Now, if you’re able to support a local team, I think you should do so. That doesn’t mean you cannot also support a big team, but I personally think cultivating local talent and a local league is obviously extremely important.

however, in some places- like the US, Australia, Russia, or any other large country, supporting your local isn’t just a given.

for example, i have a family member who lives in some backwoods ass town in the American midwest. The closest team to them is over 6 hours away for a home game, and they play teams even further away than that. and in addition to that, the team was established in 2020- years after they began supporting a European team (dortmund)

so, what would you say to this person? that they have to stop supporting the team they’ve supported since they were 9 and support a team that they rarely can get tickets to, let alone make the long commute for a home game?

telling people who are not European to ‘support your local’ is showcasing european football culture’s entitlement. that is simply not a possibility for some, and often local teams are created long after they had a favorite European team.

i don’t think it’s intentional— of course not. English people are always shocked to hear of a 6 hour commute to the home stadium, because their football infrastructure is so much better than in the US and many other countries.

i understand why people say it, and i agree with the fundamental idea: without those small teams, there would be no football. but criticizing foreigners for supporting a european team is not how you achieve that.

  • iMadrid11@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    In America your local professional sports team can move to a new city. If the new city builds them a new stadium for free.

    So the closest thing Americans have to supporting a local team. Is their high school or college team. Since those schools aren’t moving anywhere. They also won’t get promoted or relegated to a division.

  • ThorIsMighty@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Ignore those people that claim you’re not a fan if you’re not local. They literally have nothing else going for them, it’s the only thing they have to hold on to that allows them some sense of superiority. These people are never particularly intelligent. Support who you want, if anyone wants to cry about it, let them get on with it.

  • Pryapuss@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Support who you want. Don’t pretend you’re the same kinda fan who has grown up supporting a team

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    1·
    11 months ago

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  • caesarionn@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    You can support whichever team you want. I don’t believe that supporting a foreign team makes you a plastic.

    However it’s ironic that sometimes, you’ll see fans who support big teams, who obviously aren’t local to said team, accuse others of being plastic or question somebody else’s status as a fan.

    Only in response to those kinds of people is when I bring up locality, because it’s ridiculous that some knobhead who doesn’t live anywhere near the Big 6 club they support, can accuse me of being a plastic for supporting Chelsea, which is actually local to me.