Born & grew up in St Albans, Hertfordshire. Now living further north in Herts (Hitchin). Hertfordshire is full of Spurs/Arsenal fans mainly... I can honestly say I can count on one hand the number of Charlton fans I've met growing up!
My Dad supported Charlton growing up in Forest Hill and we still both have season tickets (me for 22 years now, and my Dad for over 40!).
Mum used to live in on a council estate in Charlton but spent the early years of my life in Streatham (Still London I know) but was from a family of Charlton so when we moved this side, then just caught the bug. 15 years on couldn't imagine supporting the stripey lot I used to live 10 minutes from
Moved in with a mate in Thornton Heath in '85, having been brought up in Bedfordshire (parents were from London and followed Spurs and West Ham) continued to travel to Luton for home games but gradually started going to Selhurst to watch Charlton. Over the next four years started going to more and more Charlton games, persuaded my Charlton based company to get an executive box, got involved with The Valley Party and by 88-89 realised I was no longer a Luton fan. For the next six years I hardly missed an Addicks game home or away...
So, if it hadn't been for an unfortunate part of our history could you have ended up...?
Born in Colchester but live in sunny Clacton on sea.My dad is from Charlton took me to my first game against Sheff utd In fa cup 91/92 season at upton park been going on and off ever since.
Born Mottingham, went to St Thomas Moore in Eltham early eighties, dad supported since the 1940s, I started going during the Lennie, Leaburn Battle of the Bridge, St Andrews years. I married an Essex girl and live in Hook End Brentwood. I now go with my 8 year old son and will take my youngest 5 year old son in a year or so. It has been so important to me to get the boys following Charlton, I feel this strange responsibility to continue the support my Dad started, enjoying the good games with my son are priceless.
Charlton fans NOT from London or Kent..... I thought that pretty much ruled out our fan base!
Now I'm reading we have fans in Leicester. I wonder if we stretch to outside the UK....?!
I'll put my hand up. Born in Christchurch New Zealand. Arrived in London (Brentford) in 2007 for a year on an OE. A mate at work, whose family had season tickets, took me along to Watford and WBA games - including a pre-game lunch at Legends. But it was when I was introduced to the great football blogs about Charlton (Frankie Valley at first now Dr Kish, Wyn's various editions, Drinking during the game, then this forum that I was hooked. I've been back in NZ for nearly 6 years now and have an odd ritual of catching up with results, watching the occasional streamed game (the cup runs are good for this) reading the rumours on here and exchanging banter with the Wednesday fan at work. Everyone else in NZ follows Man U or Arsenal so I'm an anomaly which is a good talking point in itself and my Charlton shirt and cap are also a rarity around these parts which in Dunedin is rugby centric.
Yeah, I think this thread is actually made for me, lol...
Seriously, very good topic, many interesting stories. Glad to see I'm not alone. My parents were (and of course still are) both football fans so I started watching football games on TV with them at an early age. They didn't follow any particular team though, as there weren't any locally. When I went to middle school I met some friends who also loved football and with the English Premier League starting to have a lot of TV coverage here, it soon became the most talked about topic among the few of us. Our difference though was that they focused on the big clubs whereas I was interested in the whole league. I grew up under the influence of my Mom who has a kind heart and always has a soft spot for the 'underdogs'. Charlton Athletic probably fit right into the category of 'underdogs', or more precisely, 'dark horses' when they were doing exceptionally well in 2003, so they caught my eye. I began to search information on the club and read a lot of articles. I was touched by the club's history and was amazed at what it had achieved both on and off the pitch over the years with extremely limited finances. What I also liked about this club was that Curbs was the second-longest serving manager in the whole league and he seemed to be a very down-to-earth and hardworking person in the interviews I read. Plus I never heard a bad word about the Charlton supporters. So to me this was a unique club in so many ways and it wasn't long before I became a real fan.
Over the years I've surprised many people by revealing I'm a Charlton fan. Whenever someone asks me which club I support, my answer will be immediately followed by a 'why???' look on their faces. It's difficult to explain in just a few words but I always tell them we're a very special club and we've made big achievements. I'm proud to be an Addick and I always think that compared to those who have won top level trophies, we're an equally successful club. And you lovely people on this forum have done great things to make me believe I made the right choice on day one - we're THE best club in the world.
Moved in with a mate in Thornton Heath in '85, having been brought up in Bedfordshire (parents were from London and followed Spurs and West Ham) continued to travel to Luton for home games but gradually started going to Selhurst to watch Charlton. Over the next four years started going to more and more Charlton games, persuaded my Charlton based company to get an executive box, got involved with The Valley Party and by 88-89 realised I was no longer a Luton fan. For the next six years I hardly missed an Addicks game home or away...
So, if it hadn't been for an unfortunate part of our history could you have ended up...?
I have thought about this a lot, and I really don't think I would have. There was something about Charlton and their plight that appealed to me. I also had a work mate who was an Addick and kept on at me to go. I think Dulwich Hamlet would have been a more likely choice...
Charlton fans NOT from London or Kent..... I thought that pretty much ruled out our fan base!
Now I'm reading we have fans in Leicester. I wonder if we stretch to outside the UK....?!
I'll put my hand up. Born in Christchurch New Zealand. Arrived in London (Brentford) in 2007 for a year on an OE. A mate at work, whose family had season tickets, took me along to Watford and WBA games - including a pre-game lunch at Legends. But it was when I was introduced to the great football blogs about Charlton (Frankie Valley at first now Dr Kish, Wyn's various editions, Drinking during the game, then this forum that I was hooked. I've been back in NZ for nearly 6 years now and have an odd ritual of catching up with results, watching the occasional streamed game (the cup runs are good for this) reading the rumours on here and exchanging banter with the Wednesday fan at work. Everyone else in NZ follows Man U or Arsenal so I'm an anomaly which is a good talking point in itself and my Charlton shirt and cap are also a rarity around these parts which in Dunedin is rugby centric.
Born and bred in County Tyrone (in primary school in the 1970s I may have owned a Man U away strip, because of Sammy McIlroy), absolutely no family connections whatsoever.
Didn't really follow football much until, in the mid-80s, I was asked what team I supported, the questioner fully expecting me to mention a big club, or Spurs....
I've always been thran, and thought to myself, feck it, and said Charlton (I cannot honestly say why, other than that I just got lucky), because I knew it would annoy and confuse the others in my class.
Sadly, I very quickly found that, having become the only Charlton fan in the village, so to speak, I had to spend an awful lot of time justifying myself and paying attention to how we were doing, so that I could manage the banter side of things.
Went to university in Dublin, spending most of the Lennie Lawrence/Back to the Valley era watching from a distance and still explaining to the incredulous why it was that I supported Charlton (though, by this stage it was no longer just to annoy others, and I was properly a fan).
Did some postgrad in Lancaster in the 90s, and managed to get to almost every game in the North West and a fair few home games. Was hugely lucky to be able to be at the Play Off Final - best day of my life - and also to get to a number of our games in the 98-99 season (including the Villa away game when Steve Brown, as ever, didn't let us down, and I thought that we might actually stay up).
Came back to Northern Ireland after that, and have (infrequently) gone to what games I can in the meantime, normally at either the start or end of the season.
Absolutely love being a Charlton fan and everything that makes our club unique, not meaning weird, especially the Valley Party/Back to the Valley campaign and, today, CARD/B20.
Born and bred in County Tyrone (in primary school in the 1970s I may have owned a Man U away strip, because of Sammy McIlroy), absolutely no family connections whatsoever.
Didn't really follow football much until, in the mid-80s, I was asked what team I supported, the questioner fully expecting me to mention a big club, or Spurs....
I've always been thran, and thought to myself, feck it, and said Charlton (I cannot honestly say why, other than that I just got lucky), because I knew it would annoy and confuse the others in my class.
Sadly, I very quickly found that, having become the only Charlton fan in the village, so to speak, I had to spend an awful lot of time justifying myself and paying attention to how we were doing, so that I could manage the banter side of things.
Went to university in Dublin, spending most of the Lennie Lawrence/Back to the Valley era watching from a distance and still explaining to the incredulous why it was that I supported Charlton (though, by this stage it was no longer just to annoy others, and I was properly a fan).
Did some postgrad in Lancaster in the 90s, and managed to get to almost every game in the North West and a fair few home games. Was hugely lucky to be able to be at the Play Off Final - best day of my life - and also to get to a number of our games in the 98-99 season (including the Villa away game when Steve Brown, as ever, didn't let us down, and I thought that we might actually stay up).
Came back to Northern Ireland after that, and have (infrequently) gone to what games I can in the meantime, normally at either the start or end of the season.
Absolutely love being a Charlton fan and everything that makes our club unique, not meaning weird, especially the Valley Party/Back to the Valley campaign and, today, CARD/B20.
i consider myself one of the biggest Charlton fans stateside. Born and Raised in Chicago, IL ... my Granddad and Dad both born in Bromley and both supported Charlton Athletic. My father, being a director of Charlton Athletic for over a decade, i got overseas quite often to watch the addicks in action as a young boy ... My first game was at Upton Park, and memories haven't stopped since ...
Grew up in a mixture of Grove Park, Catford, Deptord and Upper Norwood luckily none in my family were into foitball and my foster parents took me to the Valley. Due to work have lived in Lancashire for the last 13 years but recently retired to North Dorset but I won't return to the Valley until there is a change in ownership.
I grew up in Frinton-on-sea and Im amazed at how many on this thread live in north Essex and support Charlton. Cant say I ever met another Charlton fan growing up or in my visits back there as an actual Charlton fan!
Living in Surrey and West Sussex all of my life, it was my Step Dad who took me to my first game at the Valley... It was so different to the non-league games I'd seen before then, there was a special feel.
Even though my Step Dad and I grew apart after my Mum died, I was addickted to that feeling I got when I first climbed all the stairs to the Covered End J block. As I grew up I realised there were a lot of weirdos up there, racists, over reactors and miserable sods all mixed in with the vocal fans. I moved to the lower and it was far more a family feel and I have sat there or in the west by the dug outs since around 2007. Sat in the family quadrant a couple of times but only for the cheap tickets as atmosphere is woeful.
Best thing about the half way line area is hearing the managers... proper insight into what both teams are doing/thinking etc.
My two youngest have lived in sunbury since the ages of 2 & 1, they are now 20,19 - they had no choice really as the old man grew up in various parts of se London, was a Charlton fan, and their big brother is a Charlton fanatic.
I was born in South London but have now lived outside London for much more than half my life. If people ask me where I'm from, I'm now never quite sure if I'm "from" London or *******shire. I'm moving more towards the latter because that's where my kids have grown up and its where I will likely spend the rest of my life (even if I move from here I can't for one second imagine it would be back to London).
So...I'm not from London, but I support Charlton because it was my local club growing up, and because it has given me some of the best moments of my life...
grew up in shrewsbury,first match at the valley was when the shrews beat us 4-2....i was in with the town fans aswell.my older brother worked at the Q E military hospital and as shrews fans we went together to that match.this would've been 83 ish.from then on,whenever i stopped with him i would walk down to the valley to take a game in.totally and utterly got hooked with all things charlton.the nearest i've lived to london is heckington south lincs,where i am now.
I go to most matches from llanfairfechan(north wales coast),got a season ticket when i moved back to shropshire,and go as much as work allows from Heckington......strange thing is my daughters got the bug aswell ........I even speak with a bit of south london accent not put on !!!
I totally and utterly blame my big bruv for the crap life that has come upon me and my girl
That 4-2 defeat v Shrewsbury was April 1984. Boiling hot day, only 3,000 crowd, nothing to play for, Charlton totally out-played and I came straight from Heathrow to watch after a flight from. Port of Spain. Flanagan and a cracking Aizlewood volley for our consolation goals.
Remember it well. For some reason there was hardly any traffic anywhere that day, so after boarding the No.75 bus on Sydenham high street and it sailed through to Charlton, I accidentally ended up walking into an empty Valley without paying around 13.15. Although only 16 at the time I bought a pint behind the Covered End and the old bill had a good look at me drinking it alone on the East Terrace, then to my relief took no notice!
Living in Surrey and West Sussex all of my life, it was my Step Dad who took me to my first game at the Valley... It was so different to the non-league games I'd seen before then, there was a special feel.
Even though my Step Dad and I grew apart after my Mum died, I was addickted to that feeling I got when I first climbed all the stairs to the Covered End J block. As I grew up I realised there were a lot of weirdos up there, racists, over reactors and miserable sods all mixed in with the vocal fans. I moved to the lower and it was far more a family feel and I have sat there or in the west by the dug outs since around 2007. Sat in the family quadrant a couple of times but only for the cheap tickets as atmosphere is woeful.
Best thing about the half way line area is hearing the managers... proper insight into what both teams are doing/thinking etc.
My two youngest have lived in sunbury since the ages of 2 & 1, they are now 20,19 - they had no choice really as the old man grew up in various parts of se London, was a Charlton fan, and their big brother is a Charlton fanatic.
I go to Sunbury/Ashford Common a couple of times a week for work
grew up in shrewsbury,first match at the valley was when the shrews beat us 4-2....i was in with the town fans aswell.my older brother worked at the Q E military hospital and as shrews fans we went together to that match.this would've been 83 ish.from then on,whenever i stopped with him i would walk down to the valley to take a game in.totally and utterly got hooked with all things charlton.the nearest i've lived to london is heckington south lincs,where i am now.
I go to most matches from llanfairfechan(north wales coast),got a season ticket when i moved back to shropshire,and go as much as work allows from Heckington......strange thing is my daughters got the bug aswell ........I even speak with a bit of south london accent not put on !!!
I totally and utterly blame my big bruv for the crap life that has come upon me and my girl
BLOODY HELL ! I'm in Ruthin and also travel to most games lol
Comments
My Dad supported Charlton growing up in Forest Hill and we still both have season tickets (me for 22 years now, and my Dad for over 40!).
Seriously, very good topic, many interesting stories. Glad to see I'm not alone.
My parents were (and of course still are) both football fans so I started watching football games on TV with them at an early age. They didn't follow any particular team though, as there weren't any locally. When I went to middle school I met some friends who also loved football and with the English Premier League starting to have a lot of TV coverage here, it soon became the most talked about topic among the few of us. Our difference though was that they focused on the big clubs whereas I was interested in the whole league. I grew up under the influence of my Mom who has a kind heart and always has a soft spot for the 'underdogs'. Charlton Athletic probably fit right into the category of 'underdogs', or more precisely, 'dark horses' when they were doing exceptionally well in 2003, so they caught my eye. I began to search information on the club and read a lot of articles. I was touched by the club's history and was amazed at what it had achieved both on and off the pitch over the years with extremely limited finances. What I also liked about this club was that Curbs was the second-longest serving manager in the whole league and he seemed to be a very down-to-earth and hardworking person in the interviews I read. Plus I never heard a bad word about the Charlton supporters. So to me this was a unique club in so many ways and it wasn't long before I became a real fan.
Over the years I've surprised many people by revealing I'm a Charlton fan. Whenever someone asks me which club I support, my answer will be immediately followed by a 'why???' look on their faces. It's difficult to explain in just a few words but I always tell them we're a very special club and we've made big achievements. I'm proud to be an Addick and I always think that compared to those who have won top level trophies, we're an equally successful club. And you lovely people on this forum have done great things to make me believe I made the right choice on day one - we're THE best club in the world.
Well done for representing us down under!
Didn't really follow football much until, in the mid-80s, I was asked what team I supported, the questioner fully expecting me to mention a big club, or Spurs....
I've always been thran, and thought to myself, feck it, and said Charlton (I cannot honestly say why, other than that I just got lucky), because I knew it would annoy and confuse the others in my class.
Sadly, I very quickly found that, having become the only Charlton fan in the village, so to speak, I had to spend an awful lot of time justifying myself and paying attention to how we were doing, so that I could manage the banter side of things.
Went to university in Dublin, spending most of the Lennie Lawrence/Back to the Valley era watching from a distance and still explaining to the incredulous why it was that I supported Charlton (though, by this stage it was no longer just to annoy others, and I was properly a fan).
Did some postgrad in Lancaster in the 90s, and managed to get to almost every game in the North West and a fair few home games. Was hugely lucky to be able to be at the Play Off Final - best day of my life - and also to get to a number of our games in the 98-99 season (including the Villa away game when Steve Brown, as ever, didn't let us down, and I thought that we might actually stay up).
Came back to Northern Ireland after that, and have (infrequently) gone to what games I can in the meantime, normally at either the start or end of the season.
Absolutely love being a Charlton fan and everything that makes our club unique, not meaning weird, especially the Valley Party/Back to the Valley campaign and, today, CARD/B20.
Living in Cornwall, my son supported Charlton because his Dad made him go.
Due to work have lived in Lancashire for the last 13 years but recently retired to North Dorset but I won't return to the Valley until there is a change in ownership.
Even though my Step Dad and I grew apart after my Mum died, I was addickted to that feeling I got when I first climbed all the stairs to the Covered End J block. As I grew up I realised there were a lot of weirdos up there, racists, over reactors and miserable sods all mixed in with the vocal fans. I moved to the lower and it was far more a family feel and I have sat there or in the west by the dug outs since around 2007. Sat in the family quadrant a couple of times but only for the cheap tickets as atmosphere is woeful.
Best thing about the half way line area is hearing the managers... proper insight into what both teams are doing/thinking etc.
So...I'm not from London, but I support Charlton because it was my local club growing up, and because it has given me some of the best moments of my life...
I think Mickey Paye was right-back.