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Growing up in Glasgow on the west coast of Scotland, it's almost mandatory that you 'support' a team from about half an hour after your born!!
The team you support denotes which religion you are too - Don't ask, it's all macho BS and a long, long story. Needless to say, I was never a football fan (thats soccer to you Americans), and so I stood out as the weird kid. Others would ask me, "Are you a Billy or a Dan?" and I would reply, "Eh?"
I never, ever got 'into' football/ soccer and still have the same view on it today. Even American football, (Rugby, with padding, in the UK), holds no interest for me. I'm not the sporty type all that much really and I doubt I will ever 'support' a team at all. The fascination of going to a game was strange to me and I had never even been inside a stadium before. However, I began a job as a sceurity guard for a while and, would you believe it, one of the jobs was to go and collect the takings from the gates at the stadiums - on match days too!
One time we went along and the money had not been counted up yet, (you have no idea how long it takes to count 6000 UK pounds in small change), so we were invited to go and stand at the end of the tunnel next to the cops and watch the game until the money was ready.
Walking down that tunnel and emerging into that stadium, (Ibrox in Glasgow), was like walking into another world. The place was packed to capacity and it seemed to me like the population of the city had turned out for this one match. The cops were shoulder to shoulder all the way around, making it seem like there was a neon yellow fence bordering the pitch. When one of the teams scored a goal, the collective "Yesssssssssssss's" and shout that went up from the crowd was so loud that it almost lifted me off my feet!
It might have been Ibrox but i think I'd just heard the infamous "Hampden roar". I was more fascinated with the crowd than the game. Here was I, standing at the end of the players tunnel, next to the pitch, in the middle of an "Old Firm" game and I was watching the crowd instead of the game. There were maybe about 20, 000 people in that crowd who would have killed, (literally) to swap places with me but I was completely under-whelmed by the whole thing.
When the money was ready we loaded it into the van and I had to sit in the back with it, while the driver went back inside to sign the paperwork. It was at that point that the game ended and the fans spilled out into the street. As was their want at that time, they decided to have a go at the cops who just happened to be mounted on horses sitting behind my van. Imagine what I was thinking as I watched a crowd of baying, half-drunk, pee'd-off fans rushing towards me, intent on a fight with mounted police - and me stuck in the middle!
Suffice to say, I survived and we got out of there sharpish. I've never been to a soccer match since and that experience did nothing to make me any more of a 'supporter'. It's the same with american "football", which I've seen several timkes since I moved to the States. Apart from the obvious 'padding' and mistaking "fitba' " for Rugby, it's all the same - grown men being overpaid for chasing a rubber ball around.
I guess I'll stick to playing Tiddlywinks!! :p
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Posted by scotslad60 on 2007-11-21 12:30:57 | Rating: | Views: 105
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hi scots!
i saw the aftermath of a siena-catania matchup on my return to siena one morning - trashbins overturned, phone boxes smashed, windows likewise. frightening really - i heard that the night before (while i was travelling) there had been 'hoardes' of opposing fans ('tifosi' in italy) circulating in the town looking for a scrap...
i find the whole thing an interesting social experiment though....
nicely done...
:o)
cheers!
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Posted by badlydrawnstickman
on 2007-11-21 13:03:37
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My roots make me no closer to the 'Beautiful Game' than you, ScB.
In public I 'need' to support Newcastle - but only to save my scalp in a busy pub!
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Posted by Triforium
on 2007-11-21 14:02:20
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Nice 'social experiemnt' BDS. Why do we pay the participants so much though? lol
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Posted by scotslad60
on 2007-11-22 06:32:42
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If I ever get asked now Trif, I just say I support one of the less well known Glasgow teams (Usually Partick Thistle aka the Jags). I'm still the same as I've always been though.
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Posted by scotslad60
on 2007-11-22 06:34:07
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Dunno about the hotter smarter part, iwant, but I guess they do wear shorter shorts. lol Thanks for the comment.
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Posted by scotslad60
on 2007-11-22 06:34:51
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