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My Dilemma

By John Pickles :  07/08/2007 :  Comments (7) :

I have been blessed with a 4-year-old son & feel I am now facing a huge dilemma. I am and have been an Everton fan for as long as I can remember & would be delighted if my lad would become as passionate about the Blues as I am. My dilemma is do I encourage him or try to promote EFC to him now that he is just starting to show an interest in kicking a ball.

Of course you do I hear you cry but think about it for a minute. When I was a boy my dad (who descibes himself as a football fan not affiliated to any team, probably because he was born in Bolton) would take me to Goodison as a treat. I was lucky, I have some great memories, I still remember where I was sitting when I saw Latchford score his 30th League goal of the season. When I could drive, a mate & I started going to all the home matches & God were we lucky. The team were approaching their nadir at the time, a unconvincing 1-0 win against Forest was our first, then in the second, Norwich came for a point & won 2-0. Things degenerated to a point when on New Year's Eve against Coventry, the 'Golden Goal' draw was replaced by the 'Golden Corner' due to the Blues inability to ever find the back of the net. Oxford away in the Milk Cup was our first ever away game, Inchy's goal forever accredited for turning around Everton's fortunes. I was there when 'The Rat' went up to lift the FA Cup and many other Wembley visits, I saw him lift the League trophy twice & was there when we beat Bayern Munich, the best sporting event of my life (outside of women's beach volleyball).

Problem is, things have changed, I can't offer my lad any of that, barring an 'Abramovitch' taking over, we cannot compete at the very top of the league, if the current close season activity is anything to go by we can't compete financially with half the premiership teams. His mother couldn't name you 3 footballers, such is her knowledge of the game, but calls herself (not surprisingly) a Liverpool fan, she says to my boy he should support the Reds. I was of course initially horrified by this but then again I want him to be happy. LFC have 2 things in their favour, firstly, huge financial backing that we can (and do) only dream about & secondly, they are stuffy bastards. Being a red should make you much happier than a blue (not that you would think so from the local radio phone-ins) and I want my boy to be happy. While I cannot promote LFC (a medical condition I think, the words are unable to form in my mouth), do I just keep quiet and secretly hope he picks the Blues, or keep pointing out AJ to him on TV and scareing him half to death with my last minute goal celebration in the front room against Arsenal. The dilemma of it all... as long as he dosn't support Man U, I'll disown him then!

Reader Comments (7)

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kieran fitzgerald
1 Posted 07/08/2007 at 17:59:42
My seven year old nephew’s dad is a liverpool fan. The last year or so has seen my nephew develop an interest in football. As they live close to me I have taken him for the odd sleepover to take him to the zoo, cinema and so on. The odd saturday night that he has been over match of the day has been on at his bedtime and he has sat in my bed watching it. He has always sat up when the Liverpool highlights come on, announcing that that is his Dad’s team. While I’m not exactly over the moon with this I am happy that he has taken an interest in football. To me it is a great interest to have as it has provided me with a huge social outlet and an awful lot of entertainment and enjoyment over the years. As a child now,my nephew has an interest that he can also share with his Dad and his uncles, and with friends when older. That’s good enough for me.
Richard
2 Posted 07/08/2007 at 19:39:05
Promote, promote, promote!

We’re going to need to if we end up at Kirkby.
Jerry Irons
3 Posted 07/08/2007 at 20:56:52
How can you even contemplate bringing your kid up a red. I too am blessed with a four year old son, The difference is he now knows how to sing "its a grand old team", has 3 everton kits along with numerous other everton clothing items, bedroom is blue and he can spot an everton shirt a mile off. He has graced the goodison pitch at half-time, and whilst to be honest he isnt mad into watching football (as most 4 years old arent), he enjoys the passion and enjoys watching his dad go ballistic when Everton stick one in the net. (His first word was "GOAL").
Football isnt all about winning, its about excitement, its about having lows which make the highs even better, its about comaraderie and a sense of belonging, tribal at its basic.
And if you can manage to get your son to a few games, his earliest memories are now being stored, and in about 30 years from now, you might here him say, "I remember when my old fella first brought me to a game at the old Goodison stadium, it might not have been up to much in looks but the atmosphere was electric, I was hooked from then on".
Once a blue always a blue!
tony gee
4 Posted 07/08/2007 at 21:21:17
my little lad is 3 and a half, and I too have a dilema whether to bring him into the world of the blues, although at present
I honestly feel that being an ardent evertonian has brought me more pain than pleasure during the last 30 years, so i sorely tempted to promote other hobbies, such as golf, rather that sitting behind a goal spending 30 dabs watching lads kick a bag of wind around for 30grand a week..... ho hum.
D
5 Posted 07/08/2007 at 21:43:06
I took my 4 yr old lad to his first game at goodison last wk against werder bremen, you’ve got it all wrong, its about the bond between you and your son, something you can do together, have an interest in no matter what else is going on in your lives. It was a great day one he probably won’t remember but one I will never forget. Its not about getting him into the most successful team, its about bringing him into the family. You should bring the boy up a toffee not a glory supporting twat.
Eric Myles
6 Posted 08/08/2007 at 02:29:52
My dilemma is a 3 year old daughter and a RS supporting missus and we have no intention of living back in UK (although I will get her to GP before we leave there).

At the moment she knows her favourite team is Everton when asked, and that they wear blue but shows no interest in watching football as yet.
paul
7 Posted 08/08/2007 at 05:49:16
My dad went to GP with his dad, I went with my dad and now I go with my sons. We have all shared the same glory and yes the same pain.

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