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Over 50 years as man and boy supporting the Warriors.

It is what being a football supporter is all about - getting behind your local team, experiencing more bad days than good days but when the good days come they are special days.   This is something that the glory hunting OF fans will never experience.  They have a sense of entitlement and cannot understand why everyone is against them as such because of it.

When you're sitting in a megre crowd, on a freezing cold day, watching a mediocre game of football then you know you are a football fans supporting your local team.

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My Dad first started taking me to the Rovers when I was 4 and I've been going to games ever since. Growing up my Dad, his brother and their father were Rovers fans but only my Dad still attends games. My Grandad on my Dad's side passed away many years ago and my Uncle lost interest as the years went on. On my Mum's side they weren't really big football fans but my Grandad would proclaim to being an Aberdeen fan as he was brought up nearby. 

I caught the football bug quickly. I can still remember my first game at home to Airdrie at the old Stark's Park during an era where kids were lifted over the turnstiles. We lost the game and I spent the majority of the game running about the terrace with other kids my age kicking an old coke can about as the older heads stood up near the back of the terrace. Not long after that I got a season ticket for the Railway Stand and once Stark's Park was done up we moved back behind the goals. We're both still season ticket holders and unless we've been away on holiday we've rarely missed a game at home for a number of years now. 

At school I was well known within my group of friends, and the teachers, as a big Rovers fan. In all honesty I never received a lot of bother from people when they knew I was a Rovers fan. At primary school Rovers were going through their glory years of the mid 90's and believe it or not there were more Rovers tops on show at my school than there were Rangers or Celtic tops. This was during a period before school uniforms were mandatory and wearing football tops to school wasn't frowned upon. Moving to high school was much the same, there was certainly a more varied mix of teams people 'supported' but there were still a healthy number of Rovers fans that I latched on to and would go to games with. 

Wee random story probably not relevant but hey ho:

When I hit my teens I wanted to sample going to away games myself. We drew ICT in the cup and my auld man was fine with me and my friends going up in the supporters bus. He was quite happy giving away games a miss by this point but for me I always got a right good buzz heading to an away match. His words to me for any game I was going to without him was "behave yourself and watch what you're doing...there are some bad b*****ds from (insert teams town name)". Without fail these were his words of wisdom. So the bus was booked to head up to Inverness. We must have been about 15 years old and yes the plan was to chance our luck at getting a pint in a pub. We found a pub rammed with Rovers fans and my mate, who was not far of 16, went and asked for pints for all of us (there were 5 of us). Frighteningly he came to the table with all 5 and that was that. All the years of being bored at pubs pre match and the torch had now been passed. I was surrounded by like minded people following my local team singing without a care in the world having a pint with my mates. Just as my mate was about to get another round in I clocked a guy walking into the pub..."nah it can't be...is it...f**k it is, it's my auld man". Turns out he couldn't resist a Scottish Cup tie in Inverness or more than likely he was checking up on me. Anyhoo he saw us, seen the empty pint tumblers, gave us a wry smile and left us to it. Bumped into him at the game and he was giving it "so....having fun then?". I also remember the first time I swore in front of him at a game. Whilst swearing at games was something I was used to hearing I couldn't imagine coming out with some of this stuff in front of my auld man. We drew 1-1 at home to Celtic. Di Canio put Celtic 1-0 after 89 minutes  and we equalised in injury time. I blurted out "get that fucking up you!!!" and quickly realised what I'd said fully expecting a bollocking. I turned to my auld man who was pissing himself laughing. 

I suppose I've been quite lucky with what I've seen growing up supporting a predominately lower league diddy team. I've seen us beat Celtic in the League Cup final, seen us play in Europe and play in the Premier League, seen us go on decent cup runs notably getting to the Scottish Cup semi final, seen us win leagues, win derby games and had some tremendous times following the club. I've also seen the bad times (Anelka debacle, relegations, financial issues putting the club at risk) but, as is the case with most fans of clubs of our size, you stick by them and hope for the good times to return. Now and again something magical happens that makes following a smaller club totally worth it. 

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When I was young I wanted to go to football games and my Dad is a Cowdenbeath fan so he took me along to a midweek match against Ross County in winter.  To this day I can still remember how cold I was on the terraces and I loved how engrossed my Dad was in the match.  We lost 2-1 scoring a late consolation and then missing a tap-in with the last kick of the game.  I wasn't quite hooked then as I can remember the joy of getting back into the car to heat up!

However I did enjoy the game and wanted to go back.  Then my Dad offered to up my pocket money if I came along with him to more matches and I gleefully accepted the extra £10 a month to go and watch Cowden play.  Soon we were going to every home game and gradually due to my moaning we went on the supporters club bus to away games as well.

Since then I've done tons for the club that most fans of big clubs could never imagine doing. I've traveled all over Scotland to towns I'd never heard of while my mates went to a few games a season at their respective clubs.   I was on the supporters club committee as a teenager, I helped paint the changing rooms and the tunnel at the ground.  I created the clubs official Facebook page and launched the Twitter page too. I write for the programme currently and have even been selling it at the ground.  Heck a few months back I was Bluebell the club mascot for a game :lol: 

My wife regularly asks why I do all this and the simple answer is that you do everything you can to support what you love.  My Dad is a director, my Mum counts the cash at the games and my brother used to work in the club office.  It provided some of the greatest moments in my life - winning the league against Elgin in 2006, pipping Brechin to promotion in 2001, avoiding the play-offs on the last day by beating Hamilton while Dunfermline lost at home to already relegated Airdrie. Winning League 1 and avoiding relegation to the Lowland Leagues twice.  The last one obviously not worthy of a huge celebration but I don't think I'll ever feel the way I felt when we beat East Kilbride on penalties. Relief, exhaustion and genuine delirium that we live to fight another day.

The best moment for me though is a totally personal one and was Greg Stewart scoring for us after 10 seconds against Ayr in the play offs. It put us 3-1 up on aggregate and was a big goal but that's not what I was really celebrating.  Just over a week before my Dad had a heart attack and was in an induced coma for a few days.  The family were inundated with messages of support from Cowden fans and it was a huge comfort.

However there was a real fear that he may pass away or have some form of brain damage and it was certainly the worst days of my life.  He went into hospital on the Friday and was in the coma until the Monday.

That moment when Stewart scored I looked over to see my Dad with his arms in the air,running along the front of the stand at Central Park - that's when I realised that he was going to be ok and it's a moment that I will never forget. A week ago he was in a coma and now he's celebrating a goal at our home away from home.

Aside from that I absolutely love meeting random people and discussing the club.  I was in Geneva visiting a uni friend and he introduced me to his Albanian friend.  He loves football and loved hearing about my love for the club.  If you're an Old Firm fan do you get that feeling? Does anybody ever ask you anything about the team you support? Every job I've ever had I've had colleagues wanting to come down to a match and it's amazing how people remember the team you support after years apart.

Also Central Park is just beautiful. 

Image result for central park cowdenbeath

 

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My grampa used to get taken to Ibrox when he was young, but didn't really take to it so stopped. When my dad was growing up he wanted to go to the football, the closest ground to them was Shawfield and also he was friends with a few Dunn's so he took my Dad there and ended up loving it. My Grampa became a director and my dad the announcer. I was then taken to Clyde games before I could understand what was going on in hope I wouldn't follow my mums side of the family in supporting Celtic and it seems to have worked.  Grew up in Milngavie so Clyde have never been my 'local team'

One of my mates I met at Uni had never been to a Scottish match, as his family are from Manchester and all support Man City. Introduced him to Clyde games and he enjoys them for some reason, might be because he's yet to see us lose which is remarkable.

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My first game as an Airdrie Supporter was on 11th February 1967 at the age of 9, my Grandfather took me to the reserve match against Aberdeen and we lost 1:0, (the first team lost 7:0 at Pittodrie). I was a regular thereafter and was lucky enough to see some of the best Airdrie players, Jarvie, Busby, Clark, Black.  Watched them play in a Scottish Cup Final , One Texaco Cup Final and the Spring Cup Final, unfortunately moved away from Airdrie in the 1980s so missed the later cup finals and the bad times that came and went.  Despite not attending games I still watch for the scores every Saturday and am either elated or deflated as a result, still a Diamond at Heart and absolutely hate the OF and all that they stand for, I went to school in Coatbridge and was always slagged off for being an AIrdrie Supporter, by the usual tossers that as has been well documented, never went to a game themselves.

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This threads fantastic. A lot of good memories coming back reading this and it actually unlocked a load of memories I had stored at the back of my mind that I hadn't thought about for ages.
My old man used to take me (on a Tuesdays or Wednesdays night I think) to watch the Airdrie reserves at Clifton hill, rain hail or shine and I absolutely loved it.
Used to walk round the track and plank myself behind one of the goals since they never had ballboys, I'd run and get the ball whenever it went out at that side [emoji23].
The reward for such an act of heroism....
A kick about at half time with the sub's.

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I don't support my local team, have no affiliation with the town of Arbroath in any way whatsoever and suspect the first Arbroath game I went to with my dad was probably only the 3rd/ 4th time anyone from our family had ever set foot in the place.

The ald yin grew up in Derby in the 70s, supporting Derby at a time with Brian Clough made them into the best team in England. He then moved up to Edinburgh in the early 80s and supported Hearts for a number of years while staying there, before moving to Dundee around 1990ish. At this point, I was born and he didn't really fancy taking a small child to Edinburgh for football matches, and while he took me up to Tannadice a few times he certainly didn't feel any affiliation to them after spending years as a Hearts man giving both the Dundee teams abuse. I didn't particuarly enjoy going to Tannadice, and one day in 1998 he took me to Gayfield to watch Arbroath get beat 2-0 by Alloa. We didn't go to Gayfield again for a number of months, until my second game which was a somewhat hilarious 1-0 loss to Partick Thistle in a cup match where they had 8 men for the last 10 minutes...

Fast forward 21/22 years and I've not missed us play an away game since 2004 (literally half of my lifetime :lol: ) and have absolutely no plans for this to change. I'm not posting that as some sort of 'boast' or to try and show I'm some sort of 'super fan', if anything it just makes me a sad b*****d lets be honest, but you've got to ask how someone with no connection whatsoever to a football club/ town ends up putting in so much time, money and effort to support their team every single week without fail. I think many posters on here will understand how, yet the vast vast majority of football 'fans' in the country would not and they would, and do, ridicule someone for being so dedicated to their team, all the while boasting about how their 'team' who they watch on TV occaisionally have won another league/ cup or whatever. I consider myself lucky to have the finance to have done this for so long, and very understanding managers throughout my working life! I remember the last game I missed through choice in 2004, an away game to Morton. I went to Dens instead to watch Dundee - Partick and the whole game I just wanted to be at Cappielow, and from that day on vowed I would not miss a game through choice again.

Considering the above, I genuinely don't understand football fans who would choose to miss their team play. I fully understand family, finances, work, health, location etc. will always have an impact, but it confuses me greatly when someone claims to be a big supporter of a football team but then don't attend the game when they have no committments, had the finances to do so and the game was being played fairly close to where they stay. I guess it's different for me having grown up attending every single Saturday and it's just such routine for me now I'd never really question it and I have this expectation that if someone claims to support a football team that means they go to watch them play most weeks.

I would also add there is far more to this than football. I have visited towns, villages and cities all over the country which I'd potentially never have even heard of if it wasn't for Arbroath. I've met hundreds of people, made many friends and have so many memories and experiences that will stick with me until the day I die. Almost all of the people I know through football are very, very different people to me, and without our connection to Arbroath these are people I'd never have spoken too or learnt from as I've grown up. Supporting Arbroath has had a big impact on my life and I would be a very different person without it - maybe I wouldn't be such a c**t if it wasn't for the years of standing on uncovered terraces getting soaking wet and paying £12 for the privilidge :D

While being good at football and winning games is obviously fantastic - it's the long away trips which see you huddled together with 15/20 very different people to yourself all there bonded by your love for the club and your lunacy to take the time off work/ spend the money etc. to be there and support them that I truly love. Winning is a great feeling, but winning away in places like Stranraer and Annan is just that bit better after putting the miles in. In some ways it saddens me that so many football 'fans' will never understand this sort of experience and don't even really associate it with their support of their team, where as for me it absolutely epitimises everything I love about supporting Arbroath.

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I don't support my local team, have no affiliation with the town of Arbroath in any way whatsoever and suspect the first Arbroath game I went to with my dad was probably only the 3rd/ 4th time anyone from our family had ever set foot in the place.

The ald yin grew up in Derby in the 70s, supporting Derby at a time with Brian Clough made them into the best team in England. He then moved up to Edinburgh in the early 80s and supported Hearts for a number of years while staying there, before moving to Dundee around 1990ish. At this point, I was born and he didn't really fancy taking a small child to Edinburgh for football matches, and while he took me up to Tannadice a few times he certainly didn't feel any affiliation to them after spending years as a Hearts man giving both the Dundee teams abuse. I didn't particuarly enjoy going to Tannadice, and one day in 1998 he took me to Gayfield to watch Arbroath get beat 2-0 by Alloa. We didn't go to Gayfield again for a number of months, until my second game which was a somewhat hilarious 1-0 loss to Partick Thistle in a cup match where they had 8 men for the last 10 minutes...

Fast forward 21/22 years and I've not missed us play an away game since 2004 (literally half of my lifetime :lol: ) and have absolutely no plans for this to change. I'm not posting that as some sort of 'boast' or to try and show I'm some sort of 'super fan', if anything it just makes me a sad b*****d lets be honest, but you've got to ask how someone with no connection whatsoever to a football club/ town ends up putting in so much time, money and effort to support their team every single week without fail. I think many posters on here will understand how, yet the vast vast majority of football 'fans' in the country would not and they would, and do, ridicule someone for being so dedicated to their team, all the while boasting about how their 'team' who they watch on TV occaisionally have won another league/ cup or whatever. I consider myself lucky to have the finance to have done this for so long, and very understanding managers throughout my working life! I remember the last game I missed through choice in 2004, an away game to Morton. I went to Dens instead to watch Dundee - Partick and the whole game I just wanted to be at Cappielow, and from that day on vowed I would not miss a game through choice again.

Considering the above, I genuinely don't understand football fans who would choose to miss their team play. I fully understand family, finances, work, health, location etc. will always have an impact, but it confuses me greatly when someone claims to be a big supporter of a football team but then don't attend the game when they have no committments, had the finances to do so and the game was being played fairly close to where they stay. I guess it's different for me having grown up attending every single Saturday and it's just such routine for me now I'd never really question it and I have this expectation that if someone claims to support a football team that means they go to watch them play most weeks.

I would also add there is far more to this than football. I have visited towns, villages and cities all over the country which I'd potentially never have even heard of if it wasn't for Arbroath. I've met hundreds of people, made many friends and have so many memories and experiences that will stick with me until the day I die. Almost all of the people I know through football are very, very different people to me, and without our connection to Arbroath these are people I'd never have spoken too or learnt from as I've grown up. Supporting Arbroath has had a big impact on my life and I would be a very different person without it - maybe I wouldn't be such a c**t if it wasn't for the years of standing on uncovered terraces getting soaking wet and paying £12 for the privilidge [emoji3]

While being good at football and winning games is obviously fantastic - it's the long away trips which see you huddled together with 15/20 very different people to yourself all there bonded by your love for the club and your lunacy to take the time off work/ spend the money etc. to be there and support them that I truly love. Winning is a great feeling, but winning away in places like Stranraer and Annan is just that bit better after putting the miles in. In some ways it saddens me that so many football 'fans' will never understand this sort of experience and don't even really associate it with their support of their team, where as for me it absolutely epitimises everything I love about supporting Arbroath.

 

Good read that Simon, I suppose I just sort of guessed or assumed you had family from the town.

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24 minutes ago, SimonLichtie said:

Fast forward 21/22 years and I've not missed us play an away game since 2004 (literally half of my lifetime :lol: ) and have absolutely no plans for this to change. 

That's pretty fucking impressive.

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Suppose I should have a go at this.

I wasn’t overly fussed about going to Rovers games (or any games)I had been to maybe one or two a season at Starks. I got the opportunity to go with my Uncle as my Gran was in poor health to get me away from it all and since then I’ve just had an obsession that’s weird to describe to anyone who asked, hence the reason for making the thread.

The older I got (still only 22) the more I wanted to see the Raith but work meant I couldn’t. Last season I tried to get to as much as possible maybe 10 home games. This year with a change of jobs I’ve been to the majority of home games and my first away game that wasn’t the Semi Final of Scottish Cup. That game was against East Fife, hadn’t beaten us in 30 years but they beat us 2-1 and although it was a bad day for the club I enjoyed it, atmosphere was amazing and since then been to all the other away games (apart from Arbroath, raging.) The away games are just a completely different feeling that I’ve missed out on and now I’ve got a pal wanting to come because of how much I talk it up.

I’m still young, hopefully there are more positives to come for me and Raith.

My Mrs who hates the football has been to a few games with me (it’s either that or I don’t see her at weekends) and she knows every player now and loves it (even though she tries to hide it)

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This might be my favourite P&B thread ever.

My love affair with Airdrie started in 1989, when I was 12. My dad had been an Airdrie fan all his days, but never pushed it on me. He'd grown up a stones throw from Broomfield and gone to games regularly, but apart from the odd game he'd stopped going when he moved away from the town and me and my sister came along.

The first match I went to was Scotland v Colombia in the 1988 Rous Cup. I thought it was magic being in the Hampden crowd (in the old family section at the Celtic end), but felt like I was miles away from the pitch and it was a terrible game, a boring goalless draw. The only thing I remember about the match was Carlos Valderrama's hair. My next game was at Ibrox. A family friend was a big Rangers fan, and he asked my dad along to a Scottish Cup game against Stranraer. My pal was a Rangers fan, so he took us along. Rangers won 8-0, but I remember being seated behind the goal and again feeling it was all a bit sanitised and I was too far away from the action to enjoy it.

After that I asked him to take me to an Airdrie game - I can't even remember who the opposition was, but it was an evening game and I remember going through the turnstiles and walking up the steps to the terrace, and being within touching distance of the pitch. The team came out to warm up under the floodlights and the place was buzzing - straight away I thought "this will do me". I can't remember who we played or what the score was, but I remember Innes MacDonald catching my eye. We started going fairly regularly after that, and I fell in love with the Broomfield atmosphere, the Diamond strips, and the team. From then on I was an Airdrie supporter.

We started going more and more through the final seasons at Broomfield and the Broadwood years. When Airdrie moved back to the town in 1998, I got my first season ticket for my 21st birthday. I was driving then, so I went to all the home games with my dad and if he was skipping an away game (he usually visited my gran on Saturdays when we were away from home), I'd go myself.

I haven't missed many games since then, and 8 years ago I started my own design company and approached the club about taking over the running of the website. Now I run the site and social media, design the programmes and do various other bits and bobs. It's an absolute privilege to be a part of my club, and I'm still a fan first and foremost. Part of my "payment" for the work I do is free entry for me and my dad, and it's nice to be able to repay him for all the years he took me along and paid me in.

I've seen highs - trophies, promotions,  cup runs and upsets, and European football. I've seen lows - relegations, humiliating defeats and the lowest of all, liquidation. The glory days are few and far between. Would I change it? Not a chance.

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1 hour ago, SimonLichtie said:

I don't support my local team, have no affiliation with the town of Arbroath in any way whatsoever and suspect the first Arbroath game I went to with my dad was probably only the 3rd/ 4th time anyone from our family had ever set foot in the place.

The ald yin grew up in Derby in the 70s, supporting Derby at a time with Brian Clough made them into the best team in England. He then moved up to Edinburgh in the early 80s and supported Hearts for a number of years while staying there, before moving to Dundee around 1990ish. At this point, I was born and he didn't really fancy taking a small child to Edinburgh for football matches, and while he took me up to Tannadice a few times he certainly didn't feel any affiliation to them after spending years as a Hearts man giving both the Dundee teams abuse. I didn't particuarly enjoy going to Tannadice, and one day in 1998 he took me to Gayfield to watch Arbroath get beat 2-0 by Alloa. We didn't go to Gayfield again for a number of months, until my second game which was a somewhat hilarious 1-0 loss to Partick Thistle in a cup match where they had 8 men for the last 10 minutes...

Fast forward 21/22 years and I've not missed us play an away game since 2004 (literally half of my lifetime :lol: ) and have absolutely no plans for this to change. I'm not posting that as some sort of 'boast' or to try and show I'm some sort of 'super fan', if anything it just makes me a sad b*****d lets be honest, but you've got to ask how someone with no connection whatsoever to a football club/ town ends up putting in so much time, money and effort to support their team every single week without fail. I think many posters on here will understand how, yet the vast vast majority of football 'fans' in the country would not and they would, and do, ridicule someone for being so dedicated to their team, all the while boasting about how their 'team' who they watch on TV occaisionally have won another league/ cup or whatever. I consider myself lucky to have the finance to have done this for so long, and very understanding managers throughout my working life! I remember the last game I missed through choice in 2004, an away game to Morton. I went to Dens instead to watch Dundee - Partick and the whole game I just wanted to be at Cappielow, and from that day on vowed I would not miss a game through choice again.

Considering the above, I genuinely don't understand football fans who would choose to miss their team play. I fully understand family, finances, work, health, location etc. will always have an impact, but it confuses me greatly when someone claims to be a big supporter of a football team but then don't attend the game when they have no committments, had the finances to do so and the game was being played fairly close to where they stay. I guess it's different for me having grown up attending every single Saturday and it's just such routine for me now I'd never really question it and I have this expectation that if someone claims to support a football team that means they go to watch them play most weeks.

I would also add there is far more to this than football. I have visited towns, villages and cities all over the country which I'd potentially never have even heard of if it wasn't for Arbroath. I've met hundreds of people, made many friends and have so many memories and experiences that will stick with me until the day I die. Almost all of the people I know through football are very, very different people to me, and without our connection to Arbroath these are people I'd never have spoken too or learnt from as I've grown up. Supporting Arbroath has had a big impact on my life and I would be a very different person without it - maybe I wouldn't be such a c**t if it wasn't for the years of standing on uncovered terraces getting soaking wet and paying £12 for the privilidge :D

While being good at football and winning games is obviously fantastic - it's the long away trips which see you huddled together with 15/20 very different people to yourself all there bonded by your love for the club and your lunacy to take the time off work/ spend the money etc. to be there and support them that I truly love. Winning is a great feeling, but winning away in places like Stranraer and Annan is just that bit better after putting the miles in. In some ways it saddens me that so many football 'fans' will never understand this sort of experience and don't even really associate it with their support of their team, where as for me it absolutely epitimises everything I love about supporting Arbroath.

That's pretty much how I feel about it. I go to the game on a Saturday. It's not really a question of are you going? or will I do something else? Its just a given that I'll go and has been for the last fifty years or so. Family all understand that and would probably be more concerned if I chose not to go. I do support my local team though having been brought up a few hundred yards from Boghead. Used to play football in the street just along from the ground, head along just before three to get a lift over and if you didn't manage that you went back along about 4 15 when they opened the gates. Season ticket when I was  eleven, supporters bus for away games when I was twelve and been there ever since. The only people who really understand are the fans of other small clubs who do the same. Sadly there are less and less of us.

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39 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

That's pretty fucking impressive.

Actually thinking about it, I believe the reason I missed the Morton game in 2004 was my dad had just moved to Germany for work and I wasn't allowed to travel to away games by myself at the age of 14. After my experience of not being at Cappielow, a few weeks later we played Berwick away and I remember getting up on the Saturday and telling my mum I would be travelling to Berwick that day and off I went, and it was like that from then on in :D I vividely remember that Berwick game..... we lost 3-0 and didn't have a single shot on target infront of an away support of 12. :lol:

With us actually being rather good at football for the last few years and having a regular supporters bus, there isn't really any long solo away trips these days which I kind of miss to be honest.....

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Third generation fan, dad was involved with the club for a number of years too, family now on to our 4th as my sons have been coming for years as well, all since before primary school, wouldn't even dream of taken them to another team even if they wanted.

 

 Hate the term happy clapper, but that would probably sum me up best, try to get behind the club in every way and not criticise them as there is always plenty work or help you can do if you’re not happy with the way things are run at clubs our size. 

 

Only thing worse than people from outside Glasgow that support the OF are those that make out they support a team in England, behave yourself lads. 

 

The Rovers is in my blood, always has been, always will be. There is a picture of me and my maw helping out preseason sometime in the late 80s

B838C23F-4D0D-41A7-A602-33758E1F7E09.jpeg

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2 hours ago, SimonLichtie said:

I don't support my local team, have no affiliation with the town of Arbroath in any way whatsoever and suspect the first Arbroath game I went to with my dad was probably only the 3rd/ 4th time anyone from our family had ever set foot in the place.

The ald yin grew up in Derby in the 70s, supporting Derby at a time with Brian Clough made them into the best team in England. He then moved up to Edinburgh in the early 80s and supported Hearts for a number of years while staying there, before moving to Dundee around 1990ish. At this point, I was born and he didn't really fancy taking a small child to Edinburgh for football matches, and while he took me up to Tannadice a few times he certainly didn't feel any affiliation to them after spending years as a Hearts man giving both the Dundee teams abuse. I didn't particuarly enjoy going to Tannadice, and one day in 1998 he took me to Gayfield to watch Arbroath get beat 2-0 by Alloa. We didn't go to Gayfield again for a number of months, until my second game which was a somewhat hilarious 1-0 loss to Partick Thistle in a cup match where they had 8 men for the last 10 minutes...

Fast forward 21/22 years and I've not missed us play an away game since 2004 (literally half of my lifetime :lol: ) and have absolutely no plans for this to change. I'm not posting that as some sort of 'boast' or to try and show I'm some sort of 'super fan', if anything it just makes me a sad b*****d lets be honest, but you've got to ask how someone with no connection whatsoever to a football club/ town ends up putting in so much time, money and effort to support their team every single week without fail. I think many posters on here will understand how, yet the vast vast majority of football 'fans' in the country would not and they would, and do, ridicule someone for being so dedicated to their team, all the while boasting about how their 'team' who they watch on TV occaisionally have won another league/ cup or whatever. I consider myself lucky to have the finance to have done this for so long, and very understanding managers throughout my working life! I remember the last game I missed through choice in 2004, an away game to Morton. I went to Dens instead to watch Dundee - Partick and the whole game I just wanted to be at Cappielow, and from that day on vowed I would not miss a game through choice again.

Considering the above, I genuinely don't understand football fans who would choose to miss their team play. I fully understand family, finances, work, health, location etc. will always have an impact, but it confuses me greatly when someone claims to be a big supporter of a football team but then don't attend the game when they have no committments, had the finances to do so and the game was being played fairly close to where they stay. I guess it's different for me having grown up attending every single Saturday and it's just such routine for me now I'd never really question it and I have this expectation that if someone claims to support a football team that means they go to watch them play most weeks.

I would also add there is far more to this than football. I have visited towns, villages and cities all over the country which I'd potentially never have even heard of if it wasn't for Arbroath. I've met hundreds of people, made many friends and have so many memories and experiences that will stick with me until the day I die. Almost all of the people I know through football are very, very different people to me, and without our connection to Arbroath these are people I'd never have spoken too or learnt from as I've grown up. Supporting Arbroath has had a big impact on my life and I would be a very different person without it - maybe I wouldn't be such a c**t if it wasn't for the years of standing on uncovered terraces getting soaking wet and paying £12 for the privilidge :D

While being good at football and winning games is obviously fantastic - it's the long away trips which see you huddled together with 15/20 very different people to yourself all there bonded by your love for the club and your lunacy to take the time off work/ spend the money etc. to be there and support them that I truly love. Winning is a great feeling, but winning away in places like Stranraer and Annan is just that bit better after putting the miles in. In some ways it saddens me that so many football 'fans' will never understand this sort of experience and don't even really associate it with their support of their team, where as for me it absolutely epitimises everything I love about supporting Arbroath.

I lived in/near Derby for around 8 years before coming to Dundee! What part of Derby is he from?

And I recognise the 2nd bit in bold as well, it's about far more than just the football. When I go to football games with friends (when I lived in The Netherland & England and now in Scotland), we usually make a day out of it, properly visiting a city/town. Often the football is an unpleasant distraction of a nice day out. In Scotland I don't follow a particular team (not yet anyway), but I go to random games around the country. I'm doing "the 42", I'm on 37 now after moving in August 2017, not bad I think. I'm also going to non-league games (junior and senior) all over. It's a great way to actually see a country. I get to places I'd never go to otherwise and discover so much. :) 

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I’ve never even lived within 100 miles of Dumbarton, let alone had them as my local team. No other side could ever replace them, though. All the kids I grew up playing football with had Henrik Larsson and Michael Mols as their heroes; I had Paddy Flannery and Martin Mooney :)

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5 minutes ago, Marten said:

I lived in/near Derby for around 8 years before coming to Dundee! What part of Derby is he from?

And I recognise the 2nd bit in bold as well, it's about far more than just the football. When I go to football games with friends (when I lived in The Netherland & England and now in Scotland), we usually make a day out of it, properly visiting a city/town. Often the football is an unpleasant distraction of a nice day out. In Scotland I don't follow a particular team (not yet anyway), but I go to random games around the country. I'm doing "the 42", I'm on 37 now after moving in August 2017, not bad I think. I'm also going to non-league games (junior and senior) all over. It's a great way to actually see a country. I get to places I'd never go to otherwise and discover so much. :) 

Out of interest who do you still have to see?

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1 minute ago, Tony Stark(s Park) said:

Out of interest who do you still have to see?

Queen of the South (going there on Saturday), Partick Thistle, Hamilton Accies, Ayr & Greenock Morton. League 1 was the first league I completed (also the easiest as I live in Dundee).

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1 minute ago, Marten said:

Queen of the South (going there on Saturday), Partick Thistle, Hamilton Accies, Ayr & Greenock Morton. League 1 was the first league I completed (also the easiest as I live in Dundee).

Pretty impressive, ive started keeping a wee note of where ive been, still got a fair few to go. A wee bit harder doing it just following your team but shit, fair respect to you my man! 

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