Do You Support Your Local Team?

[Monkey Tennis]

1 hour ago, AJF said:

I don't. I'm from Livingston but support Rangers. I like to see Livi doing well, but I wouldn't consider myself a supporter of them.

As far as the why goes, similar story to a lot of people here. My Dad was born in Glasgow and supported Rangers. His family then moved to Livingston not long after it was established as a New Town. He continued attending Rangers matches with my uncle and that then rubbed off on me after I came along.

And they won every week...

[ATLIS]

1 hour ago, AJF said:

I don't. I'm from Livingston but support Rangers. I like to see Livi doing well, but I wouldn't consider myself a supporter of them.

As far as the why goes, similar story to a lot of people here. My Dad was born in Glasgow and supported Rangers. His family then moved to Livingston not long after it was established as a New Town. He continued attending Rangers matches with my uncle and that then rubbed off on me after I came along.

Same story as me, except my Dad is now a Livi season ticket holder. 

[Monkey Tennis]

2 hours ago, Kyle Reese said:

I used to as a kid when I started supporting football. Now there’s an East of Scotland League team closer to home. You don’t switch teams though. Not as an adult anyway. I remember a couple of kids at high school who switched teams from one SFL/SPL team to another. Always just wrote them off as weirdos after that.

Sandy Clark describes it in his autobiography. If you grew up in Lanarkshire, Ayrshire or Renfrewshire at that time, you had two teams: Your big team (one of the OF), and your wee team (local club). The problem with this nonsense however, is:

1) A generation or two later, most of the kids and grandkids of these types stop bothering to support their wee team anymore.

2) The success of the big teams outstripped everyone else, and folk from areas further away from Greater Glasgow started to do the same thing. Fife and Dundee for example. Even Edinburgh and Aberdeen where the last remaining non-OF “big teams” are located, are riddled with OF glory hunters.

The highlands is a bit different as they had their own league outside of the pyramid for most of history. I find it easier to understand OF supporters from the highlands proper.

Sad that it’s got to the stage that it has though. Nothing worse than some bellend from a local area with no links to Glasgow, giving it the big one to his neighbours about how shite their local team is. Always seems lost on them, that they and their ilk are a big part of the reason.

No point in complaining about it now though. You’ll not get the genie back in the bottle.

Wait, you've read a book written by Sandy Clark?

Absolutely extraordinary behaviour.

[dublin_bud]

So. 

Born in Rutherglen. First 18 months of my life were in East Kilbride. Moved to Bishopton (Renfrewshire) and went to primary school there. Parents divorced and I moved to Dumbarton and went to high school there. 

Define my local team... 

FWIW, I support St Mirren; mainly because I sang in Paisley Abbey for a good number of years and was driven past Love Street at least 8 times a week. 

[stu92]

My dad used to go watch Clyde with his grandad, but when he passed away couldn't get to games any more. He had a brief flirtation with Rangers as a lot of his pals at the time followed them, but gave that up due to the nonsense often associated with supporting either half of the OF. He used to play BB's football in Motherwell at the time and so would often get into Fir Park for the second half of games, and so settled on Motherwelll and is the reason I support Motherwell too. I can't imagine supporting anyone other than Motherwell due to the connection my dad and I both have growing up supporting them, which is not a unique thing to me. 

Conversely, I went to school with more than the one guy who made the switch from their da's diddy team to Rangers/Celtic/Burley's Hearts (lol) as it wasn't cool to support a team that didn't win things. 

I fully appreciate that folk will support a certain team because of family connections or whatever but it does annoy me that more people don't support their local side. Taking Lanarkshire as an example, it's the most populous region in Scotland (650k if you combine North + South) yet you'd be lucky to get 10k people if you combined the home attendance of the 4 senior football teams from the region (haven't researched that at all so happy to be corrected). At the same time would be interested to know how many fans leave Lanarkshire on fan buses to Glasgow.

1 hour ago, Theyellowbox said:

What I do think is changing is that in generations before, if you wanted to support a successful team in Scotland at a distance, it would likely be either Rangers or Celtic, partially because of influence in school and partially because that was the big teams you had exposure to. I'm not sure that is so true now. If you are minded to just support a big successful team and only watch on TV, then as likely to be Man City, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. That in a way poses a potential problem to Rangers and Celtic long term.

I think this is also very true, based on what my child-raising friends tell me. Games like Fifa/ProEv, and placing footballers in adverts for all sorts of random products,  make supporting football nowadays more of a cool 'social' thing whereas it certainly felt more tribal in terms of picking a team and supporting it when I was a bit younger. Maybe just my weird take on it but it certainly feels different.

On a slightly related note that also allows me to blow the trumpet of my own team, I know a handful of OF-supporting folk that live in and around Lanarkshire and have taken advantage of the various free season ticket promotions that Motherwell do to try and get more young blood through the turnstiles. I think these sort of initiatives are what all clubs should be doing (disclaimer: maybe they are) to try reverse the effects of gloryhunting. 

[Derry Alli]

Sandy Clark has a book out. 

Somebody has read it. 

[ZX1886]

Born in Glasgow, grew up 10 minutes away from Broadwood Stadium (Clyde) but the impression I always got was that Clyde played locally but they weren’t a local club. My dad would speak about how they were from Rutherglen, their support was in Rutherglen and eventually they would move back there. I hardly knew anyone who watched Clyde growing up and the ones I did know were boys I went to school with who actually supported Rangers/Celtic but weren’t allowed to go through to Glasgow to see them.

So for me Motherwell wasn’t technically the closest but they have always been nearby and quick to get to so I still considered them local growing up.

[Kyle Reese]

24 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Wait, you've read a book written by Sandy Clark?

Absolutely extraordinary behaviour.

 

11 minutes ago, Mr. Alli said:

Sandy Clark has a book out. 

Somebody has read it. 

Och, I suppose I just like reading football books. Just got Bobby Walker’s biography last week, and Wee Robbo’s is still to arrive. I particularly like the ones that also delve a wee bit in to the current affairs of the time too. Clark’s wasn’t the best one I’ve ever read, not by a long shot. Always good to listen to accounts of players who were at your club/team in days gone by though. Interesting to hear what went on within the dressing room, and relate it to what you saw from the terraces.

I don’t really have a problem with Clark, myself. His time as manager with HMFC was short, and he did the job that was required at that moment. He also helped bring Robertson on as a player, and was a part of the first Hearts team I saw live. 

Can see why others wouldn’t like him though.

[Theyellowbox]

19 minutes ago, stu92 said:

My dad used to go watch Clyde with his grandad, but when he passed away couldn't get to games any more. He had a brief flirtation with Rangers as a lot of his pals at the time followed them, but gave that up due to the nonsense often associated with supporting either half of the OF. He used to play BB's football in Motherwell at the time and so would often get into Fir Park for the second half of games, and so settled on Motherwelll and is the reason I support Motherwell too. I can't imagine supporting anyone other than Motherwell due to the connection my dad and I both have growing up supporting them, which is not a unique thing to me. 

Conversely, I went to school with more than the one guy who made the switch from their da's diddy team to Rangers/Celtic/Burley's Hearts (lol) as it wasn't cool to support a team that didn't win things. 

I fully appreciate that folk will support a certain team because of family connections or whatever but it does annoy me that more people don't support their local side. Taking Lanarkshire as an example, it's the most populous region in Scotland (650k if you combine North + South) yet you'd be lucky to get 10k people if you combined the home attendance of the 4 senior football teams from the region (haven't researched that at all so happy to be corrected). At the same time would be interested to know how many fans leave Lanarkshire on fan buses to Glasgow.

I think this is also very true, based on what my child-raising friends tell me. Games like Fifa/ProEv, and placing footballers in adverts for all sorts of random products,  make supporting football nowadays more of a cool 'social' thing whereas it certainly felt more tribal in terms of picking a team and supporting it when I was a bit younger. Maybe just my weird take on it but it certainly feels different.

On a slightly related note that also allows me to blow the trumpet of my own team, I know a handful of OF-supporting folk that live in and around Lanarkshire and have taken advantage of the various free season ticket promotions that Motherwell do to try and get more young blood through the turnstiles. I think these sort of initiatives are what all clubs should be doing (disclaimer: maybe they are) to try reverse the effects of gloryhunting. 

Motherwell certainly do seem to really be engaging with the local community and anecdotally it seems the same all over the country. I think if you cam get folk through the turnstiles a good few times they will end up hooked.

It's maybe at a local club level as tribal as it has ever been, but kids nowadays deffinately are attracted to bigger foreign teams than they are Rangers and Celtic. I think the widening gulf between the two maybe adds to that. 

[Kyle Reese]

5 minutes ago, Theyellowbox said:

Motherwell certainly do seem to really be engaging with the local community and anecdotally it seems the same all over the country. I think if you cam get folk through the turnstiles a good few times they will end up hooked.

It's maybe at a local club level as tribal as it has ever been, but kids nowadays deffinately are attracted to bigger foreign teams than they are Rangers and Celtic. I think the widening gulf between the two maybe adds to that. 

That is definitely a thing. It’s funny though, a few years ago nobody was whining about kids from all over Scotland wearing OF tops. Now suddenly you hear pundits getting all indignant about them wearing EPL tops. Nae luck, eh. 

[Monkey Tennis]

I'd much rather see Scottish kids supporting big European sides than either strand of the OF.

[Comrie]

Seeing as I now walk down to the Ferry most weeks to watch Clach concede and score a lot, yes.

[johnnydun]

7 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Hi Son, i need that £50 i lent you 15 years ago back.

Call me. 

Good for you Mullarkey! Booting that boy out all those years ago after he chose to be a DAB.

Get that £50 back and buy a Roma top with it.

[killiepiemuncher]

Yes.

[Sergeant Wilson]

17 hours ago, Mr. Alli said:

Sandy Clark has a book out. 

Somebody has read it. 

He was badly let down by his ghost writer. The book is littered with spelling and grammatical errors apart from anything else.

@Theyellowboxis right. Sandy is a bit older than me and his view is probably more in line with the previous generation who had no problem with having a "second" team. I've met plenty like him and only by the mid 70s that people started railing against that view, to the extent it's now reversed and there is real hatred towards the teams concerned and that attitude.

[Kyle Reese]

21 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

He was badly let down by his ghost writer. The book is littered with spelling and grammatical errors apart from anything else.

@Theyellowboxis right. Sandy is a bit older than me and his view is probably more in line with the previous generation who had no problem with having a "second" team. I've met plenty like him and only by the mid 70s that people started railing against that view, to the extent it's now reversed and there is real hatred towards the teams concerned and that attitude.

Absolutely. This is quite common with football autobiographies that are unlikely to hit the best sellers lists. You have to take them for what they are: a glimpse through the eyes of someone who was there. Sandy's is more of a local interest book as far as I am concerned. It covers some important seasons at HMFC, including my very first as a supporter. I wasn't expecting Wordsworth and I wasn't disappointed. Spelling and grammar were worse in Gary MacKay's autobiography.

[Sergeant Wilson]

5 minutes ago, Kyle Reese said:

Absolutely. This is quite common with football autobiographies that are unlikely to hit the best sellers lists. You have to take them for what they are: a glimpse through the eyes of someone who was there. Sandy's is more of a local interest book as far as I am concerned. It covers some important seasons at HMFC, including my very first as a supporter. I wasn't expecting Wordsworth and I wasn't disappointed. Spelling and grammar were worse in Gary MacKay's autobiography.

Same here.

I played football with his brother and nephew. I don't think it's in the book, but anyone who knew them thought his sister was a better footballer than any of them. She was a sprinter if I remember correctly, so probably faster.

[AJF]

18 hours ago, Monkey Tennis said:

And they won every week...

It's hard to say how much influence that had on things. I don't recall ever having any tendency to support anyone other than Rangers, so I don't know if things would've been different had they not been successful. If Rangers happened to be rubbish, would I have switched allegiances to Livi when they were established here? I couldn't even guess.

I just remember going into Primary 1 fully believing Rangers were the best team in the world, and I think I'd probably have thought that regardless of who I was brought up to support. Things may have changed further down the line as I matured and took more of an interest in it, but it's impossible to say.

[Robin.Hood]

On 29/11/2014 at 21:22, invergowrie arab said:

My nearest team is Dundee but I don't support them because they are Shite.

I knew it 

[itzdrk]

On 29/11/2014 at 21:13, ThePonderer said:

If not, why so?

A lot of the problems with imbalance in Scottish football come from people not supporting their local teams.

I mean I was raised supporting Celtic, I support my local team Partick Thistle now (partly/mostly due to Irish bullshit of Celtic and partly due to them being local team).

If every fan of Scottish football just supported their local team, leagues would be a lot more competitive. Celtic and Rangers would still be bigger due to international support but the gap would be much lower, perhaps low enough for teams like Hearts, Aberdeen and Dundee United tier teams to win it occasionally.

I don't buy into the club loyalty bullshit either and wish others wouldn't, that just contributes to this stuff. If I moved to Ayr I'd support Kilmarnock or Ayr United (whichever was closer) same if I moved to Abderdeen or Inverness etc.

Loyalty is for country, domestically it doesn't matter as long as you support a Scottish club.

But if you care about competitiveness, you should do your part by supporting your local team.

This is a mental view, I've grown up supporting Ayr but according to you I'd be onto my fourth team by now: 

1996/2010 - Ayr United

2010/2019 - St Mirren

2019/2021 - Queens Park

2021 - Celtic