and it's not results dependent

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No alcohol for January. I'm a dryathlete in aid of cancer research.

Dryathlon

Hear hear

with you there Rich -its a rocky road we travel and the wheels often look like coming off the bus - but its our team- our journey

COME ON YOU SAINTS.

Absolutely, agree 100%.

D'accord.

Can we start a clique?

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"sup·port·er"

Noun:
1.A person who approves of and encourages someone or something (typically a public figure, a movement or party, or a policy).
2.A person who is actively interested in and wishes success for a particular sports team.

Great post Rich as I was getting disallusioned.. As you say on FB, first day of Spring,

"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.

Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke"

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My sports photos - My photography website - My Twitter feed

I thought this was going to be an Alcoholics Anonymous type of thread...

"My name is Simon, and I've been a Saints supporter for more than ten years..."

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SWH12 - May 10th 2014

No better time than the Equinox to state the affirmative.

We are all with you, Rich.

COME ON YOU SAINTS!!!

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*I could agree with you - but then we'd both be wrong...*

I'm a supporter not a fan.

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Are you a fanatic supporter, Rob?!

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*I could agree with you - but then we'd both be wrong...*

No Dom. Im just a supporter.

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First time poster on this board, long time lurker but I have to say this thread has inspired me to break my silence!

These are tricky times at the moment but we've been through tougher - our names up on the glass board at Franklin's Gardens as pledge supporters from the relegation season testify to that! I would have thought that back in 2007 we'd have given anything to be fourth in the table within a sniff of the playoffs.

That said, I would support the Saints if we were playing in a Sunday pub league.

Its back to that old nugget, much as we all like to see Saints win, do you go for the game and the entertainment or just go to be associated with glory gained in any style?

Well said and with you 100%

Quote:

ChrisG
Its back to that old nugget, much as we all like to see Saints win, do you go for the game and the entertainment or just go to be associated with glory gained in any style?

Definitely the former

I'll enjoy this week's game, despite the fact I know my team will take a pasting, just as much as I used to a few years back when the boot was on the other foot

if we won every game we would have nothing to moan and grumble about and that would be very boring. the ups and downs and debates are all part of the enjoyment, enduring the low points makes the successes sweeter

But as I've said before...if we dont start to win something damned soon...I'm off to Watford*

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"sup·port·er"

Noun:
1.A person who approves of and encourages someone or something (typically a public figure, a movement or party, or a policy).
2.A person who is actively interested in and wishes success for a particular sports team.

I predict this will be the longest thread of the week.



At least, I hope it will be...

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*I could agree with you - but then we'd both be wrong...*

Absolutely agree supporter for 14 years STH for 12 and to answer ChrisG's point I think that does. A comment I made to Connect the night of that famous Munster home game at FG in the closing minutes as Munster were throwing everything at us "if they nick this now I won't be too bothered cos I have been right royally entertained".

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Come on boys make 2013/14 SAINTS year COYS!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 20/03/2012 13:21 by Bob Stainsby.

I generally turn out for 'the occasion' - and to be entertained. I dont really handle defeat very well If Im honest but, with the Saints its something you have to get used to. I will learn to hande it better but, if the entertainment should stop then I wouldnt hesitate to become an armchair supporter.

...until the day I die.

See you at FG tonight

My support also doesn't hinge on results. If it did I wouldn't be here now given we've been relegated twice in my lifetime. However it does hinge on conduct of those at the club.

Sorry to drag a thread down, but we are developing a reputation both on and off the pitch as not being very pleasant to deal with. At first I didn't see where saints fans were getting a reputation as arrogant and unpleasant from but with each game i go to there is one more person in BG&G in the stands shouting something unsavoury, being completely oneeyed or behaving in a way that makes me slightly embarassed.

It's this, combined with the discipline problems we are having that are starting to shake my faith slightly. Hopefully it's just a temporary blip.

And sorry again for not fitting with the completely upbeat nature of this thread

Its a shame it needed saying Rich but it did. Well done.

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Saint til I die

50+ years and counting!!

I am pretty confident that we are amongst the best supporters in the country and will never believe that anything other than a very small minority cause problems for the away supporters. I think their problem comes mostly from the fact that they leave FG with not-a-lot!
COYS!!

I'm definitely in the former camp, game and entertainment, yep a win would be nice but sometimes you'll get a far better afternoon for your buck and be edged out in a pulsating contest and enjoy it far more than shouting rah rah rah as your team runs in the tenth try against inferior opposition. On the other hand if you just want to be associated with glory, you will not. Has to be noted though in the last few years we do seem to have attracted an element that treats any loss as a personal affront and nothing but coaches or players heads rolling will suffice. Anything less they'll throw themselves in the Nene. At the end of the day Bill Shankley couldn't have been more wrong, it is after all, for us anyway, just a game, however much some people posture that its the be and end all of their being on this planet.

Great post Rich.I can always see the silver lining to any cloud...well most of the time anyway.But I work with someone who revels in seeing the cloud.Depressing bu***r!

So win lose or draw...Saints playing will have my full attention.If we won all the time,we'd be bored to tears with it all.Saints victories taste very sweet,especially when beating what the pundits call better opposition.Remember when we played Sarries and Quinns at FG?

And in that relegation battle of 97(?)...remember that awesome win over Glaws? Stormy day in more ways than one!

And HerbieSaint...welcome aboard

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Bernie in Tiger Country

+1, IAWTC, etc.

20 odd years of going down the Gardens (and away games). Something keeps calling me back.

20 odd years here, too (some VERY odd years - 2 relegations for a start). It's not just the match-days, it's being part of a proper "club" - Wandies, age-group games, following young lads thru into the first team, SSC socials. A proper club with tradition, own ground and real contact with the supporters - the danger is that the money men lose sight of the latter, but the club will still remain. A successful club will attract "fans" who will sometimes besmirch the good name of the club, but let's hope we can convert them into "supporters"....

Ten years definitely the former. But I do take defeat personally until Sunday night.
If I didn't believe in that stuff skyblue I wouldn't have bought the shareholding in COYS !

Great thread Richj

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David L

What if there were no hypothetical questions?

- Live wrong and preposterously



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 20/03/2012 21:09 by St Marlowe.

I'm a Saints supporter and so is my wife.

Actually, really enjoyed our last sojourn into the lower division, although I wouldn't want it to happen again.

When I first started watching Saints we used to lose most of our games to be honest and it was a bonus if we actually won. And the feeling when we won was fantastic!

It's true to say that the more you get used to winning, the more it hurts when you lose. And the less you appreciate the wins. Things have changed for us since I began watching. It'll never change me supporting them though. I'm here for the journey.

Ask me how emotional I get when we do win an important game and then ask me if I'll ever stop supporting Saints?

I don't agree that wanting to win every game and feeling down if we don't means "I just want to be associated with glory". It just means I have a different outlook from others and has nothing whatsoever to do with "glory". I always play sport to win and like the teams I watch to win.I can't say I ever take much pleasure from losing, no matter how well we've played. Takes all sorts

Great thread Rich - DrT and I have been following the men in GB&G for over 20 years. I agree with ChrisG - Bill Shankly was just wrong. For me, rugby is about cheering on your team (quietly these days), enjoying meeting folks (and being pitchside I do get to meet lots) and enjoying competitive sport.

Some of my best memories are the places we have visited - the red beer at West Hartlepool, the summer pavilion at Waterloo (plus the incident with Tim Rodber and his boots), my first trip to Toulouse, the first final at HQ when we were so close, the win in 2000 and the players walking up the pitch from the Lake end, my first trip to Munster, DrT and his chicken hat on the big screen at Murrayfield and my first away match as a photographer at London Welsh (where the red hat first appeared).

The Saints rollercoaster has its lows but they are so outweighed by the highs.

Come on folks let's enjoy the rest of the season, starting with a Wasps swatting

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ClaireJ
Saints vs Irish photos here...


RedHatPhoto - a blog from a woman in a red hat taking photos
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The game was completely amateur when I played and it was still amateur in every sense when I started watching Saints.

There were stories about southern hemisphere teams being professional and Welsh teams paying "boot money", but Saints were always just Saints - quite unique, not like any other team.

I'm not suggesting that they were better than anyone else - they weren't, because they were up and down the divisions like a lineout jumper - but Saints always have something extraordinary about them and it's hard to put into words.

In spite of Sunday's defeat I still stoutly maintain that I would never be able to watch a team like Leicester every week, and I'm glad I don't have to. I'd rather pull teeth.

Let's see what we can do against Wasps on Saturday...

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*I could agree with you - but then we'd both be wrong...*

Thats not what I meant Tedge, I meant taking those emotions to the extreme.

Supporter for 15 years. My second match I was introduced to a young man named Rich. I go, not quite so often of late, to support the guys through thick and thin. I will always applaud every point, no matter which team has scored. I go to see a good game and to meet up with like minded people.

Albion Saint

read my "signature".

Just as apt today as when I adapted it from Clockwise all those years ago...

Still sums it all up for me.

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COYSDC on Facebook

"It's not the despair, Saints, I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand."

Great thread Rich and fully behind you on this one.

The Saints means so much more to me than winning trophies and Franklins Gardens is sacred to me. True rugby fans are a breed like no other and the passion and emotions can sometimes overwhelm, but I will always be passionate about my Northampton Saints whatever the results are.

I'm a Saints Supporter and so's my wife!

I'm a Saints supporter, so's my wife and so's my daughter.

Started watching in 1946/47 Saints v NZ Services XV, a long time ago, still love FG and I am definitely in the ‘like to win but enjoy a really good game ’ camp. Remember leaving the old temporary South stand after a cracking game that we just lost, and to a couple of ‘Northamptonians’ who were moaning like mad, and I said well it was a ‘great game’, I can still see the look on their faces, and I still hear the same comments now when we all shuffle out of the ground.

I couldn't give a tinkers cuss for Saints and I haven't since 1987, even during the 6 years in the 1990's I lived in Edinburgh and flew down most weekends to not give a damn about Saints. I really didn't cry (along with lock forward Colin Allen) when we beat Newcastle Gosforth at Percy Park's ground to get promotion to Div 1.

It's a bug, supporting Saints. It gets you, deep down.

Mind you, I still don't understand why there is a second place on the podium (quote Mark Cavendish, 2011) and always want Saints to win everything but until then, let's just enjoy the roller coaster!

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This is our time Saints.

Here's a phrase I post a lot.

I believe.

My relationship with The Saints is a complex thing, but so are most love affairs.

Lovers become almost obsessed with each other to the point of not seeing their mutual flaws and imperfections.

dammit,

I just believe

COYS.

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“...I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.” Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord