Being a supporter of Watford is similar to being a boatman using Kolbeinsey as a mark. There is joy when you find it and despair when your boat is shattered on the rock as it is 65km from the nearest land and is in hostile seas. All the joy of last weekend with Bolton Wanderers was lost with the defeat in Norwich on saturday. I do say that the referee is very much to blame for this though. He was reacting to a something he and his linesman did not see and were making a decision guided by the supporters. I believe he was the referee when we lost 5:1 in Derby two years and he has been the referee when Watford have had other big defeats.
I was never sure how much 'Blind, Stupid and Desperate' was aimed at the team or the supporters. Probably both.
For me it is nearly 50 years of over achievement. When I started supporting Watford back in the early 60s they were a third tier outfit and at best I only expected the brief "foray" into the second tier that we had in 1969. To have become an established club in the second tier with one excellent spell in the top tier and then the occasional season in the Premiership has been marvellous.
In my case, being a Watford fan for well over 50 years means taking pride in following my local club regardless of how successful they are, which division they play in or what players are playing for them. It means being one of the 3,000 fans at Vicarage Road to watch us in the old 4th division against Newport County. It means taking the ribbing from so-called "supporters" of Premiership clubs (and before that League Division 1) who have never visited "their" club's ground (or even city). It means being despondent one week and exultant the next. It means "cocking a snook" at so-called "big" clubs and taking great pleasure in beating them regularly. It means walking back to the pub about 3 foot in the air after the Southampton League Cup win. It means visiting just about every corner of England and Wales at odd times of the day and year - being frozen at Blundell Park and baked at the McAlpine Stadium (as it was) and seeing Watford beaten at Carlisle, Darlington, Southport, Northwich & Aldershot, but winning at Highbury and Old Trafford (amongst others). It means being set upon in the Gents at Bury, Hartlepool and Torquay, defending my black and gold scarf. It means being so very, very proud at Wembley watching the team come out and the huge bank of gold-clad fans then crying whilst singing "Abide with Me" at my only live FA Cup Final in 84 and then being thrilled silly 15 years later at the same venue. It means walking back to the station in Cardiff in 2006 with an oh-so-smug expression on my face watching the Neanderthals suffer. It means quite simply having the glow of supporting the most wonderful football club in the world.......
Top post, Vic. Beautifully put. I haven't been to all the exotic places that you have, I was somewhat put off travelling away having received a really good kicking at the hands, or feet rather, of five brave WBA thugs, but pretty well all of what you say resonates here. Brilliant.
For me it's the wealth of treasured memories. I've never fully understood why I became a Watford fan, but have never regretted it - and some of the things I've done/places I've been to/experiences I've had/friends I've made simply wouldn't be in my mind if I had chosen another club to follow. Some examples: I doubt too many can claim to have slept the night under a hedge in Mansfield having miscalculated how long it would take to hitch hike there, and woken up the next morning covered in snow, only worrying over whether the game would be called off because of it. I often wonder what went through the mind of the poor lady who opened her front door to pick up her milk at the same time as I emerged from her hedge like a Yeti... Part of the team who proved that six six-footers could easily sleep in a mini cooper-estate on Liverpool pier head (until PC Plod insisted that three had to get out - quite why was never fully explained) My Watford shirt catching the attention of some locals in a Port Moresby pub, leading to a night of free booze from four guys who must surely have been the only Watford fans in Papua New Guinea.... Befriending an attractive young lass on the rear deck of a cruise ship - on the basis that we were both the only supporters of 'little teams' on board. She was an East Fife fan and is the main reason I still look out for their results.... Literally scaring the **** out of a giant lizard - and my workmates - whilst working on Blackdown Tableland in Central Qld, by running around screaming at 2:00am after my transistor radio suddenly picked up the fact that we'd beaten Aldershot in the cup.... Would never have happened if I'd been a gooner.
being a watford fan is a rollercoaster ride of joy and frustration...but then, that could be said of many fans of many clubs. The difference is...watford is not about sparkly stadiums and shiny starlets, but more about good, old fashioned football..fried onions..and a community spirit. i love WFC. End of.
my 1st game was 1966 so we have seen the same ups and downs . The best was ej/gt but the new owners could be even better
The Pozzos have got to go quite a bit before matching 2nd in the top Division and 3 rounds in Europe. I hope that they do it! Watford in the Champions League - now there's a thought. Given the state of the game in England now, it's probably even more remote than envisaging Watford in Europe when we were in the old 4th Div.
