The Non-British Villa Supporter Experience 2023/4

[Marka Ragnos]

Would love to hear from other Villa supporters not based in Britain about how they get on as Villa supporters sometimes very, very far from Villa Park. 

I could go on for hours about this, but I've inferred after many years that there are some big differences among non-British-based Villa supporters obviously, but occasionally, some interesting similarities, no matter where you are.

I think the main difference being outside Britain is that you often are quite "Villa isolated." Where I live, almost no one has ever even heard of Aston Villa, and people look at you funny if you mention them. They'll say something like, "Oh, soccer! My son loves Manchester United -- the team with the red shirts?"  And you're supposed to like that and be all, "Oh, soccer! Yes! Love it!"

And that's another thing. The tribal hostility of British Villa supporters towards other British clubs is something we simply don't grow up around, so it always seems a little weird to me. I can understand it, intellectually, but I don't feel it at all. I've been somewhat "re-educated" on Villa Talk, but it's a thin layer of ire, and I mostly still just find it confusing.

I have my little Villa trinkets, etc., and those things are nice, but they're kind of meaningless when very few people recognize the crest, etc. 

I think there's an upside to being isolated. It feels special. There's something kind of awesome to witness a big win and then be the only one you know who gets it. I don't know. I've grown used to that feeling, and it's normalised now. You appreciate certain things, don't take them for granted. When you do encounter Villans in the flesh (usually if I'm in New York), it's incredibly exciting.

One way you can keep a kind of fun rivalry thing going is if you have a friend very into another club. It will never be Villa. But there is a chance to take digs, etc., but often, there's an underlying understanding that you sort of need each other. 

One thing really bad is relegation. I think it's much worse in some ways for non-Britain-based supporters. You instantly lose all kinds of access. It gets much harder to keep up with the club, and it's frustrating. There are "workarounds," but that's not really the point. Relegation is damaging on many levels for the club.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Marka Ragnos

[maqroll]

13 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said:

The tribal hostility of British Villa supporters towards other British clubs is something we simply don't grow up around,

I'm not sure who you're referring to when you say "we", and I'm not even sure what country you're from, but I'm assuming the US or Canada? Anyway, I grew up in Boston and I can assure you we in Boston had very tribal and reciprocated animosity towards fans of all of New York's major teams with the exception of the Islanders, who were nothing to us. Bruins fans and Montreal fans despised each other. Patriots-Jets and later Patriots-Giants was intense. Celtics-76ers in the 80's was bitter, as was Celtics-Lakers, but that was more "abstract" being so far away from each other. 

All that said, England is about the same size as New England, and all their clubs are jam packed together so their tribal animosity is probably based on more of a contemptuous familiarity due to geographical proximity. The Boston-New York rivalry would geographically be like Newcastle-Plymouth Argyle having a massive rivalry lol. 

As far as being a Villa fan in the States, I may as well be speaking Urdu to most of my friends and family if Villa were to be mentioned. But I connected with a Brummie Villan living in Boston back in the 90's when we watched games on satellite at Irish pubs. There was great camaraderie among all the English football junkies back then, a mixture of Yanks, English and Irish. If you wanted to watch Villa, you had to hope their match was being shown, which wasn't that often, and you had to go to the pub showing it. 

Nowadays, I can watch every Villa game on my phone without getting out of bed, which is fantastic, but it's isolating as well. My primary lifeline to Villa talk over the years has been..... VillaTalk, so cheers, all!

Edited October 4, 2023 by maqroll

[Vancvillan]

I left the UK in my mid-20s for North America and I'll say this:

Relagation was village, AVTV showed the games but commentary was offensive to all five senses

I still play a bit so I know a lot of Europeans and UK people. Banter is limited to games and WhatsApp, but having a draft fantasy league helps.

Local club rivalry isn't as fierce. It just isn't. I've spent time on both coasts and in a few cities - not saying it's not there, but back home I knew Geordies who wouldn't eat bacon because it's mackem colours.

Took my (North American) wife to a league 2 derby match on a UK trip and she couldn't believe how many police there were in the walk to the ground for a game that maybe had 6k attendance.

Villa tops at drop-in games are always a conversation starter - basically anyone raised outside of North America and Antarctica has heard of them.

Met a villa fan at a pub? There's going to be a lot of hugging 

Hatred between expat rivals is toned down - I played with a blouse, a baggie and a dog head. Never had a knee-high challenge come my way, but probably because they don't know it was me who let their tires down.

[Captain_Townsend]

Luckily there are a good few villa fans here in Ireland. I know 10 or 11 lads who are similar age to me and are Villa. I have been to Villa Park about 10 times, not so much in recent years.

The one thing with me is I wouldn't have the same feelings around games with Small Heath, WBA, Wolves etc as I am not from Birmingham. I know they are huge games, and I Klknow these teams raise their games against us, but I still see them much ad I would a Blackburn, a Bolton or a Burnley etc.

Over the 30 odd years I have followed villa,  the grudge games for me would be against clubs I see as similar to ours - Spurs, Newcastle, Everton.

 

League of Ireland is weak here as GAA sports are bigger. I hot into Villa through Paul McGrath, Steve Staunton, Ray Houghton and Andy Townsend. I also loved the name and colours. Villa Park always looked beautiful on tv! My brother is more into Spanish football.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Captain_Townsend

[Spoony]

Ive lived overseas in 7 of the last 10 years and picked up Villa supporter groups along the way. My main take home is that they’re far more positive and less whiney than at home but that could be because they’re in the sun rather than the dreary miserable hell hole that is ‘home’. 

[mikeyp102]

9 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said:

 

One thing really bad is relegation. I think it's much worse in some ways for non-Britain-based supporters. You instantly lose all kinds of access. It gets much harder to keep up with the club, and it's frustrating. There are "workarounds," but that's not really the point. Relegation is damaging on many levels for the club.

As a British based fan I’d say you get more access (outside of attending in person). 3 o clock games can’t be viewed without some hooky channel for the premier league. With relegation we’d be in the same position as you. 
 

Not taking anything away from what you are saying btw.

[Rugeley Villa]

3 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Luckily there are a good few villa fans here in Ireland. I know 10 or 11 lads who are similar age to me and are Villa. I have been to Villa Park about 10 times, not so much in recent years.

The one thing with me is I wouldn't have the same feelings around games with Small Heath, WBA, Wolves etc as I am not from Birmingham. I know they are huge games, and I Klknow these teams raise their games against us, but I still see them much ad I would a Blackburn, a Bolton or a Burnley etc.

Over the 30 odd years I have followed villa,  the grudge games for me would be against clubs I see as similar to ours - Spurs, Newcastle, Everton.

 

League of Ireland is weak here as GAA sports are bigger. I hot into Villa through Paul McGrath, Steve Staunton, Ray Houghton and Andy Townsend. I also loved the name and colours. Villa Park always looked beautiful on tv! My brother is more into Spanish football.

I imagine we were a pretty popular team in Ireland at one point when we had 40%  of the Irish team playing for us . I remember cheering Ireland on in the 1994 World Cup USA. 

[dubliner]

5 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Luckily there are a good few villa fans here in Ireland. I know 10 or 11 lads who are similar age to me and are Villa. I have been to Villa Park about 10 times, not so much in recent years.

The one thing with me is I wouldn't have the same feelings around games with Small Heath, WBA, Wolves etc as I am not from Birmingham. I know they are huge games, and I Klknow these teams raise their games against us, but I still see them much ad I would a Blackburn, a Bolton or a Burnley etc.

Over the 30 odd years I have followed villa,  the grudge games for me would be against clubs I see as similar to ours - Spurs, Newcastle, Everton.

 

League of Ireland is weak here as GAA sports are bigger. I hot into Villa through Paul McGrath, Steve Staunton, Ray Houghton and Andy Townsend. I also loved the name and colours. Villa Park always looked beautiful on tv! My brother is more into Spanish football.

Also a Villa fan in Ireland. There's a fairly big following here with a lot being mid 30s - early 40s and most started following the club because of the Irish lads you mentioned.

I'm lucky enough to be able to make it to 2 or 3 games a season.

Have been to Villa Blues a couple of times and it's incredible but would agree when you're living in Ireland the rivalry is not the same.

Man United are by far and away the team I hate the most and so the game I look for first when the fixtures are released. Of the hundreds of United fans I know I can count the genuine (non-glory hunting) ones on one hand. 

 

[Keyblade]

People always look at me funny when I tell them who I support or they see me in Villa gear. It's always like "but why?". And to be fair, over the last decade or so that was totally justified.

[ThunderPower_14]

In Australia I absolutely get a bit of cred for being a Villa fan because it's a relatively unusual team to follow. People who ask me immediately assume I know what i'm talking about.

Agree fully about access. We're really lucky with the Premier League in Australia, Optus Sport has every match so it's quite easy to follow. The championship was a lot more difficult and I spent a lot more time looking for the streams thread each week.

[maqroll]

A couple of years ago in Portland, Maine, a young American guy in his early 20's saw me with my noticeably original Reebok AST shirt on and he stopped me to inspect it. He was really awed by it, lol. A lot has changed here over the years with the Premier League and global football in general having permeated the culture somewhat now, particularly among the younger generations, who have watched the Premier League every weekend since they were little kids. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by maqroll

[fruitvilla]

Well, where to start?

Fist saw Villa at Villa Park 1st Oct 1960. We lost 3:1 to some guy called Gordon Banks.

Since then seen Villa live another three times.
Essentially left Brum in 1980. 

Now in the woods in southern BC ... a few small communities. Not a lot of football interest in the community, young kids with any athletic ability go into hockey mainly. Plus the bright ones head off to the city for college/university. The few people that express an interest tend to be the big clubs. However, I have bumped into a couple of expats that follow the likes of Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke. I have bumped into one Villa fan but he is over an hour's drive away. He was from just north of Brum.

Before retiring six years ago my Villa experience was going to the BBC on a Saturday morning and checking out the scores/match reports. Around 2015 started lurking around Villa Talk and in 2017 decided to join Villa Talk. But the gates to paradise were guarded by a cherub with a flaming sword (aka @limpid) It was surprisingly difficult to get past this cherub. I joined Villa Talk the day I retired. 

Got by watching Villa on some less reputable streams the best I could. Last year splashed out and bought a subscription to Fubo. Surprisingly good value for money.  41 Villa games for 180 $Can. Can record matches plus all the other Premier League matches should I want to watch them. Spend way too much time on Villa Talk. I take a fairly philosophical view of football and pretty much everything. I find VT a curious mix of knowledgeable and naïve outlooks.

 

[grantholtgolazo]

I'm in New England and have really only recently experienced anything but complete confusion when I talk about villa. Very much relate to the "why" reaction from other premier league fans, seems like most American soccer fans never even considered following teams other than Man U, Liverpool, or Spurs. 

Maybe one quirk specific to living here I've come to really appreciate watching matches in the morning. Nice to either get a boost to your day/the pain out of the way first thing.

[Kiwivillan]

11 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said:

I hot into Villa through Paul McGrath, Steve Staunton, Ray Houghton and Andy Townsend.

Me too

[DJBOB]

I didn't meet my bio-Dad until I was 16 and spent the 2007 holidays with him. He was a Villa fan and took me to my one and only Villa match. Villa 2 - Tottenham 1, Laursen with the 84th minute winner of a throw in. Haven't looked back since. He passed in the summer that year so following and supporting Villa is the last little bit of the few memories I had with him.

But I've travelled for work for the last 10 years and it's been incredible the change in following VIlla. Finding games to watch was almost non-existent back then unless it was a top billed match up. Even worse after MON left and it became near impossible to find any Villa games to watch. After the NBC deal, I ironically could watch Villa more than people from Birmingham, which I found really odd. The Championship was brutal but I think the quick rise of social media/streaming/availability to watch in the US has made it easier for followers and ex-pats to watch.

I'm based out of Miami, so there's a lot of international fans and a fair few pubs/bars that will regularly show all the league games. As a Villa fan, I still stand out but I've become friendly with a few ex-pats that regularly go to the pubs. They still sometimse put the West Ham game on for me if it's not my regular place. Around the US, I find there to be a decent following in the big cities but I mainly travel in the northeast and the south. There's usually one or two pubs/bars that show all the league games and more that will show champions league/afternoon games.

It's never been easier to watch in the US and I actually have a much harder time finding a bar/pub that's showing the Villa game when I travel in Europe as compared to the US. 

[Zatman]

8 hours ago, Rugeley Villa said:

I imagine we were a pretty popular team in Ireland at one point when we had 40%  of the Irish team playing for us . I remember cheering Ireland on in the 1994 World Cup USA. 

I think it was during one of the Lambert seasons i saw it reported somewhere that we sold the fourth most jerseys in Ireland after United, Liverpool and Celtic

[Rugeley Villa]

11 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I think it was during one of the Lambert seasons i saw it reported somewhere that we sold the fourth most jerseys in Ireland after United, Liverpool and Celtic

I find that staggering IF true 

[Zatman]

22 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

I find that staggering IF true 

This was from one article about jerseys sold per city

Edited October 4, 2023 by Zatman

[Rugeley Villa]

8 hours ago, Zatman said:

This was from one article about jerseys sold per city

Some strange places on that list. 

[Villan_of_oz]

I'm in Adelaide, South Australia.... we an official supporters group, regular attendance is an average of 6 people, used to be more but since COVID a lot have never come back it's just the old English ex pats and I'm the only Aussie.

They all take the piss out of me, that's ok you might have noticed on here but I don't mind giving some back. They're fantastic though, they have taken me in and it gives me some connection to the club.

The matches are on at mostly stupid times here and once your daylight savings kicks in, this week or next isn't it, then we have a lot of 130am ko and maybe 2 or 3 in the group chat.

It's a bit isolated because there aren't many of us but I guess that also makes us special. There was actually a photo of us in the official match program last season, from the local fish n chip shop that does them the English way.