The bottom line is that the 1.FC Köln has even more real supporters than Bavaria or Dortmund. I don’t want to know how many in z. B. Dortmund or Bayern member have never set foot in the stadium. Success is just sexy and you can adorn yourself well.
Should give people who may not (anymore) (more) in Bavaria, Dortmund or even Germany live in fans of these clubs. Why shouldn’t they be “real” anchenger if they are even ready to invest money in a membership without being able to get the stadium and see their team live or to be there at the membership collection.
In other words, the “success fan” will certainly hardly waste any money into a membership of which he/she hardly has anything.
How can I be “fan” when I come from a different corner of Germany?
Maybe we also have a different understanding of “fan”. In any case, I define this with identification, tradition, my own experiences that I have had with a club.
If I would say now “Real Madrid plays great football, I’ve never been to the stadium, but I am a member”, am I a fan?
Very easy.
Let’s take your example with real.
Your father was or is real fan and you are awakened with football at home thanks to him. And when it comes to football, everything was about Real at home. The time that you spent with him real games on TV were great times which you had forever.
You can then ask why was my father real fan, just maybe he was born and grew up in Madrid, but then later on and now lives in Valencia where you were born.
No, that would actually make sense, I agree with you. Then there would also be a certain reference and identification.
But if someone from z. B. Bochum suddenly Bavaria becomes fan, although none of his ancestors come there and he never lived there, then it is not a fan for me.
Then it is that someone wants to see the spectacle and success and that doesn’t matter to me football.
How small spirit.
It doesn’t matter why you are a fan of a club.
There are fans who have “inherited” their “club more or less” or found from a kind of local patriotism.
There are fans who have found “their” club by the first game they have ever experienced (whether live in the stadium or somewhere on the telly is irrelevant) with the participation of this club, which – be it sporty or otherwise – was so excited that they got stuck with them.
Why should the first point now be a legitimate reason to be a fan of a certain club?
There are countless reasons why you can be a fan of an association that you have no direct reference to.
Some even get this in “strangers” sports.
Some get this with bands that they have never experienced live.
etc.
Pseudo-elitist “true/real fans” soul.
Instead of pleased that the sport (or even the club), which you can find well, can combine people over a greater distance, you try to raise yourself to the “Primus Inter Pares”.