Are you a first/second/third generation Hornet?

Discussion in 'The Hornets' Nest - Watford Chat' started by Jossy, Nov 16, 2017.

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What generation supporter are you?

  1. 1st

    44 vote(s)
    45.8%
  2. 2nd

    30 vote(s)
    31.3%
  3. 3rd

    19 vote(s)
    19.8%
  4. 4th

    2 vote(s)
    2.1%
  5. More

    1 vote(s)
    1.0%
  1. Siohmy

    Siohmy Reservist

    So you saw a last minute winner from a seemingly lost position sending the stadium mental and going down in history as one of those insane football moments which will be remembered for years. Then decided to follow Watford for the 12/13 season. Good call!

    As for me. Well my dad was a Gooner but upon returning to England from Malta with the rest of my family prior to me being born he starting going to the local team. This was pre Taylor (just) and my first game was Peterborough away in 1978 I think.

    Many on here accuse “Johnny come lately” supporters as not knowing the though times. Well even though we’ve been close to going into admin a few times I consider supporting a team the size of Watford and only witnessing 4 seasons outside the top two divisions as not having much in the way of truly tough times.
     
  2. RMT79

    RMT79 First Year Pro

    3rd generation - my Nan and grandad used to walk from bricket wood to the vic - my dad has been going since the late 60's and me since mid 80's - it's in the blood, you are all family - so much so that Watford got prioritised over actual family on a few occasions

    .... I recall about 15yrs ago speaking to my dad on the phone for around 20 mins about a midweek away match (cant recall which one)- How the season was going to be another struggle etc. etc. But also making arrangements for Saturdays home match .... anyway we said goodbye and I hung up.... 2 mins later the phone went again and it was my dad who said "I knew I had something else to tell you.... your great aunt Maureen died last week - thought you should know, see you Saturday 1:30 in the Orns"
     
    I Blame Pozzo likes this.
  3. Harrow Orn

    Harrow Orn Squad Player

    First generation. My Dad was a United fan. As such I was a United fan too.

    I was about 10, maybe a little younger (I really don't remember) and went on one of those Watford half-term training courses, and at the end of it they provided everyone with free tickets. My Dad, my brother and me went to a the game which was against Wimbledon which we won. We really enjoyed it and started going to a few games, maybe once a month. Before we knew it we ended up getting a half season ticket later on that year, and then renewing for the whole season the year after. Since then, we've never looked back really. My Dad who was a United fan his whole life became a Watford fan, which is quite a change after over 30 years of supporting a club. The change wasn't too difficult for me.

    Seen some rubbish times, seen some great times and seen some really really mediocre times! Wouldn't change it for the world. So so so glad I went on that half-term training course all those years ago!
     
    miked2006 likes this.
  4. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    Eem fust yeneration Ornet.

    Before I fan for Belenenses, Atletico, Trofense, Campomaiorense, Rio Ave, Braga B, Salgueiros, Odivelos, Estoril, Sporting CP, Olympiacos, Ull.

    I fan plenty teams!

    Maybe my children yellow Ornet fans one day!!
     
  5. Steve Terry's headband

    Steve Terry's headband Academy Graduate

    2nd generation. My uncle has been going since 1955. He took me to my first game in 1979 when I was 7. He is 80 now and we take him. I have the best of memories of the GT years, going with my uncle.

    My younger brother supports Watford too and I am hoping my nephew will. He is only two but seems to enjoy wearing his Watford kit.

    Being a Watford supporter is so integral to who I am. It is about those connections with other supporting family and friends. Which Division we play in is much less significant to me.
     
  6. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    My brother and I are both 1st generation. Our Dad is a bloody Baggie, ridiculously enough, especially given the fact that he adopted them whilst at boarding school in East Devon. Apparently he chose them from a 50/50 when they were in the milk cup final or something, and they won, so he just kept supporting them.

    As for us, we lived in Croxley Green and went to school in Rickmansworth, so they were obviously our closest league club, and they and Saracens used to do reciprocal deals with our primary school for tickets sometimes. The first game I ever went to was Boxing Day 1996 against Notts County, when we sat in a box because our best mate's dad worked at Kenwood during the time they sponsored us. I remember there being scrambled eggs and unlimited pepsi. We drew 0-0. I've still got the programme actually.
     
  7. Since63

    Since63 Squad Player

    1st generation. We used to live in Market St and my Dad, a Gooner, used to take me into the ground for the last 20 minutes when they opened the big sliding wooden gates at the Vic Rd End. That was during the 62-63 season & the next season I'd made friends with a lad at school whose Dad went to all the home games, so I started going with them. That was the Pat Jennings season & we finished 3rd so just missed promotion. The Furphy promotion season & the semi-final the next season were great; the Kirby Relegation-to-end-all-Relegations season was grim; during the Mike Keen relegation season I saw every game home & away except 4, I think. At Uni in 1975 I was the weird 'hippy' wearing cord drainpipes, monkey boots & Watford scarf round my neck....and then along came GT & nothing will ever expunge that from my memory. I've converted my wife & she's now a ST holder with me. I was too late for the stepsons, but am working on the grandsons, although it's not that local for them.
     
  8. CYHSYF

    CYHSYF Academy Graduate

    1st generation, we moved from Scotland to Bushey in 1975, my teams were Stirling Albion and Hibs who I still follow. My old man had no interest in football so my best mates dad took us to my first game in 1977 home to Blackpool, won 5-1 with a Ross Jenkins hat trick, been following the Horns ever since and junior CYHSYF is also a big fan now.
     
  9. KelsoOrn

    KelsoOrn Squad Player

    1st generation. More later. Too wound up about other stuff right now.
     
  10. With A Smile

    With A Smile First Team

    Both my parents come from Watford, although followers not supporters. My mother family lived in Bushey and fathers off whippendale road.

    As a kid, a day out at the grandparents was half a day at Mums family and the other half a day at Dads. My uncle (Mums brother) use to take me to watford, where i would spend more time playing football at the front of the Shrodells than watching the game. At half time he use to hand me over to my Granddad who would then take me back to Whippendale road where we use to meet up with my parents and my sisters.

    I must be a 2nd generation, but not because of my parents.
     
  11. Godfather

    Godfather bricklayer extraordinaire

    Dad dragged me around a few grounds to watch Liverpool but that soon stopped as I always cheered for the oppo. In fact before I moved to Hemel aged nine I was bit of an Everton fan but soon saw sense after my neighbours took me along to the Vic a few times.
     
  12. Hussar

    Hussar Academy Graduate

    Third generation, with my daughter making four. With my Grandad long gone, we have three generations at games.
    My dad and a grandad worked on the turnstiles so I started early.
    I can remember beating Barrow 4-0 but came to games before that.

    On starting school my daughter was surprised to find out that local people could support other teams.
     
  13. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    Third generation of sorts. My grandad used to go as a boy pre-WW2 and then took my mum through the 60s and 70s. I think she went a bit in the early 80s but had pretty much stopped by the time I came on the scene. Though she still supports the club she doesn't really go. My grandad then took me in the mid-90s and we carried on going to games together until about 2010. He's 94 now. I'd love to get him back to a match but probably not doable.

    Where I live now it's sort of borderline whether to try getting the kids to Watford or take them to the local League 1/2 yo yo club instead. They're a bit young at the moment so no rush to decide quite yet. I'll have a go with Watford but expect like a lot of other people on this thread speaking about their reasons for supporting Watford I'll end up taking mine to where they can have a local connection.
     
  14. ITK platypus

    ITK platypus Squad Player

    Ninth generation. My great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandad (who was rumoured to be part echidna) fell in love with Watford during one of their ill-publicised tours of Australia in the 1910s, we were Southern League champions at the time. He even got a picture with the team, which remains a proud family heirloom!

    watford1915.jpg
     
  15. Johnny Todd Sings

    Johnny Todd Sings First Year Pro

    I was taken by my Grandad from about the age of 6. Huddersfield was his first love as he grew up there and watched them win Div One three season running. When he moved south he started going to the Vic occasionally, which became more regular when I showed an interest in football. My father wasn't at all interested. My son doesn't like football, or any team game, but my daughter is showing an interest. Maybe one day I will take her but we live about 12000 miles from Watford so we won't be regular visitors.
     
  16. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    When I was a kid I used to follow the results of a team in each division and Watford was my team in the old 4th division.

    Then I moved to Watford and started going to matches at The Vic and also to many WFC away games. That is when Watford became my No1 team, and have remained so ever since, despite moving nearly 300 miles away to Plymouth, then on to Cornwall in the mid 80's.

    My son followed in my footsteps and is an out and out Hornet, except for a couple of years in his early teens when he strayed to Spurs :mad: He was temporarily influenceded by some of his school mates down in Cornwall who were Spurs fans, but he saw the light and returned to the fold.

    My son now has a 5 month old son of his own, and we have already began indoctrinising him to the cause as he has already got a WFC baby grow. Therefore we have every hope he will become our famlies 3rd generation Hornet, when he is old enough to decide for himself.
     
  17. foxywfc

    foxywfc Reservist

    I'm a first Generation Orn, As I've mentioned before my old man worked for the club under GT and Harry Bassett. I was lucky enough to run out as the youth team mascot week in week out when the likes of David Holdsworth was Captain and others in that team were his brother Dean, David James, Tim Sherwood to name a few. I met everyone from Elton GT Tom Whaley Kenny Jackett Luther. I moved up north and stuck by them couldn't support anyone else, for many years if I was lucky enough I'd turn up at the players entrance and get a complimentary ticket by dropping my dads name. My old man I guess has adopted Watford as he really had no choice and my son has started cheering them on too he will be attending his first live game this Easter when we come back over for the Muff game, hopefully we're riding the dizzy heights of the top half and put muff to the sword and he experiaces something that will stay with him forever,
     
  18. Maninblack

    Maninblack Reservist

    First generation.

    First visit to the Vic was as a Grimsby mascot in 73 (family moved from there to Watford a few years previously). First non-Watford v Grimsby match (& first without my Dad) was Watford v Walsall in '75 that confirmed our relegation to Div.4. For some reason that attracted me to support the 'Orns, must have been through pity! First season ticket (costing £9 as an U.16) was GT's first year. Never looked back, with some 800+ games under my belt, 60+ different grounds visited, and a stint in the Hornet Shop when it was in the Vic Road precinct, on match days, from 81-87. Dad has since adopted Watford but is really still Grimsby at heart.

    However I still watch out for Grimsby's results and will go to Luton as a Grimsby fan when they play there, as long as it doesn't coincide with a Watford match! I wear my Watford shirt under my other clothes just because I can. Makes me chuckle when Luton fans sing about hating Watford - still stuck in a time warp like some of our fans!
     
  19. Clive_ofthe_Kremlin

    Clive_ofthe_Kremlin Squad Player

    I was at that one.

    Probably the most miserable Watford match ever. We only wanted a draw to stay up as I remember.

    Amazing that you ever wanted to see them again after that.
     
  20. Maninblack

    Maninblack Reservist

    I went with a couple of Watford-supporting friends I recall. Their dedication must have influenced my impressionable young mind.

     
  21. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    3rd generation. My Mum’s Dad was a die hard Watford Fan and he passed it onto his son, my uncle. My uncle used to take me and my brothers to games and got us to be mascots when we were younger. My Dad has no interest in Football and my Uncle saddly had a son who died at a young age so he took great joy in taking us to games and getting us into it. Saddly both my Grandad and Uncle have since passed but me and my two brothers are still avid Watford fans.
     
    The Voice of Reason likes this.
  22. Bwood_Horn

    Bwood_Horn Squad Player

    Is that why he's wearing a hat - to draw attention from his egg-laying abilities?
     
    wfcmoog likes this.
  23. LondonOrn

    LondonOrn Squad Player

    1st generation, but 0th generation if such a thing exists would be more accurate.

    I must be unique in that I've never lived within 15 miles of Watford, apart from my brother being an armchair Arsenal fan my family has no interest in football whatsoever (apart from my parents politely asking me after a WFC match "who won today?") and I likewise took no interest until the '98 World Cup when I was 21. Started with the England team, and then after losing what little affection I had for a disparate bunch of underperforming prima donnas who seemed to have completely lost their way since the Argentina heroics and starting to take much more of an interest in club football after Man Utd's historic treble (don't hate me for this) I decided during the turn of the new millennium that Watford, with their amazing and colourful history, unique even as quirky historically lower league clubs go, were the club for me.

    Even then I was somewhat slow in establishing myself as a diehard fan, party due to cash problems and not knowing any Watford fans in my area, not attending games with any regularity until 2006! But I loved hearing about Watford legends like Tommy Smith, Micah Hyde, Heidar, Robbo, Tommy Mooney, GNW et al even if my knowledge was mostly confined to reading witty reports on BSaD and watching highlights on MoTD and Football League Extra. They were part of the Watford I was attracted to and got to know and love, and I liked the team spirit and camaraderie that GT had built with largely homegrown British players (shame it went somewhat sour during the latter half of 2000/01). Although Watford are a very different club now in terms of set-up and coaching and playing personnel, it's thanks in no small part to the Pozzos and Silva that we have this continuing family ethos, team spirit and the excitement of once again bloodying the noses of the aristocrats of football.
     
  24. LondonOrn

    LondonOrn Squad Player

  25. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    No, no, we needed a win to stay up. Loads of us from school went, many of whom I had no idea had an allegiance to Watford. Crowds at that time were down close to the 4,000 mark, but nearly 10,000 turned up that night. We were one down to a dodgy offside goal at half time and not even the likes of Stewart Scullion and Ross Jenkins could save us from the drop in the second as we lost 3-2.
     
    Clive_ofthe_Kremlin likes this.
  26. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    I found an old picture of one of my ancestors who was photographed by the authorities after getting involved in some agro on his way to watch us play Brighton away.

    [​IMG]
     
    Stevohorn likes this.
  27. onion8837

    onion8837 Reservist

    My dad moved from Neath to Watford in the 1940s so supported Swansea Town (sic) and Watford to begin with, then just Watford (the Blues as they were then, I believe). Took me to my first game in March 1970 - Friday evening game the week before the Chelsea FA Cup Semi Final. We drew 1-1 against Hull, Mike Packer scored our goal, I believe.
     
  28. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    First generation. Ironically my Father was a West Ham fan who passed away last year but never forced the hammers on to me for which I owe him a great debt. My Uncle had links with the club which sort of piqued my interest and got me to know Watford a bit better. My Son is Watford mad.
     
  29. W4BS

    W4BS First Year Pro

    I'm a first generation Watford supporter. My dad who was born in Islington was an Arsenal fan, but decided to take me to see Watford during GTS first spell in charge. We have been hooked ever since. So much so in his case that he hopes Arsenal win every game but the two we play against them. I've seen plenty of tough times in those years but i'm hoping this current golden spell lasts long enough for me to get my little girl as hooked as i've been. Although her mum isn't to keen on my shouting and swearing at the games so it may be a while yet!
     
  30. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    I have a feeling that was from game at Hastings away
     
  31. Bwood_Horn

    Bwood_Horn Squad Player

    Why is the Norman wearing the colours?
     
  32. Jimmy Armchair

    Jimmy Armchair Academy Graduate

    Loving this thread.
    I'm fourth generation.

    Great-Grandad watched us in the 1890s when we were West Herts.
    Grandad started before WW1.
    Dad just before WW2.
    Me late 1960s.
    My daughter (fifth generation) 1990s.
    My grandchild (sixth generation) won't be born until next month, but he/she has already been to the Vic in the womb.

    I can't help hoping Hornet Heaven is a real place because my dad, grandad and great-grandad will be up there. Every time I listen, it gets me hoping I'll be re-united with them eventually so we can go and watch games together. Gets me a bit emotional, I have to confess.

    Thanks for the thread, Jossy.
     
    BigRossLittleRoss, zztop and Jossy like this.
  33. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    I lived in Bricket Wood,in Mount Pleasant Lane and my brothers used to go with Mrs Lane,who,oddly enough, lived down the lane and Mr College.
    They drove though,that's an impressive walk from BW!
    Kudos to your Nan and Grandad!
     
  34. Forzainglese

    Forzainglese Reservist

    Yes, I don't think that is unusual at all. I don't think I would normally take a child unless they were around 10 or more years old. They simply don't have the concentration or the understanding. I don't know if I count as first generation: My Uncle was a keen regular attender and so were his sons. But my Dad was a rugby snob. He told me rugby was the sport for team-work, football was all about individuals. If exclamation marks weren't banned by the style police on here I'd use a couple at that point. He was actually quite a sportsman before the War - played rugby, badminton, tennis and used to go to Wembley to watch the speedway and I think boxed. So you'd think that was a less than inspired remark. Mind you, I suppose British football was nowhere near as sophisticated in those days. He did go to the first Wembley Cup Final in 1923, though (along with about an estimated quarter of a million others): Apparently there was a low wall to keep people out and they just hopped over it. He was also taught sports lessons at Watford Boys' Grammar by Stanley Rous.
    I was born within earshot of Vicarage Road and went with my cousins from around 1960 on. I have a vague recollection I was once taken to see them when they still played in blue.
    I feel old.
     
    RookeryDad likes this.
  35. PowerJugs

    PowerJugs Doyley Fanatic

    2nd Generation along with PotGuy.
     

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