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I bumped into a friend of mine yesterday. After the usual niceties (the weather, girlies, the vast amount of alcohol consumed the night prior etc), the subject got on to the English Premier League, and Torres’ hattrick for Liverpool. “Yeah – it was fantastic, but we were lucky to get over Middlesboro.” Sorry - we? I wasn’t even aware he had ever been to Liverpool, so I enquired as to when his last visit there was. “Oh, never” he shot back. Ah. But he HAD visited London a few years back. There is a strange trait of New Zealanders adopting an English football club (quite often in a place they’ve never been to), and referring to them in a completely possessive fashion. It would be more understandable for example if somebody lived in London for 3 or 4 years, hooked up with Arsenal, Chelsea or West Ham and referred to them as “us”. But I suspect a lot of these people couldn’t even find their football team’s hometown on a map. So what is the fascination? English football, as we all know, is incredibly tribal. Maybe it is some kind of envy – in New Zealand we support our teams, but we don’t live and die by their results. With, naturally, the exception of the All Blacks. A lot of people may not appreciate that referring to a team as “we” whilst in a neighbouring town’s pub could potentially result in a pint glass in the face. And, as an aside, how many of these passionate football fans would be able to name a single player in their local team in the New Zealand competition, let alone their local side?
The really strange part is that these very same people don’t necessarily refer to their own home teams in the same possessive manner. If a Blues or Crusaders fan was to refer to their win in Seth Effricka over the weekend, a lot of the time it would be “didn’t THEY do well” rather than “didn’t WE do well”. Yet as a Shrewsbury Town supporter, the very same person may well complain that “we were robbed”, despite the fact that the closest they have ever been to the place is via a Griffins biscuit. If a New Zealander decided to follow Sale in the Heineken Cup, it is highly unlikely they would find themselves returning to the side so possessively. In American Football or NBA, the same applies – a Pittsburgh Steelers fan in New Zealand does not consistently refer to their chosen side as “we” or “us”. This trait seems to apply solely to the one competition. I am not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing, although it can be somewhat grating. If someone half way across the world is so keen to support a team that they believe that “we” is appropriate, good luck to them. But you would have to admit, it IS intriguing that this possession applies to the one competition only. It is a long time since the football results - all four divisions - were broadcast on National Radio. Perhaps this is last tipping of the hat to our colonial history. If that is the case, it is even more interesting that for all the “us” and “we” involved, precious few seem to have noticed that the players are not English.
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