West Ham Fans

my reason supporting west ham is unique. im from ireland and most football fans are liverpool or utd. as a young child, in school we played football everyday. everyone used to say they would play for united but not me. i remember watching a west ham game in which shaka hislop played immense. it was the sheer excitment of a west ham game i admired... free flowing attacking football. from that moment on west ham were in my heart forever and although i was slagged and teased about my team i remained loyal and i know that im west ham til i die

It was'nt until i was moved back here from Malta that i really watched the Hammers. My Dad is a massive fan. My Dad and i went to a few games when i was a kid to no avail i still did not like football. When i came back it really did take me and i fell in love with the club. My Grandad tried to turn me to the blue slime slimebags across the river. He failed badly. COYClaret&BlueArmyIrons

Irish hammer here, it was the cup run of 91(I think) that did it for me, Ludek was between the sticks back then glad to see him back coaching. It was like falling in love for the first time all the way to the semi final. My heart was racing, hands were sweating everytime the ball was played into the West Ham box everything slowed down like watching a car crash. I wanted to look away from the danger but I was compelled to watch.Everytime we played the ball forward I was compelled to shout, I was hooked to the highs and lows, I was in love. I had my heart broken against Forest(anyone remeber that one). It was the worst feeling a six year old had ever experienced it was like I was broken for lack of a better word. I was crying looking around after the game wondering what do now there was no final, my dad looked me right in the eye and said cheer up there's alway next season. SO there was a next season and one after that...and so on. Whether we be yoyoing from division to division in cup finals or just frustrated in tenth West ham is alway my first love. COYI WHTID Irons Irons Irons Great thread by the way reading the posts makes my heart warm honest

Good to see this thread still pop up from time to time. Some great replies on here too. Thanks to everyone who has added their comments, I've enjoyed reading them. What other team can get booed off for winning a game and applauded for a draw. It just shows that the values of this club have never really changed, unlike Chelsea fans we still all want to see football played the right way. Many clubs fans say they don't want to become a Chelsea and get results no matter what but that is mostly lip-service. Although I didn't like it, the booing last week (win Vs Derby) and the cheering this week (draw with Newcastle) shows that at least West Ham Fans are still true to the game and the traditions of this fine club. That's why we are the best supporters of the best club in the world.

Come On You beautiful Irons!!!

True to the game!

West Ham Till I Die

BORN AND BREAD IN PLAISTOW PLUS ITS THE BEST DAM ENTERTAINING FOOTBALL CLUB IN THE WORLD AND HAS THE BEST SUPPORTERS EVER.PIE AND MASH LOVELY.CLARET AND BLUE FOREVER COME ON YOU IRONS.RUNS IN THE FAMILY.

Someones has to support them in my family as most of them are spuds, even my inlaws are spuds and now my eldist daughter has turned her alliegencies to the gooners. PLEASE HELP!!!!!

supporting manchester united would mean winning every game and the bragging rights and thats better than supporting derby county which would mean a sour pale look on my face after losing every game. i prefer west ham. you win some. you lose some. abd you draw some. and end up smack dap in the middle of tHe premier league table in 10th AND HOPEFULLY THE BUBBLES THAT ALAN CURBISHLEY IS BLOWING REACH THE SKY.- COYI

I WAS BORN AND I LIVE IN ROME I'M A AS ROMA SUPPORTER I BECOME TO FOLLOW WEST HAM UNITED AFTER I SAW THE FILM HOOLIGAN IT'S FANTASTIC THE PASSION AND LOVE FOR THE TEAM I LIKE WEST HAM AND ITS FANS BUT I DON'T LIKE PAOLO DI CANIO HE IS A LAZIO FAN AND I HATE LAZIO. AS ROMA AND WEST HAM FOREVER. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL HAMMERS PS. SORRY FOR MY ENGLISH AS ROMA ULTRAS

I was born and brought up in Australia. My Uncle emigrated to the UK when I was about 4, he then moved to Essex (odd choice after the Sunshine Coast lol) and started to follow the Hammers. He started sending me match day programmes, scarves etc. and when videos became commonplace he sent me match highlights and other games that were televised. I became a fan. I moved to the UK when I was 17 and went to live with my Uncle and his family in Essex and started going to matches. I live in Cornwall now but have supported and followed WHU since way back then.

I was born in Walthamstow most my family Big 4 supporters except for my mum who is also a hammer i watched a match between West ham Derby in 1999 it was obvious i would be an hammer

I support them because nearly my whole family are hammers and bubbles (not this season strangely), makes the hairs on my neck stand up. I lived in Dagenham for the first 4 years of my life. I turned 17 in October.

i was born and bread in clacton on sea essex my dads a QPR madman and never had any sons my older sister was a true girly girl but i used to love football my took me to wembley when i was 11 and i fell in love with football then. after that my dad told me i had to choose a team but if i choose man u or chelsea he'd disown me he never forced me to choose QPR and luckely i didn't (thank god) so i choose the closest premership team to where i live and now their my love. but i always imagine what it'd be like to love colchester united as much as i do west ham but i think it can't compere

born and breed in Singapore( a tiny island in the East)the first time when i saw west ham played was against everton. still remember di canio's sportsmanship. was totally awesome. the atmosphere, the passion for the game. ever since then, i'm a true and true hammer! been at fizzy league too!

COYI!! WHTID!

I'm from Bialystok, north-east Poland. I live in Amsterdam. I wasn't even really a football fan for almost 18 years, was busy with other things ;) (I followed the game as a kid, with my dad; 1986 in Mexico is my last football memory from childhood, I'm 29 now ). And then I fell in love with this rude, obnoxious little genius sweetheart from London, who happens to be a life-long West Ham fan. Who infected me with mad love for his team. And who turned out to be the love of my life ;). We watch all the games together, cry together and laugh together and scream "Come On You Hammers" together... I just naturally embraced his team, and it's not "his" team anymore, it's me shouting "West Ham till I die". They say you can change everything in life but not your football team. Obviously I still support Poland in the internationals :) But my scarf says West Ham Utd

born and bread in kilmarnock scotland where everyone likes chelsea man u or arsenal it sucks.my mum got me a hammers top and i wore it all the time then started to watch out for the hammers scores then i got hooked and ive always supported them since come on u irons

I like this one. I suppose I am an 'oldie' as I was born in 1965 but in Tooting. Anyhow, one day, I was standing outside my house having a debate by a lamp post with my older brother and sister about what team I should support. Being about 4/5 at the time, my input was pretty limited but my sister - 7 years my senior - had the first go and her pitch was basically that the team she liked played in a lovely dark blue, had lots of lovely looking players who all had nice long hair and I really ought to support them. My brother on the other hand - ten years older - took a more, shall we say, basic approach. Went something like this... HE - 'Don't listen to her, you like nice dark maroony red don't you. ME - 'Yeah' HE - 'You know all long haired blokes are poofs don't you? ME - and no, I'm not homophobic - 'Yeah (poof??)' HE - 'And if you support Chelsea and not West Ham I'm gonna whack you, so who are you gonna support?' So the threat of physical violence aided my choice but I did end up with a nice poster of MPH on my bedroom wall and a lifelong hatred of Chelsea rather than Millwall, S***s or anyone else for that matter. I have 3 kids, all Hammers and when I mentioned that I'd condemned them all to a life time of disappointment they told me not to be so stupid. Reverse psychology. Never fails! Cheers all.

I was born in St Helens which sadly is about 14 miles from Liverpool. Me dad was a west ham fan and so I followed and we still travel down watching games. Even though alot of my mates were everton, liverpool and manu fans I was still proud and wore me west ham shirts.

I'm from Belfast born and bred. My Dad's a chelski fan so to piss him off I decided to support West Ham. It didn't take long for me to get hooked when you look at the football we play and the incredible fans who sing no matter what, i fell in love. I'm now 26 and immensly passionate about West Ham. I could't immagine supporting anyone else. COME ON YOU IRONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I live & always have lived deep in chelski land. So why do i love West Ham so? Unfortunately the old man was an ardent Man U fan, but one saturday on the spur of the moment thought he'd take me to see his 'second' team as i was Bobby Moore mad. It was 1973 i think, Hammers v Coventry. Bobby made an appearance during the half time break as he was leaving us and was basically saying good bye (God bless him) to the fans, so i managed to see him at Upton Park although not playing unfortunately. We stood in the old main stand & I Couldnt see a thing in the 1st half until this great big fella gave me a milk crate to stand on, (he just happened to have one on him). Anyway with a clear view i saw Bonzo score what seemed a 35yard screamer, a stomping 4-2 West Ham win & the rest as they say is history. Hooked!! Best club & best fans in the world bar none in my opinion.

ive never lived in london my self but my dad was born and bread there ,he used to work in my grandads bakery on green street , so im told ..My dad moved from london about 40 years ago to marry my mum who im afraid is a totscum fan , sort of , had me 2 years later and made sure i grew up to become a hammers fan with frequent trips back to the home land . It was made easy aswell as my best mates were also hammers fans but to this day im not sure why but i can only say that for some reason(the appreciation of great football aside) there are an awfull lot of hammers fans from my area in the south west .. on a sad note though i am strugglin to convince my son who is 5 as all his mates are chelsea and he is succumin to peer pressure but i will pravale, might cost me a lot in bribes though :)

I live in Serbia, play football, and I play bass in a rock band called Smiler. Steve Harris (Iron Maiden bassist) was my childhood hero...and he is a great West Ham fan and my first reason to join Serbian Hammers army (believe me there are many West Ham fans here in Serbia). If you ask somebody here in Serbia wich is the team that he supports - the answer 99% would be Red Star Belgrade or Partizan Belgrade, and it's very strange to people when they hear the answer West Ham United. FOREVER Hammer over the land and sea!!! UP THE IRONS!!!

Why do i support West Ham? because my dad said he would kill me if i didn't lol. Seriously tho i'm very proud to say i'm a west ham fan. The fans are great, the players are legends and the football is very enjoyable. I love to read about the clubs history and know what a great team we are. Ok in todays business side of football were not up to the standards of the likes of chelsea, man u, liverpool e.c.t but the football is still very exciting and i'll always be a West Ham fan even if we got relegated to the conference (although id probably moan even more then i do now!) Does that answer your question?

On Sunday 7th May 1967 I was round a schoolmates house as we sat down for the Big Match, West Ham v Man Utd. My pal was a Utd fan and I was just floating around wearing a Wolves strip because I liked the colours or an Everton top because, perversely for a London school, a lot of lads were Everton fans so I copied. A truly enthralling game ensued with a stonking 1-6 home defeat for the Hammers which due to the fact they never gave up, continued to try to play good football and a certain England trio meant I have supported them ever since. My Dad (god rest his soul) must have been mortified as he was a Millwall fan through and through and it wasn't till I was older that I got into understanding the tribal rivalry of sets of supporters. It took a long time, but my dad finally came to a Hammers game with me v Coventry and I like to think I "converted" him to a degree. I saw 16 goals in my first 3 home games 8-0 Sunderland, 4-0 Leicester and 4-3 QPR which surely proved what a terrific decision I had made? Ive had a rollercoaster with West Ham, tears over the sale of Martin Peters, disgust over the booting of John Lyall, amazement of the treatment of Bonzo, disbelief at the semi finals versus Stoke and Nottingham Forest. and just about every emotion over the death of Bobby. Seen some truly memorable players Ludo and Parkes, who was the best?....Porfirio, McAvennie, Paddon, Cross, Di Canio and all our England Internationals,where do I stop? Last season tho was the season of all seasons I suppose. Totally drained me. And what have I done? I got 2 cracking sons. Both West Ham fans. Am I being mean?

Because i'm a serial MASOCHIST.

In our house there were 3 things you had to like, Bread and Dripping, Carbolic soap and West Ham. Memories of family members bringing me home programmes on a Saturday and of going to the Boleyn to have my photo taken with the FA Cup. Going to get Brookings & Bonzo's autographs at a local supermarket.This club gets under your skin and you cannot shake 'em.One thing can be said about all WHU fans is we are not glory hunters.They put you through hell but we still come back for more.My sons are well and truly endoctrinated,took my eldest to his first match last season at Wigan,a memory we both surely will never forget. He said he has never been anywhere as loud and we sang ourselves hoarse. Its the fans as well as the club that make supporting WHU a right of passage in my family and an absolute pleasure.

I was actually a Liverpool fan as a kid growing up in Romford (my dad's a leyton Orient fan & he hates WHU), but even going to watch WHU vs Luton in around 1989 or 1990 in the milk cup qtrs or semis (cant remember exactly) when we were 3-0 down at half time, we were still singing. I was hooked!

Great post BMS. Seeing as you asked, here's my four penn'th ... My old man wasn’t interested in football, so as a nipper I was taken to my first match by my godfather. We all lived in west London and he was a Chelsea fan, so the game was at the Bridge. He naturally assumed I was going to support Chelsea as well, but when the two teams came out I was captivated by the claret and blue shirts — especially the one with Number 6 on the back which was being worn by a tall blond fella who was clearly a living God. Ninety minutes later the Claret and Blue had won 3-1 and I was hooked for life. Years later, I was to meet a woman from East Ham who, I’m delighted to say, agreed to become Mrs Popeye. My father-in-law, who was truly a diamond geezer and a Hammer through and through, could never quite believe that someone who wasn’t actually born in the East End would be daft enough to voluntarily saddle themselves with west Ham, but happily he eventually came round to the idea that I wasn’t just having him on so I could worm my way into the family affections! He was knocking on a bit by the time we got round to having kids of our own, but I’m delighted to say that before my father-in-law departed for the great changing room in the sky, my lad grew up enough to join us at UP. I can still remember how I felt the first time we went together; the three of us sitting side by side — three generations, one great club. Our club. That will always unite us as a family and for me, I suppose, that’s what it’s all about.

I'm 17 and I come from Rainham, I did live in Dagenham for 10 years before. In my family it's either West Ham or nothing, so you can say it was forced upon me if you like. But now when I look at it I'm proud to be a Hammer. The old man grew up in Walton Road just opposite the ground and the old girl lived in William White Court above the Queen's Market so they're West Ham born and bred. First game and one of my all time favourites was when we thrashed Coventry 5-0. Di Canio getting a brace, Carrick, Margas and Kanouté, remember it like it was yesterday. Up the Hammers!

There is no option, there was no choice in our house when I was growing up. West Ham or not at all. My great-grandfather was one of the thousands who gibbed into the 1923 (White Horse) final at the orginal Wembley and there has been a season-ticket in the family pretty much since then. One of the things I always promised myself was that when I got a job I would get a season ticket. Unfortunately, I've ended up living and working miles away and my dream never happened, strange really. Now my mum and dad have a season ticket (bobby moore lower) and given the chance mum will tell the story about how she got told off by a copper for ruffling Bobby Moore's hair as he came out the tunnel for a game in the late sixties. Supporting West Ham is a way of life and something that can't be adequately explained in words - it just 'is'.

i am an old fogie(58)born and bred a hammer followed me dad & grandad. first game when i was 6 tho i cant remember it.not to smart with computers either.

I'm 15 and I'm from Cardiff and I support West Ham because my Dad was about 4 when England (or West Ham) won the World Cup so he chose the Hammers! And naturally I followed suit. =]

Thanks to everyone who responded, there's some great posts on here. What stands out the most is we all agree, Once a Hammer, always a Hammer. Some have supported other clubs then changed to West Ham but, I have NEVER heard of a Hammer changing for a different team, not even in our fizzy pop seasons. COYI!

West Ham Till I Die

All my family suport them and my dad lived in east ham so it was an obvious choice for me. love west ham and wouldnt change it for the world! .. COYI !!

MY whole family does, on both sides and I have been brought up to support them. Had a season ticket for five years now an there is no way on thsi earth that I would change teams.

For me it was my nan, she moved over in the sixties with my grandad and mum from Malta (Uncles,aunties) and she fell in love with the West Ham and then when i was born (72) and was able to go she took me every sat to UP, Born and raised West Ham...West Ham Till Idie (RIP...Nan Love ya xxx)