Looking at the 'first away game' thread and it got me thinking...
I was wondering how many on here are second or even third generation exiles and have never lived in the southwest?
I'm third generation, as my grandfather moved up from Saltash after the war, and both my dad and I grew up in London and Sussex respectively as green blooded Argyle fans.
Any of you who are second or third generation will know what it means to grow up as the solitary Argyle fan in your area or school. You will have been to ten times more away games than home games, with a few pilgrimages down to HP each season to see the odd family member and buy as much as you can carry in the club shop. You may be used to sitting on the Paddington train in the dark for hours reading the programme cover to cover on your way back from a 'home game'. You will end up chewing the ear off any EFL fan because they are the closest thing you have to anyone who knows the slightest thing about Argyle (You can get a good 20 minutes of chat if you can find a player or manager that has been at both clubs!). You will get excited when you see a glimse of a green and white scarf on the local high street, only for your heart to sink when after following the bloke into WHSmith you see it's actually a Celtic scarf. It can actually feel a bit strange when you go to a game and are surrounded by hundreds or thousands of Argyle fans.
People always find it odd that I go to the football on my own, until I explain that growing up Argyle mad in rural East Sussex, there's not many folk who fancy a round trip to Darlington in a day just to watch Argyle lump it around in the mud. While some think of it as cruel to burden a child with a love of Argyle without even coming from the area, I have always been so grateful that I was raised an Argyle fan, and the moments I have experienced and places I've visited make me so glad I was not a Sky watching Man U/Arsenal/Spurs/Chelsea fan like all those I grew up around. The lessons you learn about humility and enjoying the highs and enduring the lows cannot be matched by the dull existence of being a fan of a 'big club'. Now in Chicago, we're expecting a son any day now and if he is into football, he'll (hopefully) be a 4th generation exile, even further from Plymouth.
See you on the 18:16 from platform 7!
I was wondering how many on here are second or even third generation exiles and have never lived in the southwest?
I'm third generation, as my grandfather moved up from Saltash after the war, and both my dad and I grew up in London and Sussex respectively as green blooded Argyle fans.
Any of you who are second or third generation will know what it means to grow up as the solitary Argyle fan in your area or school. You will have been to ten times more away games than home games, with a few pilgrimages down to HP each season to see the odd family member and buy as much as you can carry in the club shop. You may be used to sitting on the Paddington train in the dark for hours reading the programme cover to cover on your way back from a 'home game'. You will end up chewing the ear off any EFL fan because they are the closest thing you have to anyone who knows the slightest thing about Argyle (You can get a good 20 minutes of chat if you can find a player or manager that has been at both clubs!). You will get excited when you see a glimse of a green and white scarf on the local high street, only for your heart to sink when after following the bloke into WHSmith you see it's actually a Celtic scarf. It can actually feel a bit strange when you go to a game and are surrounded by hundreds or thousands of Argyle fans.
People always find it odd that I go to the football on my own, until I explain that growing up Argyle mad in rural East Sussex, there's not many folk who fancy a round trip to Darlington in a day just to watch Argyle lump it around in the mud. While some think of it as cruel to burden a child with a love of Argyle without even coming from the area, I have always been so grateful that I was raised an Argyle fan, and the moments I have experienced and places I've visited make me so glad I was not a Sky watching Man U/Arsenal/Spurs/Chelsea fan like all those I grew up around. The lessons you learn about humility and enjoying the highs and enduring the lows cannot be matched by the dull existence of being a fan of a 'big club'. Now in Chicago, we're expecting a son any day now and if he is into football, he'll (hopefully) be a 4th generation exile, even further from Plymouth.
See you on the 18:16 from platform 7!