Question Is football secondary?

[onceknownasrab]

SUFC has one fan base but those supporters seem to have numerous reasons for being a Blue;

1). Blind tribalism.
2). Passionate about the club and its status (position in the pyramid) is all that matters.
3). Passionate about the club and passionate about the game of football ( position in pyramid is secondary to good football).
4). Other.

What floats your boat?

Reading so many of the posts I get the feeling that so many are more interested in status than they are the actual game of football and we can play pants as long as we get the points. Is football only about ranking or do skill/performance/entertainment matter?

Then there appears to be a certain amount of elitism involved; If you go to every game you are more of a fan than someone who cannot attend every time? Really?

I know I fall into a range of things. I am tribal, am a passionate supporter and like to believe in the game played the right way. For me, winning or losing is not as important as the way the game is played.

Come on, lets hear your views. UTB

 

[MK Shrimper]

Mixture of 1 & 2 - I don't mind watching the odd non SUFC game (on telly) but I'm not that bothered. I'm not so tribal I "hate" other teams - life is too short.

I don't get to many games these days - due a number of things. But am I any less of a fan than someone who goes to every match? No other team will replace SUFC in my heart.

 

[DoDTS]

I was born in Southend into a Southend United supporting family. I love the town and the club. My expectations on the field aren't great, after 50 years. As for going to matches, life takes over, at different times in your life you want/don't want to see every game and can/cannot go as often as you like, it doesn't matter

For me it is a sense of belonging and pride in a town/team however sh*t they both get.

 

[fbm]

Interesting question.

Over the years I have become a Southend fan more than a football fan. I love the game, but hate the sport, if that makes sense.

I hate the corruption at the top and the endless cheating at every level all the way down to Under 7's.

I despair at the obscene amounts that are paid to the "stars" and that will only increase next year as the new SKY money comes in, courtesy of the growth of the PL in the far east. Trust me, in a few years, we will be dancing even more to their tune.

It is absolutely in the long term plan for the PL to become a "closed shop". That is why I would love it - and with no particular malice towards these teams, it could be anyone - for Leeds, Villa, Birmingham, both Sheffield Clubs, Forest and, in the case of relegation this season for preferably both Newcastle AND Sunderland to drop into the Championship and stay there with the other cubs never to return.

Long may teams like Watford, Bournemouth, Palace, Norwich, Southampton, Swansea, Stoke and Leicester not only stay there but get as high as possible because as long as that is happening, the chances of a PL closed shop remain slim.

And if the "big boys" want to slink off and start a breakaway, go off and do it as it won't be UK audience friendly.

For me, I'm 100% Southend, win or lose and will always get behind the team, even on rotten relegation seasons. But if we ever ceased to exist, I think I could easily take or leave the game.

 

[RHB]

I was born in Southend into a Southend United supporting family. I love the town and the club. My expectations on the field aren't great, after 50 years. As for going to matches, life takes over, at different times in your life you want/don't want to see every game and can/cannot go as often as you like, it doesn't matter

For me it is a sense of belonging and pride in a town/team however sh*t they both get.

I'll have some of this please DoDTS. Ignoring the fact that I was born in Rayleigh,in a Spurs supporting family, I saw the light at 14. Not sure where that puts us in the categories though. I would also be interested to see what sort of age groups make up the various choices. Do you start off predominately in No1 and progress through as each decade passes?

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

I'll have some of this please DoDTS. Ignoring the fact that I was born in Rayleigh,in a Spurs supporting family, I saw the light at 14.

And you call yourself a Southend fan - disgusting. :smiles:

 

[DoDTS]

I was born in Southend into a Southend United supporting family. I love the town and the club. My expectations on the field aren't great, after 50 years. As for going to matches, life takes over, at different times in your life you want/don't want to see every game and can/cannot go as often as you like, it doesn't matter

For me it is a sense of belonging and pride in a town/team however sh*t they both get.

....I nearly forget I was also born about 20 yards from our then ground approximately 55 hours before a big 4th Round Cup tie

Frankly I didn't have a chance did i

 

[Ramsdenblue]

3). Passionate about the club and passionate about the game of football ( position in pyramid is secondary to good football).

Being raised in Romford, i spent my early teens watching football in the shelf at White Hart Lane.
As i got older, sort of moved away from football, but then married into a Southend United Family, and 20 odd years later, the rest is history.

My sons play Sunday league Under 17's and under 11's, i love watching this football on a Sunday morning and would not miss it for the world.

Love my SUFC, and lower league football, would not want us to be in the Premiershite, but would like the Championship.

Snr.

 

[Jai]

Good question. For me it is absolutely blind tribalism.

I don't understand how anyone born in South Essex can possibly support anyone else apart from Southend and this has got me into several heated arguments in the past. As for how anyone has the energy to support more than one club, I just have no idea. Southend takes so much out of me there really isn't much room for any other allegiances.

I would still go every week if we were in the Essex Senior (away days would be a lot cheaper). I love to see us play good football but it's not the be all and end all - I actually preferred Sturrock's football which was more direct but saw us score loads of goals to Brown's 'let's pass the ball around the halfway line very slowly for ten minutes and scrape a 1-0 win' passing game.

I'm lucky enough to have a lot of friends who love the club in the same way I do and I'm confident I'll be mates with them for decades to come.

The stupefying indifference this town has towards its football club is also a constant annoyance. When I lived in Stoke you never used to see any other club's shirts around town except City and Vale. It just wasn't accepted. If you went out of the house wearing another club's shirt you could expect outright hostility. There's not enough of that here IMO.

I consider Southend to be my town even though I've never lived there, I'm passionate about it and I read the Echo every day despite the fact I live out of the area. I get the impression a lot of Southend's residents just see it as somewhere to sleep before they disappear into London every day, they consider themselves Londoners who just happen to live elsewhere.

As FBM says, the actual sport of football has become a disgrace and I hate how the Premier League has corrupted and ruined English football.

 

[RHB]

Good question. For me it is absolutely blind tribalism.

I don't understand how anyone born in South Essex can possibly support anyone else apart from Southend and this has got me into several heated arguments in the past. As for how anyone has the energy to support more than one club, I just have no idea. Southend takes so much out of me there really isn't much room for any other allegiances.

I would still go every week if we were in the Essex Senior (away days would be a lot cheaper). I love to see us play good football but it's not the be all and end all - I actually preferred Sturrock's football which was more direct but saw us score loads of goals to Brown's 'let's pass the ball around the halfway line very slowly for ten minutes and scrape a 1-0 win' passing game.

I'm lucky enough to have a lot of friends who love the club in the same way I do and I'm confident I'll be mates with them for decades to come.

The stupefying indifference this town has towards its football club is also a constant annoyance. When I lived in Stoke you never used to see any other club's shirts around town except City and Vale. It just wasn't accepted. If you went out of the house wearing another club's shirt you could expect outright hostility. There's not enough of that here IMO.

I consider Southend to be my town even though I've never lived there, I'm passionate about it and I read the Echo every day despite the fact I live out of the area. I get the impression a lot of Southend's residents just see it as somewhere to sleep before they disappear into London every day, they consider themselves Londoners who just happen to live elsewhere.

As FBM says, the actual sport of football has become a disgrace and I hate how the Premier League has corrupted and ruined English football.

It could be worse Jai, you could come from Burton! Actually that's probably untrue given their results this season. Although it will be fun for them trying to fit some of the bigger Championship sides fans into their snug stadium.

 

[Floval Flyer]

Have always supported the blues, my grandad took me to see my first Southend game when I was at primary school in 1978 IIRC? We used to travel on the 251 bus from Rayleigh, we attended most home games - ever since then there has only been one football club in my life. Used to go home and away for many seasons, until I got married, had kids and just didn't get time to go at all for a few seasons... Managed to get back to RH on a regular basis since about 3 years ago, and despite the ups and downs I cannot say I ever had any urge to support a PL team. It really frustrates me to see kids wearing WHU, Arsenal or Man U (Now replaced by Man C) shirts. My youngest son had a 'wear your team shirt' day at school recently, I didn't spot one SUFC shirt, incidently my son even refuses to wear one as he hates football ! So he wore a 'Spongebob' t-shirt :smile:

Guess it's a tribal thing for me, have also supported England home and away, including the Euros and a trip to the 90 World Cup, but nothing beats seeing a greal performance at RH, many great memories, plus a lot of bad ones too, but they are my local club, and wouldn't want it any other way...

UTB

 

[Shrimperforlife]

SUFC has one fan base but those supporters seem to have numerous reasons for being a Blue;

1). Blind tribalism.
2). Passionate about the club and its status (position in the pyramid) is all that matters.
3). Passionate about the club and passionate about the game of football ( position in pyramid is secondary to good football).
4). Other.

What floats your boat?

Reading so many of the posts I get the feeling that so many are more interested in status than they are the actual game of football and we can play pants as long as we get the points. Is football only about ranking or do skill/performance/entertainment matter?

Then there appears to be a certain amount of elitism involved; If you go to every game you are more of a fan than someone who cannot attend every time? Really?

I know I fall into a range of things. I am tribal, am a passionate supporter and like to believe in the game played the right way. For me, winning or losing is not as important as the way the game is played.

Come on, lets hear your views. UTB

My dad told me when we moved into the area in 1975 "always support your local team"" and the love affair was born, so for me the other ethos he gave to me , and dad I can't thank you enough for this one,is " once a blue ,ALWAYS a blue"..l and that's where I stand ......

 

[OldBlueLady]

Third generation supporter and born within a stone's throw of the ground. Started going aged 10 with my dad, fell in love with it all straight away. Blind tribalism with every fibre of my being.

 

[leeblue]

Sheer tribalism coupled with a true sense of community. Born and bred here on the Essex riviera. My dad took me as soon as I could walk basically. The first season I remember properly is 82/83.
I love the good away days...A few hundred of us united, representing our town, when we are all up for it we are the best damn supporters around, I think back to Everton away in the cup, Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn away on a Tuesday night...only a handful of us singing dave Webb's yellow army for god knows how long....then the big ones...Stockport away, Peterborough away, Bury, Cardiff, Swansea, wembley....I'm fortunate to have seen em all and it fills me with pride that I shared it with my community, my town, our club.....I love you fellow Shrimpers, I love you southend x x x

The football means naff all tbh. Seen amazing things seen the worst of the worst. I think back to how things were under bobby Moore, dick bate, Colin Murphy to name a few and laugh my backside off when people moan about the current lot and the meltdowns that go on reminds me of how it used to get to me too. I stopped getting upset over our results around 1998, now I just enjoy the victories and accept the fact we lose matches too.

 

[Floval Flyer]

Good question. For me it is absolutely blind tribalism.

I don't understand how anyone born in South Essex can possibly support anyone else apart from Southend and this has got me into several heated arguments in the past. As for how anyone has the energy to support more than one club, I just have no idea. Southend takes so much out of me there really isn't much room for any other allegiances.

I would still go every week if we were in the Essex Senior (away days would be a lot cheaper). I love to see us play good football but it's not the be all and end all - I actually preferred Sturrock's football which was more direct but saw us score loads of goals to Brown's 'let's pass the ball around the halfway line very slowly for ten minutes and scrape a 1-0 win' passing game.

I'm lucky enough to have a lot of friends who love the club in the same way I do and I'm confident I'll be mates with them for decades to come.

The stupefying indifference this town has towards its football club is also a constant annoyance. When I lived in Stoke you never used to see any other club's shirts around town except City and Vale. It just wasn't accepted. If you went out of the house wearing another club's shirt you could expect outright hostility. There's not enough of that here IMO.

I consider Southend to be my town even though I've never lived there, I'm passionate about it and I read the Echo every day despite the fact I live out of the area. I get the impression a lot of Southend's residents just see it as somewhere to sleep before they disappear into London every day, they consider themselves Londoners who just happen to live elsewhere.

As FBM says, the actual sport of football has become a disgrace and I hate how the Premier League has corrupted and ruined English football.

totally agree mate, this is emphasised by the fact that we have a Spurs shop on our high street, and IIRC a WHU shop before it... Why does our borough council show total contempt for our local club by allowing this? (££££!) Frustratingly they have never given 100% backing for our new stadium plan either.

Why not put a Shrimpers shop in our high street, with ticket office - even if it is a small outlet the presence would do a lot to bring the club into the doubters minds.

 

[Fairport]

It's enjoyable reading the posts on this thread. Like many others I have lived in the town all my life and care for its well being especially the football club. Started watching the Shrimpers over fifty years ago going with friends and also my Dad. Following SUFC has become a part of everyday life.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Why does our borough council show total contempt for our local club by allowing this? (££££!) Frustratingly they have never given 100% backing for our new stadium plan either.

Why not put a Shrimpers shop in our high street, with ticket office - even if it is a small outlet the presence would do a lot to bring the club into the doubters minds.

Because they can afford the rates on these shops (which, I understand, are very high) - and we cannot.

 

[Floval Flyer]

Because they can afford the rates on these shops (which, I understand, are very high) - and we cannot.

True, but we should get a subsidy

Why not? W.Spam get a subsidised stadium. Surely not much to ask, there's enough empty shop fronts to allow this to happen...

 

[chelmo]

started to watch them in early 90s from the north bank and fell in love with it i was 18 i think now 40 so yes i think im a true blue i love the game but cant get excited watching anyone else as i do southend i drive 27 miles each way to watch em as a season ticket holder

 

[DoDTS]

Thinking about this subject, for me supporting the Blues as a young boy really started when meeting likewise mates at school and then later on the Youth Section coaches. These friendships weren't just about football they were life long friends. This is how it works and at every match you see similar groups of youngsters bonding through SUFC. Then you grow older, get married, have kids, move away etc and you tend to loose contact.

As we get older what we often fail to realise is that although you may have lost contact with old mates, they are still there and they are still your mates.