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Friday, August 19, 2011

Chp 361. Football Fans Mentality and Fans Rivalry

Ah! The new EPL season has started! Time to start blogging about Arsenal games again, lolz. However, this is not one of those posts. I just want to say something I’ve been observing for a very long time now.

This is probably the first time I’m writing a football post and not thrashing Manure Manchester United. In fact, this is definitely the first time I’m going to write something positive about ManUtd fans here on my blog.

Shocked? Surprised? No you’re not dreaming, and no, my blogger account has not been hacked.

Being a hardcore Gunners fan here in India, things may be a bit different from the Gooners in UK, especially those in London. Over there, Arsenal’s main nemesis in terms of fan rivalry are definitely Spurs and there is a long history of enmity and bad blood between the two groups.

However, here in India, our main rivals are ManUtd fans. For the love of Lucifer, we hate each other like Hell. We’re like fire and ice, locked in a steel cage with rabid dogs chained at all four corners.

Even when it comes to other top rivals like Chelsea, Liverpool etc, if ManUtd is playing against such teams, we always support the other team. I’ve been supporting Arsenal for around 15 years now, and all these years, all I ever see is how much Arsenal and ManUtd fans hate each other.

I’m a member of AMSC (Arsenal Mumbai Supporters Club) which is an OFFICIALLY recognized fan club of Arsenal FC. And I won’t be wrong to state that the most hated club and fan of every AMSC member is definitely ManUtd.

I still remember that fateful night last year when we went for the Carling Cup final screening (and lost), where almost 150 Gooners turned up. Before the match started, there was an ad about an upcoming match promotion. At first Chelsea players appeared on the screen. Immediately everybody started booing and screaming “F*ck you Chelseaaaa”… and then the opponents appeared. It was ManUtd! Suddenly everybody started screaming, “Comonnn Chelseaaa!! We love you Chelsea!!!” Lolzzz.



Some of my Mizo Gooner friends have also formed the Arsenal Mizoram Supporters Club and have currently petitioned to Arsenal FC for an official recognition. They boast of a strong membership support of around 100 members in Mizoram alone, and I sincerely hope they do get the official recognition from Arsenal FC very soon.

Even among them, mention ManUtd and it will probably mean war. That’s how much bad blood there is between the two fans.

Now what I want to say in this post is – yes, when there is team rivalry, there is bound to be fan rivalry. We all swear by our teams. But one thing I have noticed many Gooners call ManUtd fans is “Glory Chasers”.

“Glory chaser” here is actually a negative term which means that a person will do anything to be in a winning team (as a fan) without even having any real spirit or passion about the game. Such people don’t even understand the game sometimes, and may not even know what is happening in the football world but act like a hardcore ManUtd fan just because the team is winning and he/she thinks people regard them as hip for this.

Now, football banter is nothing new. In fact, that’s a part of football. I will definitely gloat in front of my ManUtd friends and irritate them the entire day if Arsenal beat ManUtd. Likewise they too will do the same to me if Arsenal loses to ManUtd. Again, all that is normal and I am ok with it.

But what pisses me off is when people who are not even crazy about the game act as if they are suddenly a hardcore ManUtd fan and start annoying Arsenal fans. And this holds true for any football fan, irrespective of whether the person they're annoying is a fan of Arsenal, Liverpool, Bolton, Fulham etc.

Arguing with a hardcore fan of a rival team can often be heated, but at least it makes sense as we both know our shit – we know our players, our team, our history and our game. But arguing with a wannabe fan is perhaps the most frustrating and painful ordeal in this world. After Arsenal went trophyless for the sixth consecutive time last season, this irritating little fuck of a self acclaimed ManUtd fan came up to me and said

“Haha… So you just went six consecutive years without a trophy since the last time you won a cup!”

He probably read that in the papers or internet. I don’t know why I even bothered to reply, but I said nonchalantly –

“Do you know there were times when you went more than 30 years without any trophy?”

Any hardcore ManUtd fan would say stuff like, "That is old history while this is recent history", or some shit like that and argue about how Arsenal too had gone many years without any trophy before… But nooo this little wannabe prick of a ManUtd fan had the audacity to reply –

“Haha don’t lie okay. Manchester United has been winning almost every year since they were formed. Don’t spread dirty lies just to make yourself feel better. Look at how strong we are - we have Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs…”

Arrrghhhh… Ronaldo!!??? Thank God he didn’t say Beckham. I really really really wanted to slam dunk my monitor onto his puny head right then and tear through his guts and brains with my bare hands. That’s what you get for arguing with a wannabe fan who will probably have no idea who most of the starting 11 of ManUtd are or what an offside means, and yet goes around acting like a hardcore fan. Fucking poser.

And this is exactly one of the main reasons why Gooners hate ManUtd fans so much. Too many posers and wannabes

But at the same time, it would be wrong to say they are all posers. I have many genuine ManUtd friends, and the fights I have with them are the ones I enjoy the most, no matter how fierce it may get, because at the end of the day, we all share one thing in common – LOVE FOR THE GAME.

The reason why ManUtd has so many poser fans is because of their recent success in the past few years. Everybody wants to be in the “in” crowd. If Arsenal has been successful the past few years, I’m sure even we will have a lot of poser fans too. Thank God for that.

And that is exactly why a part of me is not that disappointed about not winning anything, at least from a fan’s perspective. Because if I see another Arsenal fan, then we know immediately that both of us are hardcore fans because at this stage, no poser would wanna be an Arsenal fan. They go only for the glory. Hence, this is like a filtering mechanism, and for the love of God, I am thoroughly enjoying this.

In a strange way, it makes me bond deeper with other Gooners because we are all true fans.

I’m ending this post with my first ever 9gag style comic strip using popular face memes (Me gusta, forever alone, etc). If you frequent 9gag.com or reddit boards, you will understand the facial expressions I’ve used here. Even if you don’t, I think you’ll still find it funny :)



Friday Cheers!

17 comments:

Zama said...

lol ..manure fan nen hian football pangngai tak sawi a har khawp mai in ka hria,...arsenal te chuan leaque in lak lohna pawh la rei hlei nem..think about us liverpool fans lolzzz..to them we are pathetic losers..mention not the past to a manure fan obiKIMAnobi.

Zama said...

Fonz in the hizzle.

Anonymous said...

Football ka hmangaih a, fans ruh-over ten an ti hmelhem thin hi ka hua :-) Footbal hi club aiin ka ngaina bawk :-))

Mizohican said...

@ Seki: Hahaaa... :P Football en chu a nuam a, mahse tan neih bik si loh chuan a ho deuh lo maw? :D

@ Fonz: True true :) And like I said, I am not generalizing all ManUtd fans this way. I am just pointing out the posers.

Nirav said...

Hah good one. You know what's more irritating than a wannabe ManU fan? A wannabe Chelsea fan and a wannabe City fan (yes few do exist!). These are glory hunters, who also crave to be different! All they know. About their respective clubs is Drogba and Tevez!

And ya - thanks for reopening the carling cup final wounds! Las thing I needed given the way the summer is going :)

Tsa Khupchong said...

Arsenal bleh...bleh...thuiiii..

mangbuhril said...

interesting read....but the team to watch out for is Chelsea; and Man U have a way of winning match by fluke or sheer luck. The moment Arsenal maintains the level of consistency throughout the season, they're gonna win silverware, but it's a sad sad thing to see those wares slipping away from their hands at the end of the season :)

H.Vangchhia said...

Nih duh hmel!

Mizohican said...

@ Nirav: haha... by the way did you get my invitation to renew for AMSC membership this year? There will be many such screenings again this year too :)

@ TSA: bleh bleehhhh :P

@ Mang: Yup, thats whats been happening every year, but this year, its going to be different :D

@ H.Vangchhia: hehehe :D

reverie said...

This makes a really interesting read. The passion is hard to miss, though I feel a little sorry for you for getting stuck with Arsenal and Prof. Arsene. Great philosophy, great football - excellent if you want to run an academy but one needs to win too. Cesc's gone, Clichy's gone, where's Nasry?

Rascal Crowe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rascal Crowe said...

The sad part is we might have to take solace in NOT having these fairweather fans at the end of this season yet again :( . Oh to be a gooner!
P.S. For you Manure fans, he just used you as an example, nothing to moan about. Of course it did help that you just fit the bill hah!

Jerusha said...

:P tih hi a tawk hmeichhe tan chuan sawi thui tur tam lo e mai

Krista Roluahpuia said...

I have reason why i HATE Man U its because I am the Gunner....

I want this thing the same in UK....hahaha.

VaiVa said...

A ho. Liverpool in hneh loh kha :P

Ronson said...

ARSENAL 0-2 LIVERPOOL....kha kha nimai

Arwin said...

Hahaha this was very funny!