Glory hunter
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A glory hunter is a derogatory term used as a form of insult towards people who are, or who are suspect to, supporting a particular football club due to its size, quality and/or popularity in the media. Glory hunters usually live outside the town where a particular team is from, and may, in fact, live in a different country altogether. This practice is an example of the bandwagon effect. i.e. They switch teams to whichever is currently the most successful. While not all foreign fans are glory hunters and is quite insulting to those who aren't, the ease with which it is possible to 'swap' teams increases the amount of glory hunter fans.
Glory hunting has arrived with the advent of regularly televised football, as people can see attractive and successful football being played by clubs all over the viewer's country. Many supporters adopt a 'second club' usually a successful one from another country. In terms of European clubs, many have gained a huge world-wide fanbase due to their success in the European Cup/Champions League.
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[edit] Glory hunters in England
Manchester United have by far the most supporters of any English club, not only within England, but worldwide. This is due in part to their domestic and European success coming simultaneously with the introduction of televised European Cup football in the mid-1950s. Manchester United's second coming coincided with the huge increase in the amount of televised football due to the introduction of satellite broadcasting in the early 1990s.
In England in the 1980s, the dominance of Liverpool in Europe and the introduction of live league football gained Liverpool support from all over England, and the rest of the world. Both Liverpool and Manchester United have been able to exploit global markets to great success. With the amount of televised live matches ever increasing, added to the availability of replica shirts and other merchandise, the concept of 'the glory-hunter' has evolved. Football fans choose to publicly display their support more readily, regardless of their geographical proximity to the club of their affection.
Other clubs successful in England, such as Chelsea and Arsenal, are trying to use business techniques to maximise their fanbase for financial gain.
[edit] Glory hunters in France
In France, Olympique de Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain FC have long been considered as the two French clubs with the most supporters. Olympique de Marseille gained important media attention and along with it an important number of glory hunters during the late 1980s and early 1990s when the club won successive titles including French Championships and One UEFA Champions League. Paris Saint Germain benefited from the fact that the club is owned by Canal+ which broadcasts the French Championship matches. French media also tend to give a lot of attention to the rivalry between these two clubs despite the fact that they have been unable to win major titles in the recent years. More recently, Olympique Lyonnais near total domination of the French Championship has attracted an important number of glory hunters.
Another 'gloryhunting' phenomenon in France is the one concerning the national football team. The successful French campaigns in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000 attracted an important amount of new supporters that had taken no or little interest in football before. This was also favoured by Adidas marketing strategy which centred on the French National Team. The derogatory term 'Footix', inspired by the name of the 1998 FIFA World Cup mascot, is usually used while speaking of these glory hunters.
[edit] Glory hunters in Malaysia
It is normal for a small country like Malaysia to have a group of glory hunters supporting more than one successful team. The glory hunters in Malaysia are easily identified - often you can see them changing their allegiance to the top team at that time, as of this time most Malaysians are Chelsea fans (Internet, TV, Radio, Mamak stall & Coffee House). In Malaysia, the glory hunter is often labeled as "lalang" (weed), meaning that they shift to wherever the wind blows. (See also Operation Lalang)
The sudden burst of Chelsea fans these two years shows the amount of glory hunting fans in Malaysia, though frowned upon and despised by true fans, it is a fact of life in Malaysia.
[edit] In other sports
While the term is almost always attributed to football (soccer), there is no reason why it cannot be applied to similar fans who follow other sports.
The practice of glory hunting is widespread in USA and Canada in a lot of sports, although it is rarely, if ever, deemed as glory hunting (they are usually called "fair-weather fans" in the U.S.). Hence, a lot of American fans of British or European soccer support whichever team they like - often inspired by current success - and give no second thought to any backlash they might receive from native Brits, and are surprised when they do. Currently, Manchester United are a very popular English team with North Americans because of its stylish image and flash players. However, many fans intentionally choose less-successful teams (but rarely those in constant danger of relegation) to avoid this stigma. It should also be noted that this is not exclusively one-way: amongst non-Americans who develop an interest in one or more American sports, some of them will have developed a team loyalty based on recent accomplishments, such as the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Chicago White Sox.
[edit] Clubs frequently accused of having glory supporters
[edit] Argentina
[edit] Australia
[edit] Brazil
[edit] England
[edit] France
[edit] Germany
[edit] Iran
[edit] Italy
[edit] Lithuania
Gloryhunting in Lithuania is most evident in basketball
[edit] Netherlands
[edit] Portugal
[edit] Russia
[edit] Scotland
[edit] Serbia
[edit] Spain
[edit] Turkey
[edit] Ukraine
[edit] Uruguay
[edit] See also
[edit] External link
[edit] References
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