[Albion] Should i let my 13 year old son wear his Chelsea kit to the game at the Amex?

Bozza said:

This is one of those situations I struggle to understand. I just don't see how a child grows up supporting a different side to their parents.

As disappointing as it is, I could get that a 13-y-o supports Chelsea and not the Albion. When he was getting into football c2008 we were League One, playing at Withdean against the likes of Crewe, Yeovil and Stockport.

However, when the Dad is an Albion fan, I don't understand how Chelsea entered the equation.

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SUA Seagull said:

There can occasionally be good reasons why father and son support different teams. As a north Londoner, my dad was lifelong Arsenal and took me to many games in the 60s when I was a kid, although I never felt any affinity towards them. I don’t know why. Maybe it was because my older brother supported Spurs, primarily because we lived nearer there, all of his mates were Spurs’ fans …. and also to annoy my dad!

At the time, I had uncles and aunts living in Hove and when we visited them during the school holidays or at weekends I’d walk to the Goldstone to watch the Albion. I became immediately hooked/obsessed and loved following “my” team and their ups and downs. My London-based mates all thought I was crazy.

When my son (also a Londoner) was born it was pre-ordained that he would be a Seagull. No debate. His first babygrow was in Albion colours, his first kit was Albion (along with all others since) and when he was old enough to understand it all, he too was hooked. Whilst his mates were all supporting Premier League teams we used to travel far and wide to watch the Albion in Leagues 1 and 2 and he always supported them with a passion. Now aged 59 and 29 respectively, we are both STHs and have been for years.

The payback for me came last May when, after the Wigan game, with my son’s phone buzzing with congratulatory messages from his Premier League-team-supporting mates that “Albion had arrived”, he hugged me and thanked me for introducing him to the ways of the Albion and said that he could never, ever have imagined supporting another team. Albion is his passion, as it is mine. It was a very emotional father-son moment. In the fullness of time I hope the cycle repeats itself between my son and his kids.

So, OP, I think maybe you need to have a chat with your lad to try and wean him of Chelsea onto the Albion. It’s never too late and he will thank you in the years to come.

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jonnyrovers said:

All sorts of curveballs come along through our lives and affect our affiliations. At 13 years old there's still time to shake it off.

I moved to Brighton from Doncaster when I was 21 having supported Rovers throughout my youth, accompanying my Dad to Belle Vue until his sad passing when I was 19. For my first few years in Brighton I paid hardly any attention to the Albion, apart from an interest in the demise of the Goldstone era only because Rovers were suffering similarly. I didn't manage to get in to the last match at the Goldstone.

Then I met a Brighton girl who's dad was Albion through & through. I joined him at Withdean more & more over those years (except when Rovers put me in the away end) and eventually married his daughter. I was in the Rovers end at the first game at the Amex. I love that a Rovers player was first to score a league goal in that beautiful stadium, I've just about forgiven Lewis for murdering Billy and sending Rovers down again, but my interest in the Albion was growing strong and I went to a lot of games that season. Second season at the Amex I'm a STH beside my Father in Law, my young son starts coming too and watching/nurturing his love for the Albion, his local team, spreads the bug deep within me. My Father in Law is sadly no longer with us. He was the catalyst for my current status as 'not the only northerner' singing my head off in SWC. I'm proud to love this club, I feel I've had to earn my passport, I sometimes feel like an imposter, but I've been Albion for longer than most of the yoof on here.

Sorry, got a bit carried away there, just wanted to say there's still time for Chelsea boy to shake it off. Oh, before anyone asks, the litmus test is 'which end would I sit in if Albion played Rovers?'. In honour of the old man I miss so much it's Rovers every time, but cup games aside I'll likely never have to make that choice.

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Taybha said:

Up to you , i wouldn't take my boy anymore as he supports Villa , tried it a couple of times he didn't enjoy it , as for letting him wear a chelsea top in the home end , iv'e seen it kick off v Fulham and Liverpool at the amex with away fans in the home end and one instance a young lad with his dad took a hell of a lot of abuse , is it worth it ?

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Mellor 3 Ward 4 said:

Great post.

And 'your Billy' seems to have made a remarkable recovery!

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jonnyrovers said:

0 Thumbs Up!
Quote Originally Posted by SUA Seagull View Post
There can occasionally be good reasons why father and son support different teams. As a north Londoner, my dad was lifelong Arsenal and took me to many games in the 60s when I was a kid, although I never felt any affinity towards them. I don’t know why. Maybe it was because my older brother supported Spurs, primarily because we lived nearer there, all of his mates were Spurs’ fans …. and also to annoy my dad!

At the time, I had uncles and aunts living in Hove and when we visited them during the school holidays or at weekends I’d walk to the Goldstone to watch the Albion. I became immediately hooked/obsessed and loved following “my” team and their ups and downs. My London-based mates all thought I was crazy.

When my son (also a Londoner) was born it was pre-ordained that he would be a Seagull. No debate. His first babygrow was in Albion colours, his first kit was Albion (along with all others since) and when he was old enough to understand it all, he too was hooked. Whilst his mates were all supporting Premier League teams we used to travel far and wide to watch the Albion in Leagues 1 and 2 and he always supported them with a passion. Now aged 59 and 29 respectively, we are both STHs and have been for years.

The payback for me came last May when, after the Wigan game, with my son’s phone buzzing with congratulatory messages from his Premier League-team-supporting mates that “Albion had arrived”, he hugged me and thanked me for introducing him to the ways of the Albion and said that he could never, ever have imagined supporting another team. Albion is his passion, as it is mine. It was a very emotional father-son moment. In the fullness of time I hope the cycle repeats itself between my son and his kids.

So, OP, I think maybe you need to have a chat with your lad to try and wean him of Chelsea onto the Albion. It’s never too late and he will thank you in the years to come.
Top post.

My son was too young to go to games at The Goldstone, being born in 93 (although his mum bought him along after the match had finished to the Doncaster game in 97.) I started taking him when we were playing at Gillingham, and there were a few difficult journeys home after another defeat or crap performance.why couldn't he support another team was asked on more than one occasion.

Then onto Withdean, good times, great times, bobby helped of course, but some pretty awful times too. Lots of rain soaked days and trips to Hartlepool, Shrewsbury, Rochdale et al.

Onto the Amex, and some wonderful times, although after after the Boro and Wednesday games he did wonder if we'd ever reach the promised land. Last season, what a year, topped off by the Wigan game. At the end of the game, after my son had been onto the pitch, we met back up in the WSU. It was a wonderful, wonderful moment, one that could only be experienced and appreciated by a someone who had endured really rubbish football, plenty of heartache and a lot of mickey taking from his mates who are Chelsea, Utd or Liverpool fans.

Take your son to the Chelsea game, but let him experience the match as an Albion fan. An Albion win would of course help convert him.



In 10 years time I want that Father-Son moment you've both described so beautifully. Makes me tingle.

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Return of the Rev said:

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