i'd go with the simple definition that whoever supports Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea are glory hunters. Will add Manchester City when they do achieve any sort of glory...

My apologies to fans of those teams that have actual connection to the area they represents...

Its unavoidable. European football is no doubt good, but watching it blindly is not enough to set your andrenalin running. You need to create artificial connection with at least one of the teams to raise the stake. And for arguement sake, the team you choose better be glorious. Hence the standard glory hunting.

The fact that we even support a foreign team actually already made us glory hunters. Football supporting must be culturally linked and not just based on players or on field performance.

But not to say its wrong or right. The clubs expecially wont mind the extra cable money or shirt sales. its free market so you can choose to do whatever you want.

we are all glory hunters. The question is just who is the bigger and why.

P/s - My congratulations to people who for some reason choose to support Spurs. The sight of your team walking out to San Siro pitch against the european champion will sent special spine chilling sensation because you broke barriers. How i wait for the time my team also do the same.

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Aug 28 2010, 05:58 AM

True fans : People who do whatever they can to support and a show their sense of pride and belonging towards a cause that represent a symbol of their culture, social and geographical roots. They do not choose their team. They are born with it. Statistics, trivial information or jersey colour does not matter. Whats matter is you support who you are.

die hard fans: People who continue to support and a show their sense of pride and belonging towards a cause that represent a symbol of their culture, social and geographical roots, even at their lowest time. Ther will curse and criticise everything about their team/club but leaving them is never an option however small your team are or how bleak the challenge is.

That are true in some way. For some club, season ticket are limited and can only be purchased through an official fan club. This season ticket normally passed down from generation to generation and rarely sold to outsiders.

So to be able to get hold of the ticket, regardless off the price, means you are connected to the core of the sporting culture and accepted to be a true fan.

To have a season ticket also shows that you live in the club's vicinity and have some valid reason to support them as the club represent the community you live in.

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Aug 30 2010, 09:40 AM

but i doubt you can be culturally linked without having geograhically present for a considerable period of time. You can "know" about the culture by reading books or watching documentaries but the only way to "be" and "absorb" that culture is by living among them.

i agree with your glory hunter definition. Thats why i mention that all foreign football customers are by right glory hunters. Even saying they are foreign football fan is not totally accurate. they just associate themselve with the glorious part of foreign football.

they can like or admire the establishment alll they want but there are a level of fandom they cannot reach. This level that brings communal identity pride for each win and its adverse level of sorrow for each defeat. to borrow a quote from this memo that flying around, all foreign football supporters are just "penumpang" other people's glory. They are not the real thing. The clubs will no doubt appreciate the tv subscription, shirts and merchandise that you bought, thank you very much. But their main responsibility is towards the community they represent.

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Aug 31 2010, 01:49 AM

i agree the brits left a mark on our politics, policies, law and education. But as much as identity is concerned, it is very much thin veiled. Certainly not enough to make us responsible to support any particular british club. just because 53 years ago we are a british territory it doesnt make us a Manc or merseyside scouse. We have to create that connection artificially. And by unnaturally attaching a foreign glorious element to your identity, thats pretty much glory hunting to me.

i agree with Duke red in someway in that to make that artificial connection solid, you must go out of your way to explore the club's sporting culture. The objective is not to "know" them. The objective is to "be" them as deep as you possibly can. Talk to cab drivers. Drinks with them at the pub. Sit with them at the terraces. When they accepted you as their own, only then you passed the mark. And i don't see how that can easily be done by not being geographically linked at one period of time.

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Sep 2 2010, 01:08 PM

well on my part...i do not have very special affection to foreign clubs in that none of their result can make me especially proud, happy or terribly sad. This annoy the hell out of my EPL supporting friends as i can burn their club at will with nothing to throw back at me.

But for entertainment sake i make special conditions to keep me motivated to watch the matches. For instance, in EPL, i like to support Liverpool for league title just for the sake to make the title more valuable considering their 20 year drought ... and with each passing year, the same can also be said towards Arsenal.

in general occasion i support any team of the day that play against MU.. yes i am you typical ABU...why? because although few and far in between, results like Fulham 2-2 Man U are more valuable and satisfying... i have this weakness for underdog stories.. the Davids vs the Goliaths... the Evertons and Tottenhams who fought with grit to achieve more than their means. .. i do not change color every week as i do not consider myself as their fan. i only appreciate their fight... my colours are only for Malaysia's Black and Yellow and Terengganus's White and Black.

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Sep 2 2010, 01:08 PM

i do think and consider Arsenal fans who conveniently appear in groves because they are "inspired" by the invicible team and Chelsea fans who appear from nowhere during Abramovich and Mourinho era as glory hunters. Not to mention hordes of Manchester United fans that only knew the team during the consistent Alex Ferguson era.

There are many level of glory hunters. By doing a shortcut and to associate yourself with a readymade succesfull team already register you as gloryhunter level 1.

And yes. By this definition this also include liverpool fans from the 80's and even Nottingham Forest fans from the 70's. The fact that you have deep knowledge about your choosen team just make you a knowledgable glory hunter and can make you feel better than other worse glory hunters who know nothing about their team and change clubs and such.

Another way to make you less of a glory hunter is to support your adopted team during their lowest times. But if you actually consider EPL as a league of 20 instead of just 4 teams, Liverpool's "rough patch" is hardly agonizing.

Looking at the "bigger picture", since the 80's Liverpool has won the League Cup 3 times, FA Cup 3 times, UEFA Cup and a glorious European Cup. Not to mention several league, cup and European runners's ups. All this while they has been highly regarded as EPL's "Big 4". I cant hardly remember the last time they do not qualify to Europe. I consider that to be comfortable enough. I know at least 16 other EPL teams who would readily trade places with them. Not to mention the other 72 teams in the whole of English League.

If you want to use example of tormented fan, just look at Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle or Juventus fans who had to go through relegations. Or worse Fiorentina/Florentia Viola who have to witness their club's disintegration. By that,i just dont think Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool's fans these days are tested enough.

As Duke Red said, there are no right or wrong regarding this matter. No one can stop you if you want to be a gloryhunter. You can also accuse people to be a bigger glory hunter than you. Just as long as you dont forget that you are also a gloryhunter in the first place.

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Added on September 7, 2010, 11:19 pmthis propably broke several gloryhunting rules in several notches, but although i am a Terengganu fan, i also cannot help myself from being happy when Kelantan do well. My upbringing roots criss cross back and forth between these 2 culture that i hope good things to happen to both of them.

Beside. We (and everyone) share a common enemy. ANYTHING BUT SELANGOR damn it..

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Added on September 7, 2010, 11:38 pmThese days, i have not been able to go to the old stadium as i much as i would like. To watch my team, KLFA, Selayang and Shah Alam Stadium has been my 'home' away from home.

Very anxious for Malaysia Cup to start just one week after Hari Raya. I have lineup plans to attend weekends and midweek games involving Terengganu, T-Team and also Kelantan including the appetizer Selangor vs T-Team at Shah Alam stadium on Matchday 1. Hope our little brother will do us proud.

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Sep 7 2010, 11:49 PM

all fans outside uk =glory hunter

those people are less a glory hunter as cmpare those who supprt 'the big 4'. But mstly stlll glryhunters nonetheless

Depend n the reason why they support those teams really.. they further the reason from 'gloriness', the less yu are a glryhunter. But n the end f the day, if you support Blackpool because they are 'cooler' than your real team... the element of gloryhuntng are stlll there...


the fact that the only mnrty of UK ftball fans outsde UK supprt Portsmouth,Blackpool etc.. shows that majority of them are major glryhunters

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Oct 22 2010, 11:30 PM

the basis of football indurstry in its pure form is you must support the team in your locality... if everone only support the teams that is 'exposed' by media to them.. or only the winning ones... then the Epl would only consist of 4 teams....

by right everyone is born or grew up with with one locality team. When they ignore their locality team and choose to support a random team from a far away land that happens to win a lot and exposed intensivly in the media, and have more riches, more star players, with better built physique, and aesthetically good moving swagger........then that is already one act of gloryhunting....

for me...if he start to support with the success club...he is a glory hunter... if the club he support continue to be comparatively succesfull for the next 20 years meaning winning cups and generally failed to drop below to 4/5 position in the league... you still fail to prove you are not a gloryhunter... meaning you still are..

and you can also be loyal and passionated to the club you support, contributing to their economy by watching them on tv and buying their product and all.... and be a gloryhunter at the same time.. the definition for passionate/loyal suporter and gloryhunter does not conflict..

wht you cannot be is the club's REAL supporter.... that is only reserved for the peole in the clubs's localitiy.... because the club bear the name and symbol of who they are...


and dont be too defensive of this gloryhunting term... if you support Manchester United intensively since you were 9, just accept that you are a gloryhunter and just continue to support them as you like... no one can sue you.. just because a Manchester club is just a surrogate club for you doesnt mean you cant support it... just out of courtesy, dont be too hard on other gloryhunters because you are also one yourself...

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Added on October 24, 2010, 10:50 ami dont think LFC is a good example.... they are battling relegation right now which is a good point... but it is still seemingly only a temporary puddle... after supporting a club for some time, no one can easily change the club they support just due to one or two season on the downside..

if only Liverpool continue to fight from relegation for a further 4-5 years or better if the get relegated proper, then only liverpool supporters have a great chance to seperate the bigger gloryhunters from the less gloryhunters...

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Oct 24 2010, 10:50 AM

not true to all cases. IF someone murders someone, he is automatically deemed a murderer eventhough he do not renew his murdering activity every 2-3 years...

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Added on October 24, 2010, 1:43 pmheyy... gloryhunters can also support liverpoooll what... who can sue them?

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Oct 24 2010, 01:43 PM

actually in that post i was more referring to the English 101 discussion...

yeah we already had a few rounds... we can agree to disagree...

i would like to add that for me, glory-hunters not also confined to the glory if winning cups and league only...

it can also be used to defined someone who associate themselves with clubs who odds on to win games most of the times. Being a favorite is also a 'glory' craved by glory hunters.

And by that definition i can also add Manchester City and Arsenal to the gloryhunter list eventhough they dont win much.

try ask the bookmakers for the match Wolverhamtom vs Manchester City..who is odd on to win the game?

eventhough machester city lose, they still favourite to win other games so their 'gloryhunter' fans will still feed on that.. this of course apply less to fans pre sheikh money era..

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Oct 31 2010, 03:47 PM

Most of the people just choose to pin point one team from each different leagues as a point of support to make watching games in that league much more interesting.

If 'international clubs' no longer attached to their actual root surroundings and allegiance can be cheaply obtained by just about everybody all around the world, what stopping the people from making allegiance to 2 or 3 teams? Its that cheap.


Its kinda weird people is questioning that. Most of the people are gloryhunters in our domestic leagues, and we see nothing wrong with that. But we never accept gloryhunters when it comes to the foreign clubs we support. Isn't that kind of ironic and hypocritical?

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Added on November 4, 2010, 9:48 ami think 1 thing that could be worse than glory-hunters are exposure-hunters.

So the teams are pushed down your throat by the media and the people around you all walk around wearing the team's non-original jersey, you duly obliged and jump on the bandwagon?

if you choosing a foreign team to support, at least make an effort to be original.

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Nov 4 2010, 09:52 AM

another type of gloryhunter is the support your team only when winning type..

they may mostly only declare support for one team. they propably have been supporting the team for a long time also...

but most of the time, they just remain passive and will not go to the stadium because the team is not doing well.. but when the team reaches a final, boy do they came out in drooves. Even genuine fans hard to get tickets.

This is typical for malaysian football fans. we have heard a lot of criticism on football players and admistration. But malaysian football fans is not erfect also and must learn a lot more from football fans in europe.

on the contrary, that explicitly referring to oversea fans

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Jan 12 2011, 10:29 AM

thats what i have been saying all along. If you support any foreign club because they play 'great football'.. just go on and do it and except that you are a 'gloryhunter'. Whats so hard with that ..

its not like you are killing anyone. Speeding or downloading pirate MP3s are much worse according to the law yet its acceptable for us to accept that we do it. so just accept that you practice glory-hunting and get on with it...

the first step to address a problem is to break down your veil of denial and accept that 'you have the problem'.

So altogether now. " Saya gloryhunter, saya ok". Say it..

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Jan 12 2011, 10:50 AM

thats whats i talking about.....

yes.. according to globally accepted urban definition, around 90% is about the right amount.... and base on arab team's fan attendance in Asia Cup, i think this it is widespread among the whole Asia as well... IMO, only small pockets of fans that loyally support their local clubs in Japan and Indonesia are pure non-glory hunters...

its not just about being loyal... what more important it to who you being loyal to... i think most glory-hunters are loyal to the big club they choose to support, no doubt about that.. but i think this is due to reason that big club tend to be favorite to win games most of the time for a long period of time, making being 'loyal' relative easier.... you cannot use the world 'loyal' easily without being really tested... i mean 'reaally' tested... not just not winning the league on the the last day of the season for 20 years.. the real test is when your on pitch expectation of the team that you support become soo low, that even a draw result againts Wolves or Northampton you will receive with an open arms as a good start and can really make your day...

in generally accepted definition , when you are not 'loyal' to your local club while supporting other people's club like crazy, then you are a glory hunter. If you come from kedah, you would not support Selangor in any condition eventhough they dominate the whole of Malaysian football title history now do you...

but of course, out of denial, we tend to make our own un-complete definition about glory-hunters that suit our position... and who am i to deny it

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Added on January 26, 2011, 9:54 ami think the best thing to shield yourself from the guilt is to purchase the season ticket ..... even if you dont go to any of the matches... ..

being a season ticket holder will make you looks like a local from that area .. even if you are not..


This post has been edited by aressandro10: Jan 26 2011, 09:54 AM