck Hole, and stopped for lunch at a cracking country pub. It was all great with a log fire, local staff and home cooked food.

Then, like the seven dwarfs, in trooped a gaggle of Liverpool shirted locals with broad Yorkshire accents staking their place in front of the TV. I turned to Mrs Smug and mouthed the word 'bollocks'. Sure enough they recited stories of various home and away games, all of which they'd watched on the same TV. "Were you here when Salah missed that sitter and Barry knocked his pint over, what a day that was!"

My heart absolutely sank.

I resisted but eventually gave in and engaged them in conversation, all the usual stuff about why and how long and family connections. As I suspected none of them had any Liverpool connections, family or even bothered going to games. When I asked why they didn't support York, Scarborough, Boro, Darlington, whoever I was met with laughter and eye rolling. 'Embarrassing' was the general answer. At this point the teams came out and I left them to their impassioned rendition of YNWA.

I spent a bit of time considering all this and came to the conclusion that they're just TV supporters. They've simply latched onto a team that's on regularly, entertains them and doesn't cause them any embarrassment at work on Monday.

And that's what they want imo. It's not really a hunt for glory, it's the avoidance of the Monday morning ribbing they'd get with York City or Darlington.

So they've settled for a happy fake allegiance rather than a real one that might hurt them ....

.., I can understand it but still find it quite sad.

 

I wish I had thought of that

 

Understand your sentiments exactly Smug.
My son in law is Yorkshire through and through, born and brought up near Wakefield ( he's 52 now).
Was on Barnsleys books as a junior, looking likely he'd be heading for a good career as a Pro then suffered a ECL knee injury which finished his career but didn't stop him being football mad, no not following Barnsley or Leeds etc but is an avid Liverpool fan, in the twenty years he's been married to my daughter he's been to Anfield twice but jumps up and down watching them on the Tele and is insufferable this season cos they're doing well, I don't find this particularly sad just pathetic.
He doesn't give me a hard time cos of our 'fall from grace ' in recent times but don't really have in-depth discussions about football with him.
Plastic supporter springs to mind, and I don't go on about it as I could easily upset my daughter and that is defiantly a no no, but I smile inwardly and let him get on with it.
There's thousands like him around the country, mores the pity.

 

Actually going to the ground is costly, takes time and requires a bit of effort.

Plus your son in law would be surrounded by people he has nothing in common with ....

.... loads of Irish lads and Chinese tourists

 

One of my mag mates who I served my time with replied to a comment on a Newcastle Facebook page, where the guy commented on how poor “we” played against Norwich. I looked at who Davey was responding to and noticed it was another fella I served my time with. Only he was a Sunderland fan back in the 80’s. ****

 

A lad In my street (Darlo) went from supporting Leeds (well... wearing their shirt) to suddenly wearing an Ipswich top?!?

Any guesses for the year?

Am sure he will have been an avid follower of a few teams since !!!

F*ckin weirdo

 

Simply can’t get my head around how anyone can support a team they have no connection with it just boggles my brain.
The whole point is you see through the bad times so you can enjoy the good.

Mustn’t it’s been ****e following Sunderland in my lifetime but those early Reid years in the prem were ****ing awesome.
How can you enjoy those times if you are constantly changing allegiance?

People that do that are not to be trusted imo.

 

I was born in Kent.

My dad was from Blyth, and moved to Kent when he was 12.

I had no choice but to support Sunderland, I've never seen them have an ounce of success, but followed them up and down the country over the years.

To me, someone who's never lived in the NE, my passion for SAFC is with the supporters.

There might be more successful clubs, or richer clubs, but for me, nothing compares to sharing the terraces with the most passionate fans in the land.

I'm 300 miles away from the stadium but my heart will forever be with the club, and no doubt, my kids (when I have them) will be on the same path.

 

My son has both a United and a City shirt! I know, bad parenting! But he still looks out for every SAFC result. Doesn’t go to the games much with me now but that’s cos his Granda (my Dad is so negative and he got sick of us arguing!!

Reality of modern “support”

on the plus side, my lad hates all the teams I hate (Mags, Boro, Liverpool, West Ham and Villa and has recently developed a severe dislike for Fleetwood because of one person!!

 

It's very strange isn't it?

Part of the experience for me at Wembley was being with thousands of NE people of all ages ...

... going with a bunch of Scousers would leave me cold.

And surely seeing local lads go from the terraces to team is a source of pride ...

... I've no idea how that works if you're not local yourself.

 

Roughly the same thing happened when I moved down from Horden to Hartlepool after I got married. Went into one of the pubs on the marina on the day Liverpool were playing Man Utd - place absolutely chocker with people wearing both Liverpool and Man Utd tops

 

You probably know this already but Beck Hole boasts one of the smallest pub in the UK. Birch Hall, a wonderfully eccentric place. no TV room either, and the walk from there along the riverside to Mallyan Spout, my favourite waterfall, is truly stunning.

 

This is an interesting concept this. Most of us on here support Sunderland due to some tangible link to the club or the city and look down on 'supporters' of clubs like Liverpool or Man Utd who have no such tangible link (although I'm sure these people justify themselves to themselves somehow). Yet there are some amongst our number who consider League 1 to be a "pub league" or similar disdainful epithets. Are we not therefore guilty of a similar bias? Considering League 1 to be below us, in a similar way to these people considering their local clubs to be beneath them, must make us a form of glory hunter too.

To, for example, a Bromley supporter, League 1 would be considered being in the 'big time' but some of our number look down upon it. The club is, overall, where it deserves to be, so why do some of us consider it a "pub league"? If we're more virtuous for supporting Sunderland, with our tangible links, than a supporter of Liverpool who lives in Surrey and has been to Anfield once, surely a supporter of Consett or Sunderland RCA, or South Shields, or Canvey Island, or Bradford Park Avenue, or Blyth Spartans, or Kingstonian, or Bowers & Pitsea is more virtuous than us. No?

 

I was asked off one of my sons which was the first game your Dad took you too

He didn't I replied I was playing football up near the cross roads and the older lads were talking about going to the match asked them how they got there and how much in it was

After I cadged the money off me Mam caught the Select bus and was in the paddock watching Sunderland play Leeds about 9 yr old hooked ever since

 

Could it be due to the history of the club? Old First Division Champions six times, Bank of England nickname and recently staying in the Premier League for 10 season on the trot. Most of the clubs history has been in the top 2 divisions in England and when we did drop into this league previously, we came straight back up. Most people (me included) thought we would go straight back up but it turned out that wasn't the case. Whether we like it or not, we are now classed as a League One club without looking truly capable of gaining promotion, and if we do, it seems that some sizable injection of money is required to start to look up the leagues rather than looking back down.

 

I was born in Taplow, near Slough. Dad was born in Houghton-le-Spring and lived in Outram Street and moved to Slough just before outbreak of 2nd world war. We used to frequently visit NE on family holidays and stay at such places as Crimdon Dene caravan site or with relatives. Dad was a liker of NE Football and had no bias, he used to talk quite a bit about the likes of Crook Town and Bishop Auckland. As a kid he used to take me to watch Slough Town. It was one of his cousins that got me hooked on SAFC, on one of our visits to NE he gave me some old SAFC memorabila from early 60s, took me to Roker Park and the rest is history. I moved to NE in '86 and one of the main reasons was that I could get a season ticket at Roker Park.

Mind I still have 'southern' accent although daughter is broad NE

HTL

 

In quizzes the correct answer is "The Nutshell, Bury St Edmunds"

 

You are more understanding then me then mate.. This is totally alien to my mindset.. It is like the difference between having sex with a woman you love and a plastic half inflated blow up doll..

 

I stand corrected. Still worth a visit