Now I have two tattoos, one to remember my grandad who died last year and another going down my leg with all the lyrics to a song we all know very well, I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles. With the song lyrics from Eminem, it got me thinking; I love West Ham that much that I've given my leg for them, but then I started wondering why? Why is it, I, myself and many others love West Ham?
For those of you who read one of my previous blogs, you would have heard about my first ever West Ham match on my 8th Birthday, but since that day, my perspective of West Ham completely changed. Before I went to that game I would look at the results and think 'Ok good, we won' but since I lost my Upton Park virginity, it is so much more than that now. Being there with my dad and 30,000 other West Ham fans just showed me as a naive eight-year-old the passion that flows through the claret and blue blood of the hammers' fans. It made me realise that people live for football; they wait all week, to see their beloved West Ham play; they spend huge amounts of time and money to show their support.
On Twitter, you often see people putting #WestHamFamily and that Upton Park is like a second home, now some people think 'oh that just sounds ridiculous' and as many people say 'its only football' but being a West Ham fan it isn't just football; it really is like being one big family. Sitting in the Boleyn with a few hundred other Hammers, everyone sits there drinking with complete strangers just as you would at a 'Family' wedding and even in the stadium when there is a goal, you end up hugging random strangers, but do we care? No, because they are part of our West Ham family who all love the club as much as we do!
To reiterate the idea of Upton Park being home and us being family, I found the perfect tweet from our very own Mr Carlton Cole. He said "I was taught when someone invites you into their home you treat it like its your own west ham have shown me a home #settled" Now with the criticism he has taken since he has been here, some fair some not, it still shows that he feels the love that the fans have and how much he feels at home when at Upton Park, just like we as fans do.
To reiterate the idea of Upton Park being home and us being family, I found the perfect tweet from our very own Mr Carlton Cole. He said "I was taught when someone invites you into their home you treat it like its your own west ham have shown me a home #settled" Now with the criticism he has taken since he has been here, some fair some not, it still shows that he feels the love that the fans have and how much he feels at home when at Upton Park, just like we as fans do.
The past few years haven't been the easiest for West Ham fans; relegation, massive debts and the threat of losing all our players and also taking a massive downturn, potentially becoming the next Leeds United. Even with all of this happening, it didn't stop us as fans to turn out in our thousands to cheer on our beloved West Ham United and even with the threat of not being promoted at some times this season, we still cheered them on and kept them going. The players paid their respect back to us with getting us back to where we belong, The English Premier League!
Saturday must have been one of the happiest days of my life! We took 40,000+ fans to Wembley, and every single one of them was in good voice, even the ones that were sitting in the Blackpool end and facing some hassle from the Blackpool fans, but did that bother them? No, of course not they still were in good voice! When Vaz Te scored with minutes to spare, I have never felt so emotional in a good way from a football match. The celebrations in the stands were insane! everyone jumping, cuddling and I'm sure snogging random people!
For those unfortunate enough not to get a ticket, me being one of those, I'm certain that we all went absolutely bonkers when Vaz Te blasted the ball into the top of the net! And I think its safe to say I went CRAZY! I was speaking to a work colleague the next day, and she said to me 'I can't believe how excited you get about football' but in then goes back to that same answer, I JUST LOVE WEST HAM!
For those unfortunate enough not to get a ticket, me being one of those, I'm certain that we all went absolutely bonkers when Vaz Te blasted the ball into the top of the net! And I think its safe to say I went CRAZY! I was speaking to a work colleague the next day, and she said to me 'I can't believe how excited you get about football' but in then goes back to that same answer, I JUST LOVE WEST HAM!
Now obviously all of this is from my own opinion and experiences, and I'm sure everyone has their own opinion on why they love West Ham so much and I really want to know why you do! So if you're on twitter, you can follow us @WeLoveYouWHU and tell me personally on there, and I will try to respond to you!
