In the distant mists of time when I studied German in secondary school, the textbook would describe the fortunes of FC Saarbrucken, along with the various other features of that border town. Now, as far as I'm aware, the club has never had a particularly illustrious history, but it's good to see that they currently lead the 3. Bundesliga.
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Clubs you are acquainted with through unconventional sources
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FC Saarbrucken competed in the first European Cup in 1955-56, representing Saarland which was still at that point a separate entity for football purposes from either France or West Germany. They beat Milan in San Siro in the first round first leg, but went out after losing the second leg at home.
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When I was 19 I started a new job and got a handover from my Edinburgher predecessor. He was a really nice guy, older than me and seemed very worldly. He supported Meadowbank Thistle so, without any particular attachments in Scottish football I began keeping half an eye on them.
Lot of good that did.
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when i joined a Subuteo league they ran a London Cup.
Charlton Athletic were the only available team so i've watched out for them ever since and they still sneak in in my pecking order of London clubs.
Spurs
Orient
Brentford
Charlton
QPR
Palace
Fulham
West Ham
arsenal
chelsea
no opinion on the later arrivals to the league scene.
i used to work closely with a fanatical and very unpopular Enfield fan.
this resulted in a large cohort of anti fans who always used to look out for teir results.
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The woman who ran my church Sunday school was Sylvia Honnor, who co-wrote the Tricolore books. Lovely lady. I got more out of her French books than her religious instruction though.
As a kid I always looked out for the Meadowbank Thistle results, but had no connection at all with the club. I guess I just liked the name and that they were underdogs.
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I've mentioned it before, but anyway, this is how Flamengo was introduced to the NZ public: an infamous murderer escaped to Brazil, and was wearing their shirt when he was caught. Kept it on or had a spare, it seems:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/correc...X7DBO26VAWCBE/
Nothing the club has done on the pitch has ever made the headlines in this part of the world. Only the man in the shirt.
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Most of the teams I keep an eye on overseas were the result of work placements or holiday visits. Or because of family roots (Cork and Slask). And then there’s Lorient... because it sounds a bit like Orient...I doubt I would have picked them from a holiday visit to the stubbornly unlovely Atlantic Coast town. But I suppose none of these count as unconventional.
But 2 clubs I adopted as my “foreign fancies” were the result of girlfriends I’d met through work in The City around 1980ish: Queen of the South when I visited Dumfries and her dad took me along, and Feyenoord for a similar visit “home” over to Rotterdam, though this time I attended a match with the flame’s brother. Neither relationship lasted long - I was red carded in short order both times - but the affection for the football teams remain, and I’ve visited both clubs multiple times since.
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I once got a birthday present of a 'lucky dip' bag from a football shop, which included some generic shorts, a sweat band, a mini-football, and a replica (sleeveless) shirt for Black Leopards FC. It didn't lead me into actively following them, but whenever I come across South African football I think about them.
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Not football related (well Association football at least) but the reason I follow the Washington NFL team was because my cousin and I were given NFL easter eggs in 1992 which had team mugs. He got Chicago Bears and I got Washington.
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In Reverse
On holiday in Sarajevo in 2004 I chatted to the Bosnian branch of the Forest Green Rovers supporters club in a bar/betting shop
They followed the team from afar because they loved the name but knew almost nothing about the club other than the division they played in. I was little help as I only had the vaguest idea that they played somewhere in Gloucestershire. I always think of those guys when I hear anything about FGR
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I think I've mentioned this before on here, but after exchanging a few messages with their President on behalf of Heffron Hawks (the club I was managing at the time) I kind of adopted Consett AFC
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I was sent to Syke for a Month to train a couple of lads on a rotory die cut machine back in 2001, I was taken to see Werder Bremen a couple of times while I was there. So since then they've been the team I keep an eye out for, it also got me started going to games in Germany.
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Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View PostI remember those textbooks - in the French equivalent everything was set in La Rochelle and I still always think I'll go there sometime to see what it's like. I suspect Claude Leclochard and his cat are long gone though.
Tying in with the educational thread, my team for this topic (although I'm not sure how unconventional my encounter with them can be considered) is SV Meppen, who I was taken to see play by my host family on a school exchange trip to Germany in the spring of 1995. They beat comparative big boys Hannover that day in a 2. Bundesliga game, and Wikipedia tells me they achieved their highest ever league finish that season (6th) so it seems I was lucky enough to catch them at their historical zenith. I've had an occasional look over the years to see how they were getting on, and sadly they've been beset by financial problems since that mid-90s high point, ending up in the lower-level regional leagues. Nice to see they've made their way back to some extent, although I note that they're currently sitting at the direct opposite end of the 3. Liga table to Saarbrucken.
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Originally posted by Merlin the happy pig View PostI was sent to Syke for a Month to train a couple of lads on a rotory die cut machine back in 2001, I was taken to see Werder Bremen a couple of times while I was there. So since then they've been the team I keep an eye out for, it also got me started going to games in Germany.
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I always had a soft spot for Partick Thistle as they had the best kit on my Subbuteo wallchart (apart from Cardiff's) in my formative years of the late seventies.
Inter were my Serie A club from around the same time because they played in blue and black like Cardiff RFC.
I was very happy to finally see both decades after adopting them.
Hellas Verona were my non Serie A club because of Tim Parks' book but I'm yet to see them and so can't add their bobble hat to the ones I recently purchased for the above two clubs as part of my ongoing obsession ;
Last edited by Ray de Galles; 23-11-2020, 15:07.
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