Do you empathise with supporters of other clubs?

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Definitely sympathize; I spent years sitting in the stands watching my team lose by 8 goals and know how that feels.

It's harder when the club is still being run by knobs, though.

Ironic. I saw my side torn literally apart and broken by 8 goals on the last Saturday of September by your team.

Thats like a life sentence until you play another grand final and win it.
 
May 5, 2006
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I feel a bit for the fans of Vic clubs that get stooged by the AFL.

We've played the Bulldogs 28 times in Perth in 33 seasons. That must get old for them. Meanwhile we've played Collingwood 17 times. It would be a pain in the dick for a small club in Melbourne to always be playing Gold Coast and GWS at Docklands at 1pm on a Sunday with the roof half open so no one can see.

I also feel a bit for fans of the Saints and Dees that have long streaks but Dees fans are prone to bathwater drinking and Saints fans are just a miserable lot as you'd expect given a long history of winning spoons. I've never heard a crowd so regularly give Bronx cheers 5 minutes into games. Do they even know what a Bronx cheer means?

Funnily enough the OP mentioned Carlton. I don't give two shits about Carlton or Essendon fans. Carlton are woeful, Essendon are mediocre and neither side has been good for 15-20 years. But they have long storied histories and their fans saw success in 1995 for Carlton and 1993 & 2000 for Essendon, plus between 1979 and 1987 Carlton won 4 and Essendon 2. Suffer in your jocks I say. When these clubs were up and about the fans carried on like Hawthorn fans do now thinking their s**t doesn't stink and they will be successful forever because they are better than everyone else. Carlton are the worst. They tried to buy North, they got done for salary cap cheating and since then they've bought Denis Pagan, bought Chris Judd, bought Daisy Thomas and just generally failed to accept that it isn't 1985 any more. Really the two teams should just swap coaches. Bolton is young and energetic and would relish having a list that isn't all GWS rejects. Worsfold is a respected figure at Carlton and is an excellent motivator. He'd have the Blues as a 5-10 win team next season.
 

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Pie thon

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Mixed feelings for Carlton. Fans aged under 35, yes there is sympathy. They have had if rough and you can see the disinterest of the youth in Carlton families
The older than 35 Carlton fans, especially 50+, definitely not. I wasnt around pre 90's to see, but older folks tell me after 8 GF runners up for the Pies after 1958 and having lost 3 in a row in 1979-81 plus 77, there was a lot of rubbing in the hurt into pies fans and a culture built around the love of seeing them lose a flag that is strong until this day across the entire AFL fan base

Essendon fans i feel for with the supplement saga. I guess as fans we are quite passive in our support of our clubs and no control over its operations. So the sledging, penalties and negative media, although deserved to the club, would be hard for a fan to endure over those years

Saints, Melbourne more for the excessive premiership drought, the underdog feeling
 

99cents

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Of course I feel empathy/ sympathy for long suffering supporters- every supporter deserves their "time in the sun."
 
May 5, 2006
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Given the supporters of most clubs have actively wished, or encouraged, the death of my club, no.

But who would we flog in finals? OK Melbourne... but their coach is boring and not gif fodder. OK you just sacked yours... so I guess it's off to the Gold Coast for you like Caro said.

North fans are necessary. Without them 'Rance vs Franklin is just as good as Jakovich vs Carey' would gain too much traction.
 
Feb 19, 2016
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But who would we flog in finals? OK Melbourne... but their coach is boring and not gif fodder. OK you just sacked yours... so I guess it's off to the Gold Coast for you like Caro said.

North fans are necessary. Without them 'Rance vs Franklin is just as good as Jakovich vs Carey' would gain too much traction.
While SOS is doing a bang up job ruining his own team we would rather stay in the background playing spoiler (or at least foreshadowing premiers).
 
When Carlton have reached 37 years since their last premiership I might start feeling a little bit of pity for them until then they can get ******
Media did not play violins for us when we were down.
 

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Macpotata

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The magic solution - Get Adz to start a thread about said teams down in the doldrums and watch their fortunes change overnight.


West Coast - Where to Now?
 
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Ironic. I saw my side torn literally apart and broken by 8 goals on the last Saturday of September by your team.

Thats like a life sentence until you play another grand final and win it.
Actually that makes me realise I empathise more with myself in the past than supporters in the present. The realisation we had that game won only came when I realised that I’d been to games like those FS describes, and I’d lost all hope by that stage of those games.
Did I stop to think how Adelaide supporters felt? Not a chance - and Adelaide aren’t too high on my most hated list.
 
As a Crows supporter I must admit and it should have been included earlier if already hasnt, was the passing of our coach Phil Walsh.

The tragedy that hit the Crows, and the AFL community that day was shattering to say the least.

I was blown away when I found out and in utter disbelief and shock. I slept in and went out before midday, didnt check the news and my phone was dead and was told by a random stranger after I asked in the lift why was so many people wearing Crows colours.

The support we received from so many in the AFL community was amazing and overwhelming. It is true many supporters did empathize with our Club during the darkest period of our history.

Our Eagles brothers on that day in our first game back, should be so proud with the way they conducted themselves and applauded and admired the Crows for coming over.

It may have taken an extreme tragedy, but there are many supporters that do empathize with other Clubs.
 

Eternal Schism

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Being a Dees lad was always hard as people would laugh, scoff or have that awkward moment after asking you if your team won on the weekend. I've seen players come to the club full of talent who walked out as husks of footballers, completely drained of skill and flair. A long list of * ups that I won't go into. Felt the club was cursed.

I feel for the Saints, I understand though how it feels when people feel pity for your team and you supporting them - its almost a stigma or a way of saying 'we all know how s**t your club has been, I'm sorry'. I'd love the Dees one day to be as hated as the Hawks or Pies, at least then we might have been feared on field, rather than pitied. That said, I do hope the Saints can win one, I know too many old Saints members who have been waiting decades and are not getting any younger. I know how they feel, how the Doggies supporters felt. Hope on day we all can feel that relief that the Footscray die hards felt.

As a supporter of a perennially under-achieving club, I always feel for fellow struggling clubs.

I have a soft spot for North, Western Bulldogs, Gold Coast, Freo and Carlton.

Some of their supporters, mind you, make this hard.

Gee are we that irrelevant that you forgot us or are our supporters really that off putting? :p

I’ve attended 11 Grand Finals my team has played in.
They’ve won 1 of them.
I’ve been to more drawn Grand Finals than winning ones.
Empathy for other teams and their hard times?
Maybe for Fitzroy and definitely for Adelaide re Phil Walsh.
That’s it.

So you've attending the Grand Finals since 1970 or so? Been to one win, seen another (1990 & 2010.)

I'd accept almost anything to see my side finally break the drought. My dad moved here & started supporting the Dees in 1967 and is still waiting to see his first flag. Imagine attending games for 52 years, being a member for over 45 years and still waiting for them to win just the one flag? The grand finals we have been in - utterly annihilated and solace has yet to be wrought.
 
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It depends on the supporter ...

... if they’re the evangelical type who blindly defend their club irrespective of incompetence or misdeeds - then, nah, I’ve got no sympathy / empathy whatsoever. On the contrary, I delight in winding them up.

... if they’re the type who exercise rational considered judgement about the running of their club, then I’ve got all the sympathy / empathy in the world for them.
 
The magic solution - Get Adz to start a thread about said teams down in the doldrums and watch their fortunes change overnight.


West Coast - Where to Now?
To be fair, you've started threads that seem to be achieving the inverse, talking up teams far too prematurely before they'll probably fail to meet the hype.
 
May 27, 2017
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How can you possibly feel for Carlton? The one club that went out of their way to see us burn to the ground...

I'm probably too young to remember.

I remember Carlton being good in the 90's, then sucking way more than us ever since.

Their administration has been garbage and has set the club back, but that's not the players fault, or the fans fault.

Gee are we that irrelevant that you forgot us or are our supporters really that off putting? :p

I forgot about Melbourne - oops. Another fellow team to join us in the dumpster-fire of failure.

I thought you were going places last year, now the train wreck of your season is strangely compelling. Must be awful as a fan to watch the turnaround.
 

a_fighting_fury

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I do have empathy for Saints supporters, they’ve had a bad run epithet injuries to key players.
But I can see they’re on the rise, and with a healthy list and another preseason under their belts they’ll be pushing for the 8.

Oh, and Brett Ratten was a great get, he’s influence has already been noticed.

And it’s hard to feel any empathy for a club who’s known for their motto “We’re Carlton, * the rest”.
 

Crusty Demon

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you choose to support the club, so no
A lot of people don't choose their team. I was about 10 minutes born before my old man whacked a Dees scarf around my neck. And if you say we have a choice as a kid who's dad you look up to and love follows a footy club with passion, then no, some of us don't get to choose. By time we are possibly capable of choosing a team to follow, those colours and team are embedded into who you are. Even if my club folded, I could never support another club. Nowhere near in the same way.

And it is impossible for any person who has seen their club win a flag to have empathy for clubs like St.Kilda, Melbourne, Fremantle who have generations of fans who have never seen success. I've seen my club get flogged in 2 grand finals. That's as close as I've come to seeing success. You can hate the club all you like, but us supporters have zero impact on team success. We have to grin and bear what comes our way. So I have empathy for any of the supporters who have never seen a flag and I absolutely have a soft spot for any team that hasn't won the premiership in a long time and wish their supporters well.
 

PetterdHoisted

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Apr 27, 2014
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Probably have empathy for North fans- most clubs have a bad trot, they sack the coach etc. With North there is an existential threat asociated with it, which few other clubs/supporters have to go through.
 
Jun 14, 2017
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Never been in a position to be empathetic due to the failings and frustrations of my team, Saints fans excluded.

I can understand the crap Freo supporters would cop in WA from Coke fans and the media and taking it on the chin.
 

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