How did you become Liverpool fan?

[Tatterdemalion]

Interested in knowing how you got here.

I was born in Liverpool. My step-dad (guardian actually) told me some time during the 1983-84 season, that he used to go to Liverpool games. So Liverpool were my team. Turned out, my cousins were all blues. It was only much later that he told me he used to watch Everton as well.. close call.

[BigChief]

Arrived in London in the late 70s barely speaking any English. Everyone in my primary school was supporting Liverpool. By 1980 so was I.

[SB]

My Dads family are all from Liverpool too . After a brief time in Yorkshire where my Dad married Mum they moved back to Liverpool where I was born. ( phew dodged a bullet there, could have been Leeds or Hull for example) Dad used to be on the Kop regularly with one of his brothers while another brother was watching the Blue****e. Dad’s passion for the Reds rubbed off on me & in turn my son.

[Yerman]

Growing up in North West Ireland, there was always a big support for Liverpool, Arsenal and dare I mention it United, but watching Kenny score the winner in the 78 European Cup final got me hook line and sinker

[Kenneth]

I grew up in Warrington. Football in the playground it was always Liverpool and Man City fans vs Everton and utd, so you had to be one of the four and my best mates were on the city/Liverpool side so I was too. A friend and neighbour down the road were a Liverpool family and took me with them to my first game, on the kop, when I was about 9 or 10. I was **** scared and the dad almost got beaten up for giving us sandwiches (something about how we shouldn’t be having a ****ing picnic) but I’ve been a supporter since that game, even though it was a 0-0 against Norwich. I remember being star struck about seeing John Barnes in the flesh, the actual John Barnes, in front of my very eyes.

[Tatterdemalion]

My Dads family are all from Liverpool too . After a brief time in Yorkshire where my Dad married Mum they moved back to Liverpool where I was born. ( phew dodged a bullet there, could have been Leeds or Hull for example) Dad used to be on the Kop regularly with one of his brothers while another brother was watching the Blue****e. Dad’s passion for the Reds rubbed off on me & in turn my son.

Your surname isn't a town in Lancashire by any chance?

[Tatterdemalion]

Excellent stories all involving chance.

[SB]

Your surname isn't a town in Lancashire by any chance?

No but if it was it’d be Sir B

[Charly]

I only knew two teams when I was six, Arsenal and Liverpool

While I didnt know what a "Liverpool" was, I certainly knew what an "Arse" was.

[Steve]

I grew up about 14 miles from Manchester and went to Old Trafford several times in the 60's watching Best, Law, Charlton etc. Then around 1967 went to visit my Dads cousin who was Alf Arrowsmith and played briefly for Liverpool before injury ruined his career. Saw all his medals including a 1st division winners medal and have been a fan ever since.

[MosRay]

My nan lived in South Port and moved to Liverpool when I was 5. That was 1968. I went and spent my summer holiday holiday there in 1969 with my sisters, mum and dad.

My nans neighbour was a Red and he took me and me dad, who was a Chelsea fan to see Chelsea play Liverpool at Anfield.

I was almost 6 years old and that day is still so fresh in my memory, like it was yesterday.

The noise of the crowd, the songs and seeing my dad's beloved Chelsea being beaten 4.1

That was August 9th 1969. The day I became a lifetime red. Much to my dads disappointment

[Fierce]

Grew up near Wigan, similar to Kenneth you were either United, Liverpool or Everton. Or rugby, obviously

My dad was on United's books as a teenager so was a staunch fan, but wasn't around much when I was a kid so I never really had any interest in football, nor a team to follow. He lost a long battle with cancer when I was young and at some point asked his mate to take to me Liverpool games, never really found out why him and not a Man U fan but I'm of course delighted his choice! They were ST holders and went to every single away game they could. I went to most with them too, from 87 - 93 or so I think

The Perrys

[memzey]

Great thread. So many examples of fate playing a key role in determining which club you support. My story is no different on that front. Let me explain:

I was born in Tottenham in '75. My parents are from Cyprus and had moved to London in the late 60's due to the communal troubles on that island at the time. When I was a year old they briefly moved back to Cyprus which by now had separated along communal lines (not ideal but the killings had, at least, stopped).

We stayed there until I was about 4 at which point we moved back to London, staying with family, etc. until we could get our own place. During this time my folks had a small combined radio/TV thing with a wooden frame and a tiny black and white screen. I can still remember the way it looked now. It was old back then but now would look like something from a different era entirely. They watched it from time to time but I had no interest in it whatsoever.

One day in '81, my dad brought home our first colour TV. It was tiny by today's standards but represented a huge step up from what we had before. As they were oohing and aahing over it, I noticed that something was on the screen I hadn't seen before. These guys were kicking a ball about between themselves. One team in red the other in white. I'd recently done shapes in school and I could swear the team in red were making triangles and rectangles with the ball. I asked my dad about this and he explained that this was football son (he had previously been an Arsenal ST holder) and that this was the biggest game of the year (turns out it was the European Cup final but I only realised that long afterwards). My favourite colour was red. I asked him who the team in red were. "That's Liverpool" came the response, and I've been with the same bird ever since.

Fate is key. I've long said you don't pick your club, your club picks you.

[Subby]

1986 FA cup final. Supported liverpool since then. I remembered the passion of the commentary of the last goal by rush and that was it. I was 10

[vlahka]

In my area of australia we only had 2 channels, and sometimes it would show match highlights and rarely an actual full match. Usually UTD, sometimes liverpool, or another team. Would watch games randomly in the early 80s when I could but started proper following liverpool when we signed Barnes and Beardsley, since I liked watching Beardsley play quite a bit. Also I liked the shirt.