Glory Hunters

[Y 2 Jake]

Specific to any sport, it's the act of supporting a team because they're good. See the example of the Surrey based Man Utd fan below.

I live in Surrey. Yeah, I don't want to hear the bollocks of 'OH MY GAWWWD but you live 3 hours away!! I bet you never see them play!!'

I go and see them play, often. That ends that one.

Why does he support them? Because they're good, that's a fact. The frequent excuse from a glory hunter is along the lines of - ''My dad/grandad used to support them, ''I've supported them all my life''.

Well my dad was from Birmingham, so really I should support the most successful team there, Aston Villa.

The lad above is 17, which (coincidentally) coincides with Man Utd being very dominant around the time he would have picked a team. It's pretty much the same as people slightly older and of a similar age to me supporting Liverpool.

So the question is, should people support their local team no matter how poor they are, or should they support whoever they want?

 

[Sparky]

Well with AFL being the biggest sport in Aus, I would say no. If you live in Victoria, you have countless of options to choose from so nomatter what 50/50 Odds are your picking the team both becouse they're the best and becouse they are your own team.

I feel that as long as you don't change your team frequently you should be able to follow what ever team you like. Imagine somebody picking Hawthorn as a team in the AFL to support for the rest of their lives. as long as they remain with that team for ever even if they suck horribly that is ok. but if you ( like my friend) change your team every year depending on the out come of the Grand final, that is wrong.)

 

[HBK-aholic]

I'll relate this to rugby, seeings as I don't watch English football. (Because I'd have to support Leeds United . That was a joke.) Glory supporters annoy the hell out of me, you see plenty of them around the country. Whichever team won the Super League the year before will sell more shirts than any other. Which I think is a pretty good indicator that there are plenty of glory supporters. I find it funnier around Leeds when someone 'supports' the Rhinos, but have no idea who most of the players are, and have never been to a game.

Around the country, it's just funny. Wakefield seems to have a high percentage of Leeds fans I've noticed. Why? Because their own team is awful. I don't think you should have to support your 'local' team. But I don't think you should support a team because they're good, either.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I'll relate this to rugby, seeings as I don't watch English football. (Because I'd have to support Leeds United . That was a joke.) Glory supporters annoy the hell out of me, you see plenty of them around the country. Whichever team won the Super League the year before will sell more shirts than any other. Which I think is a pretty good indicator that there are plenty of glory supporters. I find it funnier around Leeds when someone 'supports' the Rhinos, but have no idea who most of the players are, and have never been to a game.

Around the country, it's just funny. Wakefield seems to have a high percentage of Leeds fans I've noticed. Why? Because their own team is awful. I don't think you should have to support your 'local' team. But I don't think you should support a team because they're good, either.

So Stoke doesn't have a Rugby team. Nor am I intrested in it. But hypothetically speaking what should happen in my case if I was to become intrested in the sport. Should I support the closest possible team, or should I go for one of the big ones?

 

[HBK-aholic]

So Stoke doesn't have a Rugby team. Nor am I intrested in it. But hypothetically speaking what should happen in my case if I was to become intrested in the sport. Should I support the closest possible team, or should I go for one of the big ones?

I'm sure Stoke have a Rugby League club. They have a womens RL team anyway, because I played against them last year. Besides the point anyway, because it's hardly a professional team. Anyway, as I said above, you don't necessarily have to go with the team closest, just as long as you don't solely base what team you support on whether they won the leage last season, or something like that.

 

[klunderbunker]

I can't stand fans like this. You're either a fan of a team through the good times and the bad or you're not a fan at all. I love the Dallas Cowboys and I loved them when they were awful and I loved them when they were dominating. It's almost as if saying I like this team just not enough to support them. A team that goes up and down is fun to watch because when you win at the end of all the hardships, the winning makes it all worth it in the end.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I'm sure Stoke have a Rugby League club. They have a womens RL team anyway, because I played against them last year. Besides the point anyway, because it's hardly a professional team. Anyway, as I said above, you don't necessarily have to go with the team closest, just as long as you don't solely base what team you support on whether they won the leage last season, or something like that.

Fair doos.

So I'll use Stoke as an example again, this time the football club. I'll use the year before last as an example as we had good attendance last season. Two year's ago our average attendance was about 16,000, now it's 27,000. Last year because of the promotion push, this year because of the Premiership football.

Are those extra 11,000 plus glory hunters?

My answer is no, there's no glory in supporting Stoke.

 

[HBK-aholic]

Yet they're there watching more because of the 'glory'. It's kinf of like Leeds Rhinos. These last 5 years have pretty much been known as the years of the Rhinos, because we've been the most dominant team throughout most of the years. But before that, we'd won 1 trophy in over 20 years. Leeds were one of the worst teams in the league, and it's attendance was low. Now, last year we were given the title of the best supported Rugby club in either code throughout Europe. These last couple of years we've been crowned World Club Champions and won Back to Back Super League championships. While a few people have moven to Rugby League because they don't want to watch Leeds United, it'd be stupid to say that the increase in attendance doesn't have some 'glory supporters' in there. Although I prefer the glory suppotrers that actually go to the matches, as opposed to the ones who just walk around wearing the shirt.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Yet they're there watching more because of the 'glory'. It's kinf of like Leeds Rhinos. These last 5 years have pretty much been known as the years of the Rhinos, because we've been the most dominant team throughout most of the years. But before that, we'd won 1 trophy in over 20 years. Leeds were one of the worst teams in the league, and it's attendance was low. Now, last year we were given the title of the best supported Rugby club in either code throughout Europe. These last couple of years we've been crowned World Club Champions and won Back to Back Super League championships. While a few people have moven to Rugby League because they don't want to watch Leeds United, it'd be stupid to say that the increase in attendance doesn't have some 'glory supporters' in there. Although I prefer the glory suppotrers that actually go to the matches, as opposed to the ones who just walk around wearing the shirt.

Both are slightly different, but I get your point. Stoke weren't ever going to have a season that didn't involve losing a lot.

Stoke went up and if they go down so will attendance. But you can guarantee that the people at the matches are locals, not from, say, Surrey for example. Depends if you consider supporting you local team as glory hunting.

 

[HBK-aholic]

I think I'd class it as Glory Hunting if they hadn't supported them before, and never shown an interest, until suddenly people were discussing that the team were doing well. It has happened with Leeds. I think of Glory supporting as if you simply go around supporting a team because of a sudden 'glory' attached to them, especially if you'd stop supporting them if they suddenly got relegated.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I think I'll get in and say this before somebody else does. In reference to Man Utd somebody might point out their popularity in Korea. It's not the same thing. It's the same as me watching American Football and taking a liking to the team that plays the best and who's on the TV frequently. It's not like I'd have much of an option but to watch them and lear to love them if I was becoming enamored with the sport.

 

[Shadowmancer]

OK this is sort of weird for me. In general I support teams, Ill run down the Union teams that I support, Northland, North Harbour, Auckland Blues. Two of the teams I support because they are the closest teams, that being Harbour and the Blues. The other I support because of family history with the region, And I support all three despite being shit at one time or another. A better example is League, where I support two teams, The Warriors because that is my local team, but like pretty much most New Zealander's that watch League they have an Aussie team as well, my pick for an Aussie team occurred around 1993/1994 not exactly sure which but I picked the Panthers which was not long after their premiership win, I have supported them ever since.

Now the weirder ones for me in terms of trying to work out whether I am a glory hunter or not comes in two sports that aren't played to a great degree in New Zealand, American Football and Ice Hockey. For American Football I picked the New York Giants, I only started watching the year after Eli's Rookie season. I picked them during the pre-season and have supported them since, I even have an Away jersey in my closet, that being for Jeremy Shockey, I got that before their go through to the Superbowl last year, does that make me a glory hunter for picking them? For Ice Hockey, I don't follow it as much as I would like, damn you ESPN for not having Ice Hockey on the channel anymore, but I support two teams, New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche, don't know why I support either but I do.

 

[Bozzaholic]

Specific to any sport, it's the act of supporting a team because they're good. See the example of the Surrey based Man Utd fan below.



Why does he support them? Because they're good, that's a fact. The frequent excuse from a glory hunter is along the lines of - ''My dad/grandad used to support them, ''I've supported them all my life''.

Well my dad was from Birmingham, so really I should support the most successful team there, Aston Villa.

The lad above is 17, which (coincidentally) coincides with Man Utd being very dominant around the time he would have picked a team. It's pretty much the same as people slightly older and of a similar age to me supporting Liverpool.

So the question is, should people support their local team no matter how poor they are, or should they support whoever they want?

I think there is a difference between supporting a club and being a fan of a club. When I was young I used to go to my Granddads and all he'd ever be watching would be Liverpool Video's or Liverpool games, All I'd get for xmas from my uncles would be liverpool Merchandise so I was influanced towards them before I gained an interest in sport so as I grew up I only really knew of that team to begin with so naturally become a fan

Along with that I also spent a lot of my youth going to see colchester united games (Local club) and I always have to see their result as well as liverpools result before I turn off final score. The fact that I have spent money on merchandise shows that I support the club and I think that's all that matters - I know that if Liverpool got relegated I'd stick by them (regardless of the amount of stick from my mates) as I think about 80% of Man utd fans would probably stick to utd. Glory fans are about but I think its unfair to tarnish all those that live outside of the clubs locality to be glory supporters

 

[Lee]

Ah glory hunters, the bane of my life. Born and bred in Newcastle, so I support Newcastle, but what about those that live in Gateshead? They support Newcastle,, not Gateshead United. Blyth is just up the road, any Blyth Spartans fans? Not until they got into the 3rd round of the FA cup!

The main thing I want to bring up is the Geordies, often boast as the most loyal fans in the land. Pile of bollocks, we're shit this season but does that affect the ticket sales? YES by about 5 thousand a game, when we go down next season, we'll be looking at 20K crowd, at the most. There's no real loyalty in football.

 

[Bozzaholic]

The closest prem league side we have is West Ham United - A lot of my uncles support them and I like to see them doing well but I'd never go to a hammers game. I have to admit I havn't been to Col Utds new stadium yet but even if I had the money I'd find it hard with everything else going on

which brings me on to something else...

Would you still go an watch Newcastle often if they got relegated but raised their ticket prices?

 

[Lee]

Would you still go an watch Newcastle often if they got relegated but raised their ticket prices?

No, BUT if Newcastle were top of the league for 7 seasons running yet rose their ticket prices, I wouldn't go see them either. I go to very few matches at the moment as it can be quite pricey. If they get relegated next season, and ticket prices drop slightly I will definitely be going to a lot more matches as they're my club through and through.