Have we ever introduced ourselves?

[Airfix]

I notice that the Exiles board contains an introduction thread but I never saw one here.  So I'm creating one.

Tell us about you.

Here's me:

I come from Godalming in leafy Surrey which is ideal for Fulham as it's just up the A3 for me.

I've been a Fulham nut for as long as I can remember (and some times that I can't remember too).  My late father supported "them" but he was an old-school "them" supporter as LB can testify.  He came from Battersea so used to do the "Fulham one week, the dark side the other" and, whilst we never went a huge amount when I was younger (about 5-6 times a season), the decision was always "Shall we go to the football?  Yes?  Who's at home?".  With him being a blue, I decided to become a white to keep the balance, even to the point of wearing my black and white, home-knitted scarf to Slumford Bodge.  This practice ceased when I saw a scarf just like mine hanging from a lamp-post at one game with a Newcastle fan dangling from it by his feet.  Discretion being the better part of valour, I stuffed mine in my coat and stayed schtum.

I have been told that my enthusiasm for my team is infectious.  Certainly I tend to find that even non-football-supporting friends keep an eye out for our scores on a Saturday.  Even Mrs Airfix has been heard to say "we support Fulham" to a friend of hers.  As you will have noticed already, I have introduced two Fulham fans (bigdaddyat and sipwell) to the FoF board and for that you have my heartfelt apology.

I never supported another team before Fulham - there was no time to do that but I do have a firm second team - the mighty Gs... Godalming Town.  If I get a kitchen pass when Fulham are away and the Gs are at home, you'll find me at Wey Court.  Life is great in the Ryman South 1st Division where you can stand, drink coke from cans, have a smoke and put your brolly up when it rains.  That is what football should be about!

Being a Fulham fan has made me laugh and cry.  It has brought me friends opportunities to go to places that I would never have dreamed of going (like Hull).  I wouldn't change it for the world.  Best fans you can get, bar none.

Did someone say bar....?

 

[Peabody]

What a good idea. For what its worth, here's my tuppence worth. I was first taken to Fulham in 1946. My Dad had died in June of that yeay, so it was left to my Mums brother (my Uncle Jim) to take me to Fulham (sorry Finn but he was a scouser) he had just been demobbed and decided to take in a game, fortunately for me, Fulham were at home, as I grew older and living in Peabody, I discovered that there were a fair few of us who were Fulham and a fair few who decided that Fulham Broadway (or Walham Green as it was then). Basically that is it, I am Fulham and will never be anything else. Thick or thin, good or bad, I am a Fulham fan.

[epsomraver]

First went to Fulham in 1963/4, born in Putney lived there till age 5 then moved to Filth territory Battersea, did as Peabody did when taken, one week The Bridge and one week Fulham but the Chelsea visit was only  one week, soon as I walked through the park into the ground, saw all the flags flying, and as I have raved about for ever Jim Langley coming over to me as we stood by the railings of the Putney / Riverside corner noshing on the Percy daltons, he ruffled my hair ( I had some then) and said "should be a great game today boy" Hooked for life!!!

[Fletchino]

Hello my names Andy but most people know me as fletch my first fulham game was some time in the late 80's we had a young ian dowie on loan from Luton and he scored that day We won  3-1. My mum and dad met at FFC and i have lived most of my life in fulham my family is a bit of a split between fulham qpr the dark side and Wimbledon no brentford. I am a season ticket holder and try to do as many aways as I can I have a 3 year old son who is fulham mad he went to his first fulham game at two weeks old ( we lost in the carling cup) I went to hamburg and cry at the thought of it never happening again. I am 29 years old and work as a gas enigneer I
sit in the hammersmith end and hate people who call it the hammy end I belive that one day we will win the cup and then the flood gates will open COYW'S

[finnster01]

I posted most of this on the Exile site as that is what I am now I guess, but here goes:

Was born in London, in a part called Islington (Major Arsenal territory). My father was born and bred in SW6 and was Fulham through and through, as was his dad. The rest of the family (Mum's side & my Irish granny who gave me my name) all Arsenal except one uncle who always was Fulham. As a kid we moved back to SW6 and Fulham. My dad passed away when I was young, but not before he took me to Wembley in 1975. It is the best memory I have of him as he spent much more time in the pub than at home. My mom then moved back to Islington but my uncle took up where my father left and made sure I stayed Fulham and would take me to the Cottage on a regular basis. As I grew up, joined the Royal Navy, fought in the Falklands, came back barely in one piece but alive, graduated from university, started my own business, did decent I guess, and even opened a US office in New York. Had to get out of the London business as I got killed by the recession and Gordon Brown's insistence that no such thing existed.

Anyway, have now moved permanently to New York City and live with my native New Yorker girlfriend in Harlem. Fulham for life. The only problem I have is that I am not allowed to yell COYW's anymore as that causes some potential issues in my neighbourhood as I found out the hard way, and because COYW is a very difficult thing to control, I end up watching most games at home either on TV or computer with a generous helping of Mr Fuller's ESB.  

I have been treated extremely well here in New York and by the Americans, and it is very hard not to like what I see. So to all the yanks out there, thank you!! COYW!!!!!  

[finnster01]

How olds Otter ?  

6 minutes younger than me..

And I bet he has been reminded of that quite a few times over the years Mr Ska... 

[HatterDon]

kader, your lot wouldn't have done any better in the fight than you did in the match, mate! 

I'm HatterDon because my first football club was Luton Town in the mid-1960s [and because my name is Don  ]. It was part of my bonding with my father-in-law that I became a Luton fan. My parents-in-law were Somerset folk who met and married in London during WWII [tha big one]. He worked for Vauxhall and moved to Luton when the plant did. They were all Gooners. Once my father-in-law passed and my wife and I split, I got a Bosman from Luton and wandered in the Wilderness for 30 years or so until I found Fulham. I started watching because of McBride, but became first a huge Boa Morte fan and then of Moritz Volz.

During my Luton days -- all but one season in the lower divisions -- I went to a lot of grounds, including most in London. 90% of the matches we watched were at the Highbury Library [what a horrible lot of 1-0s I saw]. I had a mate who also married into a Gooner family, and taking the tube down from Cockfosters meant little crushing on our way to and on our way back from a match.

I've mentioned this before, but Luton didn't give a toss about the Yanks down the road in the secret base who were football mad. There was no recognition at all for us and nobody much was very welcoming. I found the exact opposite to be true at Fulham, first gaining acceptance through FulhamUSA and now here. I have seldom met a more amiable and generous bunch than your good selves.

Currently, I've decided that my 3rd retirement shall be my last. I'll be 64 in a few days, and it's tough enough for people younger than Roy Hodgson to get a job, never mind geezers like me. After doing my bit for god and country, I got into teaching, and then assessment -- including running my own consulting firm for a while. Nowaday's my band and my writing take up most of the time that I don't spend on here, on FB, or obsessing about Fulham. I haven't been to England since I left in January 93, but I will be back THIS FALL, dammit. I've gotten too many invitations to wait any longer. I'd like to get back and get to see the Whites in person, while I still have some brain cells left to destroy. 

I live in San Antonio, Texas, and will show any visitor the shortest route to the nearest Fullers ESB.

COYW y, viva Salcido!!!

[RidgeRider]

I'm a married with two young kids, 5th generation Californian who rides and races his bike a lot and uses butt butter liberally. Besides my own sporting activities, as a supporter, Fulham is it for me. I was a little distracted with my childhood team the San Francisco Giants the last 6 weeks, but always with an eye on the Cottagers. My Fulham commitment includes occassional 4AM wake-ups to catch matches but usually it kicks off at 7AM every Saturday or Sunday....... and the intrigue of the Prem, Fulham, and it's community has me addicted. The Cottage is in my near future.  :dft010:

[The Doctor]

Hello all, I'm Jon and I'm a Fulham addict

I grew up in Motspur Park, back before it was a footballing hotbed and when it was only notable for one thing (a mention in a sketch on Monty Python's Flying Circus).  I'm a Fulham supporter because of my Dad.  He grew up in Napier Avenue, just behind Putney Bridge tube station.  His Dad was supported the other lot in SW6, but they used do the alternating thing.  In his teens, Dad decided he preferred Fulham as "they were by far the better team".  That was when Haynes was with us, so enough said.  His claim to fame was that for a short while Bobby Robson lived on the same street as him.

At about the age of five, I noticed Dad was disappearing every Saturday afternoon.  The incessant nagging only an infant is capable of revealed he was going to watch football.  I wanted to go.  I wasn't allowed to go.  There were tantrums.  I still wasn't allowed to go.  Much sulking ensued.  Looking back, I'm not surprised he wanted to get away from the screaming brat.  After a couple of years, I was finally honoured with a trip to the Cottage.  I know we sat in the Riverside stand, probably so I didn't hear any foul language, and I still have vague memories of a smoky Benfica Bar with pennants on the wall and no queuing for a drink.  Strangely, I have no recollection of the game, or even who we played.  But I must have enjoyed it, because I wanted to go back.  And we did most Saturdays - our little band: me, Dad and his old mate Ray.  At the start of the next season, we moved to the Hammersmith, and I had a season ticket.  By this time I'd worked out we were rubbish (this would have been at the height of our difficulties in the mid/late '80s), so I repaid Dad's gratitude by playing with a load of other kids on the old earth banks at the back of the Hammersmith End.  In time, even that simple pleasure was taken away from me.  The team went into decline and in the early '90s, Dad gave up going.  Without money or parental consent, that was it for me too.

School was a footballing wilderness.  None of my mates supported Fulham, being all Liverpool, Man Utd or Arsenal.  Even my little brother (who'd come to a few Fulham games) turned out to be a Spurs supporter.  None of then had ever been to a game, so I had to suffer the ignomy of getting grief from the uninitiated.  Even had a Wimbledon fan giving me stick once.  And the worst bit was there was no relief - relegation to the lowest division only made things worse.  But then came Micky Adams, and then came promotion and that season the latent passion was unleashed.  This was the first bit of success Fulham had had in my memory and I loved it.  So what that we were runners-up in Division 4?  It was ours, and I'd seen it first hand.  I can still remember the excitement on the Tuesday morning following the Carlisle away game - I'd taped "Nationwide Review" (league highlights show on at about 1am on a Tuesday morning back then) and had heard that our winner was a bit special.  Understatement of the century.  First chance I got, I was off down the club shop to get my first shirt (I've still got it, and it still fits).

Towards the end of the next season, I was at a game against Watford and saw an advert in the programme for shop assistants for the new club shop.  I was off to Uni and thought it'd be the ideal part-time job - it would provide beer money and I'd get to see most of the games.  I applied and got a job, and I can honestly say it was the best job I ever had and probably ever will have.  We got all sorts of crap from customers and colleagues, but by Christ we had some good laughs.  It was there I met Fulham supporters my own age for the first time, and they're still good mates.  One of them now lives in Australia, but barely a day goes by we don't natter about something Fulham related, and another has the seat next to me at The Cottage.  I met another Fulham supporter at Uni and we all got into the habit of away games, was a great getaway for those of us working for FFC and a whole new experience for me.  I'll never forget coming back from my first away league game (loss at Maine Road) and driving past Villa Park on the M6.  One of my mates shouted out the window "We lost today, but we'll give you a hiding next week".  Ever the optimist, I thought.  One week later we were off our faces with delerium having trounced a team then topping the Premier League.  But even then, I'd have laughed at you for suggesting that one day Fulham would be holding our in amongst those teams every season.  I'd have had you committed had you suggested that Fulham would batter some of Europe's elite.

And yet here we are.  I'm now 30, so I've given up on the childhood dream of playing for Fulham (they wouldn't have had me anyway, I'm an appalling footballer).  I live in Reading, I'm a cynical sod and my every waking minute is spent trying to attain the title I so grandiosely go by on this (and other) boards.  I'm not that screaming little brat any more, and Fulham aren't the same club.  But we've still got each other and our little Cottage by the River.  Long may that continue.

[Scrumpy]

Hi all

 

[CorkedHat]

Hello my name is John and I'm here because I have a problem with..... Oh no that's Monday nights, sorry.
Most people know my story so I'm not going to relate it all again. You just need to know that I live in Outback Australia, wrestle crocodiles, root Sheilas, write books, drink a lot, used to teach at Uni, believe Karl Marx was a legend, my best friend is a man of the cloth even though I am an atheist, saw my first Fulham game in 1951 and have been addicted ever since. Grew up in abject poverty in Battersea which ironically I wouldn't change for quids, got thrown out of school (which I hated almost as much as I hate QPR) when I was just fifteen and told that I would never make anything of my life. A Uni degree in Communications, the inaugural inductee into the Brisbane Advertising Association Hall of Fame, the winner of the HK McCann International Award for Media Excellence (the first Australian based person to win it) two books, a research paper on consumer behaviour and a thousand articles later I am still trying to prove my teachers wrong!
PS Okay so I don't wrestle crocodiles and anything that slithers, crawls or don't look like a human frightens the crap out of me. But what do you expect from someone raised in Battersea?

[SuffolkWhite]

Hello my name is SuffolkWhite and I am also a Fulham addict.

I was not born in London or had any affiliation to London but my life was one of movement while young and 13 schools later and many homes I ended up in west London.
I used to play football in Bishops park and over the river at Barn Elms.

QPHAHAHAAAA was my nearest team but a mate took me to the cottage and the love affair started. It was the early 80's and my first game was a 0-4 loss to Oxford Utd under the reign of Bobby Campbell what a brilliant night, I loved it, and the crowed were singing for Campbell's head . What hooked me was there were not many Fulham fans at school and I felt part of a select few and the whole Fulhamish thing started, in truth the SuperMac era started at just the right time to hook me in further.

I watched Fulham for a few seasons and hardly missed a game at home and I went to many away games. When the decline came I moved to Suffolk and was skint, I missed whole seasons only reading the scraps in the papers about our team and worrying that we would go out the league with no ground. I take my hat off to you all who fought for the return to the Cottage.

Now I can make three games a year and managed six games last year, and the joy I get is worth every penny.

What ever happens in life there is always Fulham FC there for you, and if we were in Div 2 I'd still be in love with the club.

COYW

[Travers Barney]

Suffolk...wern't many in that night but 'Campbell out' reverberatted around the ground with such volume and gusto that my pal and I still recall it to this day.

We are the whites

[SuffolkWhite]

There weren't many going in those days Barney. I don't know what the average was back then for that season? But it can't have been more than 5000.

[The Rock]

This is the Rock. I am from Chicago, live in NY. I was not influenced by any club as a kid, and became enamored with Fulham as my friends lived in London and Brian McBride is from my hometown. I was in London often, but then I started coming just for the matches. Then I kept coming. Then, I had to live through 2 seasons of almost watching the club I support almost get relegated. I cried like a baby when we stayed up. Having endured that it was pretty clear I was Fulham for life. So now I can't get to many matches as I just had a kid. His name is "Robert Andrew". Perhaps you can guess where the name comes from.