Glory hunting!

white_star wrote:I think this needs to be discussed!!!

I have an opinion on this so please no insults just thoughts and discussions! Everyone is entitle to their opinion!

If you can relate to the following then they are gloryhunting traits in my eyes. I was brought up this way so respect that!

1. will often choose a big club which is guaranteed of years at the top bracket of clubs

It's perfectly normal for neutral fans or new fans of football to start following the more successfully clubs since these are the clubs that are usually more enjoyable to watch. In other cases, these are the clubs that are marketed the most. The vast majority of fans in the world begun supporting their teams for these reasons.

2. have no connection to the club

Likewise, the majority fans have no connection to their clubs. In any case, I believe this to be the other way around: support then connect.

3. foreign to the country and city of the club

This means nothing. I don't live in London, so that means I can't support Arsenal? Can't see any reasoning behind this.

4. will overuse club mottos (which makes it more evident)

Not particularly relevant.

5. never been to many games (if not any)

Logistically and financially it's just not possible for many.

6. will never go many games ever

Again, not possible to many.

I don't go to many Arsenal game despite living only a couple of hours away from the stadium. The price of the ticket and the travel makes it very difficult, not to mention it's almost impossible for non-member fans like me to even be able to buy a ticket in the first place.

7. will use the excuse of geography to not go to games

It's a damn good excuse since, funnily enough, travelling costs a lot of money and people have better and more important things to spend on than travelling to see a football match.

8. have limited merchandise before the successful years (most likely none)

Success drives sales. It's just how it is.

9. does not know the history, chants or culture of the club

Like with the connection, this is something that's learned.

10. always in the armchair during matchdays

Should I stand up when I watch Arsenal then?

11. uses the talk of tactics and transfers to compensate for the lack of all round knowledge of the club (history and culture of the clubs, attendance of games, lack of knowledge or care factor about the direction of the club off field etc.)

Haven't really seen this.

12. will not be effected by football tragedies as much as locals
13. will often be the most biased towards to compensate for the glory hunter status
14. will show more hate for other clubs to compensate for their glory hunter status

Completely dependant on the type of person, not the type of fan.

15. have a club in their own country, don't have the guts to support them

Location alone isn't enough for fans to support clubs.

16. will never talk about the years before the club started to become successful

This is irrelevant in most discussions about football.

17. at games (if attended) will be the quiet ones who never chant or make a noise

What if they paid a lot of money and travelled many miles to go watch their team? Are they still a glory hunter?

I think you have a very narrow minded view of what constitutes a supporter. A lot of this is just illogical. Imagine this scenario:

You're a new fan looking for a team to support. You decided it'd be best to support your local team. You can afford to see them every game and are willing to sing your heart out during games. You know the team's history and culture inside and out.

It just so happens that your local team is currently the most successful team in the country and are enjoying their best period to date.

Does that make you a glory hunter?

By definition of the phrase, it would.

This is why I believe the label to be stupid and ultimately meaningless. I believe that the only quality you can question supporters on is loyalty. If you are loyal and stick by your team in all situations, then you're a proper fan in my eyes.

My dad and grandfather exposed me to european football from a very young age, Madrid are the club I have always enjoyed watching most. I support the club's philosophy, playing style, transfers (for the most part) and history which I know most of from watching them for such a long time, reading, and re watching old matches.

white_star wrote:

Epoto wrote: just think about the percentage of people that are either supporting Real Madrid & Barcelona and know absolutely nothing or just a little about other teams in the league or La Liga In general

Exactly!!!!!!!!!

Lord hades you can see is fan of Madrdi. Maybe I can somehow see the light with him since he's from India and well their football is not that popular. People like sportcrazy and vandeez look like their from big European countries with big teams so why choose Madrid. Sports is even saying he supports like 5 different teams that is ridiculous in my eyes.

i don't know about those two but i know people who are supporting city Rivals as crazy as it sound , or lets say if you like one team then you want to watch them and by watching them you get to know some information about other teams in Ur league . If you don't know nothing about other teams , that means you are not watching their games Lol

Agreed with OP. those people are exactly what's wrong with modern football which had made the game a business, rather than a sport. They are simply te consumers of the franchise rather than fans of the game.

It doesn't matter why you start 'supporting' a club in my opinion.. What matters is that you stick with the club through thick and thin..

No club out there wins every single year.. How you handle the trophy droughts shows if you are a true supporter or not

I don't see how most of what you posted have to do with glory hunting. I think if you pick a team simply because they're the best, you're a glory hunter. But even that's not so simple. Let's say there's a 15 year old kid in the US right now, started watching football when he was 11. For the last four years, he's been a Barcelona fan; he picked them because he wanted to watch the best football, wanted to be considered a successful supporter, wanted to talk s*** - all glory hunter reasons. Now let's say, four years in, Barcelona has some catastrophe occur and get relegated two times in the next two years, and are now in the third division. This kid, now 17, wakes up at 8 AM on the weekends to watch Barcelona play Real Oviedo, knows all their players, and waits passionately for the days when Barcelona actually gets to play in a Classico again. Is he still a glory hunter?

The idea that attending games or buying merchandise have to do with being a real fan are also difficult for me. Some people don't have the resources to do so - for me, I know I would love an LFC jersey (or even a scarf to put up next to my USMNT one), but I'm a college kid working two jobs to graduate, and don't exactly have expendable income. A flight to England and tickets to a game would cost several hundred dollars beyond that. I picked Liverpool for a very real reason, and started watching their games at the beginning of a major decline, but have never even been to England; I wanted to watch top tier football and not be a New England Revolution fan, simply due to the quality differences of the game. I have never been to a game, and it will be sometime until I can; I own nothing with the LFC insignia on it, not even a piece of printer paper I drew on; I'm not from the country, nor have I even been there; and I have no direct ties to the community, not even for the tragedies - I would never claim to be as affected by Hillsborough as someone actually from Merseyside. Am I a gloryhunter?

If we use your definitions, the term itself becomes meaningless; I wouldn't consider "gloryhunters" as you define them to be worse fans, or even consider the word something bad. It would just be neutral. And it wouldn't even be a description, because it would tell me nothing about the person or their relationship to the team. You're welcome to define it this way if you wish, but it renders the word obsolete, and I can't imagine any context in which I'd feel the need to use it.

GoonerJay29 wrote:

white_star wrote:I think this needs to be discussed!!!

I have an opinion on this so please no insults just thoughts and discussions! Everyone is entitle to their opinion!

If you can relate to the following then they are gloryhunting traits in my eyes. I was brought up this way so respect that!

1. will often choose a big club which is guaranteed of years at the top bracket of clubs

It's perfectly normal for neutral fans or new fans of football to start following the more successfully clubs since these are the clubs that are usually more enjoyable to watch. In other cases, these are the clubs that are marketed the most. The vast majority of fans in the world begun supporting their teams for these reasons.

2. have no connection to the club

Likewise, the majority fans have no connection to their clubs. In any case, I believe this to be the other way around: support then connect.

3. foreign to the country and city of the club

This means nothing. I don't live in London, so that means I can't support Arsenal? Can't see any reasoning behind this.

4. will overuse club mottos (which makes it more evident)

Not particularly relevant.

5. never been to many games (if not any)

Logistically and financially it's just not possible for many.

6. will never go many games ever

Again, not possible to many.

I don't go to many Arsenal game despite living only a couple of hours away from the stadium. The price of the ticket and the travel makes it very difficult, not to mention it's almost impossible for non-member fans like me to even be able to buy a ticket in the first place.

7. will use the excuse of geography to not go to games

It's a damn good excuse since, funnily enough, travelling costs a lot of money and people have better and more important things to spend on than travelling to see a football match.

8. have limited merchandise before the successful years (most likely none)

Success drives sales. It's just how it is.

9. does not know the history, chants or culture of the club

Like with the connection, this is something that's learned.

10. always in the armchair during matchdays

Should I stand up when I watch Arsenal then?

11. uses the talk of tactics and transfers to compensate for the lack of all round knowledge of the club (history and culture of the clubs, attendance of games, lack of knowledge or care factor about the direction of the club off field etc.)

Haven't really seen this.

12. will not be effected by football tragedies as much as locals
13. will often be the most biased towards to compensate for the glory hunter status
14. will show more hate for other clubs to compensate for their glory hunter status

Completely dependant on the type of person, not the type of fan.

15. have a club in their own country, don't have the guts to support them

Location alone isn't enough for fans to support clubs.

16. will never talk about the years before the club started to become successful

This is irrelevant in most discussions about football.

17. at games (if attended) will be the quiet ones who never chant or make a noise

What if they paid a lot of money and travelled many miles to go watch their team? Are they still a glory hunter?

I think you have a very narrow minded view of what constitutes a supporter. A lot of this is just illogical. Imagine this scenario:

You're a new fan looking for a team to support. You decided it'd be best to support your local team. You can afford to see them every game and are willing to sing your heart out during games. You know the team's history and culture inside and out.

It just so happens that your local team is currently the most successful team in the country and are enjoying their best period to date.

Does that make you a glory hunter?

By definition of the phrase, it would.

This is why I believe the label to be stupid and ultimately meaningless. I believe that the only quality you can question supporters on is loyalty. If you are loyal and stick by your team in all situations, then you're a proper fan in my eyes.

Ok very valid point but I don't agree with everything. Fans should wear jerseys or something that relates to their club regardless of how good the team is. By your logic arsenal fans should not buy merchandise becaus they are not successful? You live I Englad and you tell me you can't make it to an Arsenal game? I think you're not passionate enough! Your telling me you can't find a job to buy a ticket to a football game? That says something about you nothing else.

Swagg wrote:It doesn't matter why you start 'supporting' a club in my opinion.. What matters is that you stick with the club through thick and thin..

No club out there wins every single year.. How you handle the trophy droughts shows if you are a true supporter or not

I can agree with that in a way because I guess Somone must start somewhere especially if there is no family influence in a sport. I hope that the true fans will at least support their team no matter the position and will dream of seeing them live. But how can Somone believe it's ok to support two different teams?

I think you're not passionate enough! Your telling me you can't find a job to buy a ticket to a football game? That says something about you nothing else.

Who are you to judge if he is passionate or not ? Not going to the stadium every week doesn't make a person less passionate. That's a very stupid logic. Furthermore, It's easy to sit there and say you should get a job and then buy the tickets for a game. You don't live his life, It might be easy enough for you living in poland doing jack all and going to the match because the ticket is like 5 euros. It's nothing like that in England.

Don't be an Internet warrior and judge other people from a forum.

Arsenal fans should buy merchandise if they want merchandise. My point was that more merchandise sells when a club is more successful because rightly or wrongly success and popularity go hand in hand.

I assure you, I'm a very passionate supporter of Arsenal but it is difficult for me to go see Arsenal play. It's the same for many other supporters, some who live in the country and some who don't.

Getting a ticket at Arsenal is hard, for starters. Members are given priority. Being a member costs money. The tickets themselves are a lot of money. It's a multi-hour car journey or train journey. Petrol and train tickets cost a lot of money.

Now imagine if you have to pay bills and taxes every month and buy food every week. A lot of people simply cannot afford to travel and watch their football team play every week after that. If you've got a job that pays well enough that you can, then good for you. A lot of fans, unfortunately, do not and to be frank, if I have to stretch my resources to go to a football match every week I just wouldn't, because there are more important things to worry about.

RealGunner wrote:

I think you're not passionate enough! Your telling me you can't find a job to buy a ticket to a football game? That says something about you nothing else.

Who are you to judge if he is passionate or not ? Not going to the stadium every week doesn't make a person less passionate. That's a very stupid logic. Furthermore, It's easy to sit there and say you should get a job and then buy the tickets for a game. You don't live his life, It might be easy enough for you living in poland doing jack all and going to the match because the ticket is like 5 euros. It's nothing like that in England.

Don't be an Internet warrior and judge other people from a forum.

Really insults? *bleep* all in Poland? 5 euros? I am sorry but I just logged on to a website an can get a ticket for 78 pounds for the Wigan game. That is a lot of money? It might be idk its nothing to me. I work hard to support my family and my passion for the sport. If watching football from the couch is what you guys prefer I don't care I was just trying to have a discussion do what you will I have more ambitions!

white_star wrote:

Swagg wrote:It doesn't matter why you start 'supporting' a club in my opinion.. What matters is that you stick with the club through thick and thin..

No club out there wins every single year.. How you handle the trophy droughts shows if you are a true supporter or not

I can agree with that in a way because I guess Somone must start somewhere especially if there is no family influence in a sport. I hope that the true fans will at least support their team no matter the position and will dream of seeing them live. But how can Somone believe it's ok to support two different teams?

I don't know how anybody can support more than one team, I do understand supporting one club and liking another club (e.g. you with Dortmund)..

I like to watch certain clubs because of players (e.g. Liverpool because of Gerrard) but I don't care about the clubs on a personal level at all..

Rev wrote:According to you then 85% of the members on GL are glory hunters.

That figure seems about right to me.

Swagg wrote:

white_star wrote:

Swagg wrote:It doesn't matter why you start 'supporting' a club in my opinion.. What matters is that you stick with the club through thick and thin..

No club out there wins every single year.. How you handle the trophy droughts shows if you are a true supporter or not

I can agree with that in a way because I guess Somone must start somewhere especially if there is no family influence in a sport. I hope that the true fans will at least support their team no matter the position and will dream of seeing them live. But how can Somone believe it's ok to support two different teams?

I don't know how anybody can support more than one team, I do understand supporting one club and liking another club (e.g. you with Dortmund)..

I like to watch certain clubs because of players (e.g. Liverpool because of Gerrard) but I don't care about the clubs on a personal level at all..

I don't support Dortmund I like the polish players. I don't know any other word to use. I bleed wisla colors and I have literally bleed for the team!

Abramovich wrote:

Rev wrote:According to you then 85% of the members on GL are glory hunters.

That figure seems about right to me.

Also if you don't have a good reason for supporting a particular club that is successful and that you have no ties too.

Then that is plain and simply glory hunting, personally i don't mind taking flack off proper fans, but when its glory supporters then gtfo.

It's unbelievable that you can't get out of your own skin and even try to understand the world from another person's perspective. I don't want to be too harsh... but again, you're very, very intolerant. You take a very narrow perspective of things, which is ok as long as it works for you. But it's not ok to judge others for not sharing your perspective and address them in an antagonistic manner.

So you can afford to see all the games and buy all the merchandise. Good for you. You should feel fortunate that you are able to do that. A lot of people are not afforded the same opportunities as you regardless of how hard they work.

And the sad part is that you're not alone in terms of thinking like this on GL.

In my case then I should be an MTK Budapest fan. I was born there, my cousin plays for them as a defender, and I lived there until we moved out to Cali, and still go back almost every summer. I don't follow the Hungarian championship because the league is very weak atm and only a few games/teams are watchable.

I've also been to a couple San Jose Earthquakes games, because I work in Silicon Valley literally >20 minutes away from the stadium. I do support the Earthquakes in the MLS. Exciting team to watch especially lately, and back when Donovan was still here.

But other than Hungary NT, nothing comes close to the passion I feel for Arsenal. I started watching and supporting Arsenal when I was about 12-13 and really getting into football. The old days with Kanu, Keown, Overmars, Dixon, Adams etc, then later Pires, Ljungberg, G. Silva, Henry, Bergkamp I loved watching this team and have been following Arsenal since then. Not even for the glory but just blown away at the football I watched, and really admired (and still do) Wenger as a manager. I haven't been to an Arsenal match yet but I plan to do so very soon and have a few of these players' shirts. I have been to London but have no real "ties" to the city itself, even though I liked it a lot.

I'm not alone either and I am perfectly fine with people doing what they want I only get hostile when I am treated with hostility. I will never share your views but this thread was supposed to do I can see other point of views.

I guess it's ok to support someone, since you have an idea that you see in him.. I've always supported players like Gattuso, Gerard, Zanetti, Scholes, Marchisio, Conte ( ) etc. who give their best and work very hard, until their lungs collapse.. The players that made everything, and i mean everything that was in their powers to play.. I never supported Ronaldinho type of player (who couldn't even have a decent weight ) and did tricks over and over.. I think it's the same with clubs, but only if you support them in every condition.. For example, i've supported italy since being a young boy, i always loved the organisation, the desire and the love for teammates, the passion that every player for this NT has, the way they prepared each game.. It's exactly what i do in life, when i work towards a goal i always put my best, my ambition and my brain to achieve it... And that's what italy does... When they lose, i know that they did all they could to win, that's why i love them.. So, i support the team/player it's because i find myself in them, my ideas, my way to act is like them...
It doesn't matter where you are born, you make your own path in life.. You choose your wife, your friends etc.. It doesn't depend on you where you were born

white_star wrote:

RealGunner wrote:

I think you're not passionate enough! Your telling me you can't find a job to buy a ticket to a football game? That says something about you nothing else.

Who are you to judge if he is passionate or not ? Not going to the stadium every week doesn't make a person less passionate. That's a very stupid logic. Furthermore, It's easy to sit there and say you should get a job and then buy the tickets for a game. You don't live his life, It might be easy enough for you living in poland doing jack all and going to the match because the ticket is like 5 euros. It's nothing like that in England.

Don't be an Internet warrior and judge other people from a forum.

Really insults? *bleep* all in Poland? 5 euros? I am sorry but I just logged on to a website an can get a ticket for 78 pounds for the Wigan game. That is a lot of money? It might be idk its nothing to me. I work hard to support my family and my passion for the sport. If watching football from the couch is what you guys prefer I don't care I was just trying to have a discussion do what you will I have more ambitions!

It's not insulting, sorry if it came that way, it's just trying to show you that i don't know anything about Poland and you don't know anything about England.

I can afford 10 Arsenal tickets every week if i want, but i can't go to the games because i have responsibilities which i can't ignore. I go to away games, i do try to go to home games whenever i can but it doesn't make me less passionate if i am not going to the games as there are more important things in life. Also, i don't transform into a cheerleader when i go to the Emirates, I am as passionate as i am at home watching it from the couch as i am travelling away or watching at the Emirates.

Just my 2 cents

vanDEEZ wrote:For me, the most important thing about being a fan or supporting a club is the enjoyment you get from watching a particular club to the point where you fully understand and support the clubs philosophy.

Then you, dear sir, have luck with your club. Watching mine more often than not needs a certain degree of masochism XD

@white star
Would you also call me a glory hunter when I also closely follow FC Basel which are from a foreign country to mine, but obviously they are not exactly successful wherever they go?

Irish_Catalan_Scouser wrote: point 1 basically says what glory hunting is and then you slowly move away from that as you progress through the next 16points.

like point 17......................."at games (if attended) will be the quiet ones who never chant or make a noise"

to me, that has nothing to do with glory hunting.

this

i loled at point 17

im sorry OP i know you want to have some serious discussion, but to achieve that your topic needs to be serious in the first place and with statements like most of these 17 points its really hard lol

anyway there is nothing wrong with gloryhunting from my view unless the specific supporter takes advantage of the situation to put down inferior clubs
cause the way i see it, sport is much more enjoyable when the team you support can bring you joy through success
In many cases people dont have a local team to support, so in order to keep following the sport they'll choose one,
the majority chooses one of the top ones so the bigger part of this planet's football fanbase can be considered 'gloryhunters'

How can anyone argue with the OP ?

How come the number of fans of Arsenal/Milan/Juve/Real/Barca/Bayern etc in here are 10 times more than Newcastle/Parma/Sunderland then ?

Of course foreign fans picked to support the bigger clubs because they have more exposure due to rich history and chance of trophies.

What's wrong with supporting a big team?

Harry Redknapp wrote:How can anyone argue with the OP ?

How come the number of fans of Arsenal/Milan/Juve/Real/Barca/Bayern etc in here are 10 times more than Newcastle/Parma/Sunderland then ?

Of course foreign fans picked to support the bigger clubs because they have more exposure due to rich history and chance of trophies.

You answered your own question, and now I'm confused why you would think that makes them glory hunters. If someone wants to follow top tier football, which they can't get in India/USA/god knows where else, they pick the teams they have more exposure to, which inherently are the more successful teams. That doesn't mean they picked them because they are successful. The fact is, Newcastle doesn't have name recognition overseas because they haven't been as successful, and if someone has no ties to the league (but still want to be a passionate fan), it's unlikely they'll pick someone they've never heard of. There's a difference between saying "ManU just won five straight titles, I want to follow them because they're winners" and saying "ManU is the only team that shows up on my television, I want to follow them because I can see their games." Not sure how the latter is glory hunting.