Is someone who attends every game more of a fan than those who don't? Should fans who only watch on TV be labelled as "plastics"? Sam Boroudjou weighs in on this age-old debate.
The Non-attending Fan
On a recent podcast, Flav, Bardi and T were discussing fan-hood and whether or not it could be measured by attendance at games. This is a common thread of thought throughout the footballing world. It’s often thought, that if you don’t attend games, it’s fair to label you a plastic, or at least, someone who refuses to shell out the cash and time to see the lads play.
The attending supporter is the backbone of any football club, and in a very literal sense, they are what pay the bills and sign the cheques that keep the club afloat. So what do we make of the fan that streams the games, or goes to the pub to watch on those rare and glorious days that Spurs games pop up on Sky Sports?
Well, I am one, and I’d like to give you an insight into my perspective and the perspectives of so many others like me.
[linequote]It’s often thought, that if you don’t attend games, it’s fair to label you a plastic.[/linequote]
My dad was a Turkish immigrant to Tottenham back in the 50’s and he quickly adopted an English name to fit in. If you were a foreign kid growing up in Tottenham at that time you would invite nothing but trouble. He grew up with the double winning side of the 60’s in Tottenham. He was a young man when Villa and Ardiles came to establish the strong and infamous ‘Spurs Argentinian link.’
He moved away from Tottenham in the late 80’s to start a family and as he tells it, he looked upon White Hart Lane one last time as a Tottenham resident, before moving to the soul sucking s**t hole that is Milton Keynes, with a tear in his eye and a cheap fag in his mouth.
Years later, here I am, a product of that passion for our club. But I am miles away. And the last time I got to see Spurs was when we lost 2-1 to Newcastle in the 2014-15 season. The question here is: do I feel the same way about Spurs as a fan that attends every week?
The answer is: how the f**k would I know?
As Flav alluded to in the same podcast, my feelings as a fan are my own. They can’t be quantified or measured by some barometer of fan-hood or money spent. I’m a university student now and if I was going to shell out the money for one Spurs ticket these days I wouldn’t eat for two weeks. Maybe that does make me less of a fan. Maybe I should be going every week, forsaking food and booze and a social life for those glorious 90 minutes in which I get to watch my beloved Tottenham Hotspur play. But I can’t. Mostly because my mum would f***ing kill me.
What I do know is this: at a university filled with Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal fans, I am the only Spurs fan I know, and I am louder than any of them. I’ve been with them to watch their teams and they’ve been with me to watch mine and they shy away in embarrassment as I stand up in the pub and shout and tip my pint and get lairy with the fans of the opposition.
[linequote]Maybe I should be going every week, forsaking food and booze and a social life for those glorious 90 minutes.[/linequote]
I am a Spurs fan. I cried as I child in 2008 when I watched Berbatov slot that penalty away in the final as relaxed as if he was playing a game of Connect 4. I was a moody, intolerable, sad, prick when we lost 5-1 to Newcastle on the final day of last season. And I’ll be an unbearable, intolerable knob to every Arsenal fan I see if we finish above them this season. And the real test of me as a Spurs fan: I said ‘if’ we finish above them, not ‘when.’
I’ve been through every heartbreak a Spurs fan my age could go through, I’ve spent most of my life supporting a bang average or mediocre team with pure love and I’ve earned my dues and stuck through enough to be considered a pure blooded yid. And if I have, then a lot of others like me have too.
Now, this article wasn’t simply to serve a purpose of making me feel great about myself, or giving myself a pat on the back. What it is supposed to do, is let those who do attend every game know, that I’m jealous. If I was near enough, or well-off enough, I would go to every game, home and away. But I’m not and maybe I never will be, but if you want to test my ability and the ability of those like me to love our team: don’t. Because we’d be right there with you cheering in the stands instead of making d**ks of ourselves in pubs, if only we could.
Well… at least most of us would… I think.
All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.
4 Comments
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30/03/2017 @ 11:33 am
My dad was a life long Spurs supporter but moved to Luton to buy a house with a garden, I was born in Luton. I go to games when I can get a ticket and I am on the ST waiting list. I now live in Bedford where I am surrounded by “plastic” Liverpool “fans”, they have no connection with the team except that it was winning things when they were kids, most have never been to Anfield or even within 100 miles of it! They are plastics, you are not.
30/03/2017 @ 1:13 pm
I always think a “plastic” is someone who couldn’t recognise a player outside the first 11, doesn’t know how we did at the weekend and refers to the club as “Tottenham HotspurS”. They turn up when when theres a free ticket and they might watch it on TV if they aren’t at the cinema. You hear plenty of them as season ticket holders even – one sits behind my brother and discusses his holidays for the entire match. Then theres the “armchair fan” – something I consider myself to be. Always watch them on the box – handful of games at the Lane, as and when time and finances allow. Love that club to the core, know the players, the history blah blah blah…… and I accept my place as an “armchair fan” alongside the bastion that is the “supporter”. Every game, home an away, rain and shine, good time and bad, Poch and Gross, Tramezzanni and Rose…. My bruv and my Dad have seen us hammered in the North East and triumphant on the continent.
30/03/2017 @ 1:23 pm
This is great.
I’ve been following Spurs since 1981 and went religiously between 1998 and 2015 while finances allowed. I stopped going after my little boy was born as I wanted to watch him grow rather than lose a day of a precious weekend.
The feeling however is exactly the same. The gut wrenching knot of following a game on the radio/social media or the odd occasion I get to see one never goes away.
If it’s in your blood, it’s in your blood. COYS!
01/04/2017 @ 7:09 pm
Same here. I was born in London, but moved away age 2. My brother supported Spurs, and I got his hand-me-down shirts, posters etc. I was the only Spurs fan at primary school, surrounded by Liverpool fans, who only supported them because they were winning. I listened to every game I could on the radio, or TV when possible – the 4 goals in 4m44s leaving me breathless, screaming at the Gazza ’91 freekick, and more. I was in a rage for weeks at Judas’ lies and promises before signing for Woolwich. I stream pretty much EVERY game live all season, whilst chatting with other fans on twitter. I remember the awfulness of having Dean Austin & Justin Edinburgh as our FB pairing with fondness, and relief at how far we’ve come. Gary Mabbutt is my all-time Spurs hero, even JUUUUST about edging Ledley. He was an insulin dependent diabetic who had to inject himself at half-time FFS!
There’s absolutely sod all chance of me being able to afford the train fares to WHL, even before the ticket – and it seems virtually impossible to go as a one-off these days anyway. But do I consider myself a fan? Fuck yeah.