Geraint Thomas

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by life on mars

Folk are only defending him because of his undoubted heroics .

---

:hehe:

Just been interviewed at the Emirates with his Arsenal shirt.

Funny how quickly you can go off people :facepalm:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kris

Horseshit.

You have one question, and one question only.

1) Do you like football?

If the answer is yes, you will go and watch your local football club

The only exceptions to that rule are your personal circumstances (work, skint, family) and whether or not the football club treats your support with the respect it deserves.

It is not a valid excuse to say "I would support Stanley, but they're shit", "I would support Rochdale, but they've lost 6 on the trot and have only won one promotion since the war", "I would support Torquay, but they're in the Fourth Division", "I would support Gillingham, but the owner never buys players". In fact, those counter arguments are rendered useless when you say "I would support Gillingham, but they never buy players so I support Liverpool instead". Isn't it strange how people don't seem to live in Dorchester and support Tranmere Rovers?

Picking a team based purely on success is pathetic. It's also the easy way out.

---

Absolute tommyrot.

It may be small minded and old fashioned but I am also in the support your local team camp.

I don’t dislike him because he supports arsenal most of my friends support a top 4 club, but as mentioned I can not see how someone who is a true footy fan can support a team they have no affiliation with, the fact I am proud of my city and we’re I am from is 80% of the reason I support Cardiff.

And I do feel it would have been nice to just name drop us in his interview considering recently getting promoted and being from the City. You see how Bale promotes other welsh success on his Twitter/insta such as Geraint and Warburton and you realise what real pride in your country is

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cleve van Leef

It’s not compulsory that being born in Cardiff he has to support City. Such a thing as freedom of choice.

---

I have to say that his achievements and patriotism are marvellous to see and yet I was surprised (and instinctively a little disappointed) when I saw him holding an Arsenal shirt at The Emirates yesterday. I can't really explain why, as people can support whoever they want.

He said that when he was young, all his mates supported Man Utd. :frown:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by chris lee

It may be small minded and old fashioned but I am also in the support your local team camp.

I don’t dislike him because he supports arsenal most of my friends support a top 4 club, but as mentioned I can not see how someone who is a true footy fan can support a team they have no affiliation with, the fact I am proud of my city and we’re I am from is 80% of the reason I support Cardiff.

And I do feel it would have been nice to just name drop us in his interview considering recently getting promoted and being from the City. You see how Bale promotes other welsh success on his Twitter/insta such as Geraint and Warburton and you realise what real pride in your country is

---

Utter rubbish. He probably supported them as a child, as did you with Cardiff. I can't say that as an absolute certainty but it's a pretty good assumption to make. Very few people around Geraint's age supported Cardiff, I'm of a similar age and I was the only City fan in my year at school.

Also, Bale hasn't mentioned us either, so why should Warburton or Thomas? By the way... https://twitter.com/GeraintThomas86/...32214987739143

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bobby Dandruff

I have to say that his achievements and patriotism are marvellous to see and yet I was surprised (and instinctively a little disappointed) when I saw him holding an Arsenal shirt at The Emirates yesterday. I can't really explain why, as people can support whoever they want.

He said that when he was young, all his mates supported Man Utd. :frown:

---

Of course he can support who he likes.

Personally, I fail to see the attraction of being a plastic, glory-seeking fan.

Do you genuinely get the "high" that we get when our local side win? It must be diminished if you have no genuine connection with that team.

You're generally looked down on by genuine, local fans of these "big" clubs e.g. Liverpool fans call them Telepudlians.

Obviously GT is a proud Welshman, supporting his country in every sport through thick and thin. Why not the same with your home City? :shrug:

I was cheering Thomas all the way to his Tour win and loved the way he (and his team and the media) promoted Wales through his success. I was also really disappointed that he is a Cardiff Gooner - and in the same way he is entitled to support any team he likes, I am entitled to identify less with him as a result, and care a little less than I would have done about his success.

There was an interesting article this morning from a Cardiff-based Sunderland fan in the RokerReport that discussed the reasons people do not support their local team - or if exiles the team from the place they came from:

https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/201...u-support-them

Worth a read!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jon1959

I was cheering Thomas all the way to his Tour win and loved the way he (and his team and the media) promoted Wales through his success. I was also really disappointed that he is a Cardiff Gooner - and in the same way he is entitled to support any team he likes, I am entitled to identify less with him as a result, and care a little less than I would have done about his success.

There was an interesting article this morning from a Cardiff-based Sunderland fan in the RokerReport that discussed the reasons people do not support their local team - or if exiles the team from the place they came from:

https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/201...u-support-them

Worth a read!

---

I know the author of this piece and he's a nice bloke but I think he's wrong. I'd say the vast majority of people supporting non-local teams do so because of the glory and media saturation. The quirky tales are few and far between (and that guy supporting Chelsea because of the X-Files is just daft).

Back to the OP - The event was superbly attended and very well deserved too. Remember when Geraint was about 10 or 11 - 1997 ish Cardiff City were in Division three playing their football. This was the Phil Neal / Kenny Hibbitt / Russell Osman era. What sort of crowds were Cardiff pulling in then? A few thousand?? Probably, almost certainly not 10,000.

The young Geraint Thomas was getting interested in cycling at the time whilst his hometown football club had very little to offer at this time with the top goal scorer being one Andy Saville.

Is it any wonder why the young Geraint chose not to support his hometown club at that time and like many hundreds if not thousands of Cardiff / South Wales boys his age chose to follow the likes of Arsenal, Mann Utd, Liverpool etc.

Remember these were the real dark days of Cardiff City FC - third division football, finishing 21st in that division and managed by the likes of Hibbitt / Neal and Osman.

Geraint Thomas is a superb sportsman at the very highest level in world sport. He is a very proud Welshman and also probably very proud of being from Cardiff and attending Whitchurch High school alongside footballers such as Gareth Bale and Rugby players such as Sam Warburton. The fact he follows Arsenal and not Cardiff City is neither here nor there as far as I am concerned.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nick

Back to the OP - The event was superbly attended and very well deserved too. Remember when Geraint was about 10 or 11 - 1997 ish Cardiff City were in Division three playing their football. This was the Phil Neal / Kenny Hibbitt / Russell Osman era. What sort of crowds were Cardiff pulling in then? A few thousand?? Probably, almost certainly not 10,000.

The young Geraint Thomas was getting interested in cycling at the time whilst his hometown football club had very little to offer at this time with the top goal scorer being one Andy Saville.

Is it any wonder why the young Geraint chose not to support his hometown club at that time and like many hundreds if not thousands of Cardiff / South Wales boys his age chose to follow the likes of Arsenal, Mann Utd, Liverpool etc.

Remember these were the real dark days of Cardiff City FC - third division football, finishing 21st in that division and managed by the likes of Hibbitt / Neal and Osman.

Geraint Thomas is a superb sportsman at the very highest level in world sport. He is a very proud Welshman and also probably very proud of being from Cardiff and attending Whitchurch High school alongside footballers such as Gareth Bale and Rugby players such as Sam Warburton. The fact he follows Arsenal and not Cardiff City is neither here nor there as far as I am concerned.

---

So a proud Welshman but not a proud Cardiffian?

Welsh sport had it's lean years whilst GT was a boy but I presume he didn't change allegiance to England or another country during that time.

I'm sure he's a very proud Cardiffian - It does not follow that he has to support their football team, however.

Does it also mean that his favourite singer has to be Shirley Bassey or his favourite author has to be Roald Dahl? Shouldn't he still be cycling for the Maindy flyers rather than team Sky?? Because he's a Cardiff boy??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nick

Back to the OP - The event was superbly attended and very well deserved too. Remember when Geraint was about 10 or 11 - 1997 ish Cardiff City were in Division three playing their football. This was the Phil Neal / Kenny Hibbitt / Russell Osman era. What sort of crowds were Cardiff pulling in then? A few thousand?? Probably, almost certainly not 10,000.

The young Geraint Thomas was getting interested in cycling at the time whilst his hometown football club had very little to offer at this time with the top goal scorer being one Andy Saville.

Is it any wonder why the young Geraint chose not to support his hometown club at that time and like many hundreds if not thousands of Cardiff / South Wales boys his age chose to follow the likes of Arsenal, Mann Utd, Liverpool etc.

Remember these were the real dark days of Cardiff City FC - third division football, finishing 21st in that division and managed by the likes of Hibbitt / Neal and Osman.

Geraint Thomas is a superb sportsman at the very highest level in world sport. He is a very proud Welshman and also probably very proud of being from Cardiff and attending Whitchurch High school alongside footballers such as Gareth Bale and Rugby players such as Sam Warburton. The fact he follows Arsenal and not Cardiff City is neither here nor there as far as I am concerned.

---

I'm sure a good number of us began supporting Cardiff when we were rubbish, though it's understandable if people didn't. I also understand when kids latch on the glamour clubs but to keep doing so when you're an adult seems a bit pathetic. I was a Liverpool fan as a lad but that seemed redundant when there was a club you could be part of down the road. That was the turn of the 90s, so maybe I wanted to go somewhere for some peace and quiet.

An adult from Cardiff supporting a football team other than Cardiff, a bit pathetic? Really?

I'd be more than happy if he was a Cardiff City fan but the fact that he is not doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Is being a fan of, say, Oasis a bit pathetic when you are from Cardiff? Shouldn't you be a fan of Shirley Bassey or Charlotte Church?

On the flip side of this, should people from the valleys support Merthyr, Pontypridd, Ebbw Vale, or whatever their local team are?
I live 30 miles from Cardiff, but have always supported them despite Newport being a bit nearer and Swansea being a bit quicker to get to than Cardiff.
Not a loaded question, but genuinely interested in what Cardiff people think.

I'm the same as you - Newport County are far closer to me than Cardiff City. I suppose that makes us the same sort of glory hunters as Geraint Thomas - not supporting our nearest team but supporting the big time club.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by valleys caveman

On the flip side of this, should people from the valleys support Merthyr, Pontypridd, Ebbw Vale, or whatever their local team are?
I live 30 miles from Cardiff, but have always supported them despite Newport being a bit nearer and Swansea being a bit quicker to get to than Cardiff.
Not a loaded question, but genuinely interested in what Cardiff people think.

---

I have always said I have more respect and would rather speak to a Welsh person who follows Swansea than a welsh person who supports a top 4 team

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nick

I'm sure he's a very proud Cardiffian - It does not follow that he has to support their football team, however.

Does it also mean that his favourite singer has to be Shirley Bassey or his favourite author has to be Roald Dahl? Shouldn't he still be cycling for the Maindy flyers rather than team Sky?? Because he's a Cardiff boy??

---

Using singers or authors as an analogy is rather churlish. You don't "support" a singer or author. You may like them but will have numerous others you listen to or read.

Generally people support one football club and perhaps like, or have a soft spot, for a couple of others.

Anyway, it was more about "plastic" fans not getting the real highs with success that come with having a genuine connection with your club.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pedro de la Rosa

Utter rubbish. He probably supported them as a child, as did you with Cardiff. I can't say that as an absolute certainty but it's a pretty good assumption to make. Very few people around Geraint's age supported Cardiff, I'm of a similar age and I was the only City fan in my year at school.

Also, Bale hasn't mentioned us either, so why should Warburton or Thomas? By the way... https://twitter.com/GeraintThomas86/...32214987739143

---

I said Bale has uploaded posts congratulating, Geraint and Warburton in the last few weeks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Claude Blue

Using singers or authors as an analogy is rather churlish. You don't "support" a singer or author. You may like them but will have numerous others you listen to or read.

Generally people support one football club and perhaps like, or have a soft spot, for a couple of others.

Anyway, it was more about "plastic" fans not getting the real highs with success that come with having a genuine connection with your club.

---

Geraint Thomas obviously does have a soft spot for Cardiff City, as has already been pointed out.

https://twitter.com/GeraintThomas86/...32214987739143

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nick

An adult from Cardiff supporting a football team other than Cardiff, a bit pathetic? Really?

I'd be more than happy if he was a Cardiff City fan but the fact that he is not doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Is being a fan of, say, Oasis a bit pathetic when you are from Cardiff? Shouldn't you be a fan of Shirley Bassey or Charlotte Church?

---

Your analogy doesn't work. And yeah, a bit pathetic. There's a reason why people gravitate to the big clubs and I'd say it's generally quite basic.

Martin Tyler doesn't think you need to support a Prem team, but stops short of calling people Plastics if they do:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...tyler-13080060

He supports Woking it seems :-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by chris lee

I said Bale has uploaded posts congratulating, Geraint and Warburton in the last few weeks.

---

Yes, and Geraint has posted posts congratulating us, Bale and Warburton; so I don't understand the point you were making.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pedro de la Rosa

Yes, and Geraint has posted posts congratulating us, Bale and Warburton; so I don't understand the point you were making.

---

Oh I see, didn't realise he made a post, as I do not follow him. Fair play then he obviously does show some support for Cardiff so the OP mislead a little.

Although taking Geraint out of the picture as I obviously do not know him, I still find it hard in general to respect Welsh people, who follow a random English club just because they are successful