Following up from an earlier article I’d like to pose a question to all the non ex-pat North American readers of EPL Talk: How Did You Find Who You Support?
It’s ultimately a broad question that has more potential answers to it than current injury concerns at Liverpool. But I believe the question sparks an interesting debate as Americans are still searching for their place in world football. When I first got this idea (by divine intervention), I realized it may only apply to a very select (but elite) group of people. For those born in the United Kingdom or thereabouts, you had it a bit easier than us across the pond. It’s likely you started supporting the Arsenal from the womb, or Chelsea by the end of your first year of life. However, could you imagine a life where you started supporting a football club at 12?, 15? 18? or even 23?
For readers of EPL Talk who share the same generation as I do, you may relate to a similar footballing background. If you’re American, it’s highly likely you’ve been supporting a football club no longer than you’ve been able to drive, don’t worry, everyone’s welcome. If you’re 25-35 years of age & are a passionate football supporter it’s possible you took the same road I did. Let me take a wild guess:
Step 1- You were introduced to the sport of Soccer at a very young age, probably 6 or 7 playing in your local youth organization. This was the Soccer our society often perceives when they hear the very word. A world of Moms, minivans, unlimited substitutions, lawn chairs, fair play, 14 year old referees & oranges. This is where I got my “start”, this is where the seed was planted. These were my formative years.
Step 2-World Cup ‘94 and ‘98. I was 13 at the time of World Cup ‘94 and the yonder days of the Palm Bay Youth Soccer Association were dead and buried (enter Little League Baseball and Youth Basketball – these were the sports I was “supposed” to play -by switching-over, I was able to pick a hero and role model to emulate, I could follow his every step). The savior of the casual soccer supporter is the World Cup, we all know this, but having the tournament held in your own back yard really did make an impression on us all those years ago. Here was a new world that we kind of thought we knew about. We were that much closer to the obsessive ideas we have about football these days when World Cup ‘94 and ‘98 where at the forefront of our lives. The World Cup and it’s coverage on television in the 90’s was the bridge from our innocent days in youth soccer to the spoiled-every-match-at-our-fingertips landscape of the present day. But when the Cup ended, it was another few years lost in the sea of MLB, NFL & NBA.
Step 3-The toughest and most random of the steps. You’re possibly in college by this point or a young adult. You’ve no real way of developing this passion you once had, gone are the days of Youth Soccer, the World Cup’s a few years off, and something turns your head. What was it? It’s different for everyone, but if you’ve experienced it, you know the impact that this something can have. You stumble upon this odd channel on your cable or satellite dish that’s playing this odd game featuring two teams you think you might know at an even more odd time. This something could have been a specific player, style of play, cultural reference, or even the color of the team. You remember, “hey, I like this Soccer stuff”. It’s these incredible little things that tip us over the edge. Simplistic, unique variables that reconnect us with the beautiful game. Then you think to yourself, “where was I before this?”
Once caught, it takes hold of you like a cancer spreading to various facets of your life. You spend all your time immersing yourself in tactics, history & the like. You become obsessed with it in the pursuit for one last final piece of the football supporters life,…..
Credibility.
The chase is over, you’ve now found your purpose in life. Few things will ever beat that stoppage time goal that was scored to secure a much needed 3 points for your club. For the events that will – well, you’ve secured those away for your wildest dreams. But in this (new to some of us) world of competitive European football, how can we really claim to be credible football supporters who are so far away from our team’s local grounds? How will our voice ever be heard stateside while so many other sports dominate our culture?
I’ll leave those last two questions for you to work out on your own, but remember, credibility is awarded to yourself, from yourself and by yourself. No football fan out there is better than the next. The bloke who bangs the cowbell at Portsmouth is no better or worse a supporter than you. If you truly have a sense of pride and passion for your club then you’ve arrived. It’s at this point you can stand up and scream I’M A FOOTBALL SUPPORTER, HEAR ME ROAR!!
Take pride in this game and enjoy your football.
(Feel free to leave a comment or two explaining how you found the club you support)
As you know, EPL Talk focuses on the Premier League and not the lower leagues of England, but my day didn’t start so well when Setanta-i had technical problems which prevented me and all other Setanta-i customers from viewing the Welsh derby featuring the club I’ve supported all my life, Swansea City, against Cardiff City.
The reason I mention it is because I was forced into finding a dodgy stream of the game — a game that is undoubtedly the biggest football match on my calendar each year. The stream I did find was from Fox Sports in Australia, so I had a chance to experience for the first time a Fox broadcast from down under. It was nothing spectacular, and nothing awful — just different. They had two pundits and one presenter. One of the pundits was former Blackburn Rovers footballer and Australian international Robbie Slater.
One interesting observation however was that they used to the Sky Sports feed for the Swansea versus Cardiff game, with the Sky Sports graphics appearing near the top left corner of the screen, while the Fox Sports logo was positioned near the top right corner.
After thoroughly enjoying Swansea’s 3-2 win against Cardiff — which was a very entertaining game, I had the rare treat of watching three 10am ET/3pm UK Premier Leagues at the same time. Tottenham against Sunderland on TV, with the Aston Villa against Bolton game also on-screen via the picture-in-picture feature, and then the Manchester City versus Burnley game on my laptop courtesy of a now-functioning Setanta-i.
Here are my observations from the three games, as well as the late Wolves against Arsenal match:
by Ethan Armstrong on November 6, 2009 · 4 comments
So… to review… for Liverpool to qualify for the Champions League round of sixteen one of the following scenarios needs to occur:
1.) Liverpool beat Debrecen AND Lyon beat Fiorentina AND Liverpool beat Fiorentina.
2.) Liverpool beat Debrecen AND Lyon draw with Fiorentina AND Liverpool beat Fiorentina by at least three goals.
3.) Liverpool beat Debrecen AND Fiorentina’s players are abducted by space aliens and replaced with cyborg footballers (this invokes an ancient Uefa rule that states any match influenced by extra-terrestrial involvement is automatically forfeit – see: Wolves v. Martians, 1972).
Curse you, Lisandro Lopez, for putting us in this position with your (gorgeous) late strike.
Of course going into the match I had an uneasy feeling. After all, Voronin was starting again. And since Pepe Reina is more likely to take a shot on goal, this usually doesn’t bode well for Liverpool. Read the rest of this story>>
Several Premier League clubs announced today changes to their January fixtures so matches can be moved to TV timeslots. As a result, we can infer which matches will be shown on the US soccer TV networks.
January’s highlights include:
Arsenal v Manchester United, Sunday, January 31, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel
Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur, Sunday, January 10, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel
Birmingham v Man United, Saturday, January 9, 12;30pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel
Hull v Chelsea, Saturday, January 9, 7:45am ET, ESPN2
Without a doubt, Sunday’s game between Chelsea and Manchester United is the biggest of the season between the two clubs who have the best chance to win the Premier League title this season (sorry Arsenal fans). So, it’s no wonder that so much importance is being placed on this game. Not that who wins will decide anything, but it will be a massive psychological boost for the winning team and will show which club has what it takes to win the title.
I’m leaving on Monday for a trip to Las Vegas for a search marketing conference, so I want to wrap up the EPL Talk contests before I leave in order to mail the packages and to make some football fans very happy. So today, if you’re lucky enough to be reading this, you have the opportunity to win one of three copies of FIFA 10 we’re giving away and a copy of the book by Barney Ronay named The Manager.
Yesterday’s winner of FIFA 10 was Tyler Capezzuto. Congratulations.
We’ll be giving away a copy of FIFA 10 to three lucky people who correctly answer the following trivia question and sends his or her answer in by the deadline of 5pm ET/9pm UK time on Friday, November 6, 2009. The version of FIFA 10 we have is for Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. US residents only.
Here’s the trivia question:Which three soccer players are featured on the cover of the North American version of FIFA 10?
Send your answer via e-mail including your name and mailing address information, as well as what platform you want the game on, to thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com — and make sure the subject line reads “FIFA 10 Blowout” The three winners will be announced on EPL Talk tomorrow.
And if you want to win The Manager, the new book by Barney Ronay, all you have to do is answer this trivia question and be the lucky person picked out of the hat.
Here’s the trivia question:Which newspaper does Barney Ronay write for?
Send your answer in by the deadline of 5pm ET/9pm UK time on Friday, November 6, 2009 to thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com with the subject line “Barney Ronay Contest.” US residents only. The winner will be announced tomorrow here on EPL Talk.
by footballnewsblog on November 6, 2009 · 0 comments
This season has not started the best for Everton, so far they have been unable to recapture the form they showed last season in the league and sit a lowly 13th. Couple this with two heavy defeats and the hands of Benfica in the Europa league and things aren’t looking so rosy for David Moyes and his men.
Last night Benfica beat Everton 2-0 at Goodison Park and although this is an improvement on the 5-0 defeat last time round it was still a poor night for Everton with Benfica deserving the win. Javier Saviola opened the scoring for Benfica with a low finish early in the second half before Oscar Cardozo finished in the bottom corner.
It s hard to criticise Everton too much this season due to the number of players they have on the sidelines. They don’t have the depth of squad that is available to other Premiership teams and last night with key men like Mikel Arteta and Phil Jagielka missing from the team, who were arguably the best players in an Everton football shirt last year, it is not surprising that the team aren’t on their best form at the moment.
Everton are still sitting in a good position in the Europa league are still favourites to qualify from the group along with Benfica. Everton sit second with 6 points, 3 behind Benfica and 2 ahead of BATE and AEK Athens. Although they have hard games to play they should still qualify for the next round when they will hopefully have some of their players back from injury and back in the squad.
Although Everton are in 13th place in the table the teams around them are all very close together and a few wins could see them quickly jump up the table and get them back to where we are used to seeing them over the past few seasons.
Several Premier League clubs announced today changes to their January fixtures so matches can be moved to TV timeslots. As a result, we can infer which matches will be shown on the US soccer TV networks.
