Being a supporter

[imperial_oz]

Its all about balance really, or at least thats what I think. No emotions are out of bounds but its important to get some perspective at some point otherwise you would only ever be happy when Freo have a #/0 win-loss and have won the flag which isnt really practical when your team has only made the finals a couple of times!!! I remember I gave Schwab an absolute mouthful after the most horrific performance against Richmond a few years back. No swearing just a straight up "this is absolutely unacceptable to people who you rely on to support this club". Did it make a duifference? Who knows. Did I feel better. You betcha!!!

I feel sorry for these guys sometimes. Imagine if you were sitting at your desk / in your ute etc and some b*stard was yelling at you all the time. Its not exactly a normal work environment. On teh other side no one cheers me when I nail a great contract, I dont run around the office punching the air. But maybe I should try it.

Mucky, you should have written to Schwabby.

I did the same once, by email. He actually replied. I think he was one guy who did listen.

 

[E Shed]

I don't disagree with you. I hope I didn't give the impression it was about me in any way what so ever. I see it more about us...club, players, coaches, supporters etc as a single group. Fine, supporters don't do pre-seasons etc but we do contribute by putting money into the club, being there on gameday , etc

Everybody needs to do something, no matter how small.

My attitude is based on my years of watching do terrible stuff and thinking I can only support by cheering. Well, now I think, I can support by cheering and pointing out stuff that should be addressed. I'm also of the view that if enough people did that, we wouldn't be doing the same stuff wrong that we did wrong for many years.

Maybe I'm wrong but I'll give it a go at least. (and yes, I cop a lot of flak for doing it but it won't stop me trying)

I actually agree with you, I'm just trying to give voice to some ideas that have been floating around lately.

For ages I've been looking for a way of thinking that can stop me feeling so awful when we lose. I hate that as an intelligent person that can see the significance of a game of footy in proportion to the ills of the world I still get so filled with anger, shame and all the associated feelings.

I've come to the conclusion that being a supporter is like being in love and we suffer all the illogical emotions that go with that.
Consequently when we lose badly, like we have the last 2 weeks in completely different ways. we all individually take it personally. Because our identities are so bound up with the clubs fortunes it's like a mini love affair every week. Some weeks we get laid and some weeks our lover walks off with another guy and we feel like trash.

So at the moment I'm venting my anger and trying to let go of it as quickly as possible. Last week was hopeless, I couldn't pick up a paper, watch any sport media and i don't think I even posted here till Thursday which is some kind of record.

 

[westy1]

good thread there was one on the main board similar to this recently and it made for good reading
i'll have to say i fall into the bracket of being far too emotionally invested in my footy team for an otherwise rational adult.
the amount of k's i have travelled to watch us would get me too the moon i reckon.
the amount of times the surf has been pumping ,or the sun has been shining and the golf course beckoning me but i have put it all on hold to watch freo get wacked is embarresing
a couple of years ago my boy was playing at half time at an eagles game in auskick and i went to melbourne to watch freo v roos at etihad instead
,we lost,father of the year material there,ha(it was the second time he got to play auskick at subi half time in my defence, and being a freo nut he understood, his mum on the otherhand took a bit more convincing)
likr e shed ,before the game starts i tell myself its only a game etc.. but once its on the heart starts pumping and my family runs for cover,unfortunately i seem to have past a similar passion on to my son ,poor lad i feel for him ,as i feel for the young kid in the under 13's i coach who shows up to training decked out in tigers gear,an unfortunate inheritad trait from his dad.
i'm afraid also that in 30 years time my son will have seen the same amount of success as the young tiger.
but you know what the young bloke in the tigers gear is stauncher than any of the eagles guernsey wearers or the bombers kids etc.. and it reflects in the way he plays his footy too.
part of me thinks order is now restored,freo are shit again so be it ,life goes on and if thats all i have to worry about ,(something that is out of my control)then life is pretty sweet.
and conrtrary to what people may think there is nothing we can do as supporters to improve the teams chancee of winning other than show up and cheers for the boys.
walking out when we are dished up shit is no shame either ,never done it but i understand
you know when your footy team is shit it kind makes it more fun i reckon,we are greatful for small mercies
that win we had against hawthorn in round 17 2001 our first of the year was a case in point ,to me it felt like a finals win,whereas a win this year against anyone but collingwood would just be another step on the way ,and no big deal.
anyway bring on the bombers next week,we'll be there driving the 900 k round trip in the day, i just hope the trip home isn't a long one

 

[Nodgey]

Being a supporter is different to being a fan I reckon. Which is different again from following a team, but I digress...

I'm a fan of music, of movies and of course I'm a fan of footy. But I support Freo. And I am therefore emotionally invested in them.

As much as you don't want it to take a hold of your life, sometimes you just can't help the fact that your whole week revolves around the footy. Monday's recovery, mid week training, Thursday's team, culminating in the game on the weekend.

Rightly or wrongly, you do feel you can contribute to the success of the club: financially by buying memberships and copious other AFL-branded crap, but mostly by attending games and cheering them on.

So it's different from being a fan of a band or whatever. It's not just a form of entertainment for me. It's more than that. And it's why games such as the last 2 hurt so much.

 

[imperial_oz]

Being a supporter is different to being a fan I reckon. Which is different again from following a team, but I digress...

I'm a fan of music, of movies and of course I'm a fan of footy. But I support Freo. And I am therefore emotionally invested in them.

As much as you don't want it to take a hold of your life, sometimes you just can't help the fact that your whole week revolves around the footy. Monday's recovery, mid week training, Thursday's team, culminating in the game on the weekend.

Rightly or wrongly, you do feel you can contribute to the success of the club: financially by buying memberships and copious other AFL-branded crap, but mostly by attending games and cheering them on.

So it's different from being a fan of a band or whatever. It's not just a form of entertainment for me. It's more than that. And it's why games such as the last 2 hurt so much.

Well put! Agree with you 100%

Being a supporter is so much more than a fan or a follower.

 

[Kapow!!!]

It's pretty hard to be emotionally invested into a footy club. Even harder when you support the one club in the AFL that is the equivalent of a super model who sleeps in the same bed as you but wants to be 'just friends'. A club whose ability to win the impossible is matched only by its ability to lose the unloseable. I'm sure none of us would've signed on to a football forum to discuss and vent all things purple if we all didn't share the same grief that stalks Fremantle. That's why I think it's completely ridiculous to discredit any fellow supporter on here their passion for the club.

I reckon being a supporter that on some subconscious level we all believe that by simply watching and willing our side to play better that it helps. Strewth I know that against all rational and logical thought in my brain I'm still kicking myself on some level that I couldn't watch the St. Kilda game or the last quarter last week or the last quarter of the Richmond game or the entire derby because my sitting in front of a T.V. and watching might have helped. Hence it's that much harder to simply listen to the game or just receive updates, it's just a feeling of utter helplessness that you'd have to imagine injured players go through sitting in the coaches box. This further explains the intense frustrating of seeing the ball go the other way...especially like it has over the last month.

I know that no matter how hard I try to distance myself from it, how hard I try not to care and not let it affect me, once you're hooked on to your club it's too hard to let go. It's hard not to let it affect your life even if it is only for an hour or so after the game until sanity is restored due to lowered levels of adrenalin. Strewth I know I was livid at work for a couple of hours after learning of the scoreline on the weekend. This is made harder by teams that either give up or don't care because it's not fair on those that can't help but be invested in the team. It's not fair because the player's and the club aren't the only ones hurt by a loss. It's not fair because we're on the receiving end every media outlet just as much as the club is (or that's how it feels to a supporter).

But ultimately the only thing that is in our power as supporters is our attitude towards it and like it or not attitude is infectious, just ask ANY country football club. You can choose to accept the level of work each player does and the pride each player has in their own performance and unfortunately that will spread. You can choose to be negative and self-loathing and that's going to spread too. Either way, neither attitude promotes success. Ultimately the teams I've seen become successful in any sport accept the negatives and work harder on them whilst encouraging and fostering the positives. As a supporter I know I've focused too much on the negatives in the past and unfortunately to those who prefer to look at the positives, as with anything in life, you have to accept the negatives for what they are otherwise, well, you're never going to improve on them and you'll end up covering over the cracks. However as I've learned through depression and rather maniacal supporting, if you dwell on the negatives you can never truly aim for the positive result and can never accept the positive action you take as necessary to achieving what you want.



Sorry about that, I kind of had a train of thought there that I kept pursuing until I finally got to the message I wanted to convey so I'm not sure if it all links up or if it's just paragraphs of ill-formed thoughts. But I do genuinely believe that it's hard to be a supporter and that the only thing we can really control is our attitude (well, that and paying for memberships to keep the club financially viable). But there's been too much negativity for mine at the moment, time for a bit of Monty Python

[YOUTUBE]1loyjm4SOa0[/YOUTUBE]

EDIT: Sorry, original video wouldn't allow embedding

 

[bfff]

So supporters, what are you planning to do this Sunday to help the boys get over the line?

In recognition of the fourteenth Dalai Lama's visit to Australia I will only be yelling compassionate and loving things. A barrage of positive reinforcement.

 

[E Shed]

Ha Ha, nice one Bfff!

"Young master Hinkley, your doubt his caused by your persistence in believing the illusion of duality, kick to Purple, kick to Black & Red?, it's all the same! therefore to make us poor unenlightened souls happy please kick to purple!"