Who are ya?! Part 2
2. “The Fair-weather Fan”
Match day habitat: as the name suggests this can be dependent on the weather but also how they are feeling and how their team are doing; can they be bothered etc. If it’s not too bad out and there’s a good chance of a win, then they’ll be going to the match. If it’s not looking good for the team, or if it looks cold and there could be rain on the way, they will more than likely be an honorary armchair fan for the day (or as long as it takes for the team to start winning again).
Match day diet: Obviously a lot of the fair-weather fans match day activities and routines are dependent on the league position of their team because that directly affects the fan’s decision whether to go or not. So it could be a half-time pie at the stadium or it could just as easily be a Bombay Bad Boy on the sofa.
In contrast to the Armchair fan, the fair-weather fan is certainly not specific to a particular level of football. In fact, they’re everywhere and I can guarantee everyone who reads this will know one.
The fair-weather fan will generally be a “good” supporter of their team….as long as they’re winning and rising up the table. If they’re losing and falling down the table then the club definitely can’t count on the fair-weather contingent within their support to be there. Of course when/if they start winning again, they’ll return. (I would have said they’ll come crawling back but if they can happily walk out on their club when things get tough I doubt they would be ashamed!). So what are they doing when “their” team is struggling? Well they’re usually still being “good” fans, only by now they will be fans of another more successful club. Let’s just say that they would include “bandwagons” and “jumping onto things” in their interests and hobbies.
One thing (which I forgot to mention in the armchair-fan piece) that the fair-weather fan has in common with a lot of armchair fans is that following one team just isn’t enough. This brings us to the well known “2nd team” discussion. Is it bad to follow the results of another team in a different league or even a different country? For me personally it’s not, but I’ll save the more detailed 2nd team discussion for a later date so we can stick to the topic of the Fair-weather fan. The difference between the Fair-weather fan’s 2nd team and other fans 2nd teams is that they will follow theirs with strangely the same amount of enthusiasm as their 1st team. For the fair-weather fans, having a 2nd team is essential so they can turn to them when the 1st team isn’t doing well.
So if their team are playing well and winning, then they will usually be at the match but don’t ask them anything about the away games because other than the rare exception they won’t have been there. (My sweeping generalisation here is assuming the fan had the time and money to go but chose not to!) Not that they were just ignoring the match, they were probably checking updates and/or listening on the radio if possible. The point I’m trying to make though is that a Fair-weather fan would very rarely bother with an away game. The exceptions being; a very local rival and a promotion game – of course this is all dependent on the success of the team.
The urban dictionary sums the fair-weather fan up nicely;
“Last to join, first to leave”
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