The Non-attending Fan

[palmers_green_yid]

Look, we're all Tottenham, end of...just that we all have different experiences of supporting the club. No one is saying you're not worthy if you can't get to games.

Now must rush, I'm off to Burnley unlike all you plastics...

 

[Biff]

For me you become a "supporter" rather than a "fan" when it all becomes a bit of a chore but you stick with it. Honestly there have been games I've been to where I would have perhaps preferred not to. Meaningless Sunday matches when it's cold and the trains are shit and the atmosphere is dead. Early cup rounds against lower league opposition etc. But I stick with it, almost as a duty.

Many people will say flippantly that they would go to every game if they could afford it but would they really?

 

[paddy spur]

I grew up as a kid in North London when all you had to do was turn up and you'd get in. Then got a season ticket in the 90s when it was easy to get. It's easy for me to keep going. Now it's a drug I can't really give up.

For the younger people behind me it's not the case. Money, geography and scarcity are against them. That's why I'd never demean follow spurs fans whose access to the live match is very much restricted.

ArcspacE of course is the big exception it's unforgivable that he is living in south Africa and can't be bothered to visit.

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

Guido 🇺🇦

Agreed. I have several mates who have the full Sky/BT packages but complain they can't afford to attend games.

It is an excuse. In a nutshell they can't be bothered to make the effort.

For me there is nothing on earth that comes close to replacing a live football match, even a shit one! I still love everything about it. It is my theatre, my cinema, my fancy restaurant, my concert, my golf club membership. All these things at various times in my life I have dropped with no problem in order that I can afford to go to football.

 

[clevelandspur]

Being a fan from overseas it is a bit tricky. I would love to go to 30-40 matches a year but alas that is impossible and even if I lived in London not sure with family and money if that would be realistic. I live and die with every match and have been a supporter for over 20 years so hardly in the new found glory hunter crop.

However, that being said I cannot put myself on the same level has someone that has grown up in the area and has deep family roots and goes to several matches a season. It's just not the same. It doesn't make me any less of a yid but also not going to grandstand and say I am on the same level as those from the area.

 

[SouthStand Billy]

Just to clarify - I wasn't just talking about attending matches. If you buy a shirt or any official merchandise, you're supporting the club in your own way.

I also believe you are a fan if you beat up a Woolwich/West Ham/Chelsea fan..

That costs fuck all but the enjoyment is nearly as good as being at a game.

 

[Achilles]

But mind if you have supported them over the last twenty years or so,you've given them more than they've given you! Even if it is only a keyring from the shop.

Being in the US and not having the disposable income to bring the family on a trip to London, I haven't been able to attend a game. Assuming all things line up I will be going to the Roma game this summer which, even though it is only a pre-season match, will be great. I have a drawer full of Spurs t-shirts, a Spurs keyring, a couple of the UA training pullovers, my 3 youngest and I all have player shirts and I even was lucky enough to win one of the auctions for the Get Well Soon Ryan warmup shirts worn before the Wycombe game signed by the team. So yes I have "given" money to the team.

I can not however agree that the team has not given me anything.

One upside of living in the US is the fact that every game is available to watch on TV. Following Spurs has given me the entire range of emotions; joy, happiness, sadness, frustration... but it also allows me to spend time with and bond with my daughters over something we both love.

 

[Mrs Perryman]

You know in your heart whether you're a true supporter or not. The first thing that people find out about me is that I'm a Spurs supporter, it's as much part of me as my nationality and my faith, that's how deep it goes for me. I've always said that if I loved my exes as much as I love Spurs, they wouldn't be exes! I've paid my dues going to Sunderland mid week, etc, back in the day. I don't go to away games now, apart from the odd one or two, but I haven't missed many at home since the early 80s (apart from a couple of seasons break due to budget restrictions). However, it's not the amount of games you go to/see that qualify you as a real fan, it's the emotion that you feel after a game that does that. When you feel nothing, that's when you know that you're done.

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

If you are still at University and you think you have been supporting a "bang average mediocre team" then fuck me I feel sorry for you. To put that into perspective the period you speak of is our most constant for the past 30yrs! Yes, we have "only" won 2 trophies in this time, but fuck me.
:avbfacepalm:

I do however get pissed off with glory hunters, fans that only want to watch a winning side, I've given up applying for away games now as the points required I don't have. This has only been the case for the past couple of years, odd it coincides with our best performances. Another thing that pisses me off is those that pay (+)£1,000 per year for a BT/Sky subscription but then sight reason for not going to games a it costs too much, cancel the fucking subscription then!!!

I don't disagree with the sentiment in the article too much though. A real test of support however will be when we are at Wembley and New Stadium, if games are priced correctly and there are still empty seats then I will be at the front of the queue calling out sections. So there.

 

[LondonLilywhites]

I love Spurs with all my heart. Worked my ass off and saved up all my money and am studying abroad in London for the term because I know this will be the only time in my life I will be able to go to games. Haven't missed one game since I've been here and have no regrets. Made great friends with ST holders, experienced great away days and even endured the dogshit that is Thomas Cook trains.

Could care less to travel Europe or see and do other things. Once Monday hits the only thing on my mind is the upcoming match and finding a spare ticket. If ever presented the opportunity to work/live in the area I would do it in a heartbeat.

Additionally hats off to everyone who attended the FA youth cup beatdown at Chelsea while receiving no loyalty points, not only shows how passionate you are about the club but how much you love the game itself.

 

[Joe Clash]

I think its very cruel to say not attending a match doesnt make you a true fan, especially in recent years where the working man has been priced out of getting tickets, also add on top the small capacity of WHL, which far exceeds our fanbase, meaning it is impossible for every true Spurs fan to get a ticket

I don't think anyone's saying that mate.

 

[Bazali]

It's sticking with your club during periods when their performances are shite like I did when we had Graham and Gross

Sitting on the train looking forward to meeting up with mates in The Elbow Room rather than the game but still going!

 

[Nutter-Naylor]

I love the fact that Spurs have a global fan base and i do regard those fans as Yids.

But for the majority of them it is a trendy (fairly recent) hobby, for most of us it has been a lifestyle choice for years/decades.

 

[SouthStand Billy]

I wouldn't say they were less of a fan, the only thing that winds me up is people who don't go but moan at the atmosphere and say the fans were shit..

 

[Mockers]

To me the definition of whether your a "real" fan or not is more of an internal thing than something that can be measured by how often you attend live games.

Unless u live reasonably close to the ground circumstance dictates how often you can physically be there.

Personally I make it to a handful of games each season (mix of home and away) and if I lived closer I'd certainly go to more.

If I was labelled a plastic fan I'd take real offence. I watch every second of every game every season whether it's Live, on a Stream or On the TV. There isn't a single day that passes that Spurs doesn't take up a portion of it. Be it checking player interviews, post match and pre match analysis or build up, listening to any Spurs podcast I can find (even the shit ones), discussing various topics in here and with mates etc etc.

Spurs are a massive part of my life and routine and have been for the past 25 odd years.

My definition of "true" or "plastic" is as follows:

True: You genuinely care and are effected both positively and negatively about everything Spurs. You eat sleep and drink it in whatever way ur circumstances allow.

Plastic: You watch Spurs when it's convenient. Ur not that fussed or effect if we lose. You're only interested when we're playing well.

 

[Norwegian_Yid]

From Norway that is a phenomenal record! I know you came and lived here for a time, but if I remember correctly that was partly Spurs motivated, and you lived in Tottenham too...to me that makes you a local lad.

Partly Spurs motivated? That's an understatement I moved to Tottenham when I was 18. Didn't have a job or a place to live, but what I did have was a home and away season ticket. Best years of my life, made several new friends on pretty much every single matchday.

Now I'm married with a little baby and live back in Oslo. Life circumstances change and it affects the opportunity to attend matches, but the passion for Spurs remains. I'm sure it's like that for a lot of people who can't go every week.

And also to be fair, some of the people who do attend games every week looks like they're bored shitless.

 

[Belgian Spur]

I once wrote an article for TFC on the same topic, as i am for most of the times an armchair fan. Living abroad plays a role, the budget plays a role but also the prioritization in your life plays a huge part. And you could argue that the fact that you have other priorities over going to see Spurs is a measure of how much of a fan you are.
If you analyse this argument it's bollocks because you compare people with different backgrounds, families, income etc purely on one simple metric : do you attend yes or no. But the fact that you put Spurs in front of everything else does however indicate how much you are willing to endure and invest in your relationship with that football love of your life.

Live games are better then televised ones, no doubt about it, the experience is better, the feeling of belonging and uniting is a lot more present etc. However, analyzing games and performances is a lot easier and more objective from behind the screens. As you can scrap the influence of the people and atmosphere around you.

 

[Nutter-Naylor]

Thing is, i am not trying to belittle other fans in the slightest.

In the (hopefully) not too distant future when i retire/semi-retire i am probably going to move west (Devon?) & will obviously not get to attend anything like the amount of games i do now (i'm thinking 5 homes/1 or 2 aways area).

Will i still LOVE the club & be Spurs to the bone? Most definitely. Will i be as good of a supporter as i once was & as thousands of other will remain? Absolutely not.

 

[GazzasLeftNut]

Guido 🇺🇦

Agreed. I have several mates who have the full Sky/BT packages but complain they can't afford to attend games.

It is an excuse. In a nutshell they can't be bothered to make the effort.

Gotta chuck in the fact they most likely have a family as well. Can't just have Sky for yourself if you have a mrs and kids. "By the way my lovely family, we are getting Sky, it will only have sports though so fuck you lot"

 

[palmers_green_yid]

So should I weigh in? if you support two teams...

I honestly don't care as long as the ones who go to the game are alright. It must be different for those, who like me, grew up around the area. Everyone was either Woolwich or spurs. There must be a different connection. I am being diplomatic not saying it is better just different.

I think you're right.

When I was a kid and only went two or three times a year, I was so excited by those games even if they were the shittest games imaginable (end of season games when we're already definitely finishing 10th, early rounds of the league cup etc). Now I would go out of belonging and duty to those games but with only a fraction of that initial buzz.

It does change when it becomes a constant part of your life. Not saying fans that don't go aren't fans, but it's not the same. Some of the feelings we go through are all the same but some are different. I think the more you go the more of an attachment there is to the club. It's like a relationship, as you get older and grow together, in some ways it becomes less exciting but the bond gets stronger.

I think growing up in the area, living there, or having roots there, changes the nature of the attachment as well. That's why I could never understand people who wanted us to go to Stratford but if you don't have ties to the area then you might feel differently about that kind of thing. Having said that there are people from miles away who still regard Tottenham as a spiritual home and would always support the area not just the team.

As for the money yes it's a lot if you're hard up, but look how much cigarettes, takeaways, restaurants, alcohol, drugs, clothes, going out, holidays etc cost. A lot of people who watch Spurs cut down on other things. The far flung trips are expensive but for me they often act as holidays as well. Luckily my wife likes travelling to the likes of Azerbaijan.

For me I've found my level which is pretty much all the weekend domestic games, plus one European trip a season, maybe two if we go far. For some that's a massive commitment but it's only a fraction of the commitment made by others. When I've gone more than this I felt as though I was giving more than I was getting, it wasn't a good feeling so I cut back, it's nice not to wake up for work feeling knackered because you went to Sunderland the night before. Let alone travelling to Australia for friendlies etc. At the same time I don't know what I would do on a Saturday/Sunday if it wasn't for football.