Exiles with kids - tips to get them to support the Lads

HellsBells said:
Another one with Cov links in the family.

My other half’s grandparents moved from Seaham to Coventry at the same as yours - I guess there was a mass migration for work at the time - so the MiL is technically Mackem and I have to remind Mr B he’s therefore half mackem so the kids are three quarters.
Click to expand...
You’re never mentioned this. Get him telt
HellsBells said:
Another one with Cov links in the family.

My other half’s grandparents moved from Seaham to Coventry at the same as yours - I guess there was a mass migration for work at the time - so the MiL is technically Mackem and I have to remind Mr B he’s therefore half mackem so the kids are three quarters.
Click to expand...
Still loving this.
 
Last edited:


HellsBells said:
Specifically asking people who no longer live in the region because it’s fine when you can take them every week.

How do you counter the obvious distraction of local and even non-local teams having an influence and your kids wanting to support them instead of the Lads?

The kids are nearly six and rife for influencing by other kids around them. There are two kids they look up to who are big Arsenal fans (only because they’re top of the league, neither of their parents are footy fans).

We watched the Coventry game yesterday (dad’s team) and we’ll be watching the lads today on telly and we talk a lot about mammy and daddy’s teams but they are still heavily influenced by “who’s the best team right now?” Thank fuck the Mags aren’t winning the league yet.

I don’t get to many home games any more and I won’t take them to away games yet because it’s a different atmosphere, so what do you do to get them to support the lads from a distance?
Click to expand...
No substitute for match experience . Bring them up here , make it a weekend so they attach all good things to coming to a Sunderland game . Buy them kit , buy them burgers
 
HellsBells said:
Did all of that on Friday, including the Beacon before the game. One got a cuddly dinosaur from the shop, the other one got a flag. Think they’re hooked 😍
Click to expand...
Good stuff , just keep on keeping on , teach them the songs , have sunderland pop quizzes they can be good at . Try and get them to set up a joke rivalry with Cov dad .
Works with my granddaughter 😊
Oh sunderland tops on for dress down school days
 
Last edited:
Yahrba said:
Good stuff , just keep on keeping on , teach them the songs , have sunderland pop quizzes they can be good at . Try and get them to set up a joke rivalry with Cov dad .
Works with my granddaughter 😊
Oh sunderland tops on for dress down school days
Click to expand...
Not sure I’d send my boy to school in a Sunderland shirt in Cov. As a lifelong Sunderland supporter and almost lifelong resident of Cov I can say with some authority that’s likely to illicit brutal piss taking at some point, need them to be well embedded as MLF’s before putting them through that!
 
Scorer said:
Not sure I’d send my boy to school in a Sunderland shirt in Cov. As a lifelong Sunderland supporter and almost lifelong resident of Cov I can say with some authority that’s likely to illicit brutal piss taking at some point, need them to be well embedded as MLF’s before putting them through that!
Click to expand...
OP isn’t in Cov.
 
Mine were both born in Camden and lived all their lives half way between Spuds and the Arse, but are red'n'white to the bone. I took each of them to the SoL when they were seven and bought them plenty of merch over the years. However, I think one of the major factors is their cousins, who are both MLFs and SC holders. Coming to see family in Durham has always involved taking in a game, and I tell them all countless stories of me going to Roker with their Granda, so it is embedded as a family tradition. (M&D are also dead handy at getting away tickets for us too, so we see more of the Lads at away games than at the SoL over the last few years... thanks lads!)
So if you still have any family connections in the region, they are a really handy asset. Good luck!
 
Somewhere far far away on a Coventry forum one of theirs is struggling to get sympathy for his identical predicament now that his R&W grandparents have been revealed……….
 
Scorer said:
Not sure I’d send my boy to school in a Sunderland shirt in Cov. As a lifelong Sunderland supporter and almost lifelong resident of Cov I can say with some authority that’s likely to illicit brutal piss taking at some point, need them to be well embedded as MLF’s before putting them through that!
Click to expand...
Little uns are fine with it in general
 
Scorer said:
Not sure I’d send my boy to school in a Sunderland shirt in Cov. As a lifelong Sunderland supporter and almost lifelong resident of Cov I can say with some authority that’s likely to illicit brutal piss taking at some point, need them to be well embedded as MLF’s before putting them through that!
Click to expand...
My boy goes to school in Stockton with his sunderland shirt on (not like every day I must add!) - it helps now we not quite as shite as we have been over last few years, but he loves it
 
kyle's left foot said:
My boy goes to school in Stockton with his sunderland shirt on (not like every day I must add!) - it helps now we not quite as shite as we have been over last few years, but he loves it
Click to expand...
To be fair my boy would and has always worn Sunderland shirts for training etc but it does mean a bit of piss taking. He doesn’t mind and just says at least he’s not a glory hunter or a plastic Mag etc. He doesn’t actually mind Cov fans he knows as they’ve mostly been pretty shit during his lifetime and we’ve at least had a proper cup final and decent stint in the premier league. Some kids would not enjoy the “ banter” though.
 
Asked him which footy kit he wants to wear for footy after school today. He said not Sunderland because the other kids will laugh at him.

“are Arsenal higher than Sunderland mam?”

:cry:
 
Yahrba said:
No substitute for match experience . Bring them up here , make it a weekend so they attach all good things to coming to a Sunderland game . Buy them kit , buy them burgers
Click to expand...
The great thing is once you establish the tradition it will carry on. My lads are now 31 and 28 and we still make a weekend of a match visit. Instead of kit and burgers, it's curry and beers so even better.
 
HellsBells said:
Asked him which footy kit he wants to wear for footy after school today. He said not Sunderland because the other kids will laugh at him.

“are Arsenal higher than Sunderland mam?”

:cry:
Click to expand...
Sometimes you have to do what is best for him. He might not want to eat broccoli but (I assume) he doesn’t get the choice. It will be character building.
 

Back
Top