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EvergreenFC

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  1. First up, I've really enjoyed reading this post and its comments. I've been following Aston Villa from the football wasteland of New Zealand since 1981, when as a football mad eleven year old I decided to choose a team to be exclusively "mine." I had started playing football for my school team a few years previously, and had become aware that playing football was considered slightly left field in 1980's New Zealand where you were expected to play Rugby, and were often taunted for playing football, a fact that has negatively coloured my perception of rugby ever since, to the point where I not only do not support the All Blacks, but routinely hope for their defeat every time they play. But I digress. My Dad then worked at a mill that made cardboard and other paper products. They also used to recycle magazines and one day my father brought home a whole lot of Match Weekly and Shoot! magazines. I can still remember poring over those magazines and been utterly fascinated at just what a huge sport football was outside the insular world of 1980's New Zealand. The names of the teams seemed so alien and exotic, but what really struck me was the live action photographs of football games, the beauty and strength implicit in those still images. Two particular images I can still recall, one was Peter Shilton diving to get a hand to a free kick with the defenders in the wall all turning around and the other was Leeds United's Alex Sabella with his socks around his ankles running at a defender with the ball. One of my best friends at school, whose family I used to often spend the weekend with were expat Scottish and huge football fans. My friend supported Manchester United, and his other two brothers Arsenal and Liverpool. I then began to notice that people who followed football in NZ always seemed to support one of these teams, or strangely enough, Tottenham Hotspur. Being inclined to wanting to be different I decided I needed to follow somebody else. One afternoon in the school library I was reading one of those old boys own books with all kinds of different stories in it when I stumbled across chapter that was devoted to football. This book informed me that the three biggest and most successful teams in England were Aston Villa, Arsenal and Blackpool. It was, as you can imagine, quite an old book. I decided then that I would support Aston Villa, because I didn't want to support Arsenal, Blackpool weren't in the first division and I liked the sound of their name. I didn't even know what city they were from. Also, I have to admit that I noticed that they were currently top of the first division, and that year they went on to win it and my devotion was secured. Guys like Tony Morley, Gary Shaw, Peter Withe and Gordon Cowans were my personal heroes. And it was awesome to not only support somebody different from everybody else, but then the next year they won the European Cup as well! Anyway, I just thought I would share with everyone my own personal story of how I came to support the Villa, and how great it has been to see them getting back to where they belong as one of the biggest teams in England. One day, God willing, I hope to visit the UK and make the trip to Villa Park to watch them. For now though I content myself to getting up at ridiculous hours in the morning in my replica top to watch them play on SkyTV, and hopefully next year in the Champions League as well!
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