The making of a true football fan

The advent of television, the internet and growth of communication technology have made people closer to each other.

It has become extremely easy to track events happening thousands of miles away and that has also helped in spreading football across the globe.

Premier League matches are broadcast to several countries and it should come as no surprise that millions of fans follow their teams religiously.

Of course, there are questions about ‘foreign’ fans not actually true supporters of a club, however, a video by recently highlighted the story of one Chinese fan.

Come on You Irons

West Ham are one of the biggest teams in England, even though they haven’t been in the limelight in recent years.

The Irons have a huge following in England, but the video highlights one fan, Pan, and how he started following West Ham.

The Chinese fan came across the club in Football Manager and learned more about the team through the game and the internet.

One thing led to another and Pan travelled to London and caught a glimpse of Mark Noble.

The Hammers captain claimed in the video that growing up he didn’t have much of a choice as to who he would support but that isn’t the case any more.

Fans are spread all across the world and teams constantly travel in pre-season to reach out to these supporters.

Live and breathe the team

Local supporters can watch their teams in a stadium, and that experience is difficult to recreate anywhere else.

However, supporters from other countries wake up in the middle of the night to see their favourite teams in action.

The same goes for Pan, with the time zone differences between China and the UK. The story of the Chinese supporter is no different for millions across the globe.

Even though many won’t see their teams battling in a stadium, they can be considered as big fans.

An old saying goes that ‘you don’t choose your club, your club chooses you’, that might not be the case for global fans initially but they live and breathe their adopted teams and go through the ups and downs  like the supporters that flock into the stadiums.