Wednesday 5 November 2008

Blog Challenge #3: Why we support the teams we do

So you may by now know I support 2 teams. I don't even know why I support them, I just do. Well ok, there's probably more to it than that. Flash back to when I was 11 years old and I first discovered football. It was the World Cup 1998, England vs Argentina. Anybody remember this?



Well, that goal was basically the reason I really started paying attention to football. Michael Owen became my first ever football love, and while it makes me feel bad that I started supporting Liverpool because of one footballer, that does generally tend to be how I get into football teams, as you will find out. After that goal, I started watching Liverpool games just for the chance to see this boy wonder play and show off his mad skillz. As time went by, my love for the team grew and grew and it wasn't long before I found myself cheering them on in every game, even the ones that may have seemed insignificant at the time. It helped that my dad was a Liverpool fan too, so he'd tell me all these stories about the Liverpool team of the 80's. It didn't seem like the current squad was having any such success, and that only made me like them even more. I've never been a fan of teams who win all the time, give me the underdog any day. It gets boring seeing the same teams win over and over again, that's not a competition to me.

Anyway, I think it was during a Champions League game in 2002 that I first noticed Valencia. By that point, I'd been watching football, but I'd never really seen anything beyond national teams and the Premier League. I was in absolute awe, this was a team I'd never heard of and yet they were beating a Liverpool team that was firmly embedded in the top four in their domestic league. And beating them comfortably at that. I'd love to say that it was down to their obvious skill that I started watching Valencia play, but it really wasn't. Well, it was, but not the skill of the whole team. I've already explained how Vicente was the reason I got into Spanish football, so I won't go into that again.


From that game on, I tried to watch as many games as possible in La Liga, which was difficult because they didn't always show them. I didn't give up though, and that's how I've got to the stage I'm at today. Even though I say I support both teams, Liverpool were my first team, and I will always cheer for them. It would feel wrong willing them to lose or draw, no matter who they were playing. I just have to hope they never play Valencia again in a game that matters.

Of course, Rafa B was the manager of Valencia at the time, and then he moved to Liverpool. It made me happy in a way, because I knew he was a great manager and that he could help Liverpool win loads of stuff. At the same time, part of me was sad that Valencia was losing a great manager, and I wasn't all that sure how well the new one would settle in. This manager change only went to further cement my support of both teams and basically, the Valencia link with Liverpool just made me love them even more.

Besides Liverpool and Valencia, I do have a soft spot for many teams in both leagues. Well, ok, more in La Liga than the Prem. I watch Arsenal games and usually get upset if they don't win...unless they're playing Liverpool, or are too close for comfort that is. And in La Liga. Erm, this season its *takes a deep breath* Villareal, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Sporting Gijon and occasionally Barca. i.e. when my dad is home and he wants to watch them. Yeah that's a lot of teams, but I don't necessarily want them to win or do well. I just like watching them. I'm a total football whore it seems.

And that is the story of the teams I support and how I started supporting them.

2 comments:

Vanilla Bear said...

Omg that Owen goal would have been orgasmic if I were old enough at the time to know what that meant lol!

Great post G! *thumbs up*

mallymoodle said...

I was and it was :P

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