Chance encounters with Albion fans in everyday life.

[Al Bion]

The weirdest time I bumped into an Albion fan was when I was on holiday in Melbourne Beach, Florida which was a bit of an out-of-the-way sort of place. I was just sunning myself by the pool when a family arrived with two of their kids wearing Albion shirts. I promptly shouted 'Seagulls' and did so several more times when the kids came round my side of the pool. In the end their dad came round to me and said their kids were a bit disturbed about me keeping shouting songs at them, turns out they were yanks with no idea who the Albion or Seagulls were but the dad's work colleague had recently been working in England and bought the kids back a souvenir, luckily for me (as he was a big beefy bloke) he saw the funny side.

Which reminds me of the guy who came up to me in my hotel in Cape Town, South Africa during the World Cup and asked if I'd ever heard of Peter Ward as he was a 'soccer' coach with him!

 

[Arnois2]

I met a Brighton fan up the top of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas, we were both wearing our stripes, couldn't believe it. Also met a couple of Brighton fans at the Athens Olympics, 1 in the stadium and 1 at the semi finals of the women's tennis. Also remember a few years ago watching Man Utd on telly at the World Club Championships in Brazil I think, and there was a Brighton fan wearing the blue and white stripes all on his own at the top of the stadium.

 

[surrey jim]

Went on a 'jeep safari' type touristy thing in Dominican Republic. We were in the middle of nowhere stopping for the loo/refreshments and off another jeep in another convoy jumped off an Albion fan. If I recall correctly it was just after we beat Wycombe during Adams mk2 reign.

 

[rdigs24]

I was climbing Ayers rock in 1998 wearing my Albion shirt when I bumped into another Albion fan in the same top.

 

[Rugrat]

Vegas airport 2/3 years ago ... young lad in a Skint top

 

[madinthehead]

Met a German Brighton fan in the pub I worked at, in Frankfurt...

 

[Bodian]

I was hitching in Norway in 1994, going to Flam. I got a lift in a van, and about 50 miles down the road we saw another couple hitching. The Norwegian guy who had picked me up asked if we should stop - but because there wasn't a lot of room, we decided we wouldn't.

As we went past I saw that the male hitcher had an Albion top on - so I immediately told the driver to stop and reverse - and we all crammed in.

Had a lovely day out going up on the train and walking back down the mountain. Somewhere in my photo albums there's a picture of him in his top on the mountain path.

 

[scousefan]

My 13 year old daughter comes to Albion away games in the North West (nearer to Liverpool) with me. She isnt really a true fan. She mainly comes for the shopping, a pie and to watch the Albion fans! Earlier this year, she brought a boyfriend home for the first time. We were extremely nice to him which she found very disconcerting.

I was just about to book our tickets to go to the Bolton game and asked him if he liked football. He said yes, so I asked if he would like to come! To my astonishment he got really excited because he was an Albion fan, having been brought up in Eastbourne!

Sadly he had a cross-country race that weekend and that was lucky because my daughter chucked him 2 days later!

 

[Screaming J]

Working in an office block in Wigan, discovered a note under the windscreen wiper of my Seagull sticker festooned car in the office car park. It was from another Albion fan working in the same building

 

[cheshunt seagull]

A Trailways bus en route from Washington DC to Charlottesville, Virginia in 1978. Neither of us were in colours and we'd sat next to each other for about 2 hours before one of us initiated a conversation. Turns out he lived in Seven Dials whilst I was living in Montpellier Crescent.

 

[TheMajor]

I sometimes have to drive into London and am always gutted when I let a car in from a side road and then see a Palace sticker in the window.
I am now a very selfish driver between Coulsdon and Brixton.

You did well to find a Palace fan living in South London !

 

[Seagulls Downunder]

During the last Ashes in Sydney I bumped in to many, mind you it did help that I was walking round with the supporters club banner.
On the pink day for the Glenn McGrath cancer foundation it was in the mid 30's and by 2pm my daughter and Mrs had seen enough and wanted to leave.
I told my daughter before leaving I wanted her to put her pink Albion shirt on for a photo, as we moved down the front 1 of the 7 people in front of us turned round and said
I don't believe it your Albion fans so are we. They'd been sat in front of us all day without any idea, I'm sure at least one of them must be on here and will remember it.

On a weekend trip to Paris I arrived at the top of the Eiffel Tower to find an Albion fan in his shirt waiting to get the lift back down, the next day at Euro Disney we bumped in to another, what are the chances of that.

 

[Brightonfan1983]

Looking for a screen for the first Palace game, I saw a bloke in an extremely packed pub wearing a very tidy bit of Albion casual wear. I grinned at him and yelled (it was noisy) "are they showing the game here?" He said something in a strong Spanish accent that I took to be something like "I don't know what you're on about, I don't like football."

Odd.

 

[WATFORD zero]

In a Gondola going up a mountain in Austria a few years ago. My Family had got on the one before and i was in with about 20 Austrians all speaking very loudly in German. I was wearing an Albion hat and the guy at the other side of the Gondola noticed, pulled down the zip on his Jacket to reveal a Skint T-Shirt. We nodded and smiled. That was it, no words needed.

 

[FamilyGuy]

A few years ago I was filling my car in a petrol station in Doncaster, a local guy walked across the forecourt and pointed to my BHA car sticker and said (something like) - "Seagulls, bloody good team mate, we went down to the Goldstone to support them on Fans ReUnited day - and when we was in trouble some of your guys came to support us back. We've been demoted now but we'll be back, just like you guys did - good to meet you."

Shook hands and walked away, leaving me speechless.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

A nice man I Kayack with supports them

I kayak, but I don't know you, it gets weirder!

 

[Ali_rrr]

I met someone in Portugal who was Belgian, he supported Royal Antwerp but Brighton were his second team.

 

[Lincoln Imp]

I was climbing up a tough footpath in the Blue Mountains in NSW on 29 October when a bloke at the top gave a brilliant SEAGULLLLS in recognition of my hat. He came from Hove.

 

[lawros left foot]

I was in a bar in Hamburg, got talking to the barman, turned out he was fanatical St Paulo fan,but his English team was the Albion ,cos of the gay angle.This was when we were bottom of the fourth div.Since then I always lookout for St Paul is results.

 

[Brian Parsons]

In 1967 I was serving in the RAF and was stationed in Aden in the Middle East. I was due to be flown in a helicopter from big Aden to Little Aden. As I climbed into the helicopter I asked the pilot how do you fly this contraption, his reply was before I tell you what part of Sussex did I come from. I told him Storrington and he said he came from Washington, and we were both Brighton fans.So a 10 min flight took over an hour.