The plight of a lonely Foxes fan

By Nick Fredriksson / Roar Rookie

Being a Leicester City fan is fun, but lonely. I need to know if there’s anyone else out there.

There are some teams that everyone supports.

In the AFL, these are Collingwood, Hawthorn, and Richmond,

In the A-League, it’s Melbourne Victory.

In the EPL, these are both Manchester teams, Chelsea, and Liverpool.

Not many people I know are EPL fans, but when they are, they support one if those four.

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There are some teams that no-one supports.

In the AFL, it’s GWS.

In the A-League, it’s Wellington Phoenix.

And in the EPL, there are many.

One of them is Leicester City.

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This time last year, I sat down, made a list of the EPL teams, and narrowed them down to find a team to support.

I crossed off Manchester United immediately, and eventually narrowed it down to five teams.

From that five, it went down to two.

Crystal Palace and Leicester City.

Those two were both up and coming, had both finished runner-up in the FA Cup once and had both never won the top division.

Palace had an Australian as captain, Mile Jedinak.

Leicester had gone from the third division to the Premier League in five years.

That was close, but two things tipped it in Leicester’s favour.

One, they had a Dane in their side: Kasper Schmeicel.

Two, the had the nickname of the Foxes.

I had a bizarre obsession with foxes when I was seven.

I picked them.

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At my primary school, I had a mate.

He supported Manchester United.

Leicester beat them 5-3 in 2014-15.

I rubbed it in his face. I enjoyed it.

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Two days ago, I saw a photo on Twitter.

It saddened me immensely. Leicester and the Outer Hebrides.

They are the only areas where Leicester games are the most watched.

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The EPL season starts soon.

One team, Manchester City, is playing in Melbourne right now.

Why didn’t I support them?

It would have made sense. The people who own them also own my beloved Melbourne City.

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My uncle supports Liverpool.

My best friend supports Man United.

I know people who support Chelsea.

I know no one who supports Leicester.

I just need to know that there is one person, one solitary sports fan in the entire city of Melbourne, who is a fellow Foxes fan.

Let me know.

The Crowd Says:

2015-08-29T14:52:48+00:00

Fiore

Guest


Big leicester city fan living in Perth. My parents are from a town in Leicestershire which was bigger on rugby (which Leicester is a lot more successful at) but my Dad is also italian so assoc football was always going to be favoured. I love leicester city. I know that they can't win a premiership title. And let's be honest, their number 1 objective every season will be to stay in the premier League. However, I still watch every game thinking they can win and I couldn't be more proud of them at the moment. Go the FOXES!!!!

2015-08-04T10:50:21+00:00

Mice

Guest


Hi Nick Welcome to the Foxes. I am a Melbourne City fan living in central Victoria and a lifelong Leicester city supporter, having gone to my first game in the late 1960s and a regular game attendee until I came to Australia in 1974. I have just returned from a trip to the old country where I met up with my son also a Melbourne City supporter. We had the wonderful experience of a private tour of the King power stadium ground. I asked in the office if we could take a look at the ground and was initially told that it was not possible as the club was in the midst of a press conference to anounce the apointment of the new manager Claudio Ranieri. After chating about the old ground Filbert Seet and support in the 70s the office manager said it would be a shame if I missed out and organized an impromptu pitch side tour. They are very happy to know that they have support in Australia and I am sure they would be delighted that you have made the choice to support them.

2015-07-31T23:39:29+00:00

matty119

Roar Rookie


Very interesting read, good to see the Foxes gain some fans after some lean times not so long ago. I'm a Leicester fan living in Sydney, have been since the day I was born. My Dad had grown up a Leicester fan in Sydney following in the days of Gordon Banks & Peter Shilton, and coincidentally my Mum's family is from a small town outside Leicester (Corby) and had also been Leicester fans. It was a hard slog for a long time there, with only very minimal coverage of the Championship & League One, but it does make you appreciate the great coverage we have of the EPL in Australia. My best friend was also a Man Utd supporter, and the 5-3 victory last season was possibly the most glorious sporting victory I've seen in some time.

2015-07-29T05:20:35+00:00

Alex

Roar Rookie


I support Aston Villa!

2015-07-28T01:03:31+00:00

Fivehole

Guest


As a Forest fan, i should dislike you, but i am rather envious of your EPL status and no doubt you are underdogs so i can only admire what they did last year. I'll have to save the hatred for Derby County.....

2015-07-27T08:02:41+00:00

BrightonFox

Guest


Hi Nick - City fan in Adelaide here. Welcome to the wonderful world of Leicester City Football Club! There are a few City boys in Melbourne and they used to favour The Charles Dickens pub in town for live matches. This may have changed now every match is on telly though, but worth a try. There's a thread on FoxesTalk in the supporters group section here: http://www.foxestalk.co.uk/forums/topic/42937-aussie-foxes-thread/ Some Melbourne lads on there. If you're ever in Adelaide, there's a few here too so a beer or two is always on offer - you can contact me through the Bentleys Roof message board here: http://www.fansonline.net/leicestercity/mb/index.php Just start a thread FAO BrightonFox01. It's where I found a link to this page. Good luck and Come On You Blues!

2015-07-27T06:10:13+00:00

Matt

Guest


Good read, I'm a Leicester fan living in Melbourne. I'm from Leicester, me and the family moved in 2007. My brother also regular goes back, I was able to catch the home game against Chelsea towards the end of year COYB

2015-07-27T05:42:28+00:00

midfielder

Guest


Nice read as a matter of interest do you have an A_League side.

2015-07-27T05:10:36+00:00

will tearle

Guest


I'm a Charlton athletic supporter Is anyone else?

2015-07-27T00:11:12+00:00

Tom Jones

Guest


More A-League fans support the Nix as a 2nd team and dislike Victory. Collingwood - the most hated team in AFL does not equate with everyone supports them.

2015-07-26T23:14:29+00:00

cm

Guest


http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Leicester-City-watched-team-Outer-Hebrides/story-27462395-detail/story.html

2015-07-26T23:11:51+00:00

cm

Guest


Ooh yes. That too.

2015-07-26T22:37:45+00:00

Ben of Phnom Penh

Roar Guru


I am rather curious as to why the Outer Hebrides has the Foxes as their preferred EPL side.

2015-07-26T22:37:09+00:00

cm

Guest


Not a fan per se - but I did have an enjoyable day at Filbert St, the Foxes former home ground, about 15 years ago. I was about the coldest I've ever been in my life, not being fully rugged up and sitting on the top deck copping a wind directly that was about to dump snow the next day. To make matters worse I was actually supporting the away side so had to keep mum! Friendly people around me though, helpful staff who arranged the ticket for me (they were shocked as anything when I rang up and said I was a leicester fan from Australia - this was only a slight white lie, as my travelling partner was actually a foxes fan due to family connections in the area, and the tickets were a present), all made for an experience I look back on fondly. They had a good entertaining side back then too, with Izzet and co (he scored from memory). I too would be interested to know how you narrowed it down, and why the big 4-5 are definitely not for you.

2015-07-26T21:58:46+00:00

Brisvegas

Guest


Pity you didn't write about why you rejected all the other PL teams. I'd be interested to read about how a person goes about choosing a team to support in a league that is half a world away. It's something I've often wondered about. Good luck with your search. I suspect that apart from those born in Leicester there won't be too many around.

2015-07-26T21:34:08+00:00

TCF

Guest


If you are alone as a City fan and you like Danes, then you can join us at Our facebook Group for Scandinavian Foxes, https://www.facebook.com/groups/101864799857750/

2015-07-26T20:51:41+00:00

ijw

Guest


Happy to see the Blue Army represented in Melbourne. Hope you find some fellow supporters. After last seasons' escape surely they must have gained some followers down under? Remember.. Foxes Never Quit. I found this: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Leicester-city-fans-in-Australia/222494071162329

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