by this i mean, do you go and support as a regular fan/member an effnic club (eg your ex nsl sokkah clubs or perhaps the club in your neighbourhood) despite not being of the same effnic background?
you don'tt necessarily have to be anglo. could be a cypriot supporting a greek club. or a scot supporting an italian club. or a turk supporting a macedonian club. for example.
if i go to a greek sokkah club i generally find greek looking people there:-k

Benjamin.

i always thought it was effnik, unless you mean effnic(h)?

I'm Macedonian and I used to support Marconi in the NSL.

98% of BR fans

Czech, like a Macko club.

=d> =d> =d> :lol: :lol: :lol:

Correct.

Long time supporter of South Melbourne - don't have any Greek ancestry, not married into a Greek family, don't speak Greek, don't even like Greek food. Just love the club and have made many good friends through them.

Any in a similar boat as yourself?

Can i ask how that came about? Coming from an Australian with Greek ancestry whose family grew up supporting Heidelberg Utd.

When I arrived in Australia I had no idea that football was an ethnic thing, so I just went to see the biggest club in town with no prejudices. I was at a game with about 10,000 others. Cracking atmosphere. Good game. Never occurred to me that I didn't 'belong'. Went along a few times a season after that until I made some good friends and became a regular week-in week-out.

I'll happily admit that if my first game had been in 2010, rather than 2000, I wouldn't have caught the bug... But once bitten...

No idea. I don't check passports. ;)

Do you ever think there will be a time when clubs with monoethnic ancestry will be supported by people of any race or culture. Or do you think people will find it hard to identify. I'm just thinking out loud here with all the potential pro/rel and second tier talk, in the long term say a club like South was promoted do you think they would supporters other than Greek Australians?

I move to and fro during the NPL season so I don't really have time to follow a single club all season. If i'm in Brisbane I'll go watch Brisbane City most weeks (especially if the Fury are in town), they have a great stadium, proud history and the football is usually alright. I don't have any Italian in me and don't speak the language but it's a fun day out regardless.

If I'm in Melbourne then Richmond SC (German) are nearby and are a great club to follow but it is a bit harder to get to their games now because MV now have a team in the NPL and i'd rather watch our yoof.

Neither teams ethnicity has any influence or effect on my enjoyment of the game. I'd recommend to any football fan who is bored in the winter months to start following their local club, regardless of historical ethnic connections. The food and beer at Anglo clubs are shit anyway.

So long as the clubs are cut off from the national stage, they will always rely on the hardcore of supporters who've been there for decades (this naturally will come from their original support base, plus their descendants).

I can remember being in crowds at South that were ethnically 'broader' in the last couple of years of the NSL, and the first year back in the VPL, until the reality of being out of the big time settled in... So there's no question to me that non-Greeks can follow a 'Greek' side. As I said, I think my biggest advantage/benefit was that I didn't know of this divide when I started going, I just went to watch the football. Too many make an issue of the ethnic thing - and I tend to think that it's not the ethnic supporters who are making the big deal...

Apart from my involvement with other clubs at the time, the team I (together with 5% of other non Greeks) watched the most was South Melbourne Hellas.

I have no Greek ancestry in me but they drew the biggest crowds and therefore the best atmosphere. If you love football there should no barriers.

BTW whilst their crowds were high in top flight (in their hundreds now) they were still considerably less than HAL crowds.

My local state league team in WA is a region based team with no ethnic ties.

Growing up in Sydney I didn't really support an NSL team (until the Northern Spirit came along) ... again this was because of geography. But I use to like watching Melbourne Croatia/Knights and Marconi play (sad to see Marconi now relegated to the second tier in the NSW NPL, although good that my old local team were runners up in NSW NPL2 last season).

When I was young watching the NSL it didn't really dawn on me that ethnicity was a criteria for following any particular team (we also only had one ethnic based club in our local soccer association that I played against, so wasn't really around me either growing up ... I just grew up playing alongside my Iranian, Malaysian, Indonesian, Korean, Afghan, English friends).

Australian born from Italian parents.
I'm with some others here, just love the game, I don't care who's game I watch no matter the background.
Gone to most NSL grounds back in the day when/where was convenient, sure I liked to see Apia when possible but didn't matter.
Major point - the effniks always have the better feed/s ! I'm all for it :)
I more so due to local football commitments watch local association games more + attend many YL games.....

I'm English heritage and support a Serbian/Jewish club - Sydney FC :lol:

My local club is werribes city bees. Italian based club but dont feel weird. Hell most of the players arent even Italian

I know this wasn't directed at me BUT I was coaching at a 'Portuguese' club in NSW and I grew to love the club. Most of the players I coached during my time there weren't of Portuguese ancestry and they loved the club. If the club were ever in Australia's top flight, I think some of those boys would support the club. Many could have played at a higher level but wanted to stay and one day play first grade for the club.

So to answer the question, I think these clubs could get supporters from current/ex players, coaches or volunteers. It's a different type of passion.

Its the Frango galina and beautiful fresh pane my friend lol....can't beat that pecant flavour !

Growing up and living in the western suburbs of Melbourne from the 70's till the late 90's I had heaps of soccer clubs/matches to choose from every weekend. I would regularly go and watch Green Gully, George Cross, St.Albans Dinamo, Melbourne Knights and a few local Greek clubs(Yarraville, Westvale, Western Suburbs). The Maltese 'derbies' were as wild games you could ever see. Never felt uncomfortable, unwelcome etc anywhere I went. Would also go to Heidelberg games with uncles and even Preston games with Maco mates. Some people seem to want to make excuses why not to go to the local 'ethnic' club rather than go checking it out.
I even played for a local amateur Croatian club, was the only non Cro in the squad. Half the team couldn't speak English as they were refo's. Football was the language.

Had a risotto there. Was okay expected to be blown away but wasn't:(

:lol: sometimes that happens. Depeneds whose cookimg on the day

Played and supported Green Gully in my junior years, even though i wasn't Maltese. playing away at Knights stadium was awesome as a kid :cool:

Edited by griffindinho: 7/1/2016 10:43:28 PM

Australian with Dutch heritage - supported Marconi since I was a kid.

The people are always welcoming as I tend to see from Italians.

Did they have fans at the junior matches as well.

Went to watch Knights quite a bit, only because they were local and in the NSL. I'm not Croatian though, I'm Maltese and used to watch Sunshine George Cross almost weekly in the VPL. Still get out to a few NPL games a year.