The way I see it, there are levels of fan and if you are living within the immediate boundaries of the club and you are into football, it will have a bigger affect on your life, the drama of traffic, the lonely walk home when you lose, the smell of the burger vans, the banter from store owners leading up to the derby game. Anyone not living in those boundaries won't know about some of this. Seeing rival fans arriving/leaving from a station close to you, the elation and noise when walking home from the stadium and people in cars ask what the score was, if its a win driving off tooting their horns. Then you have everything outside of the match day or stadium, banter with mates in the park, in school, at work. I was born and raised in Holloway and I am adamant that Arsenal fans with no real connection to the area can't feel the same as me when it comes to the club. I am not saying I am better, I am saying unless you are immersed in it, the community, how could you know ? when roads are closed for the open top bus parade to Islington town hall (no smart ass comments please ), how could you know how it feels to be an Arsenal fan living there, if you are not local ???
But you could of course argue that fans who actually attend the games have a better connection to the club than those who don't, even if they live near the ground.
Agree with this entirely. I live 5 miles from the Bridge but would still describe myself as local partly because Chelsea do a lot for my local area, in fact the players used to train where I live and Chelsea Ladies also play there. I am still affected by the traffic as a lot of people that go to games live where I live, I'm not going to the game on Saturday but need to go to West London so I'll most likely have to take a different route but will still be affected by traffic etc. Because I spent a lot of my childhood in Fulham and West London in general I would still consider myself connected to the area
Piskie I'd couldn't argue with that mate whether you live near the ground and don't go your a ****ing armchair fan. Fans travelling hundreds of miles are proper fans like Cym and yourself the others are wannabes.
Robby I sort of see it from both sides. . . I grew up in London and my journey was a quick hop to Charing Cross and 20 min tube ride from Highbury. When you live in London, you live and breathe the culture of the clubs because they are in your community. These days I have to travel over 300 miles to get to games. But I have to say, ultimately it's the fans who make the commitment to go to the games to cheer on their players who have the edge over those who simply live in the area but don't bother to attend.
