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Can You Ever Stop Being a Spurs Fan?

Could you really stop supporting Spurs?


  • Total voters
    166

Thesoccershrink

Active Member
Nov 17, 2004
740
62
Yesterday, there was a post from greaves4fr expressing complete frustration with our chairman, which led him to decide to stop supporting Spurs. But can you ever stop supporting Spurs? I mean can you really stop? Not sneak a peak at the scores, or the table or wonder what your former buddies at WHL and on this forum are doing? OK, so if you're twelve years old and decide another team is cooler and sexier, I guess you can switch allegiance. But what if you have 20, 30, 40 or 50 years invested in following one team. Can you really give it up?


First, supporting a team is part of your identity. Not only have you expended an extraordinary amount of your time, effort and money in following Spurs, you have done so very publicly -- the flag on your car, the banner outside your house, the T-shirts, not to mention your social circle, the members of which are either staunchly aligned in the same brotherhood or against you.


Second, your history is inextricably interconnected with the club (and 'club' is an important concept here). You remember vividly where you were when we were relegated, promoted, won the cup, when Harry joined, when Harry left. The magical moments -- and the really terrible ones -- are stored in your memory with a vividness that is unmatched by pretty much anything else in your life. (There's a scientific reason for this to do with the role of emotion in memory storage and consolidation, but that's beyond the scope of this article.)


Third, supporting a soccer team, like marriage, is a test of your character. Yes, it would be great if life were stress-free and you won all the time, but it isn't and you can't. There are ups and downs, highs and low and to expect otherwise is to believe in Superman and the Tooth Fairy (whom, my ITK tells me, has just signed a deal with Luis Suarez). We know that life is like that and in many ways it is our endurance and our commitment that is the most important part of being a supporter. We show up in the rain, snow, ice, -- even at the sports bar or living room couch, always with hope, sometimes with anxiety, but unfailingly with passion. It's a total commitment unlike any other. It's about as unconditional as a commitment can get. Chairmen come and go, players arrive and leave, results fluctuate. But you're still there.


I would argue it's easier to change religion and get divorced than it is to give up supporting the team that has been so meaningful to you.


I have spent a career observing people struggle to change the things in their lives that are really killing them, where there's no logical reason to continue with their actions, indeed where there are immediate compelling reasons why they should give them up -- and they still can't do it. Can you really deny your past? It would take something really dramatic and life-changing to even have a chance -- something like a sex change, disowning your family, or joining the federal witness protection program.


Giving up supporting Spurs (or any other team) is giving up. Giving up hope, commitment, and passion. Sure, we all get frustrated and think that the easiest way to end the pain is to simply stop. But your frustration is directly proportional to your passion. Giving up is to say you don't want to be so committed because it can be too painful. But what do you have if you don't have passion, hope and commitment? So, when you think of quitting, remember, this isn't about Spurs, it's about you.


And as a fan you should keep one thing in mind:


It's not what Spurs have given you, it's what you have given Spurs.


Can you really stop?
 

TheChosenOne

A dislike or neg rep = fat fingers
Dec 13, 2005
47,874
49,706
Anyone who changes his affiliation with ANY club is a naughty person.

Duplicitous glory hunters begad
 

stonecolddeanaustin

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2011
1,623
2,598
Not really. Although, I can see me stopping being a football fan with the way the game is going but even then I'd still have some kind of affiliation towards spurs.
 

$hoguN

Well-Known Member
Jul 25, 2005
26,626
34,700
No you can't stop loving Spurs. Well at least I can't, it is in my blood. However, it can be ruined for you and become almost a heartache to check like last season with that dipshit Sherwood in charge.
 

MyNameIsNicolaBerti

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2013
2,035
3,834
No. It has become part of who I am. Supporting another side just wouldn't feel sincere and I don't understand people who switch.
 

Amo

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2013
15,795
31,480
I used to support Man Utd as a kiddo. Only because they were the first team I saw on TV (the match against Mourinho's Porto).

It was only when Tottenham became my local club, that I began to slowly develop strong feelings towards it.

Now, I honestly find Utd games boring. And Spurs are my everything (in terms of football). I almost cried when I saw Sandro say "COYRS."

The only thing that would make me quit this club is something that is morally dubious, or a takeover by a oppressive state and the likes. I just could not support a team owned by Qatar, or any of the emirates for that matter. That's even if they don't buy us the league. If Enic suddenly went full Shiekh on us, I think I'd lose interest very quickly too.

That's me.
 

USAYID

Well-Known Member
Aug 11, 2008
395
466
Short answer - NO. Even if the frustration is warranted, why let one person, or a board, or even a manager/head coach affect your affection for the club you've supported since you've known what football was? I was even thinking yesterday that with Dawson and Sandro now gone, there really isn't a player at the club that I can say is Spurs through and through, and for the most part I view them as mercenaries who will jump ship for a better opportunity, or more money (and I'm not blaming them, at least not here and now). Even with that, I still love Spurs, and the club will be here even when all current players, managers, coaches and owners are gone. It's the club I love, not the individual parts of it.
 

chinaman

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2003
17,974
12,423
Can't see myself giving up on Spurs after 54 years. At 67, would like to see Spurs return to glory before I bite the dust.
 

sweyid

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2011
2,963
3,854
I can see my self stop following football, but not stop following Spurs. It's for life, simple as.
 

Kiedis

Well-Known Member
Aug 4, 2013
2,926
8,490
Haha, never. It's kind of a curse this.

Been a supporter since I started following football as an 11-year old after the world cup in 94 (hey, it's my 20th anniversary!).

We had just bought Klinsmann, and started the season brightly with Anderton, Barmby and company firing on all sylinders. Little did I know that falling in love with that team would lead to quite a few ups and downs.

But the love remains the same.
 

guiltyparty

Well-Known Member
Sep 21, 2005
9,023
13,524
No

I can totally imagine a time when I didn't watch football, I'm growing increasingly tired of it as a commercial construct and imagine in a few decades I will lose my patience for it as my old man has, but I'd always look out for Spurs' results
 

Spurger King

can't smile without glue
Jul 22, 2008
43,881
95,147
of course you can. Life's priorities can change. Events can cause people to become indifferent to it all. Things change. Sports change. Time can become more precious, and the investment in following a club more questionable.

There is something remarkable about being able to share so many highs and lows with strangers, and it's easy to get on a high horse when others decide the journey is not for them...but for some it's akin to watching a loved one wither away.

I would never stop supporting this club (even if the passion is at an all time low), but I won't judge those who give up on the club for a little while or for good. Football at the highest level is little more than a billionaire plaything these days, and there is a point where all of us will stop and wonder whether it's worth the emotion we pour into it. The reasons people make for their decision at such a crossroad is theirs alone.
 

jondesouza

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2004
2,842
1,558
Can't stop supporting Spurs but I have started going to and enjoying local non-league football.

I really miss certain things about being a Spurs fan - turning up on the day and paying on the turnstiles to stand on the Paxton; the fans being on players' backs less (probably due to lower expectations); the players themselves, many of whom had links to the area and/or came through the youth ranks somehow seeming more like normal people. All in all, I feel as if football has lost much of its soul and really is more like a business now - and who wants to have an emotional attachment to a business? It'd be like going to Google's headquarters and cheering on some bloke at a desk doing some good programming.

Obviously, the quality of the football is far better now (generally and at Spurs) but I think I'd really struggle to say whether I'd rather we came 4th with a team full of international players or 8th with a team with a number of Academy players. In all honesty, probably the latter,
 

avonspurs

MoPo's lover
Apr 28, 2006
4,072
4,100
of course you can. Indeed I'm off to support Man Utd - any club that spends £20m+ (wages/fee) on a loan player is the club for me.
 

Block D Spurs

Active Member
Sep 2, 2014
319
234
No I could never stop supporting spurs. Anyway, have been a fan since 10 yrs old.. too late to change now...
 

slartibartfast

Grunge baby forever
Oct 21, 2012
18,320
33,955
Changing teams is pathetic and imo makes you a total arsehole. It also speaks volumes about you as a person unless as was said, you're a kid or you stop supporting someone to follow us (y)
Seriously though, I think you can never stop following a club and being a fan but thats different to being a supporter.
I paid over £40 for my ticket on Sunday. I have a 5hr round trip which cost me just over £30 in fuel. I bought a match programme plus food so a very expensive 90min.
I pay through the nose for Sky TV and BT sport plus make huge donations towards this site :whistle: all because of my love for the club.
The way things have been going since imo the fucking ridiculous decision to sack Redknapp I have been left asking myself, am I actually enjoying this anymore? Unfortunately lately most of the time the answer is no but its an addiction and like a junkie who needs a hit but keeps waking up covered in puke and shit, we keep coming back for more.
So could I stop supporting the club? Probably if things were bad enough (was bloody close call with Redknapp decision followed by AVB) or plain too expensive but I could never stop following or change allegiance.
Its the difference between a fan and a supporter for me.
 
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