[Football] Club affiliation National team loyalty ?

[rebel51]

Bhafc only, couldn't give a tinkers cuss about England's national team especially under that palace clown. They get totally overhyped coz they get easy qualifying groups which means they are totally overrated by clueless buffoons. They are good players in their clubs because they have a lot of quality around them in foreign players. I actually hope they get beat. The only player I feel sorry for is would u believe Jack grealish because he is a special talent and still don't get picked. He has no fear about actually going towards defenders.

 

[Albumen]

It’s the only time I get to be totally unbiased and enjoy the matches. I couldn’t really give a monkeys if our players lose a game if the other team deserved it. And England hold my interest but emotion for them went out the window decades ago due to the moronic fan base.

 

[zefarelly]

Wasn't supporting Argentina 40 years ago. And prefer the Kirchners to Boris. Didn't support England in the 18th century when it dumped a million Africans in the Atlantic, or the 20th when it slaughtered lefties from Kenya to Malay, Guyana to Palestine. That's if you want to drag up the glorious history of humanity and the struggle for human dignity in a light hearted debate on what national teams we prefer.

Does Jersey or the Isle of Man have an International team ? Asking for a fiend. ;-)

 

[ConfusedGloryHunter]

A) I was born in London so qualify as a Northerner I believe.

My family moved to Sussex when I was 4 but my dad had no interest in football and so gave no guidance which meant as a kid (growing up in the eighties) I picked Liverpool. I had a scarf and everything.

I switched to BHA when I got my first job and some of the people there went to the Goldstone all the time. Actually going to a game and singing things like "Rust, Rust, Rust" was very enjoyable, even if we did lose a bit too often for my liking, so I stuck with it when I went to uni.

B) I have grown to dislike nationalism but have not escaped its grasp completely so could never support another nation against England.

 

[JetsetJimbo]

Born in London, but lived in Brighton between the ages of 8 and 18, which are pretty important years. Basically, I lived in Brighton when I got into football, so Brighton will always be my team. Oddly, the old Championship Manager games on the Amiga played a big part in this. I was more into computer games than football at that point, and when I got that game, I didn't really have a team: So I picked my local one and never looked back.

I'm a dual British and Czech national (through parents, but I've also lived in Prague for the past ten years), so I want England and the Czech Republic to beat whoever they're playing against. The best thing about this is that I can wait until after the game tomorrow and pretend I was supporting whoever wins all along

 

[Comrade Sam]

Does Jersey or the Isle of Man have an International team ? Asking for a fiend. ;-)

Watched the Concacaf or something like that world cup when it was in England a few years ago. It's a World Cup for unrecognised nations. Played across half a dozen non league grounds around London. No Jersey or Guernsey. But saw Northern Cyprus run to the final. Bruce Grobbelaar play for Matabeleland, the Punjab play some Hungarian nazi enclave and a few more. It was awesome.

 

[Comrade Sam]

Ha, this gets better.......you know Africans being enslaved and mistreated by other powerful nationalist states outdates even English nationalism.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanj_Rebellion

African slave revolts in the 600s means they were being enslaved a few centuries before King Alfred, but I know it’s the English slavery that was the worst once we got to the party 1000 years later..

As for Malaya, my old man did his National Service there, he had no compunction in waging war against communists. They were a rum lot.........good riddance to them and traitors like Messers Philby.Burgess, Maclean et al.

Are you Roger Daltrey?
Well thanks for the Wikipedia history lesson. Now I know the Atlantic slave trade and killing Communists is ok, I'll make sure not to support the Kingdom of Benin, the Songay and the great empire of Mansa Musa in the World Cup.

 

[Brovion]

Are you Roger Daltrey?
Well thanks for the Wikipedia history lesson. Now I know the Atlantic slave trade and killing Communists is ok, I'll make sure not to support the Kingdom of Benin, the Songay and the great empire of Mansa Musa in the World Cup.

Yes, but his point is valid. Not liking English nationalism is one thing (I don't think it's particularly worse than any other nationalism but that's another argument), but why pick Argentina? Why not pick a nation that doesn't have any rabid nationalists?

 

[1066familyman]

Yes, but his point is valid. Not liking English nationalism is one thing (I don't think it's particularly worse than any other nationalism but that's another argument), but why pick Argentina? Why not pick a nation that doesn't have any rabid nationalists?

Think the clue might be in the word nation there. Is it possible for any nation state to exist and not have rabid nationalists I wonder?

Also asking for a fiend.

 

[Comrade Sam]

Yes, but his point is valid. Not liking English nationalism is one thing (I don't think it's particularly worse than any other nationalism but that's another argument), but why pick Argentina? Why not pick a nation that doesn't have any rabid nationalists?

I love Maradona!

 

[Bakero]

Watched the Concacaf or something like that world cup when it was in England a few years ago. It's a World Cup for unrecognised nations. Played across half a dozen non league grounds around London. No Jersey or Guernsey. But saw Northern Cyprus run to the final. Bruce Grobbelaar play for Matabeleland, the Punjab play some Hungarian nazi enclave and a few more. It was awesome.

Conifa- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONIFA_World_Football_Cup

CONCACAF is the Caribbean, North and Central America.

 

[Swansman]

Yes, but his point is valid. Not liking English nationalism is one thing (I don't think it's particularly worse than any other nationalism but that's another argument), but why pick Argentina? Why not pick a nation that doesn't have any rabid nationalists?

I would say all nations got at least some rabid nationalists.

In Europe, Belgium might be the closest thing. They all know their country is a pretty artificial construction. The only reason there's still some Belgian nationalists is because a lot of the French ones dont feel very Dutch while joining France still would be impossible to them as Belgian-French relations are (and always have been) very poor.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

General interest in club football has waned dramatically over the last few years for me - but I was born & raised in Brighton, so will always be an Albion fan.

Internationally speaking, I lost interest in the England team after the Lineker / Pearce / Gazza generation...I just couldn't find any emotional attachment at all with the new kids coming through - but Ive had a deep rooted passion for Italy since childhood (as a design student in the 90's I fell in love with Italian art & design movements - but also the people, food, scenery, history, sports), so have always supported them when watching games. Some of my earliest football memories at junior school were being out on the school field at lunchtimes pretending I was wearing the Azzurri blue, imagining I was Baresi, Maldini, Donadoni....

Some people dont understand how I can root for a country I wasn't even born in, & give me grief for it - but I couldn't give a toss tbh. I feel far more kinship to Italy than England a lot of the time, & would embrace their way of life given the opportunity. Some of my best friends are Italian, we holiday there, so why not follow their football team too?

 

[cunning fergus]

I would say all nations got at least some rabid nationalists.

In Europe, Belgium might be the closest thing. They all know their country is a pretty artificial construction. The only reason there's still some Belgian nationalists is because a lot of the French ones dont feel very Dutch while joining France still would be impossible to them as Belgian-French relations are (and always have been) very poor.

Good to hear there’s no nationalism in Belgium...........

 

[cunning fergus]

I love Maradona!

There is so much to love isn’t there........

 

[Swansman]

Good to hear there’s no nationalism in Belgium...........

View attachment 137888

There's always been tension between the Flemish and the French parts. Nationalism? Well, if wanting to dissolve the nation is nationalism, then I guess so.

 

[Swansman]

Starting with the first tournament I watched since really turning interested in football - the Euro 2000 - I cheered for the Dutch, perhaps fuelled by how dire Sweden were. I loved the attitude "playing entertaining football is more important than winning" and "it doesnt count if it isnt good football". Many years later I loved how most Dutch people turned their backs at the team that reached the World Cup final because they werent playing nice football. And things like Cruijff strolling by a Dutch training, seeing some Juve players practising dives and telling them "its not the way we do it".

I'm not that idealistic however, I still cheer for the Swedish team as well and (perhaps ironically) I always hope the wins are as ugly as possible. Different nations got different football ideologies and I like it that way.

I also usually cheer or at least hope it goes well for the other Nordic countries. Aside for the Danes who are very Dutch inspired, we all have a similar pragmatic and organised way of playing due to necessity (small nations were you can really only play spontaneously for about six months a year).

 

[cunning fergus]

There's always been tension between the Flemish and the French parts. Nationalism? Well, if wanting to dissolve the nation is nationalism, then I guess so.

Well nationalists within well established nation states they want to separate from have a tendency to jump head first into any opportunity that suits their objectives.



Like their Flemish brethren, Scottish nationalists in WW2 sought help from Germany via the Irish Government, which itself was willing to support the Germans.

Proof frankly that some nationalisms (and nationalists) can have more unfavourable historical baggage than others........including (for example) those countries after WW2 that were run by nationalists willing to (say) provide asylum to known German war criminals.

 

[Bodian]

Starting with the first tournament I watched since really turning interested in football - the Euro 2000 - I cheered for the Dutch, perhaps fuelled by how dire Sweden were. I loved the attitude "playing entertaining football is more important than winning" and "it doesnt count if it isnt good football". Many years later I loved how most Dutch people turned their backs at the team that reached the World Cup final because they werent playing nice football. And things like Cruijff strolling by a Dutch training, seeing some Juve players practising dives and telling them "its not the way we do it".

I'm not that idealistic however, I still cheer for the Swedish team as well and (perhaps ironically) I always hope the wins are as ugly as possible. Different nations got different football ideologies and I like it that way.

I also usually cheer or at least hope it goes well for the other Nordic countries. Aside for the Danes who are very Dutch inspired, we all have a similar pragmatic and organised way of playing due to necessity (small nations were you can really only play spontaneously for about six months a year).

I always want to see the Dutch do well, other than when they are playing England - probably going back to my earliest World Cup memories in '74. And in 1994 I watched the World Cup over there, whilst studying (sort of anyway) in Groningen - and fell in love with the Dutch people and their attitude to life - much as you describe above. And their kit is so much more preferable to ours! And also, I think there is a strong bond between England/Britain and you lot in Scandinavia - because of our shared culture I suspect. Living up here in Cumbria, you realise how much of our language is aligned - fell, beck, and so on. Indeed, when out drinking with Swedes, after about five pints I can understand Swedish perfectly (or so I think!). So - I always like to see the Scandinavian teams do well - again, so long as it's not at our expense; which it often is....

 

[ATFC Seagull]

My dad's Irish (although he lived most his life in England) and I always followed Ireland as a result. USA '94 was probably quite formative in that as well, but it started before then.

What's always amused me is the extent to which it offends other people, including those that don't know me.