1. Why are you an Evertonian / Toffee / Bluenose / Blue etc?
As many people on here will know already, I have not been an Everton fan for long - in fact, at this point in time, we are maybe talking a few months. I met my wife many years ago and she is an Everton fan from the Walton are of Liverpool. Being a woman of Afro-Caribbean descent, and me being a pasty white guy from County Durham, we obviously hit it off straight away when we met in a pub one night. A few years later, we really shocked the neighbours in this part of the world when we moved into our first home and had our mixed-race daughter pottering around the streets. Fortunately, even in recent years, times have changed and our situation isn't too strange up here now. My wife was an obsessive Everton fan and still is. Her passion runs deep. She had tried to get me interested for years, but playing amateur rugby and watching a few non-league teams in the local area was often sufficient for me.
That was, until she took me to Walton to see her parents and brothers one weekend. We decided to go to the game and from then on, I was utterly hooked. The Old Lady was a magical experience. I have never felt such a welcome part of a community before and the craic on that I was able to have with total strangers was quite heart warming. I left the game feeling as though I had experienced something quite special and quite unique. A few months passed and I became increasingly interested in the club, checking in the website, looking at scores, hovering around this forum, etc. In doing so, I witnessed a club with a fan base that was loyal, fervent and utterly immovable in their passion and commitment to their team. These are qualities that I fiercely value and, as such, my obsession with Everton quickly began.
I have only recently bought my first Everton shirt and I still know remarkably little about the history of the club or even about the current players. But I can promise you all one thing - you now have my unwavering support, my undying loyal and my utmost respect and love.
This is a true football club and I am deeply, deeply, deeply proud to be associated with you all.
2. What does Everton mean to you?
To me, Everton is all that is right with football. We are a unique club. A very special club with a very special fanbase. Everton is a club of tradition and immense respect for the game. Because of that, I see Everton as being a club that epitomises the truth and utter simple beauty of football. Everton is a club that touches your heart and soul. I'm not from the area and I wasn't born an Evertonian as the saying goes, but neither was I manufactured. Instead, I feel it was something so much more special than that. I feel as though I was chosen; forged by my life experiences and brought into something that is inexplicable to others unless you have felt it before in your own beating heart.
Everton are a club steeped in history, but they are also the underdog. They are traditional and dignified , but ambitious and bullish. Everton epitomise everything that a football club should be for me. We are utterly unique in English club football. We aren't money rich or anything that could be described as a fantastically successful club, but we have a zealous support and an ethos that has remained for decades.
To me, Everton is hope and dignity and respect. It is tradition and community and passion. It is loyalty and determination and ambition. These are all qualities that I value and aspire to.
Increasingly, both literally and metaphorically, Everton are my family.
I am honoured to be here. I really am.
