If you have to ask that question, you will probably never fully appreciate the answer. But this is an attempt to articulate how a lot of us feel.

I grew up in a town not to a wealthy family but with enough to get by and have a holiday every now and then; safe, happy, secure, respectful and with a good level of free education. But listening to the media, journalists, comedians, politicians and pop culture in general, there was always one message;‘We from the Greater London area and the South-East are the normal and you are lesser, something less-civilised in your North-Eastern hovel’ (edit: check out our later post “On Wembley Way Baht’At” for more detail). Though nobody would ever publicly say this, readers from the North I am sure will appreciate what I am referring to.

I found it very unfair that such bigoted Cockney, Essex and Surrey wankers (not all of you, forgive me) would claim superiority of their home without ever having visited mine. Thus, I found myself more and more looking for ways to promote where I come from as something to be proud of, because it was something to be proud of. You may have famous and talented individuals from your town but they represent their background, class or education, not their city or region. But a sports team does adequately represent your city/region and all those living there, because it features a larger unit of people working together, removing individual personalities and uniting under one cause; we are from here.

So it’s natural that you support the club of your home town/ city if you want to show pride in your home town/ city. Your team should be a metaphor for who you are; where you grew up has contributed so much to your character and will continue to do so when you engage with people from different parts of the same country. I will always be judged by the fact that I am from East Yorkshire. That’s a fact. And there is nothing from East Yorkshire known as well both nationally and internationally as Hull City AFC. It is the one thing that people will know of when I tell them where I am from, so I stick with the club as it allows me to demonstrate that coming from East Yorkshire is a great thing. Hull City therefore embodies a lot of what makes me, me. Being a part of it allows me to be with the tribe, with people who have the same background as me, whatever path in life they have chosen, against those who want to look down on us and our home.

I support my club to indirectly support where I come from.

I support my club to celebrate my identity.

I support my club to prove that something professional, organised and athletic can come from where I come from.

fbtg