With Semi Pro’s consistency in pushing the importance of local football around the country, we thought today’s question would cause much debate.
With Premier League clubs having the most eyes on them, we ask: Should people have complete freedom of choice when choosing which club to support? Or should it be your local and/or your parents’ team?
The Semi Pro team give their opinions below.
Zak Wright: “Within reason you should be able to choose as long as there is some sort of connection and it isn’t just that you watch a club you have no connection to on the TV sort of thing.
“It might be people that weren’t really into football that much before they came to university and then started supporting the team local to their uni, but not necessarily where they are originally from, that’s fine in my eyes.
” In general though, if you can, it should definitely be a local or family connection.”
Nathan Barcio: “I don’t think you should be able to choose any team no. Especially when you take into account there are many factors taken into account with football clubs.
“So for example, if my dad supported Celtic I shouldn’t be able to support Rangers because there is obviously such strong feelings there. “
“Either way, it is ridiculous when you have someone whose parents support Arsenal and they end up being a Chelsea fan, that is just wrong.”
Oliver Haley: “I don’t think you should have complete choice, I think it should be either a team that is local to you or a team that is in your family or both. It can be both I think.
“I would argue you can actually have two teams, one family team and one local team. Me as an example, my family is from North London so I am a Spurs fan however I moved to Cambridge and started going to Cambridge games and became a fan of them.
“As long as there is some sort of connection it is fine go ahead, but picking a team based on them doing well is a big no no from me.”
Charlie Howell: “Completely that there should be a family connection or local option,it is embarrassing for someone that is lets say from Cambridge to support Liverpool. Like there is no connections there in general, you are watching football through a TV screen that is so boring. Go down and watch actual football and if you aren’t then what are you doing, you are following a team from your sofa.”
Dan Platts: “It can’t just be a winning team, I am not a fan of it, you can’t just see success and think yeah that is a bit of me that. If you are a new football fan I can get it if your mates support them or if you move to uni and you want to go to the football with your mates.
“Otherwise it is your families team or your local team, for me it is both, my dad is a Sheffield Wednesday fan and my dad supports Wednesday as well so it works well for my theory. You go to one game, you get addicted to it and if you haven’t been to a game you can’t go around saying you are a Man City fan.”
Alex Keir: “I think that you should have the choice to which team you support but only depending on the circumstances. If your dad is from Liverpool originally and he supports Liverpool but you now live in London, you aren’t going to carry on the family team because you wont be going to many games.
“I think you have to be realistic with who you support. There is a lot of people down south who support Man United because how good they did in the past not because of any connection and that is where I can’t get behind it. So you can choose but only in certain circumstances.”
James Hamilton: “I think I will end up having a different opinion to the rest of the group. I think of course you should be able to support whoever you want. I do believe that obviously if you have an inherited connection in a football team it makes sense for you to follow on with it.
“At the same time I think everybody has the independence of mind to support whichever club they want.
“If you like a particular club then there is absolutely no reason why you can’t support them. I think top fan energy tries to shame people when they do this but there should be no shame in it.”
Owen Barnard: “It is tough to avoid the splinters Josh if i’m honest. I am going to say that you should always support your local team or the team from your parents side is the side of the fence that I am going to go on.
“My two teams are Spurs and Potters Bar which is my family’s club and then my local club, look there are very niche scenarios where this might not apply but for example I live in Hertfordshire and there is a disproportionate amount of Liverpool and Man United supporters, get rid of them. The Man City fans in this scenario are even worse. Just glory hunters.”
Josh Brewer: “I am on one very clear side of the fence and I feel quite strongly about it. Firstly I think you should support whoever your family supports and then the only acceptable other answer is your local.
“There are no more exceptions. Growing up as a Notts County fan through my dad but living in Cheshire, directly in between Manchester and Liverpool, all of my friends were either Man City, Man United, Liverpool or Everton fans.
“I got a lot of stick growing up obviously being a Notts fan but this shouldn’t hamper you. It strengthens your love for the team and that is why I go to watch Notts every week, even though they will never be highly successful.”
So there we have it for edition number two of No Splinters. I think it is fair to say that the Semi-Pro boys are on one very clear side of the fence. There is not a lot of love in the room for James Hamilton’s view that you should have complete freedom of choice of who to support.
Semi Professional say that you should support a team with family connections or your local team.