Boy in Blue: Entering the Fold
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Christopher Ogden, and I was born in 14 BA, which stands for Before Abramovich (I felt that the year of our saviour’s arrival deserves to be recognised as an epoch). In the Gregorian calendar, this would be 1989, and therefore I am currently nearing the grand old age of eighteen. If I may, I would like to begin my contribution to this website by telling you all the story of my steady introduction to Chelsea fandom.
At the time of my birth, Chelsea Football Club had just been re-promoted to the First Division after a brief one-season spell in what is now known as the Championship. For the previous ten years, we had been largely inconsistent spending several seasons moving back and forth between England’s top two footballing divisions. The Eighties were the years of Ken Bates’ early tenure as chairman, most remembered by supporters for our powerful attacking force which consisted of players such as Kerry Dixon, Pat Nevin, Nigel Spackman and David Speedie under the management of John Neal and John Hollins. The club had made an extraordinary comeback from the brink of relegation to the then Third Division in the 1982-83 season, and with this promotion, they were to solidly establish themselves as a Premier League side.
Of course, at this time I was completely unaware of the astounding history surrounding Chelsea, as a baby growing up on a council estate in the suburbs of Manchester where I still reside. Living in Salford, the city is Red all over, and despite my father’s best attempts to nurture me as a Manchester United supporter, I had little attraction towards football; there were maybe a few kickabouts with old friends in the middle of the street, but otherwise, in my life, the sport was generally insignificant. I had more interest in writing and computer games.
That was until the summer of 1999, when Manchester United had just secured the famous Treble and were parading their newly acquired trophies to the adoring masses. My father took me to the city centre for the first time and we stood proudly among thousands of drunken and singing people of various gender, age and ethnicity as the team plodded by waving from their double decker bus. The atmosphere was electrifying. My memory of the event is a fleeting one, but significant nevertheless: I was still not an ardent team supporter (even though whenever I was asked about it by an adult, I dutifully replied ‘United’), or even one of football for that matter. However, a fondness for the game had nestled itself deep into my subconscious, ready to emerge when the time was right.
One evening several years later, I was sat alone in my living room flicking through several television channels in an attempt to find something worth my attention. My father had just returned home from work and was putting his coat back in the cloakroom. Suddenly, a similar noise to the one I heard years before made itself felt. I focused my eyes on the screen to see some footballers in blue trying to surge the ball forward late in the game with the score at 2-2. This was the second leg of our Champions League semi-final against AS Monaco in the 2003-04 season, a game that would ultimately end in heartbreak. It was also the first time I had actually watched Chelsea. Knowing they were English, due to my experience on football manager games, I silently urged them on against the horrendous odds stacked against them. After the final whistle blew and they were ejected from the competition, I sympathised with the evident devastation of the Chelsea squad. The most prominent image which struck me was that of Eidur Gudjohnsen trudging off the pitch in tears. I recall no definite memory that it was him, seeing as I had no clue who he was at the time, but I’ve steadily assured myself and others since that it was him and that was the exact moment in which I became a Chelsea supporter so it has become the truth regardless of whether it was.
I have no further recollection of Chelsea until the start of the season after, in which we first clinched the Premiership. During the first half of the season, I was still relatively indifferent to football, though while reading the sports section of the Sun newspaper my father bought every day (I only read what was put in front of me at the time) I saw of Chelsea’s exploits and smiled. My affinity for them was growing. By February, I had begun to watch televised games on an increasingly regular basis. I witnessed our lifting of the League Cup, the following drubbings of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, and the Bolton away game in which Frank Lampard gave us the title, with our controversial Champions League semi-final loss to Liverpool in between. I was officially hooked, and began to publicly proclaim my support.
Since buying the shirt and proudly donning it, considering where I live, I appear to have offended several of the locals (the majority of insults, I find, are directed from the drivers of white vans as I walk by). However, I have not been deterred by this. Instead, my interest has developed into an obsession. I am eager to learn new Chelsea-related information on a daily basis, and any good or bad result that the team achieves seems to have an extremely positive or negative effect accordingly on my overall demeanour for the rest of the day. My life now almost constantly revolves around Chelsea.
I recognise how lucky I am to have come across Chelsea at such a successful period in their history, and would be fully willing to follow them through relegation and beyond if necessary. I acquired a membership over the past summer, and although I haven’t yet seen our boys in Blue or Stamford Bridge in the flesh due to current financial issues and time constraints, I am determined to witness my first home game this season as an absolute rite of passage. I’m hoping for Manchester United!
My final question now is: How did you all become Blues?
Since arriving here, I have always been welcomed and made to feel like a true member of the community, more so than all the other Chelsea sites. Thank you very much for this. I hope you enjoyed your Christmases, and here’s to a profitable 2007 both for ourselves, and for Chelsea Football Club!
- Posted at 12:23 PM · Permalink · Print · 2210 views · Last indexed by Google on the 7th May 2008
- Tags: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Chris Ogden, David Speedie, Eidur Gudjohnsen, John Hollins, John Neal, Kerry Dixon, League Cup, Liverpool, Manchester United, Nigel Spackman, Pat Nevin, Roman Abramovich
Grand old age of 18 - HAHA. I’m also born in 1989 (but in December so I’ve got some time until I reach 18).
Also, this is the first time commenting here. I’ve been a little intimidated as my knowledge of Chelsea is still shallow - I’ve only started following the club since the end of 05/06 Season. And my television doesn’t even broadcast any of the matches (really!). Sky-One franchise (I believe) here in Japan got all the broadcasting rights and my mother does not want me to watch football. It’s giving me a very hard time trying to see how the club is doing and how the players are performing when I don’t get to watch any matches. Such an inconvenience in this modern age!
OK, and that was enough of ranting.
How I became the Blues… Let’s see now. I think it was because of Jose. However shallow that may sound. The way he acts, the way he couches, the way he spits acid from his mouth (figuratively, of course). Then I got into the team and football in general.
I only hope we play better today. Although it feels like the winds are blowing against us again.
Its ironic, but my actual start of interest toward Chelsea was when we lost the semifinal CL match against Liverpool. It was quite the first time I watched club football on television ( I only watched the World Cup previously) as it was the first time it was shown on the terestrial channel. Anyway, I saw that it was against Liverpool (a big club I knew that much then) and Chelsea who I have been seeing the club name from glances on the sports section. I had nothing to do then anyway so I watched it when the ball did not actually crossed the line and when Chelsea was unfairly knocked out. I started to feel a sort of passion towards this particular club (I thought they were the underdogs) and started to follow them through the papers. The reason was that my family did not subscribe to cable tv. Soon when Chelsea won the premiership title (with all the records broken) I felt sort of delighted that they got something in return and have been following Chelsea ever since.
I’m born in 1988 and just turned 18. (few days..)
Just a short note - my friend tried to make me support Manchester United much earlier by bribing me with a United Jersey. I think it was during the Treble Year and they were so popular everywhere. I just kept the shirt and never wore it. I never watched club football - although I play football, I never understood what was so great about club football - so I never had any interest in donning the colours of United.
A supporter since 1966 and I am proud to say ‘I was there when we were s**t.’
Compared to those years, you ain’t got nothing to worry about. Enjoy it!!
COME ON CHELSEA
Three points against The Villa on Tuesday will do just fine.
Is it Chelsea or many of its fans started supporting Chelsea after a defeat?
Mine was against manu in somewhere between 93-95. We were in front, but manu came back and stole it. It may have been in the FA cup. I may have been the first chelsea supporter in the country (mauritius)… which were full of manu & liverpool supporters.
Gullit was the one who shove me in the Chelsea corner.
Jesus K-rist! You lot are young. My intro came with a win, in the Cup, against Notts Co, in 1964, aged 14, stood next to my dad. Terry Venables was playing in mid (though it used to be called wing half) and Bobby Tambling scored a brace. We won 4-1. The terraces were open and windswept and stretched for what seemed half a mile along three sides of the pitch. In my next game we beat the then champions Liverpool 4-0. My worst experience was losing 0-4 away to Charlton in the old Div 2, which is now called the Championship (for all you new fans). One thing I can assure you of: though supporting Chelsea will assure you of moments of ecstasy, it does not come with suffering. New fans can expect a much easier ride than those of us who have been around 40 years or more.
I started watching football only very recently. Previously I really could not comprehend how my brother could waste 90 minutes of his time watching 22 men chasing after a ball. But Euro 04 came, and I caught the fever. I “succumbed” to watching a match.
I remember that the first match I watched: Czech Rep vs Greece; it was the semi finals. The team I supported had to lose, but that didn’t stop me from noticing and admiring the goalkeeping heroics of Cech and Nikopolidis.
Bearing the fickleness trademarked of neutrals I decided to go for Greece in the finals, which they won, and that made me very pleased.
From then on, I decided maybe soccer wasn’t so pointless after all. It so happened that the first club game I watched involved Chelsea. And as fate would have it, I recognised Cech! And that, very simply, was it. From that day onwards my heart steadily turned a royal shade of blue.
I must be honest, the winning streak Chelsea were having certainly encouraged me to support them even further.
I really am full of respect and admiration for the fans who have stuck through thick and thin with the Blues, pre-Abramovich and all.
I must admit I am pretty miffed at myself for getting into football so late. I really can’t wait till I can be rid of the tag of a bandwagon glory hunter. (Even though this is rather selfish of me, if you get what I mean)
But anyway. COME ON CHELSEA! Despite everything that has been happening, this season somehow is when I really feel the irrationality of love starting to kick in, and I am loving the club more than ever.
Being born and raised in Wisconsin in the U.S., I came to English football relatively late. I had played youth soccer and began watching it during the 1990 World Cup when I was 12. When I realized that the international teams only play occasionally, but all the players play for club teams, the search was on for a favorite.
One of our crap sports networks began showing English football highlights.
This is when it gets strange. The story is not as cool as the rest of your comments.
Realize that American sports teams do not wear their corporate sponsors’ names - and in the few cases where they do, at least not in proportions larger than their teams’ insignia. I was baffled that every team had a big company name on their chest. Being 12 or 13, I let that be the decider.
At the time, the only computer in my parents’ house was an old Commodore 64, which I still used. I noticed on the TV show that a team had “Commodore” as its sponsor. I thought I was the only person on earth who knew what Commodore was and what they did. I picked that blue side as my team instantly.
It’s very hard to follow Chelsea in the U.S., but thanks to cable TV and the internet (especially this site) I have been able to follow our Blues very closely for the past eight years.
Im an 18 year old Singaporean where most of the population in the country are mostly United or Liverpool supporters. I did’nt like both teams because the local fans were quite arrogent.
Then came 2 men called Claudio Ranieri and Roman Abramovich. During the next few years after their arrival, Chelsea were enjoying league success and even the Champions League. Wayne Bridge’s winning goal against Arsenal made me screamed like a mad man. It was then my heart became a True Blue.
A few years later, The Special one came to West London. He’s impact was immediate as he won 2 titles with the club. My only disappointment during his reign was Chelsea not being able to play AC Milan at Istanbul. Until today, i still cannot accept that Luis Garcia’s goal crossed the line.
Chelsea gave me many good moments to remember. Terry’s winning goal against Barcelona in the Champion’s League and Joe Cole’s dazzling skills in which he got the better of both Vidic and Ferdinand to win the Chelsea their 2nd consecutive title are some of the few defining moments.
This season, Chelsea were unfortunate to loose Petr Cech and John Terry together during the important festive season. But the title race is still mathematically not over yet and i hope that Jose and his men can show the world what Chelsea is made of and the resilience of the Champions.
Come on Blues! For the sake of all the Chelsea fans world wide. Aim for the Premiership hat-trick! And not forgetting the Champions League also..
My uncle was Tooting-raised, in the SW London Chelsea heartlands, and a Shed regular in the 60s and 70s. I was a big reader and found all his old programmes and the names - Tambling, Bonetti, Osgood, Cooke, Venables - and stories and photos were fascinating. I was hooked.
The first season I remember well is the 83/84 promotion season, mainly because we won a lot. My first game was at Watford in 87. We won 3-0, went second, then didn’t win again for about four months and got relegated. I started going regularly the following season, have seen some terrible footballers and godawful games, but enjoyed every minute of it (except the 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Sunderland. That was horrible).
I’m Portuguese and have always supported F.C.Porto. And still do.
I never really cared a lot for english football, but occasionally admired ManU or Arsenal’s performances.
Actually, my attention to football from other countries has always been because of portuguese players abroad, mainly the ones that developped at Porto. So, for a couple of years I was a Barcelona supporter, because Vitor BaÃa and Fernando Couto played there. Of course Figo is a kind of a national hero, and that also made me support Barcelona, then Real Madrid.
But the players move on, and my support fades..
Now, Mourinho has a strong and alluring personality. When he went to Chelsea taking Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho and Tiago with him, I became a supporter of this team instantly.
The way that the english press always seemed to doubt his capabilities and seemed to be wishing he didn’t have a lot of success made me wish very hard that Chelsea was champion that year.
Now, sometimes I find myself caring more about the results and performances of Chelsea rather than Porto’s, and I really think that I will remain a Chelsea supporter even after every portuguese is gone from the team.
But, of course, I still am a Blue Dragon at heart, and will be rooting for Porto in the CL games. Still, I will not be very worried when Chelsea moves to the next round.
My story more or less parallels yours, though it’s more of a watered down, female American version. I, too, was born in 1989, and am fathered by a Manchester United supporter. While I wish I had a long, drawn out anecdote to tell, it just isn’t to be. Soccer, for me, was something to be played, something that I gladly suffered the snow, sun, and rain for each Saturday morning, or weekday afternoon. You’d be hard-pressed to find it on television, especially if you don’t have a cable or satellite service, and I unfortunately fell into the latter category until the fourth grade. It never really occurred to me that there was more to watch beyond the women’s and men’s World Cup matches, so I never actually sought it out until recently.
The lackluster success rate of my national teams – Jamaica, Northern Ireland, and the US of A – led me to do what most young Americans would: become one with the raging anglophile within. At twelve, I kept meticulous records of every minute detail pertaining to “team England.†I admired Paul Scholes, David Beckham, and above all, Michael Owen. The first Premiership team I knew by heart was Manchester United; the first team I loved was Liverpool. None of this has anything to do with Chelsea, and yet they’re my favorite. I have no recollection of a blue-blooded epiphany, and I don’t buy into the “bandwagon†guilt-trip, as I was admittedly too ignorant to know of Chelsea’s achievement when they sparked my interest.
Over time, though, they’ve invaded my every waking thought. I find myself – surreptitiously, no joke – referring to the sport as football, and fretting over the return of players like Joe Cole, John Terry, Arjen Robben, and Petr Cech.
This was more comprehensive than I’d intended, but I enjoyed writing it. Whether anyone will read this, I don’t know, but I’m glad you posed the question.
In 1976, when I was 11, I met Peter Osgood who was a friend of my uncle. He gave me a Chelsea shirt and signed it for me. I didn’t know who he was but became a Chelsea fan then because I had the shirt and have been a Blue-blood through the good and bad (and worse!) times ever since. I still have the shirt although the autograph has long faded……on another note, nice to see Man U drop a couple after fielding their full team at St. James’ Park.
In of a household of five Man U nuts, I was the only kid (now age 19 livinin south london) to get up and leave the room whenever the footie came on telly - I knew zero about football and could NOT stand the game. Like Chris though, there’s one thing i’ve got to thank the Mancs for: European Cup Final 99 against Bayern. I’m ashamed to say i must’ve set multiple records for high jumps, Long jumps, wide jumps, screaming double fisted punching the hell out of the air jumps because I went BLOODY LOONY! That was my birth as a football fan - the joys, the tears, the blood-boiling rage and frustration, the jubilation, mental breakdowns… It all followed. After that final i found myself watching Match Of The Day’ on the BBC for the first time. Highlights of all the teams on day one of the season. ONE team stood out: Chelsea 4-0 Sunderland Sunlit Stamford Bridge, fans cheering, Gus Poyet scissor kick, Zola Curler, Sutton missing sitters - a team with english captain, english players, frenchmen, a spaniard, Romanian, Uruguayan, italian, Nigerian, players from all over the world playing harmonious, attractive, enterprising stuff. The flair, the mix of nationalities, the pure passion of the fans. It was sort of pictuaresque… Idyllic. CL quarter finals Barcelona (Tore Flo!!!), two frustrating seasons under Ranieri & one very enjoyable one. Mourinho brilliant first season, good second but driving me mental right now. I.M.M.E.N.S.E respect & admiration for the Chelsea faithul, esp seniors n those been thru fikenfin. LOVE & PEACE for CFC fans WORLDWIDE. Best Wishes for New Year to All. (from a devout British Muslim Blues’ fan)
hmm.. now let me see.
As an Australian growing up in the 80’s i encountered a lot of school ground hoo ha about aussie rules football and ’soccer’..or wogball as we liked to call it, however politically incorrect, and which was of greater skill.
i hated ’soccer’ with a passion.. until i went to work as a 19 years old in a little pub just off sydney place, near the chelsea town hall. some of the customers were just magical in this cosy little pub. (the blenheim..some of you chelsea boys might know it… id love to hear from you..) the amount of passion they had was unreal and it was impossible not to catch the footballing fever.
of course i denied it for some time.. but secretly i loved it. i think the time i got into the sport as a general was the england germany game…5-1 and the england greece one and *that* free kick…
so i had to make a decision..chelsea or fulham…maybe leeds, half the team were aussie.. but i settled on chelsea-mainly to a friend from the pub who informed me in graphic detail how chelsea fans were the most passionate in the world….shit all trophies but undenialble support and passion. 01′02 was a grand year. zola and that corner.. oh man.. i was hooked.
went to my first game at the bridge against sunderland after beating tottenham 4-0 a couple of times.. i think.. and i’ll remember walking to the ground singing “your season’s over tottenham hotspurs, your seasons over….” and “we love you zola, na na nana na we love you zola…
from that my love has grown infinitly. i got players autographs after the game, it now sits proudly on my wall. players like le saux, zenden, cudiccini, gallas, di matteo, bates petit..
Now im back in Australia defending my new found love to the likes of scousers, mancs and the french foreign legiones.. but i love supporting chelsea
after all, we dont give a fuck, whoever you may be, we are the famous CFC
excuse the ramblings- i do enjoy a nifter of port at xmas time….
anyway,
Hello, My name is Andy and I have been an alcoholic for……. oops, sorry that’s a different story!
I never really had a choice in the matter. My old man was born in 1950 and followed the Blues throughout he swinging sixties and early seventies when we last went through a purple patch.
I was born in 1972 and my first game at the Bridge would have been in around 1977, and to my eternal disgust, I cannot for the life of me remember any of the details of the game. I do however remember that the atmosphere had me hooked and for the next 13 years I was present for 90% of the home games and a good measure of those away from home.
There were times in the 80’s when we were really poor. I remember very nearly going down to the old 3rd division under John Neal, before we reincarnated ourselves with names like Dixon, Nevin, Neidzwiecki and McLaughlin and the overhauled team romped the 2nd Division and we were back where we belong.
In 1990, however, my family migrated to Australia, and at that time English Football was limited to an hour’s worth of highlights on a Monday night. Every Sunday morning, I would wake early and ring a 0055 phone number to receive the results from the night before.
I can usually be found at about 2 in the morning every weekend, either in the Charles Dickens pub in Melbourne, or desperately trying not to shout too loud and wake up the baby at home!
From my point of view, it is great to see so many new fans following a team that I have loved with a passion all my life. Enjoy the good times guys, but never forget the bad, because that is the history that so many others like to claim we do not have.
Come along! Come along! Come along and sing this song! We’re the boys in blue, from Division 2 and we won’t be there too long!
I have an Arsenal supporter to thank for current love for Chelsea. My story starts in the 60’s, being born in the 61 and growing up in Windsor. At that time most of my school mates supported the “Blues” and as my Dad was/is not into footy, (in fact positively against the sport) I started to kind of follow their results a bit. While at my junior Chelsea won the FA cup I recall, and that increased my interest I think. As I said though my Dad was really anti football Charmingly calling it a “cap heads” sport meaning not very bright for our foreign readers, and so as time went by my interest dwindled. Especially during the eighties, with all the perceived problems with violence etc. It seemed my Dad was right. Roll on a few years. !n 1994 and I met a young gal, 10 years younger than me. and we got on like a house on fire. ( at that time anyway, we are now divorced but that a different story :-} ) We moved into together, but one thing that bothered me was that she was a big footy fan , namely Arsenal. For the show of things when she asked me who I supported, mumbled under my breath about Chelsea, not knowing at that time about the rivalry etc. When a few matches were shown against Chelsea and the Arse on tele I felt obliged to watch. Hells Bells wot a change. This was not the game I remembered. Dark dingy pictures, mud baths of pitches etc. No here was something else. A great spectacle, great stadiums, ( well apart from the odd occasion when we have turned the bridge into beach recently , anyway I was hooked. 18 Months later my daughter was born. I still have not been able to afford to actually go to a match, but but follow Avidly on sky. My daughter who is now 11 has followed my example, rather than her Mums,