What Premier League team should I root for if I recently discovered my great grandmother is from Peterborough?

Posted by UraniumGoesBoom@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 52 comments

American here.

I am doing my genealogy and discovered my great grandmother immigrated from Peterborough to Pennsylvania in 1925.

It’s high time I got myself an EPL team to root for. Which team should I adopt to honor my great grandmother’s hometown?

PS: Apparently my great great great great grandparents are from Westmorland. Which doesn’t appear to be near any sort of football at all, but please correct me if I am wrong.

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

Warming up to this. My big issue is actually getting regular access to their games. We only get to see two teams over here, Liverpool and whoever is playing Liverpool.

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Vatreno@reddit

Lower league football here is more like college US football there. More….genuine

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BigBlueMountainStar@reddit

If you want genuine, you need to pick the local pub team from the Sunday leagues.

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Vatreno@reddit

Dog and Duck vs Shiv and Knuckle Duster

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

⬆️ this person knows how to convince an American. Peterborough it is!

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TieEfficient1060@reddit

Most efl sides have pretty decent coverage, which is actually geared towards international fans. Here is the link to Peterborough's- https://www.theposh.com/posh-packages

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

“No packages are currently available in your country.”

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Remarkable-Data77@reddit

That last bits a lie! ALL premier league matches are shown in USA!

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Supporting some sports team because of their locale is pretty pointless imo. Unless of course the sportsers actually come from there. Nowadays all the big teams have players who come from elsewhere and have no connection whatsoever to the local community, nor do they give back to it. It’s bread for the masses

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

The lack of connection to geography has come up several times in this thread, which surprised me. Is this a cultural difference? 99% of Americans chose their teams based on where they grew up or where their parents grew up. You can maybe root for a different team if you move to a new city, but this is frowned upon.

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Comrade_pirx@reddit

It's similar but as neither you nor your parents grew up in Peterborough its left people scratching their heads a bit.

If you wanna watch Premier League games you're free to pick, if you wanna pick the premier league side closest to Peterborough it'd be Nottingham forest, but if you do go to a forest game don't tell them it's cos yer great great nan was from Peterborough, people will be confused.

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

Oh I totally understand get that. This is a silly reason to pick a team. OTOH, this thread has gotten me way more interested in learning about the Posh, so it kind of worked.

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Comrade_pirx@reddit

Agreed, hope you find an easy way to watch.

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Dennyisthepisslord@reddit

Tell me you don't support your local side in your opening sentence! Identity and location is exactly what all the biggest clubs have been built on .

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shannikkins@reddit

Mate, where your great grandma came from has sfa to do with choosing a footie team.

My grandad was Scottish, grandmother a Londoner, other side was Warwick and Spain. I'm a Wolves fan.

Stick a pin in the list of teams and pray you don't get Spurs

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BigBlueMountainStar@reddit

Or United.

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Dependent_Worry7499@reddit

Bold of a dingle to complain about Spurs 😘

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shannikkins@reddit

Ha ha. It's exactly because I'm a Dingle that I picked on Spurs - Utd are just shit, but cmon Spurs are below us!?

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TedTheTopCat@reddit

Yep, support The Posh & be grateful your grandma didn't come from narf London.

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TSC-99@reddit

You don’t pick a premier league team. You pick the nearest football team. Peterborough United. Don’t be a glory supporter. They are the worst.

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Breakwaterbot@reddit

Yeah they are.

Sincerely, a Lincoln fan.

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BigBlueMountainStar@reddit

Agreed. Birmingham City fan 😢

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PupMurky@reddit

Support Peterborough United. They're in League 1, the third tier, but are the team from Peterborough. They're nickname is the posh. As a foreigner, you can have a second team to follow, so just pick one you like. Tottenham never win anything, though.

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

Love the nickname

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One_Loquat_3737@reddit

Local supporters will call them The Posh rather than their real name.

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

Good intel. I definitely want to know more about the nickname!

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

Second team is Wrexham, naturally

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atheist-bum-clapper@reddit

Peterborough United

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

Probably won’t be able to watch them much in the States

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atheist-bum-clapper@reddit

You will get lots of people saying the same as me. Supporting your "local" club is generally the tradition

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Mammyjam@reddit

It’s not their local club though they’re an American who for some strange reason thinks they’re connected to the UK just because a distant relative lived here 100 years ago

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

The reason isn’t strange to us. Only one of my great grandparents was American. I didn’t know any of them obviously, but I knew their kids, my grandparents. I want to learn about Peterborough because I might learn something new about my grandmother. To do this, I need some sort of hook to the city.

I’ve been watching Liverpool (and World Cup and the other tournaments) over the last few years with two of my neighbors, both are from the UK. Rooting for Liverpool feels like rooting for the Chiefs or the Yankees. Boring as fuck. I want a different team, but I have no idea what most of your teams are all about, so how to chose?

I probably have loads of unknown third and fourth cousins who grew up in and are living in Peterborough right now. I figured why not root for whomever they would naturally root for? The answer wasn’t obvious from a map, so I came here.

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Accomplished_Alps463@reddit

Contrary to popular belief, not all British folk are in to Football, so choose one you like and go with that.

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Dennyisthepisslord@reddit

Follow Peterborough if you want to have some form of connection obviously. They tend to yo yo between the championship and league one but do have decent players who they find for cheap and sell on for millions so eventually might come good!

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

Thanks. This is the kind of context I need.

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VodkaMargarine@reddit

Plenty of southerners support Man U because their great great grandfather once quashed a protest in Manchester.

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Infinite_Crow_3706@reddit

Ongoing

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wasdice@reddit

Masterfully done

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PhantomLamb@reddit

The answer is Peterborough. EFL is far, far more fun than the PL

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SilentPayment69@reddit

Liverpool because they seem to fans everywhere that arent from Liverpool and have never been to Liverpool

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Drewski811@reddit

It’s high time I got myself an EPL team to root for.

Why? Do you like the sport? Do you follow it already? Are you only doing it because of some extremely distant and tenuous connection to Britain?

The Premier League didn't exist when your ancient relative left the country, so why is it important to link up to something that would have zero meaning to them?

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UraniumGoesBoom@reddit (OP)

It’s a good excuse for me to find out more about where my people came from. Maybe I’ll come visit and see a game.

I’ve got connections to Marsala Sicily, southeastern Denmark, southwestern Poland, and Peterborough. I’m going to try and make a connection to all four places.

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Drewski811@reddit

You don't need to attempt to follow a completely unrelated team to do that. Just learn a bit about Peterborough a hundred years ago.

There's no EPL team nearby. Nothing that would have any semblance of a relationship to Peterborough. There's Peterborough itself, but a much lower standard. But if you don't already like the sport and already follow it, it's a complete waste.

Fwiw, this is what everyone around the world finds a bit annoying about yanks.

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ButteredNun@reddit

No one likes Man United fans, but you’re already American anyway. Besides that, the shirt will go nicely with your hat. 😉

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Magacks@reddit

Liverpool of course, I’ve supported them as far back as I can remember lol, over 20 odd years from when I was a kid.

Nah but seriously though, you should just watch matches and who ever you like them support them. Just don’t be a glory hunter and support the team that is winning every year, you know?

Like if you don’t like Liverpool for example, don’t support them. Pick a team that you like bro and just stay away from Man Utd man🤣🤣🤣

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