A dream come true
As a football fan from the other side of the world, we’re not fortunate enough to see games from the Premier League or the Champions League. We’re lucky if we’re able to watch them online or on TV but then again the time difference means you could be staying up till midnight or even getting up at 3 am to watch the majority of games. Being a football fan from New Zealand is not for the faint-hearted, for a long time we only had one professional football team (as of 2024 we have two). We also don’t produce a lot of exceptional talent like football factories in England, Spain or Brazil. That’s in part down to the fact that football is not the go-to sport in New Zealand. It’s very popular but anyone who’s anyone will know Aotearoa is known for Rugby. We’ve spawned some of the greatest rugby players of all time, the All Blacks have been a team that is considered one of the greatest sports teams in line with greats like the Chicago Bulls and Real Madrid. Let’s get back on topic though, I come from Aotearoa New Zealand and the Cook Islands, two areas of the world where Rugby is dominated and football isn’t, I support Tottenham Hotspur and have been supporting this great club for 17 long years and just a few days ago I fulfilled my dream of seeing them play live. That is something fans like me don’t always experience.
How does one choose a team to support? Good question. As an international, we were generally only ever shown footage of the top teams at the time like Manchester United (07 United), Liverpool and Arsenal (Henry-times). A lot of my friends supported the Reds (Manchester United) and the scum (Arsenal). So how did an 11-year-old boy come to support Tottenham? One man. Jermain Defoe. Unfortunately, halfway through the 2007-08 season, he transferred to Portsmouth before returning to White Hart Lane in 2009 (already forgiven him for that). Anyways! I always admired his ability to outsmart defenders in a tough premier league, especially as a smaller player. Then after Jermain, I began to admire more Tottenham players, Berbatov, Modric, King and the one who would be my favourite player of all time, Mousa Dembélé.
This is my team and I’ll conditionally love them no matter what. Let me tell you about the game though. My family bought me tickets to the game against Newcastle United and when they told me I was in shock. The day was surreal. The trip to Tottenham from Streatham was brutal though. However, as soon as we arrived to Seven Sisters station and we got out. The crowds were already forming and I could see my people. Families, groups of people and kids with Tottenham merch. I was around football fans who supported the same club I did and when I saw the stadium I knew it was real. Inside was a different experience, after downing a pint of Tottenham’s finest, Beavertown beer, and Tottenham pie, we went out to find our seats and the stadium was even more stunning than what I’d seen online. I was officially watching the team I love live in person. Hearing ‘Oh when the Spurs go marching in’ at your home stadium with over 60,000 people for the first time, you really can’t replicate that feeling.
There’s been a lot of talk about foreign people going to Tottenham games and I want to say my piece. We are a different breed of supporter. We are more than the fake fans you think we are. We don’t have the privilege to grow up watching our team play week in and week out and I think some fans forget that because that’s something they’ve grown up with, and they tend to take that for granted. You may call it controversial but as someone who has woken up at 4 am to watch Tottenham play and lose, no matter the result I will always be just as excited and happy to watch my team play.
