What's really wrong with getting on the bandwagon?

Question

a lot of people live nowhere near a nrl team, so they don't feel any real connection to a particular team.

what matters, is that league is supported, not so much what team you follow year to year....

people get pulled in by the way a team plays it's footy, and by the quality of the players it has. players jump from one team to another all the time, so why can't supporters do the same without people on their high horse looking down on them?

it doesn't matter how long someone has supported a team for. buying a club membership is the only real way to prove your support.... otherwise all supporters are equal. true?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

As said before teams need loyal fans. You've gotta go for your team through thick and thin, not just who you reckon's gonna win the competition that year.

Players jumping from club to club is completely different. It's their job and if their favoured team doesn't have a spot for them they would need to go to any club that would take them, a player won't stay jobless cause his team can't take him.

League isn't half as fun without a team that you follow completely. Going for a different team each year just takes the fun of competition out of the game.

Answer 2

All football is tribal warfare refined down to representatives of your tribe competing or doing battle with another tribe's representatives. Originally you had no choice but to support the tribe you were born into (territorially) but these days you can choose you tribe. Either way once having a predetermined or a chosen tribe and team they should be yours for life. True supporters support with $$$ & shows of solidarity with other tribe/club members. No $$$ and you don't support, you are only a voice - a barracker.
Teams now employ mercenaries to champion their cause, but clubs don't employ mercenary supporters !

Source(s):

History
Dictionary - supporter - one who provides sustenance, aids or assists

Answer 3

Simple question asked by a simple person. You choose a team and you stick with it. If they win the premiership you celebrate, if they get the wooden spoon you wear the jersey with pride and defend them when people put **** on them. Simple as that!

And Darren, it's either Eels or Broncos. Pick a team and stick with it, you can't support whichever one does better in a given year.

Source(s):

Life.

Answer 4

It's not true mate. I mean, if say your favourite player is Brett Stewart but you like the rest of the Sea Eagles team (well that's just me) and he switches teams to some team you hate every player of, I'd rather stick with the Silvertails. Who said buying club membership is the only way? What planet are you on? If the local tramp is an avid footy supporter (and before he was a tramp) how can he possibly buy a club membership ahead of a home??? Whatever drugs you're on, I need to confiscate them.

Answer 5

You have a point! If you follow the code, it's healthy for the game. However, player's change for many reasons- Money, Lifestyle, Injury, Family, Community & Association: Coaching etc. To create competition fans must remain loyal to there closest team of upbringing. If fans chop n change, the spirit of rivalry will die.

Answer 6

A true supporter of rugby league sticks by their team through thick and thin. You can't change to the team who is winning just because your previous team loses a few games.

You don't need a club membership to be considered a true supporter.

Answer 7

No, not true. Yes, you're supporting the game but you're not supporting your team because you haven't stuck with them from their losses and wins. You stick to your team and don't change it just because another team is winning...

Answer 8

If you're a supporter you stick with your team win or lose, good times or bad. Jumping on a bandwagon is the start of disloyalty .. pick a team and be surprised.

Answer 9

If thats your case; then we at the Broncos and Eels don't want your support.
I've supported both teams as long as I can remember and always will. I never jumped on no bandwagon.

Answer 10

Be a dumb bandwagoner all you like, but don't expect us to consider you a fan or a fan of a game.

Answer 11

WTF?

Answer 12

I agree with Anton & Mell :)

Answer 13

I don't know if this is another way to show true support.... What happens if a player that u really like plays for the club you've grown to love(and was your favorite player), but leaves for another club and you decided to follow them. What would u say for this? eg; Brad 'Freddie' Fittler did it while he was at Penrith(went from the juniors all the way to play 1st grade for a number of years) and then joined the Jewish Roosters!! I know a few people in the past that have worn the No.6 Rooster jersey(while Fittler had been there, but had been Panthers supporters). Would you then call them true rugby league supporters, because they wear an NRL jersey 24/7???

Answer 14

Its important for teams to have loyal fans, that's what really count. Put yourself in their shoes, if a team is fighting a loosing battle they need their fans to back them up and do better. Lucky we don't have too many of them having the same attitude around or it will be horrible. Are you the type who wear 2 jerseys to the match? And see whoever wins you will put the winning team jersey on at the end? Sigh.
I only live here for the pass 10 yrs but get to know RL only this season... and I see so much loyalty in the fans... I do admire them as I have yet to join any team at the moment. Still looking out.

Answer 15

Buying a club membership just means you can afford it. Doesnt make you a lover of the side or a die-hard supporter. I have a friend at work who - midway through the NRL season told me she prefers netball (*gag*) to footy and doesnt understand league.

THEN! When the Eels started winning consecutive games (round 20?) she bought Eels jerseys for herself and 2 daughters.

That monday she came into work and said "whats a prop?".

Its fans like this that just make it annoying for the rest of us. Ive supported my team since birth! Not just because of their pretty colours!

But if you love a team - be a true supporter and cheer for them win or lose!

thanks :)

Answer 16

I think there are 3 basic groups of supporters. There are those who don't feel any real connection to a particular team ( and if you lived in Darwin for eg why should/would you) but love and appreciate the game and just enjoy watching good footy.
Then there are those who love the game and recognise and appreciate good footy regardless of which team is producing it but still follow one particular team year in year out.
Finally there is a third group for which it is a purely tribal thing and who support a particular club year in year out. For supporters in this grouping their support and loyalty is more to the club then it is the game. This grouping would include those supporters who if their club folded would walk away from the game and stop following it.
In respect of the first group they often get accused of being band-wagoners because they seem to switch allegiances and seem to support whichever team is doing well at the time and so people from the tribal supporters tend to get on their high horse and look down on them. But really, the only reason they switch teams is because they don't have a geographical reason, or family tradition of following a particular club and because they love watching good exciting footy they are obviously going to be attracted to the team/s doing well, for the simple reason that if a team is doing well they are most likely the team that's playing good exciting footy.
Personally think I think people in this grouping are more true R.L. lovers and followers than those tribal supporters whose support is based purely on where they live and family tradition.
So, if you are one of that first group don't worry about comments of those here who crap on about band wagoners most of them are numbskull' who know b*gg*r all about the game anyway.
For the record I belong to the 2nd grouping, live in Brisbane and support the Broncs but if there was no Brisbane team in the NRL I would probably be a band wagoner to, but having said that I think it is more interesting/exciting and ultimately more satisfying if you do have one team to support and follow year in year out.