If I’m going to look into the philosophy of support and the connections we find, it’s probably a good idea to go into why I support the clubs that I support. This will be a multi-part series for me as the reasons I support some of the clubs that I do I want to give you an insight to my thought process and at the same time encourage any of you to share your story of why you chose to support your club(s). Feel free to leave those stories in the comments below, or send them to rbpenguinmedia@gmail.com. If you do e-mail me your story, please let me know if I can share that story and how/if you’d like to be credited.
Today, I’m going to start with the club that got me into football in the first place–The Mighty Reds of Liverpool Football Club. This will detail how I got into supporting LFC. For why I continue to support them, keep a watch for future posts!
My journey to supporting Liverpool started having almost nothing to do with football at all. In part, I have actor Sir Patrick Stewart to thank for steering me toward my chosen club with a movie he made almost a decade before I decided to start following football: 1997’s boarding school caper classic, “Masterminds”.
I say classic rather sarcastically because it was a mostly unremarkable movie. It made all of £76 in the UK box office and hasn’t really been on the top of anyone of note’s resume´. Sir Patrick plays a mustachioed head of security for a boarding school that turns out to be the villain and is foiled by a slacker student. As the villain makes his getaway in a golf cart through an underground tunnel system, he rips off his stuffy shirt and tie to reveal a red kit underneath and yells “MANCHESTER UNITED!!!!” in about the most obnoxious act I’ve ever seen the honored Shakespearean thespian perform.
Fast forward to 2008.
I’d just been told that I was going to have to move to England for work. I was going to spend a minimum of three years in a country separated by a common language. I knew little of the actual culture, aside from what I’d seen on old episodes of “Doctor Who” and “Are You Being Served?”, and knew that if I wanted to enjoy my time over there I was going to have to figure out a way to integrate myself, at least partially.
So I decided to learn Soccer. Football. Whatever.
All I knew about soccer was that it was a rough sport, you couldn’t use your hands, and there were hooligans at every match that would really hurt you if you wore the wrong team’s colors. I also knew that it was so stereotypically part of the country that I’d have no problem talking about it if I learned a little bit of the game. The best way I knew to do that was video games.
I’d been playing games like Madden Football and various baseball games for most of my life and found that playing those games is a great way to keep up with the teams and players and, lately, a great way to learn some of the basic positions and tactics associated with the sports. Since it helped me keep up with sports I knew, I decided to go out and buy FIFA ’07.
As I loaded up the game, I realized I’d need a club to get behind to really integrate in the culture. I decided I’d set the game on “Random Team” from the English Premier League and let fate decide. My only rule: No Manchester United. Sir Patrick had killed that for me a decade ago. Land on them, and we spin again.
I’d hoped for a smaller club, something with a dedicated following, good to watch, and a decent set of colors. What I got as the randomizer stopped was Liverpool.
I had no clue who they were, but I was now a Red.
This is not your typical beginning to finding allegiance with a club. Many times your club is passed down through the family. Sometimes, you watch them with a friend or loved one and get hooked. Sometimes, it’s your hometown team. For me, it was a bit of fate and a long-standing grudge against one team.
I took a couple of lessons from this experience I’d like to share with you. The first, and probably most long standing lesson, is that it only takes one interaction to turn off a potential supporter. And not even one real interaction. I was turned off by an actor obnoxiously yelling about a club that he doesn’t even support (Sir Patrick is a confirmed supporter of Huddersfield Town). For current supporters, this should be a warning. Shut down behavior and gatekeeping will not grow the sport, nor will it open any room to find common ground.
Second, it doesn’t matter how you get there. The point is to get there and enjoy the game. Pick a random team if you want. Switch a couple of times if needed. Figure out what it is about it that makes you feel part of the club and the atmosphere. Or don’t. If the sport isn’t for you, that’s ok as well. But I would apply these lessons and concepts to any sport, hobby, or whatever it is that makes you feel like a part of something bigger than yourself.
Do what makes you happy, and You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Patrick Stewart in the scene. See what I mean!?
Masterminds (1997) Director Roger Christian. Film Copyright to Columbia Pictures. Image from @kitfanatic on Twitter
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