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CantonsHero

What makes a loyal fan?

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The other debate I started had this element brought up: loyalty.Some fans on here can count their Norwich games on their fingers. Some are already pushing that this year. Some have never bought a strip, some have every single one. I myself would count myself as a loyal fan; with my darkest point being not watching Norwich ManU in the premier league because I expected a poor result. That shook me, and I''ve regretted it ever since. I have three shirts at the mo; last years home; the home from three years before that, and the red goalie away shirt.Last year I managed two away games by note of living in Walsall, and being very busy. (Exeter and Walsallm though I did go to that game three times)However I watched every game I could on sky or streams.This year I watched us against Everton (Carrow Road) Watford (Sky) and Forest (the surprisingly poor City Ground).However, I could have gone to Swansea live; I chose not to.At what point can a fan be called loyal?

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[quote user="CantonsHero"]The other debate I started had this element brought up: loyalty.Some fans on here can count their Norwich games on their fingers. [/quote]Twelve for me!

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Anyway, seriously.Good question because all this "I''m a better/bigger fan than you" stuff is really tiresome.If someone''s in Australia and doesn''t go to any games but looks for Norwich''s results in the paper before any other, they are a loyal fan.If someone''s in Norwich and doesn''t go to any games because they are skint/ill/disabled/have other things to do such as caring for family etc., but listens to the games on Radio Norfolk, follows them online etc etc., they are a loyal fan.If someone has a season ticket and goes to every away game, they are a loyal fan.It''s the fans who think it''s acceptable to follow Norwich and Man Utd or Chelsea, who divide their loyalty between clubs (not England - that is a different thing altogether), who are not loyal and I have little time for those fans.  It''s like being married but having a mistress, it doesn''t work.

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In my life have been to 17 games, not bad for a Scot. 16 away from home (with only 1 win - Walsall last year) and 1 at home (Everton friendly).I''ve set myself a target of doubling that by the end of next year, reaching 32.

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[quote user="CantonsHero"]In my life have been to 17 games, not bad for a Scot. 16 away from home (with only 1 win - Walsall last year) and 1 at home (Everton friendly).

I''ve set myself a target of doubling that by the end of next year, reaching 32.
[/quote]

Double 17 is 34 [;)]

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This question has been banded about before.  Don''t get confused between loyalty and commitment.My loyalty will never be in question, I have supported the team, to the exclusion of all others (save England), for about 35 years.  Over that period my commitment has altered according to my life circumstances and financial position.  I probably do about 3-5 games a season now, typically away - I live 250 miles from Carrow Rd.  Shirts about 10-15, memories about a million :o)I know people who will support one team, and then a few years later affiliate with another.  That''s where you question loyalty. 

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[quote user="Mister Chops"]Anyway, seriously.

Good question because all this "I''m a better/bigger fan than you" stuff is really tiresome.

If someone''s in Australia and doesn''t go to any games but looks for Norwich''s results in the paper before any other, they are a loyal fan.
If someone''s in Norwich and doesn''t go to any games because they are skint/ill/disabled/have other things to do such as caring for family etc., but listens to the games on Radio Norfolk, follows them online etc etc., they are a loyal fan.
If someone has a season ticket and goes to every away game, they are a loyal fan.

It''s the fans who think it''s acceptable to follow Norwich and Man Utd or Chelsea, who divide their loyalty between clubs (not England - that is a different thing altogether), who are not loyal and I have little time for those fans.  It''s like being married but having a mistress, it doesn''t work.

[/quote]

Very well put.

As I spend most of my time in India  it makes it practically impossible to go to the matches. Though I give up every Saturday night to stay in so I can listen to te match and more often than not stay up till past 3am to listen to midweek matches. That makes me a loyal fan I reckon.

As chops put it. If you want to know the result in the hope of a good one, there is loyalty in your heart for the club. If you arent really fussed about knowing the result, then there isnt.

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A loyal fan is someone who loves our club,talks about our club, does anything they can to support our club and goes through the highs and lows with the club.

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A very sticky area to go down!

 

I well remember years ago a fellow Norwich fan at school claiming he was more loyal than me but I''ve been to countless more games than him!

 

Different people have different circumstances regarding employment, money, family where they live etc!

 

I will never understand people not from East Anglia supporting Norwich cause they just picked them out. I support Norwich cause I''m local and certainly would not support them if I wasn''t local. I think its so much better supporting your local club cause you know more about the club and what makes it tick. Thats why I feel sorry for gloryhunting TV fans who go to a game once in a blue moon and don''t know about the ups and downs of following your team live through thick and thin!

 

I well remember an Arsenal fan I know saying "why the F did you go there" referring to  visit to watch Norwich at Torquay at few years back. I didn''t even bother bite back cause I consider myself a real fan who goes to games and have been for many years while The Arsenal fan I''m referring to hasn''t watched them live for years!      

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[quote user="grantroederdisaster"]

A very sticky area to go down!

I will never understand people not from East Anglia supporting Norwich cause they just picked them out. I support Norwich cause I''m local and certainly would not support them if I wasn''t local. I think its so much better supporting your local club cause you know more about the club and what makes it tick. Thats why I feel sorry for gloryhunting TV fans who go to a game once in a blue moon and don''t know about the ups and downs of following your team live through thick and thin!     

[/quote]

Now that is the sticky area you are talking about,one i have been down on numerous occasions!!

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And I grew up near Kings Lynn, started supporting Norwich there; and when I moved away I stayed supporting them. That''s loyalty in my books, though I do keep an eye out for the Walsall and Stirling scores as I''ve lived near them. I would never go to one of their games though.

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[quote user="cityangel"]A loyal fan is someone who loves our club,talks about our club, does anything they can to support our club and goes through the highs and lows with the club.[/quote]

Well said cityangel. And as this is my 42nd season I think I can claim to be loyal.

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I went to my first game in 2000 and had my first season ticket in 2007, however I''d say I''ve been loyal since Sheffield Wednesday away last day of the season 2008, my first away game. That really opened my eyes up and was the defining moment for me. Ever since, I can''t wait until the next away day, every spare penny I get goes in the away day fund, every bit of birthday/christmas money that goes in the away day fund. I''m a student and most of the time I''m skint but nearly everything I do get is spent on watching Norwich City, which when u don''t have a lot of money, is an expensive habit. I''m off to uni this year but i''ve still got my season ticket and other than the odd night game will be there pretty much every home game. It might be a different story next year, when my uni savings run out and I have to get a job but whenever I get the chance I''ll get down to CR and sing my heart out.

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Must admit I wasn''t into football at all when I was younger, never had a Dad or anyone like that to take me to the games but living the first 6/7 years or so of my life near Peterborough perhaps that''s a good thing! I was a plastic manyoo fan from ages 10-14 which makes no sense whatsoever looking back on it, seeing as I have no connections to them at all and haven''t even been to Manchester! All my family are Everton fans so I did toy with supporting them for a bit but glad I''m a city fan :)

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I''ve never really had the money or the logistics to go to away games, I''ve been to 3 or 4 now though, including Scunthorpe this season.However, I''ve been a season ticket holder since 1997 as a mere three year old.. Too young to remember my first game but I think it was against Wolves and Lee Marshall shanked a clearance over the City Stand...that''s my only memory there...but since 97 i can count the amount of home games I''ve missed on my fingers. So not bad really, but I think I''m no more loyal than someone who calls themselves a Norwich City Football Club supporter, enjoys it when we win and is disappointed when we lose. Loyalty is how you feel, not how you act, and if you can feel joy in victory and misery in defeat, you''ll be a loyal fan, my son.Cheers :D

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[quote user="Europe_93"]This question has been banded about before.  Don''t get confused between loyalty and commitment.My loyalty will never be in question, I have supported the team, to the exclusion of all others (save England), for about 35 years.  Over that period my commitment has altered according to my life circumstances and financial position.  I probably do about 3-5 games a season now, typically away - I live 250 miles from Carrow Rd.  Shirts about 10-15, memories about a million :o)I know people who will support one team, and then a few years later affiliate with another.  That''s where you question loyalty.  [/quote]Id agree with this. I was a season ticket for 10 years until Uni commitments meant going to games was becoming all too rare. However I would always listen on Canaries world (Or lately by ringing home and getting them to stick Snorefolk on loudspeaker) So id say im loyal, but current circumstances mean im not that committed to games.Im now living in Reading, and only get to a few games a season, usually away. I would go to more, but money restrictions mean I have to prioritize elsewhere, I came home the weekend of the Swansea game but couldnt justify the cost for me and my girlfriend (Who wouldnt be particularly fussed either way) I start work tomorrow so hopefully I can go to more, but then im becoming more and more of a London Irish fan, so I expect those extra funds will be split between the two.

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aaarrrggghhh! I thought this subject was done to death in the bad old days 2006-9 when underachievement was sanctioned by sellout crowds.  Call that loyalty?  I don''t.

 

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its down to your own interpretation of loyalty. i travel down to 10 or so home games from where i live in yorkshire all the games up here i go to. I used to travel from arnhem in holland for 10-15 home games a season when i lived there [20 odd hours round trip], if that aint loyaly etc etc

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[quote user="CanaryJames"]You didn''t go to watch us play Manchester United at home, because you thought we''d lose.

That''s loyalty is it?[/quote]I was at uni with my exam the next day (which is the full story) and I chose not to go down to the union to watch it, because I thought it was more prudent to spend the time studying. But yeah, it was a big regret.

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That''s fair enough :)

I hope you watched match of the day that night at least! You didn''t go to extreme lengths to avoid hearing how many we''d lost by only to hear we''d won a few days later did you!?!

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Isn''t this just another thread purporting to be "a considerably more loyal fan than yow" ?

Some fans on here go back supporting Norwich for more than 50 years - that''s loyalty.

At the end of the day, how do you measure loyalty.

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I don''t think you can measure loyalty.... the best way to prove you are loyal is to support your team as long as you live, so younger fans like myself, can''t compare with people who have supported Norwich for 50+ years, if you try and ''calculate'' loyalty.....

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I''ve been a season ticket holder since ''96/97 and have bought all the shirts etc since then. I go to as many away games as my bank balance allows! But I don''t consider myself more ''loyal'' than somebody who only goes once a season but listen to the games on radio/canaries player etc. Surely it''s classed as loyal when you keep up to date with the goings on at the club, proud to say who you support, get very happy when the result is a good won and dissapointed when we lose? I don''t get how people can live here and support teams hundreds of miles away, and the only thing they know about their club is what they see on MOTD every so often

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I always say that by supporting Norwich I can fully appreciate the good times, having experienced the bad. It''s when times are tough that your loyalty is called into question. The only way my loyalty has waned recently is through not wearing club colours in Manchester any more (for obvious reasons).

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Personally, I wouldn''t say buying replica kits and going to games etc really makes you anymore of a fan than the next person. I understand many people simply can''t afford it and why should your income determine whether you are a loyal fan?For me, the bottom line of loyalty is supporting the club through thick and thin, no matter what happens or where we are. I know very passionate fans who love the club to bits, who just can''t go to games for whatever reasons. On the other hand, I know a few people who attend games (most frequently the big ones ''big games'', Ipswich etc) who wouldn''t think of going to the games in League 1 last year.

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Surely a loyal fan is someone who follows Norwich exclusively.

If you nail your colours to the mast and don''t change them, then for me, you are a loyal fan.

If you chop and change the team you follow, then you are disloyal.

For me, it''s now season 27 since pledging my unwaivering allegiance to City

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