Topic: So, you're a Red, but why?

[OOS]

Me da's local club (He used to live on Walton Breck) and my local club.

Thank fuck he wasn't a Ev fan though.

[12Kings]

I guess it helped that we were the best club probably in the world while I was kid plus the entire clan supported them except my Grandad bless his soul

[12Kings]

I knew one kid who turned..... never seen anything like it in my life, it was like the incarnation of a disney villain over night. His parents divorced and he went very bitter towards Liverpool, it didn't help that he had wild curly ginger hair and was a spoilt prat already by that point... ( no offence to ginga's, it was probably because he went over to support Everton he had no friends )

[Fitzy.]

Born in Liverpool but spent most of my life away from the city.

[Jake]

Saw a documentary about the club on Channel 5, being the Liverpool .

Instantly made me want to support Liverpool United 4 life <3

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

It was Fordy's inspirational posts on here to be honest. I only came in accidentally as I'm a big fan of rawk music and this came up in my Internet Explorer window when I did a Bing search.

But the more I read, the more I empathised with a man who just won't take second best. It's got to be perfect. He may have been wrong about Charlie Adam but you can't knock his effervescent optimism at all times.

So come on JWH, get them Asda price players in now or I'm off to Gunnermania like Raheem.

[Fruity]

My father was an immigrant so had no real affiliation with any city when he first arrived in England but for whatever reason he liked Man utd. This is probably why my slightly older brother is a big utd fan. At the age of 5 or 6 my brother and father were watching footy and Kevin Keegan was playing and scored (this must have been either 76 or 77). Anyway for a good few months when people asked me which team I supported I said Kevin Keegan. I eventually realised he played for Liverpool and when he left I was smart enough not to follow Hamburg.

[idontknow]

7 red v and words like Liverpool seem back and forth good to say

that's probably true, but I do have a diagnosis for it now

If I am asked why, I say I was left as a baby wrapped up in a newspaper and that my medical notes say that my torso was imprinted with Ian St John celebrating after scoring the day before. Look them straight in the eye, and generally they back off, and if they don't immediately, keep looking and a tear will form, and that will do them.
Good fun. Especially if I make up the particular match as well.

We are meant to enjoy this supporting, by whatever means necessary. 

[MagicB8all]

I've been a red since the days of Keegan, but lately I'm beginning to wonder why?

[FlashingBlade]

On days like to day you think " why bother" and then as I type this I look at my signed '60's Liverpool shirt hanging on the wall with the oval badge with the Ron Yeats signature on, my first hero....Why am I a Red?..Ron Yeats was, so am I and despite today, I always will be and believe ..dream...we will the be greatest again....I'm a fucking collosus walk around me!!!

[shadowraith]

Barnes and Rush 1989 FA Cup final. As a black carribean kid watching footy for the first time on a program called the road to wembley. I wasnt much into football it was all about cricket but that final burned Liverpool into my heart and soul. Later i met family who moved to england in the late 70's before i was born and returned for a visit in 91 and talked alot about London and LIverpool. Since then i visited the city when on a trip to england playing cricket and didnt want to leave. I'm hoping to return shortly to do a masters at the university there.

[lucid-tentacles]

Went to school across the Mersey. Rock Ferry convent and of course Billy Liddell nuff said

[riismeister]

"I didn't choose Liverpool, Liverpool chose me."

I guess I lucked out.

[cptrios]

I'd love to say that I had some sort of heartfelt reason for landing on Liverpool when I started to get into football. I'd even love to say that it happened because I randomly wound up visiting Anfield back in my junior year of high school, when Bill Clinton was still president and most people I knew still said things like "soccer is gay." But I can't. I'm going to give this its very own line, because it deserves it:

I chose Liverpool because of El Hadji Diouf.

My German friend had convinced me to watch the 2002 WC, and by about halfway through I was hooked. For some reason, I fell totally in love with Diouf in that tournament - probably not even because he was any good, as I didn't really have a clue at that point. About half a year later, I was channel-surfing and wound up watching the second half of a Liverpool-Villa match, and lo and behold, there he was in all his blonde-haired crappy glory. I'm pretty sure he even scored. (It might not have been against Villa, for all I know.) I sought out the next few games and read up on the club, and eventually noticing a lot of parallels with my then-beloved Red Sox, I began to get really, really into it. Eventually LFC supplanted pretty much every other sports loyalty I had.

[Legendary_Nines]

Just really bad at glory hunting.

[OLDIE]

I wrote this in an earlier thread


Being lucky enough to have been born in Liverpool & in the early 60's football was in those days still the fans game. The City was split between Red & Blue (They became the bitters much later) Everton had a cracking side and had the edge over us in History and status.

LFC had a magic that was Anfield, the Kop was at its best, and most of all Mr Bill Shankly. Shankly gave the club an injection of self belief and a desire to perform for the fans first and foremost. If you look through the history of the club you will not find anyone before Shanks that insisted that his players played for the fans. To him it was not a job it was a daily pilgrimage (splg) to Melwood & Anfield. His love for all things red was a magnet for a snotty nosed little scouser like me.

On top of all that we had Peter Thompson & Cally flying down the wings with the Saint & Sir Roger in the middle (How much would they be worth today?), going into the boys pen (For those to young, if you look at the Kop it was situated at the top right hand side by the main stand) bunking into the Kop, (then seeing fuck all of the the match) was all that mattered, every day you dreamt about the coming Saturday, the roar of the crowd the songs before the match the constant swaying and the smell of piss & sweat. Funny enough one of my oldest memories is standing behind some 6' docker who was screaming out at the top of his voice a Cilla Black song, whilst drinking a cup of bovril ! "Anyone who had a heart" I think ?

Win, lose or draw you had the feeling of being part of a massive family, you were taught how to be a Kopite, how to accept when a team had beaten us with grace and applaud the opposition when they had out played us. I can even recall ManUre being clapped off after twating us 4-1, it should have been 7 or 8. We always apprieciated opposing goalkeepers always gave them a great ovation when they came out and ran to the Kop in the 2nd half. Some opposing goalkeepers were held in such high esteem by the Kop that they loved the Kop and mentioned their love for Anfield many times. Gordon Banks, Pat Jennings, Alex Stepney, Bob Wilson, Gordon West & Yes even Gary Sprake. Indeed Gordon Banks has said many times that he was proud that his last game was at Anfield.

To be a Red is not about just turning up to home games and singing when we take the lead, nor is it about buying each new shirt and thinking we are one of the boys. It is about supporting through thick & thin the team the manager & the club with dignity and respect, it is about standing together in adversity for the greater goal, no matter what your personal feelings are at the time.  Its about CLASS

We are truely honoured to be Red.

[Il Capitano]

I've no idea anymore to be honest.

[TheMissionary]

When I was 6 I asked me Da to take me to the match.  Good job I didn't ask me Mam, I'd have been a bitter.

Edit:  I loved it as soon as I walked up the tunnel into the Paddock.  Peter Thompson swore at me in the second half and I was chuffed to nuts.  I've been chuffed ever since.

[Fabulous_aurelio]

Moved to Liverpool (Wallasey) just after I was born. My older brother supported Everton, so as I was his younger brother I wanted to annoy him by supporting his rival team. I was only 2ish and little did I know the importance of my decision!

Moved to the Midlands aged 5.

[sirKennyDaggers]

My home team,scouser born and bred,thats it.

[karpatonni]

Because of Anfield, "You'll never walk alone", Steven Gerrard and the European nights under Rafa Benitez.

[Spraynard Kruger]

I live over 3000 miles away from Liverpool but it's the only club that made sense. Supported by family in Belfast, one of my best friends here in NJ and the man who owns the local footie apparel store is a born and bred scouser.

[Lad]

Because I was born in Liverpool and I had two choices. I followed my older brother to the red side and neglected the blue of my dad.

[jooneyisdagod]

I've no idea anymore to be honest.

Same. I don't really know.

[thejbs]

Because my brother told me i was. He also instilled in me a hatred of Utd. I guess it was conditioning made easy by the successes of the side in the 80s.

[DyingAtheist]

Can't remember. Wasn't success, was born in 1990 so I kind of heralded the beginning of the end. My Mum's a Red - or was at least - and I remember owning a bizarre plastic mug with Gerrard's face on it and... I don't know, just family conditioning. Mum hates my dad (Manc) so that forced it.

[JohnBarnesBigToe]

Irish side of the family are LFC fans.....but to be honest wasn't that fussed about football as a kid until I saw this guy play

[VamosLiverpool]

My Dad is a Liverpool supporter so followed suit 

[Solomon Grundy]

Me ma was from Liverpool. She supported Liverpool as did most of her family barring me grandad and a few cousins who were blues. So I just followed her and supported the mighty reds. Me auld fella wasn't from this country, he was from the island of St. Helena. Cricket was the main sport over there so that's what he liked to play and watch. He did support Liverpool as well but, he wasn't as ardent as me and my mum. My younger brother supported Man City.

[Emerald Red]

All the other kids supported Arsenal or Spurs

I hated Arsenal and Spurs

So I picked a team in the second division 200 miles away 

[sms1986]

I'm not from Liverpool and neither is my dad, but he supported Liverpool and so I support Liverpool now. My mum wasn't into football that much, but if she were I might have ended up supporting the team that she once said she would probably support if she did like football. That team was Blackburn Rovers (she wasn't from Blackburn, but she was from about half way between Preston and Blackburn, so the family is a mixture of PNE and Blackburn fans mostly). My sister used to support Liverpool as well, but changed to United when she was a kid after visiting Anfield (which was suspiciously close to the time when United won their first league title in over 20 years, but she was only a kid at the time). Unfortunately, two of my younger brothers decided to support United as well, and my youngest brother isn't interested in football.

[K1RKY]

this is why…

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=34550.0

[jaymc]

Cos i'm from there so it is either them or everton. I honestly can't remember fully why it was liverpool over everton as i didn't see my dad or other male family members and in the late eighties they were both top teams, just knew at the time you supported liverpool or everton.
 My little brother supports everton cos of me though, the derby was on and he didn't really support anyone and we was listening on the radio. He said 'who should i support liverpool or everton' and i said 'support everton so we can go against each other', fuck knows why i said that. They won 2 - 0 were mark ward scored at the gwladys street and he supported them since that day

[AJL]

I was born into it, my mums side had a few blues there so me Dad and Granda just put a bit of extra effort in so there was no chance of me being spiked. 

We used to watch cars go down Princess Drive and if it was a nice motor i'd be told it was 'one of the Reds on his way to Melwood' if there was a nasty banger it'd be 'a bluenose trying to find Bellefield' 

I remember them going too far one time though.  My life revolved around the Reds; going the match, hanging round INSIDE Melwood (cause you could then), walking round Anfield on a Sunday morning for no actual reason all that sort of thing.  Anyway it was time to get my haircut and as you did then you got a piccy of someone from a magazine and told the fella thats what you wanted, he nodded and did whatever he felt like doing to your mop and then told you it looked just like said piccy of the hero. 

I used to get those A5 sized glossy pics from the club shop and was allowed to get 1 a month; obviously this meant I never actually got the full team and as my Gran, who had to run the errand to get them, wasn't that switched on, she would start at the keeper and work through the team meaning that by the end of the season i'd just about be getting Kenny or Rushie and the like. 

So this particular week ive gone for my haircut and it was like September or something and as usual i turn up with my glossy pic telling the barber 'I wanna look like him', only problem (looking back) is that my Gran had just been down that week and bought my latest pic and put it in the pocket of my kagool....... fking Phil Neal !   

I wobbled that day I dont mind telling you, but it grew out in a month or so

[eyescream]

It may sound strange, but because of...Heysel '85.
Born in a then-communist state, I had no other way to get any information about football outside of my country except the newspapers and some short TV reports.
Heysel events shocked me and since then I've been a Liverpool supporter. I really like Juve too, if this makes any sence.

[el guapo]

Okay, this is a bit self indulgent, so bear with me.

My parents migrated to Sydney in 1968 when I was 6. Dad was born in Stalisfield Ave Norris Green in 1930. He played on Anfield twice during the 40s in local team finals. Here he is front and centre as the biggest 14 year old in the St Teresa’s school team in the 1944/45 season. 


Being so young I never went to a game at Anfield though I remember hearing the crowd from upstairs at our Wapshare Road house. I’ve been back to Liverpool on four occasions, though always at the height of summer so my visits to Anfield have only been to the museum.

Being a Red in Australia isn’t easy as the time difference for games is mostly 11 hours and this makes for 2am kickoffs. Regardless we’ve watched all of the important games, for me pretty much starting from Alec Lindsay’s cracking should have been goal from the 1974 FA Cup final.

When coming to Australia my Dad only brought the essentials which included every LFC program he had. Dad gave me a handful of programs from the 1930s and 1940s to donate to the museum when I was there in 1997. When next there in 2000 I saw that many of his programs were on display including one which had Billy Liddell’s name spelt incorrectly. The Acknowledgements Board at the Museum’s exit noted me as the donor rather than Dad (he has since forgiven me). Nice to be among the other names on the Board though (Hansen, Keegan, Kennedy, Liddell, Rush, Thompson, Toshack). 

Anyway, Dad’s on holiday in Liverpool now staying with his sister in the house he was born in 85 years ago. Since this is an opportunity too good to miss I’m here for the week having bought tickets to the No 7 Lounge for the Bournemouth game. My daughter and nephew are here with me so there’ll be three generations at the match.

So if you hear any Aussie accents at the ground tonight, don’t automatically think bloody day tripping OOTs. Well, we are, though we will also feel we belong here.

BTW I wanted to add a couple of photos though am unable to upload them. Any advice/instruction appreciated.

[Billy Elliot]

Because the blues at school all had bad trainees. 

[bunjibloomer]

My Grandad was a Pool supporter. His brother lives in Liverpool and supports the Reds.
My Mum followed suit and used to buy me the jerseys and trackies growing up.
My great uncle used to send me match programmes too so it's all I know thankfully!!

I think with a lot of Irish players, good ones at that, in our squad in the late 80s that my interest was inevitable. Ireland playing well at the time (Who put the ball in the English net, Houghton, Houghton  ) was hard not to be interested, despite the obvious influences of my family.

I wouldn't change being part of this family for love nor money. 

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

Okay, this is a bit self indulgent, so bear with me.

My parents migrated to Sydney in 1968 when I was 6. Dad was born in Stalisfield Ave Norris Green in 1930. He played on Anfield twice during the 40s in local team finals. Here he is front and centre as the biggest 14 year old in the St Teresa’s school team in the 1944/45 season. 


Being so young I never went to a game at Anfield though I remember hearing the crowd from upstairs at our Wapshare Road house. I’ve been back to Liverpool on four occasions, though always at the height of summer so my visits to Anfield have only been to the museum.

Being a Red in Australia isn’t easy as the time difference for games is mostly 11 hours and this makes for 2am kickoffs. Regardless we’ve watched all of the important games, for me pretty much starting from Alec Lindsay’s cracking should have been goal from the 1974 FA Cup final.

When coming to Australia my Dad only brought the essentials which included every LFC program he had. Dad gave me a handful of programs from the 1930s and 1940s to donate to the museum when I was there in 1997. When next there in 2000 I saw that many of his programs were on display including one which had Billy Liddell’s name spelt incorrectly. The Acknowledgements Board at the Museum’s exit noted me as the donor rather than Dad (he has since forgiven me). Nice to be among the other names on the Board though (Hansen, Keegan, Kennedy, Liddell, Rush, Thompson, Toshack). 

Anyway, Dad’s on holiday in Liverpool now staying with his sister in the house he was born in 85 years ago. Since this is an opportunity too good to miss I’m here for the week having bought tickets to the No 7 Lounge for the Bournemouth game. My daughter and nephew are here with me so there’ll be three generations at the match.

So if you hear any Aussie accents at the ground tonight, don’t automatically think bloody day tripping OOTs. Well, we are, though we will also feel we belong here.

BTW I wanted to add a couple of photos though am unable to upload them. Any advice/instruction appreciated.

Great story. Plenty of ex-pat Scousers in Australia, hell when I was in Sydney on a permanent basis years back, our evening kickabouts had an older gent, a professor who took the Maths lectures for the foundation courses somehow fit in Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard into his lectures on a regular basis.

[LFC 89]

For me it was half generation half choice. My dad is a red but my Granddad is a blue. Both offered to take me to the game when I was young but I chose Liverpool.

My first game was Liverpool Brann Bergen at Anfield, we won 3-0 and I was in Row 2 of the Kop. After seeing Robbie Fowler score a penalty at the Kop end and hearing the roar of the Kop it was enough to pull me in.