Fan Origin Stories
0By Harbour Heather
Sometimes it’s easy. You’re born with it running through your veins, passed from generation to generation. Or it can be geographical, the colours of where you grew up, either a blessing or a curse.
And sometimes, it doesn’t really make sense at all. But it’s still just as real, just as passionate, and just as meaningful. Here are some fun stories we’ve collated from across Twitter recently about how people came to support teams that have no immediate connection.
Adopting a new city
For @Kiwi_Kali, moving to Melbourne meant there was no escaping the AFL. After claiming to support the Richmond Tigers only to silence a friend singing the team’s song in a fancy restaurant, a chance encounter with the team on a flight from Wellington to Melbourne was enough to convince her fate had spoken. “I went to the first round Richmond vs Carlton at the MCG in 2011, 70,000+ crowd, and it was electric. Richmond lost, but I was hooked.” The best bit, she says, is that she “only had to suffer six years as a fan before the Tiges won the premiership in 2017, the first time since 1980!”
Brit @aforsyth03 studied in Vancouver in 2011 “when the Canucks were good”, and got caught up in Canadian hockey madness. She travelled across North America and returned to London while watching their playoff run. Interacting on social media and waking up at 3am to watch games gave her enough connections in the Canucks fandom to be invited on a few podcasts when she moved back to Vancouver in 2015. “I’m now the co-host of the longest running Canucks podcast, C4 Hockey podcast.”
Our own @KloppGoff has a similar story:
I went to Belgium on a student exchange in 1996. A friend of my host family told me I had to choose a football side for the season. I watched the 1st round and chose the yellow side (Lierse) who had a kit similar to a Liverpool away kit I liked. They won the league that season👇
— Andrew (@KloppGoff) April 3, 2020
The ending wasn’t as happy – “I followed them up until 2018, when they went bankrupt.”
Love
The things we do to impress people…
I started supporting Man U cos Dean Kent’s middle brother (who I thought was hot) wore a Man U scarf to a swim meet once. 🤷🏼♀ The love affair with the football side has outlasted the crush by about two decades…
— Rowena Duncum (@rowie_nz) April 3, 2020
Hatred
There’s teams you love, then there’s teams everyone loves to hate.
I’m a Boston Red Soxs fan cos I hated the idea of the Yankees.
— Mathew (@MatNewton) April 3, 2020
I originally became a Boston Redsox fan whilst in the states in ‘97 because I hated how the Yankees were so good and the Redsox are their biggest rivals. Still and always will be a @RedSox fan
— Graeme Woolf (@gcwoolf) April 3, 2020
Add me to the list of Red Sox fans because #YankeesSuck
— Absolute Goose (@MadMaclegend) April 10, 2020
Sometimes it’s players that drive that decision:
Decided to divorce myself from the Tampa Bay Bucs due general dislike/apathy towards Jameis Winston in 2017, and decided it was only fair to start at the bottom when picking a new team. Cleveland Browns, come on down…
— JP Exotic (@SportSightedNZ) April 3, 2020
Although this brand of disdain seems a little rough:
I started supporting the Philadelphia Eagles because their fans booed Santa Claus and pelted him with snowballs in 1968.
— Jamie Wall (@JamieWall22) April 3, 2020
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