Why all the hate?

As a Chelsea fan since 1993 when Dennis Wise, Craig Burley, Michael Duberry,Frank Sinclair and Neil Shipperley were leading our struggling side I don't like people referring to fans of Chelsea as glory hunters.  I can understand why others dislike or hate us for the genuine football reasons and the history (watch I.D. , Football Factory or Green St Hooligans for a good insight) but there are supporters of Chelsea in NZ who have endured many hard times prior to Romans investment.  I was in London when Ken Bates unveiled the plan for Chelsea Village and the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge and was laughed at for his dream....

Hate is part and parcel of football.

Ever since I became a fan of Madrid when I went to Spain in 1999, I cringe then get violently angry (on the inside, I'm civilised :)) when someone tries to say I am a glory hunter.

Barca fans are wangs I say! :D

Book a plane ride over to the UK. Purchase a ticket to ANY match. Watch the match and listen to the supporters.

No hate here mate oh no just lied we hate Chelsea because they are Chelsea dn we are QPR

Why all the hate?
That's easy! Pretty basic really, if you love your own team then you must hate the opposition. You have no choice for love and hate are two sides of the same coin. There is no middle ground. If you don't hate the opposition then you don't love your own team. Simple eh! Add in a bit of player poaching/religious fervor etc and you have a polarized support base who will place more than the usual emphasis on the love/hate aspect of the sport. Nothing wrong with a little bit of passion, and that is possibly something that has been missing from our own version of the game. Are we, in our Kiwi way, really passionate enough about the teams we support? I play with a bunch of misfit Europeans on a Saturday and their ability to talk about their teams just staggers me - all credit to them for staying in touch with their "local" teams back home. I really enjoy listening to the banter after training and games. They give me jip 'cos I'm a ManU fan who has never been out of the country. I have to drag out old photo's of Jim Holton posters on my bedroom wall to prove I'm not just a Johnny come lately. God how I hated it when we were relegated to the 2nd division. I consider myself a genuine fan but realize that my passion for the game pales in comparison to theirs, but please don't knock it. I have wanted all my life to live in a football mad country (called NZ), hopefully I will get my wish with the Nix and the AWs' in the next few years. Ronaldoknow2007-05-30 22:55:05

Alot of it isn't real hate. And I don't see any problems with fake hate. Even for a NZ'er.  For me, it's more of an intense dislike of clubs like Man U, Chelski, Spurs etc. Some of the teams bring it on themselves.... Fergusson, Rooney, Ronaldo, Mourino, Terry, Lampard etc are dicks. Moaning winging cheating tosspots. See how easy it is!!!

It's not always hatred, there are families in Liverpool that are half red and half blue. But there can be many different reasons for fans to hate each other.

It can be tradition, as a Liverpool fan I must hate Utd. Although its not so much hatred any more as most Mancs are City fans. Utd fans are mostly from Asia
It can be because of where you are from. My dad was born in Lancashire so automatically hated all Yorkshire teams (google "War of the Roses" if you want to know why)
It can be because of stereotypes. I was at a Pool vs Ipswich game with the Ipswich fans chanting "I'd rather be a farmer than a thief".
It can be racial. Just look at England v Scotland games or anyone v France as examples.
And it can be because of religion. My mum's from Glasgow and if you ask someone from Glasgow whether they support Rangers or Celtic you aren't really asking about football at all. I still remember the huge outcry when Mo Johnson (first Catholic to play for Rangers) signed for Rangers even though Celtic had a number of Protestants over the years before that.

Perhaps the reason why a lot of NZ'ers (I was born here dispite my parents origins) don't understand the hatreds and rivalries is because we don't have the same amount of history as say Britain. If we could come back to a Nix game in say 1000 years things might be different.

Want to see HATE!!!

I agree  with all of you guys. It seems to be a necessary part of football really. For me I remember large crowds at Christchurch Utd vs New Brighton games in the old National League. The sl*gging off, needling etc., that never seemed to get out of hand. Most of it involved ex pat poms. The only team we really hated was Mt Wellington. Like you guys who all hate my beloved Man U it was mostly because they were very successful and hate is a great mask for envy!!!!!!!!

Really! Wow, I never realised when I watched them play at Old Trafford that 58,000 of them were from Singapore. Now that's commitment! How do they all get home in time for work on Monday? And is it the same guys every week? Must cost them a fortune. Those Asians are crafty buggers.

I'm not sure that strike story is actually true - but it's a nice yarn. I think Smith probably believes it though http://zephyrfc.blogspot.com/2007/05/crude-fake-says-smith.html
Zephyr2007-06-01 23:42:44

Possibly not true

I have always loved the banter associated with team rivalry. The Head chef where I work is a spuds fan, my boss supports Norwich city, and we have regulars who come into our pub and support other random teams like Crystal Palace & Leeds United. Its about bragging rights (my father in law was gutted when we beat the Man-U twice this season. Yet I got tonnes of sh*t from everyone when we lost to West Ham & Sheffield United). I think the main reason there is such dislike for Man-u and Chelski is the jealousy of there success, and often you will get people accusing you of being a fair weather fan just because your team is doing well. ( after the Gunners had there undefeated season  I was harangued about that for ages)

And I was there when Millwall -------------------------------