#glory hunter

[chelscait]

fuck niamh charles 💔

[ohgodshutit]

real question is do i change my whole layout right now in preparation for piggybacking on macklin celebrini’s olympic gold?

[fruitoverfriends]

Knew RVP would have to go but feels weird :/

[acrossthepondsoccer]

Bandwagoners, Glory Hunters, and the American Soccer Fan

I will cry when I walk into Emirates Stadium for the first time. No, really, it’s going to happen. I don’t know when I’ll be making the trip to London to see my team (Arsenal) play, but when I do, the tears of joy will definitely be flowing.

It’s interesting to think about the relationship between a fan and his/her team, especially when that teams plays over 3,000 miles away. I’ve never been to the UK and I’ve never seen Arsenal play in person, but I’m still an ardent supporter. It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? My “trip to the stadium” is just a trip to my couch, where I either watch on TV or struggle through the frustration of a live stream (I’ve recently concluded that buffering is my least favorite thing ever, after Tottenham). Sure, I’ll go and watch at the Arsenal bar in DC, but that match-day experience can’t compare to the real deal.

Ever since the rise of soccer in the USA—which probably started in the 1970s and has continued to swell following the 1994 World Cup—Americans have been supporting international teams just as much as our domestic MLS teams. Some people have ties to certain teams based on their ancestry or former home. Others have just picked teams that they liked—consequentially, they usually end up picking the richer, more successful teams. I have no doubts that the four most popular EPL teams in the USA are Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal. Manchester City may not be far behind either, especially if they win more trophies. If you’re a successful EPL, La Liga, or Bundesliga team, you’re going to attract the most American fans. There are also many guides and articles on how to pick a team: this one is for the current EPL season, courtesy of EPL Talk. 

Here’s my question, though: does picking a team based on success make you less of a fan than those who have ties to the clubs they support? Maybe discussing different levels of fandom isn’t even worth it. In an ideal world, bandwagon Manchester United fans could get along with the diehard supporters of, say, Fulham; however, I don’t see this happening anytime soon. In fact, I feel this tension a lot.

Barcelona, who recently won five trophies in one season (the "Quintuple") and regularly have the highest-rated squad in FIFA, are also a popular team for bandwagon fans.

My team, Arsenal, has recently been mired in a seven year trophy drought. The club is going backwards, and things seem to be falling apart every season. Manchester United, on the other hand, are on their way to winning another league title this year, and you can usually count on them to win a trophy of some kind every season. They also signed Arsenal’s best player last year, just to make matters worse. Now, when bandwagon United fans (yes, they’re easy to pick out) ridicule me and ridicule Arsenal, I get frustrated. “You’re not even a real fan,” I say in my head. “You win something every fucking year. You don’t know what it’s like to suffer.”

Another term for a bandwagon fan is a "glory hunter." Quite British, no?

Still, as bitter as I get over “fake fans” crowing about United’s latest title, there are many teams who haven’t won anything for long stretches of time. In comparison, Arsenal last won a trophy in 2005—I started following them (watching every single game) in 2006. While I haven’t been able to enjoy an Arsenal trophy yet, there are some older men and women out there who haven’t experienced the thrill of winning anything at all. Consider Birmingham City: they hadn’t won a major trophy for 48 years until they beat Arsenal (ironic, huh?) to win the 2011 League Cup. These long droughts happen all the time, so I don’t have as much right to complain as an Arsenal supporter.

Ultimately, I think you define your own fandom. I love Arsenal, and I love watching them play, even though they are an ocean away. When bandwagon fans jump back and forth between title winners, I don’t think they get the full experience of supporting a club through both good times and bad. It takes some pain to fully appreciate when a club wins a title—in my case, it’s been pretty much all pain. But that’s OK. It’s what supporting a team is all about.

Ah, Drake. Not even you can get away with something this criminal. Also, the teams represented in the left and center pictures (Manchester United and Manchester City, respectively) are cut-throat rivals separated by a few miles. And when I say cut-throat, I literally mean it in some cases.

So, for those fans who sometimes step back and look at their relationship to an overseas team, I know where you’re coming from. It seems stupid, getting up early for matches because of the time zone difference or having an authentic supporter’s scarf shipped to you from London. A lot of people won’t understand why we support soccer teams we may never see play in person. Still, we do it because we love everything about it, from Arsenal fans to Birmingham City fans.

In the end, I don’t like debating what makes you a real fan or not. If you’re simply willing to put your heart and soul behind a team, you’re a real fan. Even if you choose to support Manchester United. 

[maccaoz18]

another day

another FIFA glory hunter shat on