Why did you start following your club?

[ped_ped]

True that, I always wondered what it was like to support your local team where it was not the norm.

I spend most of my week in Tipp, and most of who I know is from there. I know ONE other League of Ireland supporter who follows Cork City, and apart from that the fact that I value Limerick over Man United / Liverpool / Chelsea / Arsenal is looked on with complete confusion :p

[Ash]

Combination of many reasons but mainly ...

My auld fella played for The Town and had some sort of falling out so he had no time for them ... naturally I started supporting them to annoy him :D

Dont remember being at game regularly until players visited my school with free tickets so started going to games with mates

[srfc1928]

its the one thing that will bring all the lads togethor every other week since many are scattered all over Ireland now.
Thats always been a problem with Sligo, so many people have to migrate/emigrate to get work. We lose so many fans by lads having to move away.
it gets harder to come back for home games as responsibilities grow. I was looking at old youth team photos the other day, theres about 16 lads in the photo and only about 4 still live in Sligo. Of the 4 left all of them would be die hard Rovers followers.

I ticked a, c and f, the 'other' being that it's not that uncommon or weird to follow the local League of Ireland team in Dundalk. (Unlike, say, Dublin where jaws drop when you express an interest in "that ****e")
I was reading a newspaper recently where it described following LOI was like being in a cult.
As seand said it's not that uncommon or weird to follow Rovers here, you're more unusual, sad if you dont

[KevB76]

I wasnt into football at all when I was younger, with the exception of International footie which I got hooked on during Italia 90. I started to develop an interest in club football when I lived in England, a few of my pals were into it in a big way so I ended up watching a bit of it and got hooked. Problem was I never felt a true connection to any club, I followed Aston Villa just becasue most of my pals did, but it never truly felt like my club.

Came home in 2003 and the love affair with EPL and Champions league and all that continued to grow, then one random day in summer 04 my brother said lets go watch a Limerick match. It was not as I imagined it - felt the same as a junior match to me (we were playing at Pike Rovers ground at the time) but nevertheless I enjoyed it and decided there and then this was definitely my team and I wanted more - it just felt right, despite being nothing like I had assumed it would be based on the footie I'd watched up to that point.

Over the next few seasons I got sucked in deeper and deeper, I've only missed one home match from 2007, and one away match form 2009. I even go to most A-Champs and U-20's even the away ones, so deep is my affliction. Even my whole social life revolves around club activities and the people I've met through following Limerick. And to top it all off, since the start of this season the club has given me a role behind the scenes - it doesnt get any better than that for a fan of any club, but that would never have happened in a million years as a Villa fan!

[PartySaint]

Just a point to the parents on here who bring their kids to the games, Never underestimate how much it means to your son or daughter to be going to matches with their mam or dad

[Martinho II]

:
Combination of many reasons but mainly ...

My auld fella played for The Town and had some sort of falling out so he had no time for them ... naturally I started supporting them to annoy him :D

Dont remember being at game regularly until players visited my school with free tickets so started going to games with mates

whats was your dads name ash and when did he play for them? Its a wonder you never made it in the first team considering your goalkeeping ability!:p

[GUFCghost]

I took an interest when Galway United visited the school,then my dad brought me to a match against UCD,it ended 2-1 to united.I got hooked!

[SkStu]

similarly got hooked at a game involving Bohs and UCD... in Belfield on a Tuesday night.... weird.

[Schumi]

It's good to see that UCD can get fans for other clubs at least.

[eamoss]

When I was younger I "supported" Man Utd but then my friends like Guinny would slag me for not being able to name more then 5 players. My first game was a friendly against Newry City but TBH I didnt care for football at the time.

Then when I was 13 after I realising how sad WWF was I got out of it I needed something else to occupy my spare time. At the same time Dundalk had reached the semi finals of the 2002 FAI cup and I watched the game on TV even though I had been invited to go by my friends. Started getting more into football after then and then the 2002 World Cup made me really interested in football. When the next season started I went to almost every home game with my mate.

I got slagged like no tomorrow in my school for supporting them but less so outside of my school. Since I have gone to college (4 years) ago I have been to less and less games. This season especially as it was my last year in College I didnt come home for months at a time and now being in America I have only been at two games all season.

It seems the more successful we become the less I go to games :p

[redobit]

1533 views on the thread and only 58 votes on the poll :dunno:

[Bray-Z]

Few players came to the school. Did a few keepy uppies, few fancy tricks. Gave us free tickets, went, saw the players, loved it, simple as that.

[oriel]

I lived for almost 20 years on the next street to Oriel Park, in summer time as kids we 'moved' into oriel itself, played football in the 'pit' (now where the Youth Development Centre is) into late evenings every night. Just grew up walking up to the ground every Sunday from the late 70`s. First game I remember was v Hajuck Split in 1977 (1-0 win, but similar scoreline to Sofia in away leg !) My dad also worked on the turnstiles at the time, which helped.............

[**FrOsTy**]

Think I was about 6 when I started going to home games regulary. I remember one of my friends from school got tickets to a Man United match for his birthday and wouldn't shut up about it. So for mere consolation my Step Dad brought me to a Blues game. It was against Dundalk. We won 2-1 with Dominic Iorfa scoring. This been my first ever time been at any live event I just loved every bit of it. Went to school to following Monday and talked a few of my friends into going down. As it happened 3/4 of us went with our Parents for about a year until we started goin by ourselves. Took about 5/6 years after that when we started getting into in it big time when we started joining the Block E lads (singing section) and then the away days began. Always think back and wonder that if my mate hadn't of gotten tickets to the Man Utd game would I of ever have gone to the Blues games. Delighted that I am. I mean what's better than a 16 hour round trip to Donegal on a Friday night to see your team play in the rain?

[monkey9]

Even though i'm a northside Dub, born and bred, my dad was originally from Drimnagh. He used to go to Pat's matches when he was a kid and brought me to a couple of Pat's games when i was a child myself. The first match was againt Dundalk at Harold Cross, i think we got hammered 4-1 or something like that.

I never went to games growing up, really just looked out for their results in the paper on a Saturday morning. One time, i just decided to go to a match, then i went to another and before long, i was a season ticket holder and hooked.

My dad died two years ago and i like the connection that going to Pat's games gives me, i'm carrying on what he used to do when he was younger. And like another poster said, i look forward to the day when i have a son or daughter of my own to bring to the matches.

[oriel]

The first match was againt Dundalk at Harold Cross, i think we got hammered 4-1 or something like that.



Probably one of the last times we beat you in the league Monkey :D

Also good point re taking your child to their first game, im taking my eldest (5) to his first Dundalk game later in the summer (Bohs), we`ll see how that goes.......

[DazH]

lads sorry to go a bit off-topic but I'm doing my thesis on the League of Ireland I'd really appreciate if ye could help me by filling out a survey for me, should only take a few minutes....people on this forum know what they're talking about so it'd be great if I could get some responses

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QHN8GR6

[Onefootednopace]

DazH - Survey completed. Best of luck with the thesis.

[Onefootednopace]

My late father used to attend both Cork Hibs and Cork Celtic games in the 60's-70's, so when Cork City started in 1984 he dragged me along to the Lodge for a look. After one mediocre game too many he lost patience and I didn't see another City game until the move to the Cross in 1986. And as they say...the rest is history.

[Martinho II]

lads sorry to go a bit off-topic but I'm doing my thesis on the League of Ireland I'd really appreciate if ye could help me by filling out a survey for me, should only take a few minutes....people on this forum know what they're talking about so it'd be great if I could get some responses

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QHN8GR6#
completed dazH best of luck with it!

[GalwayRed]

The earliest Shels game I remember going to was a friendly with Middlesbrough in 1998. My Dad took me along. He had a bit of an interest in Rovers but he tried to get me into Shels because they were the closest team to us. Well Rovers were close too but he had this crazy idea that they would soon be moving to tallaght:p. Took a while to get into it but I really started to enjoy my trips to Tolka. 2007 was the first year I did a couple of away trips outside of dublin. Moving to Galway for college has made it tough but I still get to most matches.

[osarusan]

I was a big Man. United fan when I was 9 or 10, mainly (or even entirely) because my brother was a big Liverpool fan, though I can guarantee that neither of us would have been able to find the places on a map.

Anyway, our father, who had been a Cork Celtic fan for basically all of their existence, took a good look at what his kids were doing, and took us off to Hogan Park. That was 1989, and it probably helped that we were good back then. The first game I can remember is losing 3-1 to Derry, which effectively ended our title hopes (this is how I remember it anyway), though apparently we had been at a few games before that.

What was interesting was that our interest in Man U and Liverpool disappeared practically overnight. We just forgot about them as we found live local football. Both of us (and later my sister) have supported them ever since, from near and far, and as Nick Hornby said, we've often bitterly regretted it, but never for very long.

[Dodge]

And like another poster said, i look forward to the day when i have a son or daughter of my own to bring to the matches.

weather permitting my 10 month old daughter will be making her debut in Richmond this Sunday.