What drives your passion for the beautiful game?

[anthony.brown]

Before last night's game, and after cod and chips from Murphy's, I visited the graves of William Tindall Lucas, Francis Shillitoe and William Hill (members of Hitchin FC's FA Cup team) at Hitchin cemetery. Tradition, continuity, and love of the game draw many of us to attend whenever we can. Long may it continue.

[Kate Deller]

For me its simply hope, friendship and a passion for the Top Field community. Seeing more and more people enjoy this lovely stadium is something to treasure. Days like yesterday watching a huge crowd enjoying the day, leaving happy. That brings real joy to me.

I have high hopes for this year, and feel that our players will be stronger and wiser. Good luck to all the players and Mark leading them the season ahead.

[Chris_N]

This is a really great question. The fact that I have taken until now to respond means that I have thought, and thought, and thought about it, and came up with the same answer every time.

I honestly don't know.

Fulham, my team of my birthplace and the team I have followed since the age of eight, is emotional. Heartbreak, euphoria, actual tears when we were 91st of 92 in the Football League in 1996 and going out of the League.....sorry, but I have the same affinity for Fulham as all those born in Hitchin or the surrounding area might have for Hitchin. Not quite the same level of emotional attachment as Roy Izzard has for Hitchin Town, but seriously not too far off.

Nearest I have felt to euphoria for Hitchin was winning the play-off semi-final in front of over 1500 baying Welsh folks at Merthyr. Best feeling is when there's about 20 of you in a packed partisan house away from home, and you silence them! There has been no better feeling than being away from home and being able to hear a pin drop at 4:50pm or even better, 21:40pm. Or the home support has left. All four games that come into my memory first are games that were away from home.

Why have I been involved at Hitchin? I wish I knew. Certainly not for personal gain or glory - probably most to be able to make a positive difference in the places where I have felt I can make a positive difference. 20 years plus has not been without its major frustrations, and many (even most) would not always see me as the easiest person to get on with - but that's me wanting to do things right and do things which I believe will make a positive difference to the club. And I know within my own conscience that my agenda has never been any more than that - to help make things better, improve them and make sure that anything I have done is done with minimal or no risk to the Club. All as I see it, always in the best interests of the club first and foremost.

Do I enjoy it? Most of the time. Having five different chaps shake my hand last night for sorting their ticketing problems or helping them to order for the future - well such things make it all worthwhile.

My passion for the game though doesn't just mean Fulham and Hitchin. I have always loved the beautiful game in all its formats. Of course I look back on the 60s and 70s with the most fondness - a time when as a kid you could almost recite the team line-ups of all the First Division Teams - dirty Stoke and Southampton, and all the rest. Loved spending lots of time with my dear late friend John TG going to neutral non-league games and always enjoying the experiences. I do miss those times.

Now - well I still go to Non-League Finals day every year but don't get to so many neutral non-league games.

Will my passion for the beautiful game continue? I just don't know.

[DarrenW]

Simple reply.

I was born 5 mins walk from the ground. Think of it everytime I shop in Waitrose. Only one club I was meant to support. Like many others among us.

[Neil]

I started following football in 1967 and became a Chelsea fan at the FA Cup final that year. Football was a distraction from a fairly miserable family life in which my parents split and re split. For years, I followed Chelsea home and away, until the late 1980s. When I moved to Hitchin in 1987, it seemed natural to follow the, too. Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion most fans are not generally interested in anything other than their team, but I prefer to adopt a portfolio approach these days. Since 2013 when I stopped being involved at HTFC, I’ve seen football in 20-plus countries and been to most of Europe’s big clubs. I’ve been to 85 of the 92 Prem/EFL. Football to me is a global language and can teach you so much about many aspects of life- it’s tribal, political, capitalist, stupid, intelligent, sociable, anti-social and can be entertaining. It teaches you about geography, geo-politics, human behaviour. That’s why I love football and why we would miss it if it wasn’t around. But I refuse to allow the events of 90 minutes involving 22 young, testosterone driven men affect my well being. The margin of success is so narrow, that it’s a gamble with all the odds stacked against you!

[russell]

I tried to write this last night after a couple of light ales and didn't make any sense when I read it back this morning so I'm trying again..

My dad started taking me to Arsenal in the 1980s.. my first memory is of Tony Adams scoring a late winner against QPR in front of us in the Clock End.. After that I was completely hooked. I would pester him to go literally every game.. for that reason we ended up at the infamous Wrexham defeat in 1992, a midweek 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough a few days before the cup final where George Graham played a reserve team, pre season friendlies in Norway.. it must have cost him a fortune and not sure what psychological toll it took either!

As I badly tried to say in my original post however I am disillusioned and alienated by the club now, and only really get the same buzz I did following them as a kid to going to unusual non league grounds to see the mighty Canaries.