Could you have supported anyone else?

JollyRobin

Being a Charlton fan has been passed down in my family from generation to generation. My Dad once told me of how he had wanted to be a Chelsea fan after watching them in an FA Cup final, but my grandfather soon saw to that. However, sometimes I think how different it could've been - mind you I'm enough of a a*sehole without supporting that bunch as well.

So did you, or could you have ever supported anyone else and do you have any second clubs?

carly burn

There's still time.. ;-)

bolloxbolder

My Dad used to watch Charlton but was a Chelsea fan. He took me to the Valley in March 1969 and I was hooked by the scale of the magnificent east terrace. Later that year he took me to see Chelsea three times. If he had taken me there first I am sure it would be different.

Man United have always been my second team as I supported them in the days of George Best before being taken to see my local team. In recent years it has been good with their success, particularly on weekends when we have lost.

Bedsaddick

My family are from Mile End are are hammers fans but luckily my mum met my dad who was from Plumstead and the rest is history .

AFKABartram

My family were all Bethnal Green / Whitechapel, but my dad said him and his mates never supported a club like people do these days, they would just jump on the tube every Saturday to whatever was the big game in London that day.

Hard to relate to that now, do wonder whether i'd enjoy the game more or less without the tribalism involved.

ken from bexley

Quite easily, most kids in Charlton in the 50s and 60s followed the Hammers and Arsenal. Strangely I thought you should follow your local team?
How quaint.

shine166

I would/could have supported Luton, grew up in Bedfordshire and all my school friends plus step dad supported them. I was 6/7 when my did left so even now am surprised I didnt convert ! Mind you I did see some great Luton games and Scott Oaks was briefly my hero during the Luton FA cup run to Wembley against Chelsea.

iaitch

Used to go to Palace now and again with a mate from school, wasn't a fan but just used to go along. We went to the FA Cup tie at the Valley in 1969, game ended 0-0 then went to the replay which we won 2-0, came home with all the Charlton fans and loved the atmosphere and singing etc, became a Charlton fan that night and followed them ever since through thick and thin.

ValleyGary

my old mans an Arsenal supporter. Brother was a junior red and he took me to The Valley when i was old enough.

addick1965

When i was younger most of my mates supported Arsenal and my dad who didn't really support anyone could have easily taken me to Millwall instead of Charlton for my first ever game(lucky escape for me)

Nicholas

My old man used to support Leeds in the early 70s until his mate started taking him to Charlton.

Either way I was destined for miserableness.

UrbanChupacabra

Been researching my family history the past couple of months. Charlton was a common middle name and outside of the South East I only had family in Dundee and Carlisle. Fate conspired against me

CAFCTILLIDIE

My nan used to support arsenal , I was close to her and used to take an intrest In them . But I then went to the valley and saw a game and from that day I committed to charlton ,pretty local to me I used to live in welling but now have moved up to Maidstone . Can't stand these man united supporters who live in london , kent etc. I have a mate at work who always talks to me about Man U and tells me how good certain players are and how bad other ones are . But he never sees them play :S ...

Dansk_Red

My Dad brought a TV (Secondhand) and the first progamme I watched was the 1953 Cup Final (Bolton v Blackpool) all my cousins who came round to watch the match and sided with Blackpool I went with Bolton (loved Nat Lofthouse) and had a soft spot for them ever since (except when CAFC play them). My grandsons first match was when we played them at the Valley (just a co-incedence).

oohaahmortimer

my old man was a fulham fan but not massively in to them, Johnny Haynes was a name he always mentioned but once he moved to Eltham and met my mum Charlton were their team and thats who we followed
either way i'd have supported a team with zero personality and shit away support

JollyRobin

CAFCTILLIDIE said:

My nan used to support arsenal , I was close to her and used to take an intrest In them . But I then went to the valley and saw a game and from that day I committed to charlton ,pretty local to me I used to live in welling but now have moved up to Maidstone . Can't stand these man united supporters who live in london , kent etc. I have a mate at work who always talks to me about Man U and tells me how good certain players are and how bad other ones are . But he never sees them play :S ...

You think that's bad, I have to live with 3 of them at university. None of them live remotely near Manchester.

ShootersHillGuru

To be honest, when I started going I didn't realise there was a choice.

ForeverAddickted

My neighbour was a West Ham fan and it was through him that I learnt Football existed.

My Dad / Grandad and Great-Grandad all supported Charlton yet they only went when they were younger so they never really told me which team to follow or highlighted Charlton... For me it was a mixture of free tickets for my primary school / the school holiday soccer courses and a work colleague of my Dad who took me to my first couple of Charlton matches.

I always find it strange (and hate it in a way) that I started supporting Charlton in 1994... I liked Football yet never knew Charlton existed and that only three years before we were ground sharing, were in one the clubs darkest periods and I knew nothing about it

redlanered

I've thought about this in the past. I could have easily supported 4 or 5 other clubs, which is probably the case for many in London

Millwall because my Dad was a fan years ago (he's from Millwall itself), and that was where we first went to watch football. Spurs because Jimmy Greaves was the first player to make me starstruck. These two were my original teams in fact, and had my Dad been braver & taken me along when they played eachother in the Cup, i would surely have stuck with them (he was spooked by the expected crush and of course the Spanners' dirty ways even back then). No doubt had Millwall had more seats and fewer brick-throwers I would now be well 'ard and taking charlie in the toilets

So disillusionment set in and I happily fell in with mates & turned red and east (from SE10) ... but along the way had my Gooner cousins ever taken me to Highbury, or we'd stayed living in the east end, it could have easily turned out different. And that's without jumping on the glory-hunting bandwagons of those around us...

Viewfinder

My old man was born and brought up in Tottenham in the 1920s, so naturally he supported the Spuds. In 1964 he took me, aged eight, to my first ever game: Tottenham v Blackpool, 4-1. A little while later I saw Jimmy Greaves score directly from a corner (Danny Green take note!) in a 2-0 win over Liverpool. It was absolutely thrilling and I was hooked.

In 1966 we moved from Purley to Greenwich, equidistant from The Valley and The Den, and the old man set about finding me a local club to support. So we went to an early-season fixture: Millwall v Charlton, 0-0. But he was horrified by the simmering aggression on the terraces and thereafter nudged me in the direction of SE7.

And so, but for fate, I could be enjoying success in the Premier League - or dragging my knuckles with the Spanners.

sam3110

Could easily be Millwall, grew up surrounded by them, granddad is Palace so could also be them, Dad started going Charlton cos he loved a fight but his 'enemy' at school was Millwall so refused to go there. Could also be Arsenal if I followed most of my mates in primary school

Macronate

could've been Millwall or Charlton.

fortunately it was Charlton.

oldbloke

As a kid i used to attend charlton and west ham alternate weeks. But the main reason i went to west ham was my head of year at school was a steward there. Was entertaining to some of us to sign songs about his size and lob monkey nuts at him.

Themightyath2

My old man is a Charlton fan but for some reason my brother followed West Ham so he took us to the Valley and Upton Park, thankfully by brother wasn't as interested in football so gradually the trips to Upton Park became fewer and fewer then completely stopped around 1986!

DPFC

My old Dad was a chelsea fan took me to a lot of matches including the 1970 cup final. Then in october that year I came with a mate to the Valley and been comming ever since
I should have not stopped taking the pills

JiMMy 85

It would have been interesting to see how things would have panned out in my family had Crawley been a league side back in the early 80s.

Thank Christ they weren't.

Danny Addick

Lived in Brighton for 3 years so they are my second team.

ValleyMick

We lived in Plumbstead then Abbey Wood. My nan, her husband and then a bloke called Roy used to take me and my brother to the Valley in the 1970's. I also supported Liverpool (they're my second team).

I fell out of love with football because of the vile atmosphere at many matches and got involved in politics whilst a student. Got the Charlton bug back again from my brother at the tail end of our Prem days and wouldn't support any other team even if we go bust and play non league. Living now in Hampshire just seems to make me even more committed to Charlton. Had a ST for a good few years now.

I'm nearly 50 and supposedly grown up but the bloody Charlton result still makes or ruins my weekend. Charlton till I die. Thanks nan!

Granpa

By the time I met my wife at the age of 17, I had been a regular at Arsenal, Watford, and Southend. Anne lived in Plumstead, with a 17 year old Charlton supporter for a brother, and a family of Addicks. I quickly saw which side my bread was buttered, although for a brief spell while my Chelsea supporting son was alive we saw an FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup win by Osgood, Hollins and co. However I was born at the time before influential media coverage, and always felt that you should support your local team. Hence my brother in law and I spent nearly 60 years at The Valley, and on Boxing Day there will be 6 of us on the North Upper. People generally like to belong to something, and I don't have a single regret, I've got bloody millions of them. Only kidding.

Norfolk_Addick

My Dad's first game was Millwall vs West Ham. He was born and grew up in Charlton and that match was probably enough to put him off. It was always going to be Charlton in the end.

fattmatt

I supported Everton in the mid 1980's until my dad started taking me to see the derelict Valley and then took me to Selhurst Park in 1989. We lost 1-0 to Norwich and I never thought of Everton again.

I have cheated on Charlton in the past with Plymouth Argyle.