Chelsea have become a dominant force in football over the last 30 years, however with the help of Abramovich’s money we have recently been able to assert our brand as a footballing powerhouse on the world stage. We have bought world-class players amidst much fanfare which has attracted fans from all walks of life in following their nations favourite player. Whilst many like myself turn up most or every week to see their team play, some are not as fortunate and have to settle with watching it on the TV or for when games are played abroad. However, there is a feeling that only matchday fans are important and have a valid say on what goes on at Stamford Bridge. I am here to quash that notion and tell you that every fan, no matter how they follow us, is a fan in their own right. I have been lucky enough to go to Stamford Bridge from the age of 6 and I have never lived more than an hour and a half’s travel from the ground. I have seen many great games all over the country and I feel very privileged to have done so. Here at SW6, we are an international organisation with contributors from all over the world and here, some of them tell their story on how they became a fan of the greatest club ever formed.
Charlie Castillo
I come from a family that is not at all interested in football, so growing up in the UK I wasn’t really into the sport until the age of 12/13. Before this, like a large portion of my family, I was heavily invested in Boxing and Kickboxing. Despite my immediate family not being fussed with football, a very good family friend of mine has been a Chelsea fan since the early ’80s. I was constantly around Chelsea iconography and the feeling surrounding the club with many a family barbeque spent listening to the adults discuss Chelsea in the early 2000s’. It was not until my early teens that I started to really take an interest in football and Chelsea more specifically, although I do have vivid memories of the 2008 Champions League final in which we sadly lost on penalties. The first Chelsea game I can remember attending was the 2013 clash between Chelsea and Basel. I remember sitting in the Matthew Harding lower, soaking up the atmosphere and becoming hooked. That game was an end to end battle between both sides, neither team showed any defensive solidity and it was brilliant. I remember Salah scoring in the opening minutes and thinking there could be a huge upset here, but Torres netted just after half time, putting Chelsea back in control of the tie. David Luiz’s belter from thirty yards was simply breathtaking, from the angle I was sitting it seemed ludicrous to attempt a shot. It whistled past the keeper and he ran to the corner flag I was closest to, scintillating stuff. Unfortunately, I have not been back to the bridge for some time, but I certainly plan on going next season. Being a Chelsea fan in recent years has certainly seen some ups and downs, but I would not change a thing!
Rey Stevinho
Growing up in Mexico in a sports driven family might be one of the reasons I love football today. I grew up watching it from a relatively young age as my stepfather was a sports fanatic. The first time I watched Chelsea play was in 2002 where they managed to beat Liverpool 4-0, I distinctly remember that game because my stepfather was visibly upset at the result due to him being a Liverpool fan. I instantly became enamoured with the team and being excited to see my favourites Lampard and Zola play. As an American living in New York City, talking to friends on soccer (Football) wasn’t exactly a common discussion point amongst each other and so I had to reach out to others to get my daily fix. I continued to support Chelsea and would watch them early on weekend mornings alongside my stepfather. Fox soccer channel and fox sports were the only available providers for me at that time until NBC sports became another option in early 2010. Unfortunately I’ve never gone to Stamford Bridge as I was too busy with school or too young to travel. However despite not being a local, I personally feel I’m a diehard due to the emotions I display when watching us play. I, like many international fans firmly believe all fans matter no matter what country or continent you’re from. Being able to watch a game live at the bridge will be a dream come true but might not happen for some time due to the current pandemic. Cheering alongside fellow fans and friends in the stadium is my ultimate goal as a Chelsea fan and hopefully that day is not too far away.
Shyam Sunder
For a nation that’s obsessed with cricket, where it’s almost considered religion and the players are worshipped as gods, football often got overlooked when I was growing up. But fortunately for me, I was born in a family that was obsessed with sports on the whole.
Looking back to December 2001, I witnessed an exuberant atmosphere at home. I take a quick glimpse at the TV to see a team in red playing against a team in blue. I could quickly deduce who the red team were, for such was their popularity but the series of events that happened during that match left me in awe. United were battered 3-0 and boy did the team in blue make a statement. I was instantly connected with Chelsea as I could feel some sort of emotional attachment.
Being from India, it becomes tough for the fans here to watch their favourite team play at a comfortable time of the day. Premier League matchdays usually begin around 8pm and by the time most Chelsea games kick off it’s close to 12pm. This was the story for my entire life, waking up at the middle of the night or sometimes even forgoing my sleep and waiting until the game kicks off, however now I get to watch matches at a reasonably comfortable time since I have moved to Europe.
My first Chelsea match was in France where Chelsea took on Inter Milan in a pre-season match in 2018. I went on to watch Chelsea a couple of times after that and the most exciting one has to be our Europa league semi-final clash against Eintracht Frankfurt last season at the Commerzbank Arena. Now, I may not be lucky in terms of witnessing Chelsea week in and week out at the Bridge, but that has never stopped me from supporting my team regardless of whichever part of the world I am in.
Ross John Bonaccorsi
My infatuation with Chelsea arose out of two things. Firstly, the players at the time contained several brilliant footballers from my fellow native Italia, including Roberto Di Matteo, Gianluca Vialli and the little wizard – Gianfranco Zola. I have always loved that the club has had a rich connection to players and managers from my heritage, Italia. Secondly, I just lovedour beautiful blue jersey, given blue is my favourite colour. Having been born and raised in Sydney, my experiences of watching the highs and lows of Chelsea for the past 20 years have largely either been in my bedroom or lounge at all hours of the morning. The real surprise is not the waking up for each game over the years at silly hours, but the ability to somehow avoid not waking up my neighbours. I am not a subtle fan by any means as my wife, son, and extended family and friends will attest.
I have been able to witness Chelsea in the flesh once, back in June 2015 when Chelsea took on local champions Sydney FC in an exhibition match. Seeing the likes of Terry, Hazard, Cech, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta, and Costa was absolutely amazing. As someone who likes to write and discuss about the club all the time, no response would adequately describe what it would mean for me to see a competitive match live. While I’m not there in person to support the side given the physical constraints of living in Australia, making the sacrifice to my sleep multiple days a week for over two decades (including the subscription costs to watch the games) definitely makes me feel as though I’m a genuine Blue.
Dave Valley
Living in the United States, it’s safe to say watching my favourite team play on TV hasn’t been too much of a problem. The occasional skipping class to watch midweek cup games have been something I’ve really looked forward to since becoming a Chelsea fan but the majority of games are shown for me in the mornings anywhere between 8-11am. I remember watching my first Chelsea game when I was 5 years old back in 2005 in our Champions League 2nd leg match against Barcelona. My family, all Barcelona fans, always had every game on so football was something I was used to seeing, yet this game was different for me. Not really old enough to fully understand everything, I remember seeing the heartbreak in my family’s eyes once the final whistle blew. Sure I knew what losing was, but I was more fascinated in how much emotion the blue team had after winning, something that stuck with me ever since. That blue team had a player who I wanted to be like, Didier Drogba and this led to me eventually falling in love with the football club.
I am lucky to say I’ve been blessed to watch my team play live, something that is a struggle for most fans. For my 15th birthday my parents bought me tickets to see Chelsea play against PSG, and while I do like to think I was a fan before this, seeing them live gave me a completely different appreciation. I really enjoyed watching them warmup, more in fact than the actual game itself, which might seem odd to many but for me it gave me the opportunity to watch my favourite players in their natural form without having to stress over a result. I understand going to games is not easy and many fans never get that opportunity in their life. With that being said I think fans who don’t attend games or never have should not be looked down upon because for many it’s just not realistic or logistically and financially possible. Attending games shouldn’t reflect on how much of a fan you are, what should determine your loyalty is whether or not you show your love for your club, the players, and the staff involved because they are the ones who put the effort and hard work for us to come together and enjoy the game we love.
Dan Hill
My interest in football began at the age of five when I was watching TV with my Dad. I saw David Beckham score an audacious halfway line goal, and I was hooked instantly. Being born in Zimbabwe, we only had TV as an outlet to watch a limited number of games and, typically, Manchester United was the team on show the majority of the time.
Even though I was a fan of Beckham, try as I might, I couldn’t bring myself to like the other United players such as Roy Keane, Paul Scholes or Ryan Giggs. They all seemed to annoy rather than thrill me and I didn’t have much of an affinity for the club either, unlike all my friends. And then one day, a few years later, I saw a little Italian clad in blue knock a free kick into the top corner and dribble past a host of players. His name was Gianfranco Zola and he gave me that thrill I was looking for! Slowly, as more and more games came on Supersport in Zimbabwe, the more I got to watch this team in blue. Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, John Terry, Damien Duff and Hernan Crespo, to name but a few that I liked. I had found my team and Chelsea was its name.
I have remained blue for the last 17 years and fortunately, the two-hour time difference made it easy to watch games back in Africa and I would fill my weekends watching all the Chelsea games I could. Now that I have moved to Asia, the seven-hour time difference makes things particularly challenging, especially when it comes to Champions League ties which air at 3am on weekdays. However, I still catch highlights and don’t miss the Premier League games which are shown live on awesome, wall sized projectors all around pubs and bars in the city where I live. There is a great football culture in Asia!
Unfortunately, I have never had the chance to attend a live Chelsea game. It is top of my bucket list and the one thing I would love to do. To walk the halls of Stamford Bridge, to smell the freshly cut grass and to hear “Blue is the colour” sung from the terraces of the Mathew Harding stand and to watch a player in Chelsea blue ripple the net with a crisp curler is all I’ve ever wanted to see. I hope I get the chance one day as it would really mean the world to me, watching my favourite ever Chelsea player calling the shots from the touchline would be incredible too!
Written by Johnathan Mann