Club loyalty

USCherry

USCherry

UTC Legend
So having a son that is finally getting into football. At 16 he’s a late bloomer but that’s probably more to do with “soccer” not being part of the culture here.

So anyway. We live in an MLS city where he was born so my dilemma is, should he support the club he was born into or the club he should inherit from his old dad?

In other words. Should you be a fan of the team where your from or the one your dad supported!

Thoughts?
 
He should support both. Nowt wrong with supporting his old man's English team as well as his local club.

Presumably he supports England as well as the USA in international sport?
 
You cannot tell him who to support - at 16 he'll inevitably choose his own preferences (even if in the short term he tells you otherwise) :)
 
My old man was a Villa fan. He was from a village called Bidford-On-Avon, which is about 30 miles from Brum. He moved to Bournemouth around 1950.
He went to his first Bournemouth game when I was eight that was my first also.
I started going regularly when i was ten.
At the age of fifteen I persuaded him to go to his second Bournemouth game.
After that he rarely missed a home game for fifteen years or so.
I think I can say he switched teams, although I can’t understand how any one can do that or support two teams.
Just to add I have a soft spot for Villa but in no way do I support them.
 
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SlowDownDerek said:
He should support both. Nowt wrong with supporting his old man's English team as well as his local club.

Presumably he supports England as well as the USA in international sport?
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I think you are right in this instance. Geographically there is no chance the two teams will meet competitively so having to choose one if they ever play each other probably is not a consideration

As for country. Ha he chooses England at least for now :).

I’m not to bothered about country it’s more the club legacy I am leaving behind. I would hate that a Bournemouth supporting legacy would end because I choose to move out of the town!
 
I was born in Bournemouth, and lived in Wilts / Somerset since 1977 my son who is now 29 used to go to every home game since the age of 3. I don't get to many games these days but he gets to go to most away games. I said to him when he was 7 he didn't have to support AFCB he could choose any other team as we were never going to be anything but a Div1 team at best....it was too late for him to change
The difference is your son isn't going to get to see AFCB in the flesh, if he likes football enough he should go and watch his home town MLS team....
 
I think a Dad team should take precedence over a geographical team. Dads are how most of us got into AFCB, I would imagine?
 
My Dad supported ManU (excusable as he grew up there). I was born in Bournemouth and now live in Luton.

AFCB every time !
 
The reason I mention international football is that I see it in similar terms to club football.

If you are born and bred somewhere then choice of club/country is pretty straightforward especially if your family is also from there.

Obviously it's not so straightforward for most of us but it would be ludicrous for someone to support Germany or Brazil if they had zero connection to those places.

Born there, lived there, family from there, etc. are all legit reasons to support a national team and it's the same for club sides imo. If you've no connection then can you really say you are a fan?

That's not to do a disservice to any of our international fans who fell in love with the AFCB story and have been a great addition to our fanbase. I'm sure they would mostly agree though that it's a different sort of support. When Cookie stuck it in on Saturday that away end went nuts not because we were all delighted about another part of the AFCB story.. it was because it was OUR town smashing theirs!
 
I moved to Bristol 30 years ago. My two sons are 20 and 21 now - both born and bred in Bristol, with Bristol Rovers mad cousins.

However, if you cut them they both bleed Red n Black!

There is no debate - Bournemouth 'til they die like their old man.
 
SDD, I hear what you are saying but at the end of the day being a fan is about having an emotional response or connection to a particular team. There are a lot of ways that can come about. I'd agree that "place" is probably the strongest and most important of these, but not the only one.
If an alien landed from another planet would he not be allowed to enjoy football? Surely he/she would pick a team that appealed to them (for whatever reason) and support them?
I do agree that in general people should support their local team though (unless they're transplants from somewhere else).
 
Support his local club, the MLS team and have a soft spot for his old Dad's club - AFCB. (p.s. sorry about the old bit!)
 
Me and Dad have lived in and around Gillingham our entire lives but he's a Man United fan (because that was the first team he saw) and I'm Cherries fan!
 
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