TOPIC: Supporting two teams

What's everyone's thoughts on, say, supporting Liverpool and Carlisle? Just seen this comment on a BBC article about our match the other night:

"Yer am a Carlisle and Liverpool fan, Can't wait to go see this matches, think I should be supporting the blues this time tho as am born and breed in Carlisle."

When people say "Well obviously i support Carlisle, just because there from Carlisle" thats just as annoying when they dont actually know any of the players

I can't comprehend how you can support two teams. Your either a Carlisle fan or your not. If you need a glory team as well then your not a real Carlisle fan

huddersfieldcock wrote:
Well I support 3 teams, Carlisle United, Celtic and Scotland. Not sure how that makes me not a Carlisle fan?

It is a dilema, I slaughter plastic fans for being trophy hunters but watching all the games on Sky.

But I support Liverpool as my second team but have only been to Anfield 3 times, when Carlisle played there.

My eldest boy is the same as me, however there is no doubt at all who I will be supporting come 23rd September. COYB

Not so sure about my boy, unfortunately.

Influence of Sky and if you believe them there was no football before the Premier League.

My best mate supports both Carlisle and Man Utd. He was born in Salford, lived there until he was 9 then moved to Carlisle. He's said that he supports both, but would struggle to pick a side if they ever played Each other.

On the other hand, Carlisle born man Utd fans that 'support' Carlisle can bugger off. I do have a favourite prem team, Norwich because of my ex. Although I do support both Carlisle and Sydney FC


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I support Carlisle but I enjoy the football Everton play so have a soft spot for them.
Carlisle Vs Everton? Carlisle hands down

To me supporting a team means going to watch them. I support Carlisle but also like Spurs however ive only been to White Hart Lane once and that was to support Carlisle. Ive also been known to watch Rangers on very rare occasions so i could say i support them but if either played Carlisle thered only be one team id want to win.

I don't think you ever feel for a second team what you feel for Carlisle. I was a season ticket holder at Locomotive Moscow for a couple of seasons and I used to go to their games. Even now I download them from the Internet. Not Carlisle though

chopper wrote:
Take it she was an Ipswich fan then?

I think you can only really truly 'support' one team, however its perfectly normal to have affection towards another.
I am a true blue CUFC fan but do have a soft spot for Arsenal, mainly because of the way they try to play the game.

I think it's untenable to support two teams. A Carlisle United supporter should support that one team only.

Having said that, I think there are lots of reasons to prefer or have a soft spot for other teams, or at least take an interest in them. You might have a friend who's a genuine fan of a team and thus develop an interest in and soft spot for them. You might have the same situation with a family member, such as in-laws not from Cumbria. You might have grown up in another city long enough to develop an interest and then moved to Carlisle at the time when you properly started going to matches. You might have lived abroad for part of your life. You might even have a friend who plays for another side. A couple of these apply to me as far as taking an interest goes, but this comes nowhere near support, not remotely so.

What does 'support' mean? You can support vocally by going to games but not by watching the television. You can support financially by going to matches and buying shirts and scarves, and by taking others along with you; subscribing to Sky means you financially support Premiership teams.

If someone put a gun to my head and asked me which Premiership team I supported, I'd say the first one that came to mind, in order to avoid being shot. If someone asked me the same question minus the gun, I'd say none of them. If someone asked me if I had a soft spot for any, I'd say probably not. If someone asked me who I'd like to win the title, I might say Southampton. Why? Because of what they're not: they're not Liverpool or Manchester United, two teams, er, followed by glory hunters who never go to games and two teams that at various times of my life I've had rammed down my throat by the same kind of non-match attending non-supporters; they're not Newcastle; they're not lots of other teams I dislike; they play in red and white stripes but aren't Sunderland; they're from the south coast, so seem distant and inoffensive; certainly in the north of England, I don't encounter Southampton fans who have a chuckle at me for supporting Carlisle, because I almost never encounter their fans at all. Do I support Southampton? No, never; not a chance. Do I care about them? Not at all. Do I know any of their fixtures in advance? Nope. Do they bug me as much as other Premiership teams? No they don't. In fact, they're at most a foil to other teams, highlighting why I dislike so much of football and so many teams and supposed supporters.

At a early age i was brought into football,allways had a ball at my feet,my older brother supported Liverpool, my Granda was big mates with Bill Shankley from his Workington Reds days,so fist team i was aware of was Liverpool. In my teenage years the team i played for done trips to Anfield,days of Barnes,Beardsley, Aldridge,who wouldnt be impressed? When they scored and you got (moved) swayed around the Kop,amazing.
Around similar time my mate stared going to Carlisle matches,so if i wasnt playingor going Anfield i started going to BP,Clive Middlemass days,Warwick Road end, this continued until left school and i joined the Royal Navy,when i joined up i was bit embarrassed saying i supported Liverpool and being from Cumbria,so i just started saying i supported Carlisle. Plus Liverpool were starting to become shit
Anyway,i didnt get to BP or Anfield much for good couple years,went to watch Portsmouth at Fratton Park just cause i love football,seen Hoddle playing for Swindon,Quinn and Phillips for Sunderland,good days. I mind going to watch Liverpool v Bolton and Andy Walker scoring the winner for them andstarting to realise that the Liverpool thing was more a boyhood thing,that my loyalties lay at Brunton Park,went to Carlisle v Colchester about similar time if not before.
So as time went on,i left the RN,settled at yam,BP was more accessible, Carlisle ended up being my football fix and who i am passionate about.
Been taking my son since age 5 to both Anfield and BP,ish,would think he will say same when it comes to matchday,Liverpool v Carlisle who you want to win? Carlisle every single time because we are Carlisle fans.
If i as to write down my highs at football,9 out of 10 would refer to Carlisle United.
I cannot wait to get to Anfield to see Carlisle play their.

When I first moved to Yorkshire the first question I was asked was "who do you support ". Now United around that time were complete garbage, but, I didn't try to hide it, and to be fair to the lads I worked with I strangely got a lot of respect. As for supporting two teams, not a bloody chance. The Blues and the Blues only for me.

jelly wrote:

Haha no, I lived there for a few years and her dad got me a season ticket in the Barclay with him. Loved them times. Last game of my season ticket there was when Norwich lifted league 1 trophy after we beat them 2-0. That was hard to keep my celebrations muted when we won


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Must add to that, any Norwich home or away game I always had a Carlisle shirt on under a jacket. Always the away shirt as well, wearing any colour other than blue in Norwich is safest bet


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Well I know lots of people who "support" 2 teams (or at least say they do). There are a number of people I know who want Carlisle to win (but rarely, if ever, go to any games) and support, in local pubs, teams like Man U or Liverpool. Those characters are NOT supporters of either side, in my view, they just want something to have a bit of a laugh with their mates about.

As with a number of you, I lived away for many years, mainly around Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire (with a decent spell in Plymouth), and never was anybody unaware of where my footballing loyalties lay. I often went to watch other clubs matches, whether Notts, Lincoln City, Plymouth or whichever team, but I did not give a shit who won any of those games, and I don't remember ever jumping up and down when any of those teams scored a goal. This is the same with all Premier League teams, none of them excite me much, and the couple of times I remember saying "get in there" or something to that effect was when Man Utd and Liverpool won their respective impossible European cups. But that was just because I'd rather have had an English side win than some foreigners.

I find it difficult, in the extreme, to see where some of the clowns around here who are purely pub fans get their connection to "their" teams, and why they are so affected by the outcomes of their games. There are times when it ruins their lives for days after a particularly cack result, genuine football supporters are far more philosophical about their defeats etc and tend to get over them much more quickly. I always have felt that this is because of having a genuine attachment to the club they follow, tragically for the plastic supporter they don't have that and as a result don't really know how losing actually affects real fans. The other side is winning, they also don't have the genuine joy of winning either, yes the Man U fan will shake his fist under the Liverpool fan's nose and puff his chest out and look all self important. But is that the way we ever behave? No it isn't, and rightly so, because we genuinely understand things from the point of view of our opposing fans.

I'm glad I only have one team.

Brilliant post Moorland. This is exactly how I feel about my 3 clubs. Tried to follow Melbourne Heart (later became Melbourne City) when I moved to Melbourne, I gave absolutely no hoots about who won, who was playing so this venture lasted just 1 game. Don't have foxtel so don't watch premier league games and I've got no clue who plays for whom now. Now that Square Pass has settled down I've been able to enjoy my football again. Listening to Carlisle on the radio and Celtic via the internet each week is now a joy without having to worry about other results.

I was given my clubs by my dad, which my dad got from his dad. I'm stuck with them, but would never want to change. I can spot a plastic now within 1min of chat, at which point I change the topic from football.

Lived in Liverpool all my life and have family in the lakes. When I was up staying with family, once went down to Brunton Park, when I was about 10, and was bitten by the bug. My uncle is a die hard Liverpool fan, and was always trying to get me into Liverpool. Would always get me tickets to games and stuff (I think my mum had something to do this, as what parent wants to trek all the way up to Carlisle every fortnight, when Anfield is just down the road) but when I was about 15 and able to get to games by myself, I got myself to more Carlisle games and decided that supporting two teams was just naff. All my mates support either Liverpool or Everton, and I always want both teams to do well, likewise they always want Carlisle to do well too. Generally speaking, most people have the utmost respect for the mileage that I clock up following Carlisle all over the country, there are others who think I am insane (I think this myself sometimes). But my Liverpool supporting mates are terrified of our game next month. Because they know that if Liverpool win, it won't be any shock, and they can't really brag about it, because our entire squad combined, probably earns less than a quarter of what Jordan Henderson is on. But they know that if WE win, then I am going to be smug as [censored] for the foreseeable future.

I supported Liverpool as a kid - was barely aware that Carlisle even had a team and never looked at their results. Went to BP as a programme seller against Stoke City the season they went down from Division 2 and have been hooked since. Support only Carlisle but would still prefer Liverpool to win than Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City etc

If you only support one team does that include England, or can you have them as your 2nd team.

It's a really interesting point that Flatcap. I have to say the only international team I ever want to see win a game is England, and I've actually been to a few England internationals as well, but in no way do I have the same sort of desire for England to do well as I have for Carlisle. I have no real idea why that is at all, but it is different with the cricket and rugby teams, perhaps it is because I don't care about any other cricket or rugby teams at all.

I used to go and see Rangers as a kid as my uncle was a big fan and would take me to the games. My Dad isn't a football fan.
I support Carlisle and Kopervik my local team in the Norwegian third division. I can't see them ever playing each other but supporting Carlisle is a no brainer for me.

I was born in Ashington so do follow them and Newcastle as I have family and friends that support them hard to be born over there and not have a soft spot for them

My dads from Carlisle and have supported them since I could talk just about and I didn't see them until aged 11 when we moved across its ridiculous to suggest you cant have allegiances to more than one club I love our club and the proudest days of my life supporting us is the times we beat Newcastle weird eh..

Yes, you can only support one team. Supporting more than one is like having more than one wife, just not the done thing (without the legal issues).
For various reasons people have are attracted towards other teams and that is perfectly normal behaviour, as long as you don't act out your fantasies, erm i mean start supporting them.

When I was a kid I supported Liverpool, purely cos I went to the 88 FA cup final with my mates, who were scousers. As I grew older though I felt a bit of a dick supporting a club I had no actual connection to. I've lived in Cumbria since I was 6 and Carlisle the past 7 years now so the only one team for me is CUFC.

born and bred in Lancashire , ironically when all my mates supported United ,City or Liverpool I picked Spurs has my team.Moved to Silloth at the age of 11 ,still followed Spurs until I started going to the Carlisle games in the mid 70s .I then realised what supporting a team really meant.Still a soft spot for Spurs but Carlisle is the team I've supported ever since.

seabird wrote:
When i was a kid Carlisle may as well have been on the moon, my dad wasnt a big football fan but first game i remember watching was the 1981 Cup final. My dad said Spurs manager used to be at Workington and ive looked out them ever since. I wouldnt say support coz i think you have to go watch them to support. I didnt go to watch Carlisle until the week after the Liverpool cup game and i only went then because my mate wouldnt get me a ticket for that game and said if you really want to watch Carlisle come the week after. I did and the rest is history.

Edit to add, 26 years later i still cant get a f***ing ticket

I support Carlisle (because why wouldn't you?) and I guess I follow man u (pretty much just because my grandad supports them)