The north east a hotbed of football?

Aries

The North East used to be called that after the players that have come put of the area over the years. Players like Shearer, Gazza, Waddle, the Charlton brothers etc etc. Too many to remember. Suppose you coupd ask are there top players coming out of the North East nowadays?

The fans are only seen as "more passionate" because Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesboro are 3 one team towns/cities.

Coutinho's Happy Feet, it's just complete nonsense to me. There's tons of great footballers who have come from all over England and the rest of the UK. The north east is no more special than anywhere else.

comment by kneerash-23 Cara Gold (U6876)
posted 12 hours, 15 minutes ago
So what I want to know really is why is cool for you to show passion for a player who plays for you but isn't from the city, but it's not the same for someone outside the city?

Are the foreign player and fan not both representing the club?
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Again you're making ridiculous points that aren't relevant because you're missing the point but that's because you don't get it and you never will either.

Our passion for our football team is a by product of our passion for our city. As I've attempted to explain numerous times before, football rivalry exists with every single set of supporters not just local rivals because we're territorial.

We're proud of where we're from and we'll fight people from other cities because of that, not because we have anything against their football team, it's all about being proud of where we're from.

The football team is simply a by product and a way of us conveying our disdain towards the rest of the country, it's getting one over on other cities around the country so unless you can feel that passion for Liverpool, which you can't because you're not from there and don't have the love and feeling of pride for the city because it's not your own, then you ain't gonna understand what true football passion is really like, impossible to even fathom.

This song should sum it up;

Leicester boys are here "proud of our city" the good times and the bad, we always back the lads and we went and won the league.

The "city" is referring to Leicester, the city we're
from not "the City" as in the football team.

So we're proud of our city because it's
where we're from and we're proud of all its sporting achievements and we use the rugby and the cricket (when they've won the 20/20) as arguments as to why our city is better than others when we're having banter with fans of other clubs. It goes way beyond the football team and this is what you don't understand. You don't have this feeling towards Liverpool so you'll never understand!

comment by aries22 (U1203)
posted 4 hours, 45 minutes ago
Back to the original question. Why is the north east regarded as a 'hotbed' of football, where fans are 'passionate' about the game (where 'passionate' includes throwing your season ticket at the manager in a fit of pique)? Is it more of a hotbed of football than Merseyside, Manchester, the Midlands or London?
It just sounds like some romantic load of crap to me.
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I think it's because they still turn up to watch them even though they're shiiittt and are being ripped off by the club, managers and players. Filling your stadium of 52k in the Championship isn't the norm but they do every week and Sunderland will next season too. This is the difference.

Who knows what support the top teams would get if they went down but most have dropped in numbers significantly. Villa don't sell out, Leeds have big crowds but don't sell out, same with Sheffield Wednesday.

You can't fill your stadium which is half the size and that's when you're doing well in the PL, so I don't know how you can grumble at the passion of fans of the north east clubs who continue to turn up regardless?

Arro you or local people don't own passion, stop talking nonsense, I understand the links to the city etc. however you cannot define another persons passion for anything, what gives you the right to say how another person feels about anything?

A modern football club is about more then the local city, that's the nature of the premier league beast, again I'll reiterate I understand your view re local fans, and I do actually agree with you, growing up going to games would give you so much passion for the club, and like I said I fully support any ideas a club has to get local kids in the ground, they to me are the most important fans to get into a ground.

But sorry you're wrong when you say fans from outside the locality are not proper fans or that they don't have the same passion, it's simply not true and you cannot speak for anyone else on how they feel about a club.

to add the the above Arro I also think that fans outside the local city, especially fans from abroad actually try to embrace thelocal city and culture as it's all part of the club.

One thing I love about going to games is going to Liverpool, it's agreat city to go out in, I know mates who feel the same about Manchester and Newcastle for example.

We might not have as strong a connection to the city as a local person does but it all forms part of being a fan.

If it's not enough for you, if you want to look down your nose at fans who aren't local (which is what you're doing) so be it, I won't change your mind, but you don't know how I or any other fans feel about a club, or the lengths we go to go to games, I spent well over 10k in total going to every home CL game in 06/07, PSV and Barca away and about 15 league games, then 2.5k to go to Athens, if spending over 15k in a single season to go watch Liverpool doesn't show how much it means to me then I don't know what does.

You're purely equating the passion for the sport but that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is the passion for your club that is purely driven
by the passion for your city. These are the fans that go to games week in week out no matter what. The hardcore fans, fans like me.

You can't feel the same passion for a football team without the passion for your city behind it. Yes you can be passionate about the sport sure but you can't feel the same passion, it's just not possible because it's more about our city than it is the football where for you it's football then city and that's the difference.

But anyway let's agree to disagree because we're looking at this from two completely different perspectives. I can understand where you're coming from and while you might get what I'm talking about, it's impossible for you to feel the same passion.

I know 100% that other fans who support their hometown club feel this way too because growing up and going to games week in week out becomes a lifestyle and the most important thing in it. You've not had that.

As we travelled around the country watching our team who were mostly crap, we weren't proud of our team because they were shiittt and we didnt like half the players or the manager or owners but we still loved our city and were still proud of it. It didn't matter how crap the football was either because half the time it wasn't worth watching so you'd spend the whole game abusing the away fans and taking the mick out of their city. It rarely had anything to do with the football team, it was all about the inter city rivalries. No matter who we played or where there would be fights, even against Brighton and Bournemouth who nobody really gives a shiiitt about their football team but we still fight them because they're from a different city.

This is something you can't comprehend and haven't experienced so let's just leave it at that and agree to disagree.

comment by Champions of England (U21032)
posted 13 hours, 53 minutes ago
But anyway let's agree to disagree because we're looking at this from two completely different perspectives. I can understand where you're coming from and while you might get what I'm talking about, it's impossible for you to feel the same passion.

I know 100% that other fans who support their hometown club feel this way too because growing up and going to games week in week out becomes a lifestyle and the most important thing in it. You've not had that.

As we travelled around the country watching our team who were mostly crap, we weren't proud of our team because they were shiittt and we didnt like half the players or the manager or owners but we still loved our city and were still proud of it. It didn't matter how crap the football was either because half the time it wasn't worth watching so you'd spend the whole game abusing the away fans and taking the mick out of their city. It rarely had anything to do with the football team, it was all about the inter city rivalries. No matter who we played or where there would be fights, even against Brighton and Bournemouth who nobody really gives a shiiitt about their football team but we still fight them because they're from a different city.

This is something you can't comprehend and haven't experienced so let's just leave it at that and agree to disagree.
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