Why are you Villa?

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

F**k me!
This has got more history than the History thread.

Love it!

[Colhint]

An angel came down from heaven and said unto me, see the light. There  is only one true God and Sid shall sit at his right hand.

You are born of the people for the people and Gerry Hitchens shall be thine uncle. Thy Father shall be born within a stroll of Villa Park and thy nan shall live in Erdington Hall road. Thy family shall worship with a claret flame. Thou shall not worship any false idols,yea but Manu Chelsea and Man C may promise the earth, but a pestilance shall be cast amongst them. Thy life may be envious of others, but be upholden to the truth and the Villa shall be your beginning your middle and your end. Then praise McGrath, for you have been chosen,  for my son.

[passitsideways]

Because as a kid I was a fucking mug who for some reason decided to choose a team based on the funniest name and the kit colour, instead of being nice and sensible and going for good football (i.e. Arsenal) or glory hunting (United).

[Jimbo]

Funniest name? That's Arsenal.

[Gareth]

Entire family are BLose & Wolves...aged 5/6, 1980, saw a certain European cup winning blonde centre forwards picture in paper/magazine in the wonderful kit & that was me...AVFC!

I watched Paul McGrath, they saw Liam Daish
I watched Dwight Yorke, they saw Ricky Otto
I watched David Platt, they saw Paul Tait

The kit that chose me, thank you!

[Nelly]

I've loved reading this thread, a sincere pleasure!

My own reasons aren't as grand or moving as some here but nevertheless: my family moved here from India in '82 and I was born in '84. When I was about seven, my elder brother (who was and is my hero) asked me which team I supported and as I thought about it, he answered for me, "Aston Villa". I remember it was like the light being turned on - of course! Aston Villa - it all makes sense now! Then, hearing from him about the Holte End, what songs we sang, the players, it was just magic to me. I've always considered it a privilege to support Villa, a grand old football club, unique and distinct amount countless others. I thank God for my brother making sure!

[Ian.]

Born in RAF Cosford Hospital in 1975 just outside Wolverhampton I should have followed my families footsteps and followed Wolves. However I was given a Villa shirt at 6 years old by my brother (he didn't want it as was given to him). I loved it so much and lived in that shirt.  It was 1981 and at the start of MOD they would show an image of 11 claret and blue shirts during the opening titles. I didn't know the significance of this as I didn't actually get football and didn't know it was because we had previously won the league. I would just see it as my shirt on the telly!

My Aunt then married a Villa fan who took me under his wing and saved all his match day programmes for me. I was completely hooked and my bedroom became a shrine to Villa.

My first match '83 I think was a 1-1 draw at Molineux, all I remember is our fantastic kit and Rimmer in goal. We moved then to Devon and I never made it to Villa Park until a few years later stuffing West Ham 4-0 with Stainrod bagging a brace.

[usav]

My Mom's side are all from Smethwick and are Baggies fans.  My Dad was not a football fan, but if he had to have chosen it would have been Blues, he was raised in Edgbaston.  I was raised in Solihull and I have 3 older brothers, one Leeds, one Blues and one West Brom.   The Leeds fan is 11 years older than me and it was he who took me to games when I was younger.  Leeds was too far to drive, so he took me to the best team around at the time locally, which happened to be Villa.  We did go to all the Midlands clubs though on other occasions, but there was only ever one team for me.

[bertlambshank]

My Dad.He had 10 brothers 8 of them were noses.
I love him so much for choosing the Villa over that lot.

[Tom_Mc9?]

No idea. My family has little interest in football - my dad is South African and is more into cricket and rugby, my mum doesn't really get football. I guess something happened when I was about 4, and despite flirting with the idea of supporting Manchester United (I'll forgive myself, as I said I was 4), Villa happened and I've been hooked since.

On a slight aside, I've just noticed that I registered for this version of the site ten years ago almost to the day. I doubt, if I read through my posts down those ten years, that I could fathom why I still do follow the Villa. Football fanaticism is an odd thing.

[Whiney MacWhineface]

The only memory I have of my Father's interest in football was that sanctified 10 minutes around 5 p.m. on a Saturday when the classified results were read out and it was confirmed we'd not won the pools. Again.

He came from Handsworth, which where I was born, but we'd moved to London and had only returned to the Midlands in 1960, so had no knowledge of Villa at all. After the '61 and '62 Cup Finals on TV I pestered him to take me to a game.

Looking back, dimly, I recall him having a preference for a visit to The Hawthorns, but proximity (we were then in Sutton) won out and he took me to a reserve game against Sheffield Wednesday. We stood in the Witton Stand in a sparse crowd, I can't recall the score and have no idea who played for us, though I do remember that Peter Swan played for Wednesday.

What I can most definitely recall was the greenness of the pitch, the size of the stands and most of all the astonishing vibrancy of the colours of our kit (my football world up to then had been exclusively black and white).

And that was it. Utterly captivated, spending what little pocket money I had going to as many games as I could, often travelling to VP by train on my own as an 11 year old. I was lucky, in that in those wretched 60s we actually had a decent home record (well, compared to the drubbings we often had away) so it was fun most of the time until increasing awareness of the big picture and our selling of Burrows, Hateley and injuries reduced us to utter crap.

But hey, at least we could score back then.

[dave shelley]

Reading Woofles's post above about travelling to the Villa on his own, brought to mind the fact that I did the same.  As an 11year old I'd do the two bus journey to Villa Park.  I'd get the 17 from Garretts Green to the Yew Tree and then the 11 to Witton.  Often, I would walk to the Yew Tree to save the bus fare so that I could put it towards buying a programme.

Sitting here at my kitchen table typing this I can still feel the jolt of excitement I always got when the 11 bus pulled up at the stop in Stockland Green because I knew that within the next five minutes or so I would be outside Villa park.

[UK Redsox]

Because one of my mate's kids didn't want to go one day in 1996 and I went along with him instead (we upgraded a kids ticket several times that season).

Before then I had no real interest in football. I was nominally a Liverpool fan as a six/seven year old but that was only because I lived a couple of doors from David Fairclough's aunt/uncle and his cousin was my teacher.

Really, until my late 20s it was all Rugby for me

[fbriai]

I've really enjoyed reading the posts on this thread. There are some cracking stories in amongst it all.

Makes you realise how important the club is to people, too. I was particularly moved by PWS saying that he's more concerned about the Villa lineage, rather than his family name ending with him.

As I said in my OP, I had no choice in the matter and am at least third generation. I've connections all over the West Midlands - Worcester, Wolverhampton, Alcester, Brum - but right from the off, it was Villa and nothing else.

That said, I'm pretty sure the first live game I ever saw was at the Molineux - Wolves v Spurs in '84, I think. Spurs might have won 3-2. I was taken for a mate's birthday and didn't go back there again for a good eight years I reckon. I was already Villa anyway, but just didn't feel any emotional attachment to the match, the stadium, the club. They weren't mine. A few months after, the Old Chap took me to Villa Park for the first time. I was nine at the time. We sat in the Upper North, QPR at home. 5-2. Withe (2), Rideout (2), Walters. Gary Bannister got both of theirs. The sights, the sounds, the smells! I can remember parts of that day as if it were yesterday. I was completely and totally hooked. Took one of my dad's old football almanacks to school with me the next day and spent break and lunch time sat in the playground going through the history of the FA Cup. Following the Villa's results through each of the rounds, right from the first competition.

I guess the Big Ron era was my heyday; taking the 19-minute train from Wolverhampton, where we lived at the time. They were some great times on The Holte. I don't get to go anymore, for obvious reasons, but still follow things. It's an addiction. There might be times when it feels a little more distant than others, but it always comes back. I don't go and watch any local football here, don't really follow the championship here in any great detail either, even though my father-in-law is a Romanista. It feels like it would be like cheating on the love of your life. Besides, Villa provide more than enough heartbreak on their own.

I wonder if it will be the same for kids who are starting to follow them now. What would a thread like this look like in 20 or 30 years time? I hope they have as much affection for the old place as we do.

[not3bad]

My Mom & Dad came from Yorkshire and Dad was keen on Middlesbrough though he wasn't really into football. My Mom's family however seemed to have something of a history with Aston Villa. That could be the reason why all my brothers and sisters were Villa fans by the time I came along.