joe_lead Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Am at the point now where my boys require steering in the right direction. Have a Celtic and Barcelona fan. Was wondering to what extremes people have gone to to help them make the right choice. The story below got me thinking: I've been all over the place growing up, but i spent a decent chunk of my youth in Dundee. At the age of five, I went to a school in Menzieshill that was fifty percent Celtic fans, fifty percent Dundee United fans. Every day after school, me and the auld man would kick a ball about and play a one-on-one match. The green outside our flat was a huge slope, but Da would always let me shoot down the slope, and him up it. I would be Celtic and he would be another Scottish team at random (he could never be Rangers) and Celtic would dramatically come back from being 9-6 down to win 10-9 every game. I made a new friend, Tom, that I thought was the dog's bollix. He had good trainers and Scalextric. He was a Dundee United fan. And all of a sudden, I was too. That night, I came home, I ate my dinner and went out with my ball and my auld man. He asked me, as he always did, what team I wanted to be. His mouth dropped when I replied "I want to be Dundee United." "Okay", he replied, "You go down the hill this time, shoot upwards, I'll be Celtic." Celtic won that game 10-0. Each time my father scored, he blasted the ball as hard as he could down the hill and I had to sprint down to follow it and trudge back up the hill. I was in floods of tears. Dad asked me if i wanted to play again, and I nodded. He asked who I wanted to be, and I replied "Dundee United". My father said "Right, down the hill again son." Again, Celtic won 10-0. At this stage i was uncontrollably weeping. He asked once more if I wanted to play again. I nodded, my whole body shaking with tears as I asked "But can I be Celtic?" "Of course son, you stand up the hill, shoot down this time. I'll be Dundee United." For the third time in a row, Celtic won 10-0. I never looked back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardy Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 So who do you support then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregX Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 (edited) Quality story (although as an American, I'm not sure whether thinking someone is the dog's bollix is good or not ). I support my hometown throwball team but I live deep in rival territory. My 10 year old daughter got sick of being constantly harassed by her friends so she asked if she could like the other team too. I just said, "Sure honey, if you love them more than your daddy." Might not work with the boys but it sure worked in that case. Edited May 6, 2009 by GregX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmr Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Quality story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky_Latic Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 (edited) Hahahaha. Good story. Your dad sounds like all my relatives north of the border. The passion and rejection of any other club is ridiculous. Even Oldham. Though they seemed to have released the noose around one of my little cousins necks who's adopted Latics has his second club purely because i'm the only person he knows who doesnt follow Celtic as his favourite club. I got lectured every time I went up there about why Celtic are the only team worth supporting. Most pictures I have of me as a kid on visits to Scotland involve Celtic tops. I once made the mistake of beating Celtic at Fifa with Oldham on a visit not so long ago. I'll not be doing that again. Then again. I think most of them up there just hold a grudge because Oldham continually busts their coupons no matter how many times I tell them not to bet on us. That said, one of my cousins husbands is a Liverpool fan. God knows how he puts up with them all year round. Hail Hail Edited May 6, 2009 by Rocky_Latic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeylandLatic Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 'Gun to head' is my personal favourite persuasion technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldhamSheridan Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 'If you support United you can support yourself' was my dads only motto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slurms mckenzie Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My 7 year old step-son's latest football chant is "We hate Man U, We hate Man U, we hate Man U, we hate Man U and Celtic too." He made that one up himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldhamSheridan Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My 7 year old step-son's latest football chant is "We hate Man U, We hate Man U, we hate Man U, we hate Man U and Celtic too." He made that one up himself. I'm sure there were no influences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My 7 year old step-son's latest football chant is "We hate Man U, We hate Man U, we hate Man U, we hate Man U and Celtic too." He made that one up himself. good lad well done another saved from the clutches of the dark side ! imho any body found dressing there child in a manure babygrow should be prosecuted for child abuse ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singe Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 I shall face this conundrum in a few years time. Mine is slightly different in that I am 400 miles away, and there are no real clubs nearby. The nearest is Gillngham, so they are ruled out, and as it is not that close hardly anyone locally supports them Charlton would be the obvious one, but most people support one of the big London clubs. I don't want my lad to get picked on, he will be small, but then again Iw ant him to be able to stand up for himself. We won;t get to hardly any Oldham games, so he won't have direct affinity, but his first few games will be Oldham ones for sure. If he does get pciked on I might go for the local Ryman Prem side! To be fair, thy were challenging for Conf South so maybe the best option if there are any any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimsleftfoot Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My girlfriend looks after her godson quite regularly who is 1 year old. His mother is a red and his dad is a county fan. I on the other hand have been trying to teach him Oldham chants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorrro Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 (edited) I shall face this conundrum in a few years time. Mine is slightly different in that I am 400 miles away, and there are no real clubs nearby. The nearest is Gillngham, so they are ruled out, and as it is not that close hardly anyone locally supports them Charlton would be the obvious one, but most people support one of the big London clubs. I don't want my lad to get picked on, he will be small, but then again Iw ant him to be able to stand up for himself. We won;t get to hardly any Oldham games, so he won't have direct affinity, but his first few games will be Oldham ones for sure. If he does get pciked on I might go for the local Ryman Prem side! To be fair, thy were challenging for Conf South so maybe the best option if there are any any problems. You live in Kent, not France Edited May 7, 2009 by Zorrro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singe Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 You live in Kent, not France Oui Monsieur. I did mean round trip! Though the local fans do call Dover Douvres ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorrro Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Oui Monsieur. I appreciate your problem, though. If and when I have little uns, I'm going to have a massive battle on my hands to prevent them being Palace/Chelsea/Arsenal fans. At least the chances of them being Man Ure fans are lessened. Slightly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafcprozac Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 You live in Kent, not France My Dad is Latics through and through, I wasn't interested in football at all until the age of 9 when I began collecting Football '86 stickers - the first game I watched was the 1986 FA Cup Final when I supported Everton (must've been the blue!), then of course the World Cup in Mexico (and the associated Stickers and Album had me hooked) caught my imagination and that was it, football had another fan. By the time of the Charity Shield and remembering how Liverpool had destroyed Everton at Wembley 3 months earlier, saw my allegiance switch to the red half of Merseyside. Dad never put any pressure on me and having being hard up for a few years in the early to mid-80s he had stopped attending Latics matches. His own situation changed and a fantastic start to the season rekindled his desire to go to games, obviously I wanted a part of this - perhaps it was reverse psychology as it ended up with me pestering the hell out of him to take me to a game. He finally relented on November 22nd 1986, I was hooked from that moment, the noise, the hustle and bustle, the songs, the roar of the crowd when we scored - the smell of hot bovril mixed in with stale pies and tobacco - it was awesome and another latics fan was born. I still had a soft spot for Liverpool - still do, but all I cared about from that first afternoon at BP was Latics, I became obsessed....still am, but I can honestly say I was never forced into being a Latics fan. My son on the other hand is a different story. He had a kit the moment he was born, the health vistor when assessing him and his ability to recognise colours was not impressed when he pointed out; "Green, yellow, Dirty Red, Latics Blue.." when he was 2! He was 3 when he came to his first game against QPR on the last day of 02/03, he loves coming to games now and is a member of BB and a season ticket holder, it hasn't been easy for him the last couple of years because there hasn't been a lot to cheer about and the fact he goes to see his mum at weekends means he normally only gets to see midweek games and a few Saturday matches if his uncle takes him. As for my daughter, she's perstering like mad to take her to a game, i'll have to bite the bullet next season. She's already had about five Latics kits. I tried brainwashing my nephew, sadly he is a scum fan. He's been coming to games with me since he was 8 or 9 and enjoys it his allegiance is to the scum. Surprising seeing as his dad is a Liverpool fan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaticsPete Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 . My son on the other hand is a different story. He had a kit the moment he was born, the health vistor when assessing him and his ability to recognise colours was not impressed when he pointed out; "Green, yellow, Dirty Red, Latics Blue.." when he was 2! Excellent! My own son went to his first match , like yours , at the age of 3. We've been making the trip together from North Yorks ever since. He's never had any probs being a Latics supporter round here - York fans can hardly give him stick and he can deal with Leeds and Boro easily enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killens_physio Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My Dad is Latics through and through, I wasn't interested in football at all until the age of 9 when I began collecting Football '86 stickers - the first game I watched was the 1986 FA Cup Final when I supported Everton (must've been the blue!), then of course the World Cup in Mexico (and the associated Stickers and Album had me hooked) caught my imagination and that was it, football had another fan. By the time of the Charity Shield and remembering how Liverpool had destroyed Everton at Wembley 3 months earlier, saw my allegiance switch to the red half of Merseyside. Dad never put any pressure on me and having being hard up for a few years in the early to mid-80s he had stopped attending Latics matches. His own situation changed and a fantastic start to the season rekindled his desire to go to games, obviously I wanted a part of this - perhaps it was reverse psychology as it ended up with me pestering the hell out of him to take me to a game. He finally relented on November 22nd 1986, I was hooked from that moment, the noise, the hustle and bustle, the songs, the roar of the crowd when we scored - the smell of hot bovril mixed in with stale pies and tobacco - it was awesome and another latics fan was born. I still had a soft spot for Liverpool - still do, but all I cared about from that first afternoon at BP was Latics, I became obsessed....still am, but I can honestly say I was never forced into being a Latics fan. My son on the other hand is a different story. He had a kit the moment he was born, the health vistor when assessing him and his ability to recognise colours was not impressed when he pointed out; "Green, yellow, Dirty Red, Latics Blue.." when he was 2! He was 3 when he came to his first game against QPR on the last day of 02/03, he loves coming to games now and is a member of BB and a season ticket holder, it hasn't been easy for him the last couple of years because there hasn't been a lot to cheer about and the fact he goes to see his mum at weekends means he normally only gets to see midweek games and a few Saturday matches if his uncle takes him. As for my daughter, she's perstering like mad to take her to a game, i'll have to bite the bullet next season. She's already had about five Latics kits. I tried brainwashing my nephew, sadly he is a scum fan. He's been coming to games with me since he was 8 or 9 and enjoys it his allegiance is to the scum. Surprising seeing as his dad is a Liverpool fan! Being a errrr......'soft' southerner the first question i get asked is, 'why Oldham?' by people. Well during my younger years i had Everton and Liverpool kits but for some reason I never really got a good feeling about it. My old man is a QPR fan and tried to get me into supporting them, but that was never going to happen. And then i saw Latics on tv demolish Scarborough and thought.....wow this is the team for me and its been that way ever since. There have been so many stages where i have said i have given up caring after we lose again with another spineless performance, but come the next game the optimism is renewed. Latics will always be the only team for me. My nephews on the other hand are beyond help. My sisters husband is a true remote control red, and to my disgust a couple of years back one of my nephews turned up wearing a Manure shirt with Ronaldo 7 on the back. I felt sick. Any team on the planet i could have accepted just not them. Needless to say, when i do hopefully have kids there is no way in the world they will be supporting Man Utd. I will try to get them into Latics, but living down south it wont be easy. If however he turns out to be a rugby fan rather football, then the writing will be on the wall for a happy father son relationship Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 It was indoctrinated into my kids at an early age, now they are 8 and 6 my work is done - they are latics through and through and the bonus of hating ManUre also. My eldest has to be Oldham on FIFA 09 - obviously I have to let him beat me Now I am working on my nephews, a much harder task as they don't get much influence from their parents, but they know their Uncles allegiance and hopefully I can use many forms of persuasion/blackmail and the promise of sweets if they come to BP to make sure I have that positive influence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My dad was rather sneaky about it all, I had always enjoyed playing and watching football (the live game on itv) I was a Liverpool fan and he even bought me the lovely Liverpool grey away kit of the late eighties. Latics were never mentioned in the house and I had no idea that latics existed and I had no idea he was going to football on a Saturday, I presumed he was at work. One evening when I was 9 he asked me if I wanted to watch an Oldham game or go to my gran's with my sisters. I refused the football because it was not watching Liverpool; eventually my 2 sisters bullied me into going as they wanted some time away from my constant tormenting. I stood in the Chaddy end and watched us loose to Crystal Palace, and I was hooked, the smell of smoke, the new words and the feeling of being apart of something. Next season we had season tickets in the lookers and as he had a company car and the petrol was paid by the company also we travelled the land for many years to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beag_teeets Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My dad couldn't stand football. I appear to have followed in his footsteps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch_KTF Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 When my 6 year old cousin recently came home in a new Rooney shirt my uncle resorted to dragging him into the garden and burning it. When I have kids I too will resort to ruling with an iron fist (when it comes to football). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hometownclub Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 When my 6 year old cousin recently came home in a new Rooney shirt my uncle resorted to dragging him into the garden and burning it. When I have kids I too will resort to ruling with an iron fist (when it comes to football). It's the only way they'll learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edhunteruk Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 When my 6 year old cousin recently came home in a new Rooney shirt my uncle resorted to dragging him into the garden and burning it. When I have kids I too will resort to ruling with an iron fist (when it comes to football). my son,now 10 is a latics fan,although in the beginning it wasnt 100%,ex wife isnt a great footy fan,but prefers united as her grandad used to support them. her new fella is an ardent leeds fan,and this just isnt right,lol.i caught him one day trying to persuade my son that leeds were best etc etc,and had to have a quiet word. he loves coming to bp,loves watching the games and eating innordinate amounts of food. at first i told him it didnt matter who he supported as long as it was his choice,needless to say he made the right one as far as im concerned. it also warms the cockles of my heart that at his school at the moment,in a very staunch city and united enviroment,there are now 8 latics fans. also last week his school did a soccer course day,with a couple of ex players on the fringes of bolton and macclesfield,run by rochdale footy club,my sons team won,and got presented with a small trophy n certificate,then after this cheeky sod from bolton said my son should support a proper team,as oldham are not very good... needless to say i have instructed my son to inform me when there next at the school,and will be going down to have a word with this noob,lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorrro Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 When I have kids I too will resort to ruling with an iron fist (when it comes to football). I'm not going to stop at football. I intend to be like Victorian Dad from Viz. (Including the masturbatory antics at the end of each strip.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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