English Much...

For a hundredth time I have watch the England National Football Team play a tough game, and for a hundredth time I am completely repulsed by the support these players are getting. Some truths must be said. It was definately not one of England's best games, nor one of Joe Hart's or Wayne Rooney's best performances, but everyone happens to have a shitty day.

Now to get back to the real topic of this post. What does it mean to be a fan of something? To be a supporter? For me, it means complete devotion to your fandom. I am happy when my team wins, I am disappointed when my team finishes with a draw, I am angry when my team loses. But MY team always remains MY team. Learn it, live it, love it. That's it.

Unfortunately for me, my favorite team is one that I am technically not allowed to support. I am from Bulgaria, I am supposed to love my National Team, but I just cannot. I love the English Team. I know the players and what they are capable of, I have seen some beautiful wins, some of them against "my" Bulgarian Team, yet I still support them. But today, I realized why the English Team will never win any competition.

Actually, scratch that. I'm no longer talking about football. I'm talking about fandom, in it's whole substance. Fandom and supporters. Shitty fandom and supporters. Or should I say fandom and shitty supporters. No matter what it is - football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, whateverball...

Let me tell you a quick and pointless story. I'm sitting there, watching my game, England has a tough game and it ends with a draw. I am happy, because I know that it doesn't matter. England has qualified for the Euro 2012, with no matches lost at all and a superb goal difference of +12 scores. Check out the tables, they are the best in the group.

So I am happy, only very slightly disappointed by the game of the players, but it really didn't matter at that point. I turn off the TV, go to my room and for some unknown to me reason decide to write a comment on England National's Facebook page, something I almost never do, because I don't really use Facebook that much.

I open the page and what I saw threw me in rage. English people, so-called "supporters" are just dissing their team. "Rooney sucked." "The goals were Joe Hart's fault." "They should just cancel England now to save us the embarrassment." Wait... WHAT? Your fucking team just qualified for the Euro Cup 2012!!! Yes, the same competition in which, for the moment, only Holland, Italy, Germany, Spain, and England are completely sure to play!!!

How do you, you stupid English people (obviously I'm not dissing all 51 million of you, just specifically picked few), expect your team to have the SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS to perform well? If you're told every day that you suck will YOU be able to play? I don't know, just all these things annoy the shit out of me.

Yeah, it annoyed me, the same way the English fans booed their own team after a draw with Algeria in the World Cup 2012 Group Matches. Rooney said: "Yeah, it's nice to hear your own fans boo you. That's what loyal support is." And he is right. I saw the same support here, in Bulgaria, when they played aganist our National Team. I saw the loyal support. I saw it in all 400 fans that came to watch their team play.

I felt so happy that England was winning that I even started cheering for them. Risking my own life, since I was in the Buglarian Sector. With 30 000 angry Buglarian fans. Yet, I STILL supported my team. Yes, I said it. MY TEAM! I don't care if I'm not English. I know that Joe Hart, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Theo Walcott, and all the other players are one of the best in their fields. I know that they deserve more.

So, please, if you are a fan of something or someone, love them, support them, and be there to cheer for them. Because I know they need it. Because the fans are what makes them move. Many of you might say: "Yeah, right, but they totally do it only for the money." And it may be so. But let me ask you one thing. Do you think that their salaries are raised when they lose?

So, as a last sentence, I'll simply say CONGRATULATIONS, ENGLAND. I know you can win. You deserve to be here and you deserve to claim the Cup as yours this year. Shout for England.