Cod Almighty | Article

by Richard Lord

4 September 2005

Supporting Grimsby Town is a rollercoaster ride. It's a bit of a cliché - and I try to avoid them... er, like the plague, much in the same way that managers try not to use them because, you know, at the end of the day, it doesn't make you sound too clever. But sometimes I really can't find an alternative way to describe what it's like to follow the Mariners.

I was never aware of what trauma the fortunes of Town can inflict on you. I've never really looked at myself or the club from an outside perspective, but all that changed when I went to university. All of a sudden I started to wonder about our image in the Football League, and how other fans perceived us. I never wanted to try and win fans over; you know the type - those indecisive ones who have a fancy Premiership shirt but don't actually support that team. In fact, they've never been to support their local side either, and it turns out that they're not really into football. I wasn't bothered about them, but I wanted to show them all the same that I'm proud of my football club, no matter what we achieve (or don't, as it's been for the past few years). Why? I don't know. Maybe it's an innateness that none of us can describe.

Living in Huddersfield, I've met plenty of people from Manchester. Nearly all of them are genuine City fans, confirming the theory that United fans don't actually live in Manchester. Beyond that there are a couple of Bolton supporters, one or two Leeds followers and of course you have a handful of locals roaring on the Terriers. However, if you look more closely you'll find the hardcore fans - the ones that don't let university get in the way of travelling through the night to Torquay, but also don't go around announcing their allegiances to the whole world.

So there I was, bemoaning the fact that Town must be one of the most inconsistent teams in the whole of the Football League. We'd just lost 2-0 at Rochdale yet beaten leaders Yeovil 2-1 at Blundell Park the weekend before. The response I got from the lad I was chatting to was a snigger, a wry smile and a shake of the head as it bowed down. After all the frustration I was pouring out, he revealed that he was a massive Cambridge fan and couldn't understand what I was complaining about.

He told me all about their rise through the divisions (almost hand-in-hand with the Mariners in the early 90s) and how they were minutes away from getting into the Premiership. Obviously that contrasted greatly with their position last March: bottom of the fourth division and staring relegation in the face. And not just relegation, but the threat of extinction too.

Everyone I know at university knows that I am a Grimsby fan. Whenever I've made the trip back to Blundell Park during term time, the others have known about it. When I went to Rochdale I made a sign for my flat and it was displayed right in front of you as you entered the main door. I found myself wanting to tell the world of my allegiance, despite two relegations on the bounce. It was almost as if I wanted to lead the way and start something new for the true lower-league supporters that are currently hiding away at university.

Two weeks later I saw the lad I was chatting to in the students' union, wearing his Cambridge top, proud as punch. I liked to think that I was an innovator, a leader among men and women too shy to show their loyalties. After all, why should they have to hide away and live in the shadow of the Premiership? They are the ones who pay more money to follow their team than those wearing the Chelsea and Manchester United shirts, who go no further than the students' union to watch the latest live match on Sky Sports.

By my own admission I didn't manage to get to nearly half the number of games I would've liked to last season. But when I went, the whole town knew about it. I hate to think that people are made to feel embarrassed when they reveal who they support. These people need to be given a pat on the back and brought forward to the front.

It's not my job to convert half-hearted football fans to support Grimsby. If they've never had the stamina to follow football up until now, why encourage them to support Town? I won't be able to make the Spurs match but I'll be there, in the students' union with all my mates around me, watching it on Sky - not because I want the indecisive among us to support the underdogs, but because I want everyone to see that I am a Grimsby Town fan - and proud of it.