What made you a football fan?

[SuperMikey]

Just thought it'd be nice to have a thread where people could discuss what made them become football fans, preferably with some YouTube clips.

 

I suppose what made me a football fan was watching the World Cup back in '98. I'd played football a lot at school before then (as you do), and vaguely followed various high profile English teams (as you do), but i'd never really got properly involved in it until I watched a few games of the World Cup. I was completely taken aback by the skills of some of the players, and there were some real idols at that time. I was thrilled while watching Brazil play, as they were really at their peak at that time with some great players like Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Rivaldo, Dunga and Ronaldo, hailed by many as the best player in the world.

 

I remember not being allowed to stay up to watch the final, but I snuck into my mum and dad's room when they were downstairs and watched it on their tiny portable TV. Shame Brazil didn't win the cup in the end, but it was a cracking game anyway! When the new season started in August, I took up supporting Saints, and i've stuck with them ever since (for some reason!)

 

Bit of nostalgia from the Q/F, Brazil vs Denmark, one of the best games of the tournament:

[Red Alert]

I never have lived in Southampton, was born in Salisbury but my Granddad used to take me along to watch the saints as a nipper, tbh I was always more interested in the museum back in those days. Then I moved away to the Isle of Skye in sunny scotland when I was 5~6 and got into football at school. Never had a scottish team so half assed supported Man Utd during school then when my Granddad died when I was 14 the only things I could really remember of him was at the Dell so then it just felt right to support the mighty Saints. So thats 11 years of Red and White for me now, and I couldn't have it any other way.

[saint-luco]

was taken to the dell by my father when i was 5 it was against palace if i remember right

boxing day 68 i think went a few more times but it was when the white alen ball boots came out that i really started my interest in the game. i just loved watching alen ball play and when he signed for saints i started to go to matches again. so to answer the question. a pair of white boots made me a football fan luved em

[Durleyfos]

I was taken to The Dell by my parents when I was 10-11 years old.

 

Had to stand on a stool that my dad made for me to be able to see!

 

Remember being cold & wet but loving every minute of it, cheering on Saints.

 

Used to tell everyone at school about it the next day.

 

Been hooked ever since.

[bridge too far]

My dad took me to the Dell when I was about 8 or 9. I don't think I was really THAT interested in the match but I adored my Dad so, for a few years, went along just to be with him.

 

He used to park near the Polygon hotel and I can remember running to keep up with his long strides.

 

I guess I really became interested when I was in my early teens and I've never looked back

[1576]

My Dad made me a Saints fan, no other choice. Fairly sure you could class it as child abuse.

[RedAndWhite91]

Was born in Southampton and grew up in Netley so Saints were always my local team, but my Dad supported West Ham and so tried really hard to make me follow in his footballing footsteps. I wasn't having any of it.

 

I was given the 1995-1997 kit for Christmas one year, must've been about 5 or 6 years old. Like SuperMikey, the '98 World Cup made me not just like football, but love it. I think I saw some of the games down Hamble Social Club, which was nice.

 

So yeah, the locality of Southampton made me a football fan, been supporting us and loving football since I was about 5 I guess.

[chrisobee]

Good old Dads, mine too in 1965 when I was nine ! Then just about every Saints home game for years until I could decide for myself though there was no choice to make as Saints it was always going to be

[Johnny Bognor]

My old man's a Bury fan and my first game was at Fratton Park to see Bury beat Pompey in the late 70's. So I started out as a Bury sympathiser and a skate-hater first and foremost.

 

Then I was taken to a Saints vs Man U game in the mid 80's by a mate's dad (who lived in Bognor). As I was born in Soton, hated Pompey and enjoyed Saints beating Man U, Saints were a natural choice.

 

The 'Bognor' connection was also founded back then as there was a group of Bognor Saints that used to go in the late 80's early 90's. They all seemed to disappear over the years and I was the only one left.... hence my former "Bognor Saint" Saints Forever name.

 

I was nicknamed "Johnny Bognor" by the Sotonian Neanderthals (oh sorry Jake, I didn't see you on the thread earlier ) that I still go to games with today.....

 

So there you go, if you want any more details, then buy my book.

[SuperMikey]

Great to read some of your stories, very interesting to see how people can get into sport. I forgot to mention how I really became a Saints fan too. My Dad was a student in Southampton, and he used to sneak into games at The Dell from time to time and was witness to some of our best seasons and players like Keegan and a younger MLT. I was born in Southampton and lived there for a couple of years before moving as Dad's job changed, but i've always felt a kind of affinity for the area, so when Dad told me about some of the games he went to see, naturally I wanted to go too. It was a few years before he took me to a game, but afterwards I was hooked. One of my first games was our first league win at SMS against Charlton back in the 2000/01 season, with Pahars nicking a late winner. It wasn't a great game, but I remember the atmosphere being brilliant, and the noise coming from the Northam was immense!

 

I guess Saints are kind of like Pringles or Crystal Meth, once you pop, you just can't stop.

[rocknrollman no2]

Was born in Southampton and grew up in Netley so Saints were always my local team, but my Dad supported West Ham and so tried really hard to make me follow in his footballing footsteps. I wasn't having any of it.

 

I was given the 1995-1997 kit for Christmas one year, must've been about 5 or 6 years old. Like SuperMikey, the '98 World Cup made me not just like football, but love it. I think I saw some of the games down Hamble Social Club, which was nice.

 

So yeah, the locality of Southampton made me a football fan, been supporting us and loving football since I was about 5 I guess.

 

Blimey i also grew up in Netley and used to go to Hamble social club as well,though it was a few years before you were born mate.

I went to the dell in the early 70s when my dad took me to see Leeds play Saints.I fell out of love with footy throughout the 80s and nineties because i found music to take up my time.

But i started going again when we moved to SMS and found the passion again,though considering what Saints have been through over the last few years,i wish i had got back into football a lot later.

[sambosa75]

My Dad used to take me back in the late 80's/early 90's when kids got in free if they were carried in on their Dads shoulders. He used to mind the door at the Gateway pub. I hated it because I'd have to wait around for hours whilst he worked as usually get in the game after kick off. I remember Barry Horne once scored a late, late goal by dinking it over the onrushing keeper and there was a pitch invasion (thats what my memory is telling me anyway!). To this day I cant remember the circumstances of the goal and why there was a pitch invasion (maybe someone here knows). From that day on, I was hooked.

[Hatch]

My Dad used to take me back in the late 80's/early 90's when kids got in free if they were carried in on their Dads shoulders. He used to mind the door at the Gateway pub. I hated it because I'd have to wait around for hours whilst he worked as usually get in the game after kick off. I remember Barry Horne once scored a late, late goal by dinking it over the onrushing keeper and there was a pitch invasion (thats what my memory is telling me anyway!). To this day I cant remember the circumstances of the goal and why there was a pitch invasion (maybe someone here knows). From that day on, I was hooked.

 

That Barry Horne goal was a last minute goal against Bolton.

Can't remember if it an equaliser to take us into extra time or the winner in the last minute of extra time. I remember it as a blaster from about 750 yards or thereabouts.

[chrisobee]

No, don't remember the pitch invasion. Horne was with us from about 1989 to 1992, maybe it was shock that he actually scored a goal ! No, unfair as he scored a few including one screamer in a cup match ( v Oldham ?) .

[Hatch]

I think Panini stickers made me a football fan.

 

Still got the albums from about 1978 thru to 1984 in my parents loft somewhere.

[chrisobee]

That Barry Horne goal was a last minute goal against Bolton.

Can't remember if it an equaliser to take us into extra time or the winner in the last minute of extra time. I remember it as a blaster from about 750 yards or thereabouts.

 

Slight exaggeration I suspect but probably the goal I'm thinking of as that I'm pretty sure was an equaliser ( 2-2 maybe) and then we won 4-2 aet ? If it had been 40 years ago I would have no trouble remembering !

[Lets B Avenue]

The "blaster" was the equaliser in injury time that had many people coming back to the ground, having left thinking we had lost. Horne then scored again in extra time to make it 3-2. I assume that's what Sambosa is remembering.

 

There may well have been "people on the pitch" and he says he was young, so it may have seemed a big deal, at the time.

[ecuk268]

Grew up in Romsey.

 

My Dad took me when I was 7, lifted me over the turnstile and I sat on his lap up in the East Stand.

[Barry the Badger]

 

This is the first game I remember watching and being absolutely captivated by. I was 8 at the time and from that point on I was football mad.

 

This in turn led to my Uncle taking me to The Dell and the rest is history.

[Kadeem Hardison]

A comination of...

 

 

and

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXLGnftsXTY

 

and

 

[Chorlton]

First match I saw (on TV) was the 81 FA Cup Final replay between Spurs & Citeh when Villa scored that goal. I remember really wanting Spurs to win but there was never any doubt I would be a Saints fan. Then started following Saints the next season and we were a bloody good side, and everyone in my year at Primary School who was into football supprted Saints. The years above & below were a mixture with United, Spurs, Lpool etc, but our year was just Saints. Of the people I still know from those years, it is only the Saints fans that ever go to games.

 

The 82 World Cup then cemented my love of football as a whole, and though I follow Saints around the country, I still enjoy watching football of any sort on TV.

[saintkiptanui]

I had heard about the saints, not sure who they were as I lived in Basingstoke, by the age of 4 I knew enough to know they were a football team and they sounded ace so I listened to a game on the radio, they beat Sheffield wednesday 5-1 and david armstrong scored a hatrick (I think) from that day on I was hooked, didn't get to see them in the flesh until my grandad took me when I was 10, drew 1-1 with Manure, it was love at first sight.:goodman: and thats why I love football, beause the mighty red and whites, the rest of football is dull except if England are playing in the knock out stages.

[Hamilton Saint]

My Dad was uninterested in football, although he used to do the Pools most weeks.

 

I first went to the Dell by myself in the early sixties, when I was about 11.

 

That first moment of stepping inside a football ground and seeing the pitch surrounded by the stands - magic! Nic Hornby describes the feeling really well in the opening section of Fever Pitch.

[chrisobee]

I had heard about the saints, not sure who they were as I lived in Basingstoke, by the age of 4 I knew enough to know they were a football team and they sounded ace so I listened to a game on the radio, they beat Sheffield wednesday 5-1 and david armstrong scored a hatrick (I think) from that day on I was hooked, didn't get to see them in the flesh until my grandad took me when I was 10, drew 1-1 with Manure, it was love at first sight.:goodman: and thats why I love football, beause the mighty red and whites, the rest of football is dull except if England are playing in the knock out stages.

 

Well you got the score right Kipper, I imagine it must have been the FA Cup QF replay in 1983/84. Armstrong did get one I believe. We then lost 1-0 in the semis against Everton and fair to say I have never liked Adrian Heath since for his jammy winner right and the end of extra time. Despite that it was surely the best season in our history performance wise as we finished 2nd in the League, 3 points behind Liverpool. It included 2 of my favourite games, 8-2 v Coventry and 5-0 v Spurs.

[saintscottofthenortham]

My old man was desperate to get me into footy... It was either on the box or he was taking me down Riverside Park to try and get me playing it but at around aged 5/6 I was having none of it. That was until one night when I did watch the footy on the Box... And my golly was that it from then on. It was Norwich at home to.............. Forest I think but I aint sure on that, it was 0-0 anyhow but how it remained a stalemate I will never know. This was back around 1994 and I'll never forget the (then) young Andy Marshall (Norwich Keeper) who was out of this world. I only remember him because it was he who inspired me to be a keeper.

 

Im probably one of a very few kids who has been converted to a footy fan via a stalemate!

 

Great game though and if anyone can suss out what game im on about do let me know because it is bugging me!

[SNSUN]

I think Panini stickers made me a football fan.

 

Still got the albums from about 1978 thru to 1984 in my parents loft somewhere.

 

+1. Mid-80s, before I was a Saints fan, I had a Liverpool badge shiny that everyone wanted. I made a lot of friends with that little piece of sticky shinyness.

 

My first school never did football, God knows why, but kids down my street used to have a kick around. Everyone liked football, and I was easily influenced, so I just followed the crowd - it was only when I started supporting Saints at age 9 that I started to LOVE football.