Supporters
See also: On the Ball, City, Pride of Anglia, and East Anglian DerbyWhile much of the support that the club enjoys is local, there are a number of exile fan clubs, notably in London and stretching from Scandinavia to countries further afield such as the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.
The fans' song, On the Ball, City, is the oldest football song in the world still in use today; the song is in fact older than the club itself having probably been penned for Norwich Teachers or Caley's FC in the 1890s and adapted for Norwich City. Although the first use of the tune and song is disputed, it had been adopted by 1902 and it remains in use today in part if not the whole. The chorus is:
| “ | Kick off, throw in, have a little scrimmage, Keep it low, a splendid rush, bravo, win or die; |
” |
Locally, much is made of the informal title "Pride of Anglia". Fans variously claim the title for either winning the East Anglian Derby, finishing highest in the league, having the better current league position, having the more successful club history or for reasons without any apparent logical basis. The club's main local rival is Ipswich Town. When Norwich and Ipswich meet it is known as the 'East Anglian Derby', or, informally, as the 'Old Farm Derby' – a comic reference to the 'Old Firm Derby' played between Scottish teams Celtic and Rangers. Over the 134 matches played against Ipswich since 1902, Ipswich boasts the better record, having won 45% of the matches to Norwich's 37%. In the 2010/11 season norwich played Ipswich twice in the league, winning 4–1 the first time and 5–1 the second time. Another commonly employed measure for "Pride of Anglia", and one that encompasses all of the East Anglian teams is to dub the side finishing as the highest placed East Anglian team in the Football League as the Pride of Anglia.
The club also maintains a healthy celebrity support with celebrity cook, Delia Smith and comedian Stephen Fry both having moved from fans of the club to running it. Actor Hugh Jackman is also a fan of the club, having been taken to Carrow Road as a child by his English mother, though he turned down an opportunity to become an investor in the club in 2010. BBC Sports Presenter Jake Humphrey, who was born in Peterborough but moved to Norwich with his family at the age of nine, is another celebrity supporter, along with Sky Sports Presenter Simon Thomas, who is Vice-President of the Norwich City Supporters Trust, and Norfolk-born musician, model and media personality Myleene Klass.
Read more about this topic: Norwich City F.C.
Famous quotes containing the word supporters:
“His [O.J. Simpson’s] supporters lined the freeway to cheer him on Friday and commentators talked about his tragedy. Did those people see the photographs of the crime scene and the great blackening pools of blood seeping into the sidewalk? Did battered women watch all this on television and realize more vividly than ever before that their lives were cheap and their pain inconsequential?”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition. It reduces their supporters to that tractable number which can be managed by the joint influences of fruition and hope. It offers vengeance to the discontented, and distinction to the ambitious; and employs the energies of aspiring spirits, who otherwise may prove traitors in a division or assassins in a debate.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters. For his supporters will push him to disaster unless his opponents show him where the dangers are. So if he is wise he will often pray to be delivered from his friends, because they will ruin him. But though it hurts, he ought also to pray never to be left without opponents; for they keep him on the path of reason and good sense.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)