The Mail Bag
Can I be a fan?
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This question has been worrying me a long time. Especially when I support the current management and it's thrown back at me: Did I watch the last game?
Well, no. I have never watched Everton in the flesh... in fact, if truth be told, I have never actually set foot in Liverpool. And yet I claim to be an Everton fan. What right have I to give any opinion?
By way of background, I should explain that my Dad is Irish and a supporter of Liverpool and I am a forces child. At the end of the 87-88 season, my brother and I decided we would support a then First Division club. I, the older child and glory-hunter, chose Everton.
Up to that point in my life, Everton were winning everything (we went on to win nothing bar the 95 FA Cup, one of the happiest moments of my life); my brother chose Arsenal, who went on to win everything.
Now I have stuck with my choice through thick and thin and, let's face it, mainly thin as I believe in loyalty, even though (as already admitted) I have little territorial or family claim to be an Everton fan.
I do intend to see Everton live at some point this season but the worry I come back to each time is: what right do I really have? So... can I be a fan? What do you think?
Kiern Moran, Posted 12/01/2010 at 22:37:42
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Scouse speaking Everton fans are often questioning my Everton-ness. A policeman at Highbury once tried to stop me from going in the away end because I did not sound, in his words, sufficiently "Everton-ish". He let me in after I asked him to revise his stereotypical view of the world.
But we live in a small world now and the club needs all the support it can get. You may still face inverted snobbery from a small minority of Scousers - but I think most Evertonians and most scouse Evertonians will welcome you with open arms.
If you feel it in your heart then you are an Evertonian. And all Evertonians do, otherwise why bother with the pain. More successful clubs (in recent years) have glory seekers/hangers on who switch clubs frequently - praticularly in Asia where suppporting teams is an annual choice make at the beginning of the season. We don’t have fans like that.
I cried when WBA beat us in 1968 and hid in our front room. I suffered through the seventies and got up in the middle of the night to listen to the BBC when the great team of the eighties time was winning all. My wife has accepted my situation and hopes the boys win every week to halt her husband’s depression. It’s irrational but Everton is my team.
I grew up in London and inherited my support from my stepdad who was from Wallasey. I fell out with him in a big way as a teenager but, by that time, Everton was ingrained in me!
There are the usual snobs, who believe if you are not a scouser you don’t matter. Simple suggestion, don’t listen to them.
I would think most Everton fans were fans of the team before they watched them live... took me till I was 24 or 25 to see the team, 28 till I went into Goodison... never had to question what right I had though.
I only manage to get to about 5 or 6 games every season (being an ’under-the-thumb Westcountry Bumpkin’), so the opinions of fans who go week-in, week-out are more valued to me than the opinions of TV pundits or fans who can only make assesments based on highlights, and catching the odd game on the telly.
To answer your slightly paranoid question though....
Yes, you’re an Evertonian.
I really admire the fact that you can support the blues from afar and possibly never actually seen them in the flesh or visit the ground.That is true dedication.
Regardless of colour, nationality, race or creed if you support the blues you are true fans. Well done to everyone who spreads the word
My dad was from Dungarvan Waterford in the Irish Republic, a merchant navy captain and took ships to dock in Liverpool. He used to go to Goodison and never set foot across the park. We eventually went once together on 2 October 1984 against UCD Dublin on the way to the Cup Winners Cup Final win.
I was born in Cardiff in 1958. I was 8 when I watched (with my dad) my first game on telly and we were 2-0 down against Sheff Wed... you know the rest.
In 1968, I got beaten up in school — still in Cardiff — for NOT saying West Brom, all indelibly marked in my brain, today.
I went to Goodison, at last, for the first time in 1979, met a girl — I was on a football tour at the time — got married in 1980, lived in Bootle ’till the end of the 80s, played football Saturdays and Sundays, never missed and watched Everton (a lot of night games) as much as I could.
Our 3 kids — have all been to Goodison — were born in Liverpool, we’re still married now, 30 years this August. I even left my son clinging to the fence behind the goal in the Gwladys St against Bayern Munich and had to battle back up the stairs to get to him, such was the ’high’.
The point is I was an Evertonian before I KNEW IT or or able to stop it, or change what it does to me on a daily basis.
Sorry to go on, last bit. I have a wedding in Liverpool on 6 February... Derby Day! Bloody hell, the kick-off is an hour and a quarter before the service starts so the day (the thought processes, the game) is ruined before it starts. I’ve just got to keep my composure for my wife’s sake and to stop me spoiling the day for her.
The following Friday is my mother-in-law's 80th. I will be back up for the do and me and my brother-in-law will be at the Birmingham game. So Kiern, follow Alan’s comment above and ’get yourself down to Goodison lad’ like me. Good luck.!
I AM what I AM you ARE what you IS, it just goes on and on and...
I live down in Surrey and, even though I don’t get to many games, I have followed Everton since the early 80s. I’m on this site every day and watch the team whenever they have a game available on TV or the web. I am down when we lose and up when we win. I have put more commitment into my relationship with Everton than with any woman, so I think I’m a fan as well.
Do get up to Goodison if you can though, as it’s a great experience. Cliched as it sounds, you can’t beat the feeling you get when the Z-Cars theme starts playing...
I’m now a season ticket holder in the Upper Bullens and find myself reading Everton websites and following news reports, injury updates (! groan) and transfer speculation with the same enthusiasm I do for my "first team". I never thought in my lifetime that anything could rival my love for my hometown team but... there you go.
Am I am fan? Well, all I know is that I love being part of the "community" that is Everton FC.
It really depends on the posters mentality and how they are feeling when posting but I wouldn’t automatically put their views above others.
I guess you’ve been affected by people telling you that you have somehow less right to be a part of something. Hey, shut them all up, make yourself feel better, and have an amazing day out. Get to Goodison!
I go to every home game and I make as many away games as I can. It's in my blood.
What I would say is that my passion for the club is stronger than others — my blood boils when we play shite and I’m overjoyed when we win. (Real highs with real lows.)
I also live in Liverpool... but does all of that make me more of a ’fan’? Not really. You can support the club from anywhere. While you might not put as much money in as I do, what you add is a larger demographic, and that is what we need.
United, the Shite and Chelsea all have a global following and they reap the benefit because of the demand... more TV appearances, better sponsorship etc.
So if anything, we need more like you. Loads more! High Wycombe, St Helens, North Wales, Singapore - wherever....
Just be a fan, support the team and spread the word. I try and convert every neutral!
I've been a fan for 35 years, influenced by my grandad who lived in Walton & was a staunch blue. Even though my mum is a Scouser I have lived abroad most of my life and I certainly don't sound scouse or consider myself a scouser. But I do have a great love for Liverpool (the place!) and have been back hundreds of times, been to Goodison about 12 times (not seeing a victory yet, believe it or not!!).
Most Everton Scousers welcome you with open arms and love talking all things EFC with you no matter where you are from. But I must admit I have met a couple who as soon as they heard I didn't have a scouse accent, proceeded to dismiss me as a fan for the rest of the night. Minority knobheads, but in general scouse Everton fans are hugely accepting of non-local Everton fans...
Coz they know, once blue is in your blood, that's it, you are in for life.
As an Aussie, I religiously drag myself out of bed on a Monday or Tuedsay morning at 1am to watch them live on TV (which leads to the question: why don’t Everton seem to get the Saturday games?), and being the lone blue flying the flag and copping the stick from surrounding Liverpool supporters I feel as much a part of the club as a local.
Don’t worry about it, Kiern, remember in this day and age, it's an international league both in nature and supporters.
Remember Kiern, Evertonians are born, not manufactured. You were chosen.
It's when and if, in 10-15 years time we are winning the league and Champions League and there is a sudden surge in the fanbase, that I would question people's true blue status.
I'm sure Chelsea’s fan base suddenly rocketed in 2004, to the disgust of the 70s', 80s' and 90s' Chelsea hardcore. As an Evertonian, that would piss me off if I suddenly couldn’t get a seat in Park End due to people attracted to success.
I travel from Manchester and park in Walton. I leave my house at 12:30 for a 3pm kick off and don’t get back until 7pm. I’ve sat in traffic for hours on cold Thursday nights on the M6 with work the next day.
I’ve sat in the home fans sections to watch Everton away from home risking a beating for cheering (Cahill’s first goal away at Man City). I walk from Walton in shitty cold weather and sit inside Goodison feezing my bollox off most weeks.
I argue with my wife every year about renewing my season ticket. I don’t think my dedication is a patch on those who go home and away every week and those who travel around Europe.
I do think watching the team regularly and showing that dedication gives you a more informed opinion on how Everton play, who’s in form, where the team should strengthen and problems with how the club is run. You’re still entitled to your own opinion though and you’re still a fan.
I hate them now and cant stand the site of them... Does that make me an extractor fan?
Sorry lads, but I’m bored.
I have supported EFC from the mid 60’s .... although I’ve never been to Goodison (of course I’d love to!) but I’ve seen them play a few times over the years, including here in the States.
The very first time I watched them was, ironically, when they beat Liverpool 4-0 and it fell on my birthday .... the actual result aside there is just something about this club that makes me proud....not only of them (the players, the club, the history etc) but also footy in general .... whereas I can’t abide Liverpool (no pun intended there).
I hate Gerrard ... I hate Benitez (and a whole host of previous players who wore the red shirt). Nothing personal like but I just couldn’t bring myself to support that lot no matter how successful they might be.
Anyway, yes, we are all supporters regardless of the reasons why or where we live or our own background.
Long live EFC!!!!!
I am sure you will eventually see the Boys live
and I hope you enjoy the occasion, especially if its at Goodison.
As the old saying goes"Better late than never"
Enjoy.
In many cases we ex pats were there when the club plumbed the depths and rose to exhilarating heights.
People like Kiern and Gerald have not have that kind of experience yet they have been blessed/cursed with the same lifelong passion. My Aussie grandsons wear the latest club colours with pride yet they have not seen the skies over Liverpool.
Should they be told to find some other club to support. Of course bloody not!
Those living within bussing distance of the holy ground and have good health and can afford the entrance fee are the lucky ones but not by a long chalk are they the only chosen ones.
Liverpool and Manchester United in particular are victims of their own success. That is what has to be dealt with should we be successful. The problem is however. We are all dreaming of European Cups and so on. But for the more we have great support.
So relax there are many Blues who know exactly how you feel and go through the same emotions when watching the Blues on TV or listening on the radio, so relax and enjoy the rollercoaster ride that is being a blue! COYB!
I chose Everton because they’d just won the FA Cup whilst England had just won the World Cup... also because the lads I knew who supported Liverpool where all shit at football, including Tommy Smith's lad and Tony Hateley's lad, although he obviously got better at it.
Joe Royle lived over the road from my mate and he was a dead sound bloke even though we must've pissed him off when we kept knocking on his door and asking him he was coming out for a kick about.
I don't go much nowdays... economics and time; always watch them on internet.
Big thanks for the streams lads, always 3 constants in life Family, Taxes and your Team... and our team is Everton!!!
I know where you’re coming from though, I also live in High Wycombe - and funnily enough went to Goodison before I was a Blue, so did it the other way around.
I was living in Manchester and took my then girlfriend from Liverpool, now my wife, to a game as she was an Evertonian from a long line of Evertonians.
A few more games later and bit by bit I was hooked - much to the encouragement of my now in laws who see me as nothing other than a true blue.
As it turns out my great great grandfather, Henry Ashton, was born in the village of Everton in 1865 so would have witnessed the growth of the club from the very very start.
I’ve had a couple of "your not a proper Evertonian" jibes from a few people over the years and to be honest I just laugh it off because:
Evertonians are born - not manufactured
We do not choose - we are chosen
Those that understand need no explanation, those that dont understand dont matter!
You’ve got to get yourself up to Goodison though mate - make a weekend of it in Liverpool, you’ll absolutely love it.
I’ve been an Everton fan my whole life but didn’t go to my first game until I was 14.
It would be rather twisted logic if it was suggested I wasn’t a valid supporter as a child but only when I had physically been taken by my kopite brother.
Good article though Kiern and one that has got people thinking.
What if you’ve been to Goodison but never sat in the Gwladys? What if you werent born in L4? What if you weren't born on the County Road? Have never had a season ticket?
Bottom line is if you say you’re an Evertonian and you mean it you are — the rest is just detail.
I repeat — Kopitery at its finest.
Ever tried watching a match in the Litton Tree? It's like a Liverpool home game... ha ha!
Oh and Gareth, get a fucking grip, life is not that straight forward mate. Not everyone can go the game every week for geograhical reasons and economical reasons.
I went the match for years until I joined the Air Force, now I have to be more selective about my games as distance, family and cost has a big bearing on my decisions. Does this mean you're a better supporter than me? I don't think so somehow.....
I've lived in Norway for 30 years now, and only got to GP once, an FA Cup tie against Colchester, end of the 70s I believe, don't tell me I'm not an Everton fan because I don't get to go to games. I do support them by buying gear and also a subscription for EvertonTV, which is a way of giving to the club as well as paying for season tickets...
I stand in pubs full of RS supporters with my colours on , and shout for OUR lads... Yes, we are Everton Supporters!!!
I wind up Kopites whereever I go in the UK as most I meet have never been to Anfield.
We all support our team in anyway possible, I go to every home game but only manged the occasional away match. Does that make me less of a blue than the person who goes home & away? If I got a job in the states, should I stop having an interest in Everton and start watching the Boston Red Sox?
Once a blue always a blue, whether your from County Road, Timbuktu, or orbiting the earth.
I am also the product of a forces family(Army) and wasnt born in Liverpool. I have been a Toffee since 1972, so can hardly be accused of jumping on the bandwagon.
As for those small minded NIMBYS who object to "outsiders" not being true Evertonians, why don't they come on Toffeeweb and complain about too many players wearing Everton shirts who don't come from the Pool?
No Saha, Cahill, Howard... you get the point!!! COYB and beat all those foreign mercenaries of City on Saturday!!
As for match going fans and their opinions, you can see the validity of Alan Clarke’s point, but I’d point out that the ones who sit in the Lower Gwladys can’t see what’s going on anyway, so would have to check the TV afterwards to see if what they thought they saw was right.
I may be slightly biased as I’ve only sat there twice, both cup defeats to lower league opposition, one of which was 0-3 to Tranmere and there was nearly a fight about David Unsworth, he was having a shocker.
All in all I’d have to side with the majority on this thread and say that anyone who believes it is an Everton fan, especially if you supported us through the 90s. I’m not a native of Liverpool, but I did spend my student years there, and I can tell some of you its a lot harder work being an Everton fan away from the city than it is in it.
Look, your team is Everton and if like me you’re watching the shite right now (wife’s a red say no more), just praying they get their arses tanned, thats good enough for me.
Anyway, I finally went to my first game last month at Stamford Bridge (I won’t count the games in Bangkok in 2005) and I have to say that, cheering the blues with fellow fans, it reinforced my belief that I am chosen to be a blue and all the pain I went through during the dark days is worth it.
I will visit GP, hopefully more than once, before I leave UK and go back to Hong Kong later this year. Of course I will count that as one of the highlights of my life, but I don’t need that to justify myself being a fan.
If I moved abroad and could not get to Goodison would that mean I wasn’t a Blue anymore??? I have it with anyone who suggested that particularly having sat through Gordon Lee, Walter Smith Years!!!
One more point is whenever I’m on holiday I love seeing Everton shirts and never question where the people are from the shirt is enough. When I get back to the States this year I hope to see even more due to Landon!! That makes me proud , so to sum up YES you are a Blue so spread the Gospel!!!
Nil Satis
I must admit to wondering whether you are a dedicated/true fan, given that you live in England and are not a boy, hence could have got yourself to GP over the past 22 years had you really wanted to.
I lived in Liverpool (Anfield and Netherley) as a young boy before my Scouse parents took me to Australia against my will. My dad didn’t care for football, but my mum was a blue. The broader family was split, with reds and blues in equal measure. I have always been besotted with all things Everton. When I joined the Australian Army in 84 I went AWOL from recruit training to watch the 84 FA Cup Final because I had to see it (I don’t recommend this to others by the way!!). When my first wife was terminally ill with cancer I took her to Liverpool a couple of months before she died so she would understand it before the end. I took my second wife to GP on our honeymoon so she would understand at the beginning. I took her and the kids to the FA Cup Final last year. None of this came easy, living as I do in Australia and not being rich, but for me it all had to be done - because Everton are genuinely important to me. I convert wherever I can. Am I a fan – I think so.
Are you a fan - absolutely. Are you a dedicated fan who puts in as much as you can and as much as those who go to games week in and out - well not yet but there is plenty of time for you to become one and I’d love to hear your opinion on your status as a fan once you’ve been to GP.
Then I meet the odd Evertonian and they tend to be that bit more knowledgeable and have the club in their heart. I actually met up with a young lad through the supporters club over here and he was able to have a long chat with me about our history... now that’s dedication when most people around you don’t give a stuff.
Though I've moved around a lot, the one constant is that I’ve been supporting Everton since I was eight or nine. The first Everton manager I remember was Gordon Lee!!
Living back in Asia now, I watch every match on telly (every Everton game is pretty much telecast live here or we get a repeat), wake up at the crack of dawn for the European matches, read everything there is to read about the club, buy the kit (when it looks good mind, not like this season’s monstrosity!!), annoy the hell out of my wife when we lose, stand up up to all the United and RS fans at work... need I go on?
Now, since I’ve been doing this for as long as i can remember, does that not make me a fan? Amazingly, I’ve never managed to get up to GP yet, even after all this time. I’ve watched Everton play in London loads, in Thailand but not in Liverpool. Yet. The fact of the matter is, we are born fans, plain and simple. That’s what makes us unique.
With regards to our long-distance fans (like myself), I think they should be given more respect for their dedication to the club I reckon.. It’s all very well living a stone’s throw away from GP and going every week with no fuss. Try following the club when you are thousands of miles away. Now that’s dedication.
It is not about how many games you have been to, it's about if you are claiming to SUPPORT a team that you have at least once done that.
Mike Green, I think that is the only criteria and surely not a hard one to fulfill.
David Hallwood, again your missing my point. I only have a problem with the poster who has lived in the UK all his life but never ever ever seen Everton play in the flesh. Sorry, I don’t buy it.
There are many blues on this site that write from all over the world, US, Singapore, Oz etc and a lot of them wouldn’t have the funds to get to Goodison. Are these not supporters?
Of course your a blue mate. I live in London and get to see the team maybe a dozen times a year, sometimes in London. I’ll even sit in the home end just to see the game if its a last minute rush.
I am lucky however, in that I can afford to do this. If those two tossers had their way, the ground would only comprise of folk born within the Liverpool boundary.
Makes my blood boil.
Where have I said anything about where you are from?
What I have said is that you need to have made an effotrt and this lad quite obviously hasn’t - apart from in 1987 looking at who was top of the league and saying "they are the ones for me".
Your apology is accepted.
There are many ways to support the club as opposed to just attending football matches.
My brother in law is from Dublin, not a million miles from Liverpool and easily accessible. He has supported Everton all his life, bought lots of Everton memorabilia and wouldn’t dare miss a game on the box. Last year for his birthday I took him to Goodison to watch the West ham game. Fucking brilliant feeling watching his eyes light up seeing Goodison for the first time. He’s already planning another trip next month.
My point is, going to Goodison didn’t make him any more of a supporter, it just opened his eyes to what he was missing out on.
Or (B) state that they support a football team 2 hours away and never ever ever ever ever ever ever go and see them!
I can’t work that out when it is all consuming for me and probably you.
When me and Our Kid were nippers and American football was the big thing on Ch4 for a bit of fun we both picked a team. Being a Red and a gloryhunter he picked the Washington Redskins, I picked the NY Jets for despite being shit they played in green, same as our family name. I have "followed" them ever since, looking out for them here and there etc and always thought of them as my team, undoubtedly, when it comes to American football. I find it highly amusing for instance that the Redskins are absolute dogshit now and we are in the play-offs for this year's Superbowl.
I have never been to see the Jets play - I have only been to Vegas and Florida in the US but do know for sure if I’d been 2-3 hours away for the last 30 years, I certainly would have done. And I don't even like the game!
So, yeah, its probably a valid point.
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1 Posted 13/01/2010 at 05:44:39
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But still I’ve been a fervent supporter since 1985. My week sucks when we lose, and I walk around with a big smirk on my face whenever we win.
I purchase replicas from the online store and am a subscriber to evertontv.
Can I be a fan? :)