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Foreign Chelsea Fans

L1ONHeart

L1ONHeart

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I apologize if this topic has been opened before - or at least brought up, which I'm sure it has.  How do Chelsea fans (in London) see foreign fans of the club?  Is it generally a feeling of "ah those international fans, bandwagon all" or open acceptance? 

I only ask because I had the opportunity to visit London and the Bridge last summer and I couldn't shake the feeling of being a "tourist," despite being a supporter of the club for over 10 years.  I know that a lot of people have a problem with "convert" fans who may not have Chelsea as a family tradition.  

How do you feel about it?

 
Love the foreign fans personally. The more fans we have the better in my opinion. Plus it brings in extra money through shirt sales and other merchandise.

I don't like the term "tourist" when describing foreign fans. If they have travelled so far across the world to see their favourite team play then it makes them a pretty dedicated fan in my opinion.

 
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Love foreign fans. It shows the club is growing. Real, Barca and United probably have the most foreign fans. It's no surprise they're also the 3 biggest clubs in football. The more foreign fans the better.

 
From personal experience, I felt nothing other than welcome by local fans in and around the ground. Exactly the way it should be.

Be it meeting a wonderful forumite such as Beerqueen or making acquaintances with strangers and having pints bought for me purely on the basis of my being a visitor and how far I'd travelled,  my interactions were all tremendously positive.

 
Yeah I second that, whenever Im doing aways people all ask me about my accent.  Never had anything but positive feedback

 
A Chelsea fan is a Chelsea fan, no matter where your feet are walking.

 
As long as you aren't one of the idiots spouting sh*t in the comments section of the daily mail or something, I have great respect for foreign fans

 
Foreign fan here, from Ireland.

Father was working in London for a few years, (hes a 'Ammers fan BTW) One of my English Uncles is a Chelsea fan and took me to games with him so thats where the Chelsea love affair started way back in 1992.

I've a decent amount of Aunts and Uncles in London still and betweem them there is 2 Arsenal fans, 3 Spurs fans and 1 Chelsea fan.

I go over at least once a year to games, I try get over to more but its difficult with work and time off.

 
Delnino said:
Foreign fan here, from Ireland.

Father was working in London for a few years, (hes a 'Ammers fan BTW) One of my English Uncles is a Chelsea fan and took me to games with him so thats where the Chelsea love affair started way back in 1992.

I've a decent amount of Aunts and Uncles in London still and betweem them there is 2 Arsenal fans, 3 Spurs fans and 1 Chelsea fan.

I go over at least once a year to games, I try get over to more but its difficult with work and time off.
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Oh I didn't realise us Irish fans counted as foreign fans too. That makes me foreign also. Time to go spout some sh*t in the Daily Mail comment section!

 
Batshuayi said:
Let's hope Dan Levene isn't a member on here...
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Didn't he say foreign fans are fans, not supporters, or something to that effect? I think he was upset at the amount of abuse Cahill was getting from foreign fans on social media, which is understadable, still an odd thing to say, he strikes me as being egotistical. I think our foreign fans are generally very good, I can't imagine getting up at stupid times to watch my team, that's dedication. A lot of the Twitter mob are plastic idiots, but they don't represent the majority of foreign fans, anyone who looks down on them can do one as far as I'm concerned. 

 
I'm from the U.S. and God help us Americans don't exactly have the best reputation internationally at the moment.  I'm happy to hear that home-grown supporters generally welcome and accept the international fan base.  

Separate question - in terms of political affiliations and hooliganism - I know it has obviously declined in the past 10-15 years but do supporter groups still harbor certain "reputations?"

Lol, I'm sorry but these things have always fascinated me for some reason. 

 
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If your a Chelsea fan then I couldn't care less where your from.

 
Foreign fan from Chile. Been following Chelsea for a long time. I remember playing Pro Evolution Soccer 2 and always getting de Goey and Desailly in the Master League.

Looking forward to see Alexis playing in this great team. And Vidal as well, if that's not too much to ask. 

 
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L1ONHeart said:
I'm from the U.S. and God help us Americans don't exactly have the best reputation internationally at the moment.  I'm happy to hear that home-grown supporters generally welcome and accept the international fan base.  

Separate question - in terms of political affiliations and hooliganism - I know it has obviously declined in the past 10-15 years but do supporter groups still harbor certain "reputations?"

Lol, I'm sorry but these things have always fascinated me for some reason. 
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You will probably enjoy this thread:




 
I can only really speak from when I was going yet had an Aussie mate and a Irish mate.

There used to be one foreigner I recall, I guess an European chap singing with all the boys in the Black Rose right outside the ground.

I guess everyone fitted in if you drank and sung along.

I used to hear the odd Scots accent too.

We did start to notice tourist groups starting to visit the ground like groups of Japanese or Skandi's towards the end of the 90's. The latter at least went in the pubs.

One thing did impress me in the 90s was when playing Bruge, all their fans sang to us in English,

"You're not singing anymore."

 
I'm a once or twice visitor to the Bridge. Lived in London in the 70s and went to most Chelsea matches. Like someone earlier I was taken to a Chelsea game when I was a kid by my uncle and have stuck with them since. It's been easier in the last decade or so!

I had to laugh when I was at my last match. I buy over the Membership system and I was obviously a 'tourist' to the guy behind me, who probably knew the regular who normally occupied the seat. He told me he had been in his seat for three years. Apparently I was inadvertently restricting his view but the real problem was that he was frustrated that we were being beaten by Liverpool.

Anyway it all ended amicably and in fairness to him he apologised at the end of the match. I then pointed to the area between the shed end and the stand and told him I used to hang out there 40 years ago!

 
I met an Aussie fella on the escalators at Euston in 91, he asked me how to get to Bham i said we're going there if he wanted to join us, we were going to Villa away & so was he, on the train we got talking & he lifted his sleeves up to show us a 70s & 90s Chelsea tattoos that he got in Adelaide where he's from.

He ended up coming to our remaining 4 games of the season with us incl Everton away, we kept in touch & he came back over in 97, stayed at my gaff & did a few games with us, we also used to meet for a beer during the week, we carried on writing letters & emailing each other, over the years we've both got married & had kids, back in 09 he came over with his wife & son & stayed at mine with my family, i class him as a mate & true Chelsea fan, his last game was v QPR in the league cup in 09.

I send his boy Chelsea stuff over at xmas & sometimes birthdays.

Back in the 90s we had a supporters club from Bruges who used to come over for most weekend home games, we've had a supporters club from Sweden who have also been coming over for years.

I think one negative fans may have about foreign fans now is there seems to be a mix of passionate foreign fans & day trippers, i had two Japanese fella's, a father & teenage son(i think) next to me at Wembley for the final recently, they just sat there clearly not bothered even when we scored, i said to my mate they could just as easy be sat a few rows away in the Arsenal end wearing red & white for all they cared, at a guess i'd bet money they got the tickets through work or corporate(we were in the dearest £115 seats) 

Few seasons ago v Maribor in the CL group game in the shed upper there was about 10 eastern europeans near us, my mate moaned about them, i said think about it if they wernt here there would be 10 empty seats where sts or members couldnt be arsed to turn up, they sang all game in broken English & celebrated our goals, fair play to them.

Its difficult for some older fans myself included in the past when struggling for tickets or feeling priced out seeing fans who have no real affiliation with the club(our impression not fact) in our seats & jumping on the bandwagon, i've realised every fan has to start somewhere be it born here or overseas.

Dont get me started on foreign fans at away games though with their selfie sticks & half & half shirts haha.

 
I'm an Irish lad living in Japan

I feel like I am as passionate as almost any fan. I do all nighters weekly to watch our games and then go to work ridiculously tired.

I've met a few Japanese with zero English who also do the same

 
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