Rick James

Hi Everybody! I loathe to make a new thread just to introduce myself, but everybody else seems to so why not? I'm from Canberra (Australia) and have only really been getting into Football properly since the last world cup. Prior to then the national competition was somewhat of a joke, and the team from our town (The erm.. Cosmos actually) were terrible at best, kicked out of the league and not considered for the re-vamped A-league... So like many Aussies my interest in Football was well and truly rekindled by the fabled (yet ill-fated) Socceroos run at the last WC... SUch heartbreaking times, but I must be thankful as they brought me back to the game (thankfully I'm one of those sports fans that can like multiple codes of football equally). Still underwhelmed by the new A-league (it's a better standard of football, that's for sure, but still no local team doesn't help) I decided to watch a few PL games, seeing as so many people talked it up down at the pub. Clearly standard of game over there is far above anything I'd seen previously, so I was happy to have found an ample substitute club competition to follow in between the international bouts (i won't even mention our Asian Cup tilt). Then comes the next problem... who to follow? Despite my family having come from (a fairly long time ago) England, SCotland and Ireland, there's no one still going around today who follows the football (all either Aussie Rules or League supporters) so I embarked on a journey to find my PL team. For a month or so I scoured Wikipedia, reading into the history of the PL and the clubs I had shortlisted. The big 4 were never in contention, and neither the teams in the bottom third. If I had the choice I'd rather not be following the Championship next season So then I read more deeply into the histories of the clubs i'd set aside from the others, and became enthralled in the story of Everton, once a very successful club, one of the most, but more recent times been struggling. A new(ish) coach, an up and coming roster, and from recent results, well on the way to challenging the top 4. I watched a few Toffees matches (somewhere in the middle of the 13-streak), and new for sure this was the team for me. Aussie Tim being there helped, but also that this was an underdog club, looking to knock a few teeth out of the big 4, especially the local rivals (an enticing prospect, as Canberra is too far from anywhere for a local derby, and a few of my friends also go for the red shite)... and to be quite frank once i knew a bit more about each club there was only one choice... So now I"m a blue forever. Hard to watch games over here as I don't have cable, but keep up to date on the net all the time. minute-by-minute reports and this forum are just as good anyway Feels like I've been blue all my life (hehe)... but honestly couldn't imagine supporting anyone else (everyone else are shite). Embarrassingly still learning some of the finer points of the game (I know what the offside rule is ) but that's why I (lurked around and then) signed up here, to further my knowledge of the game, the great club of Everton, and meet some like minded fans (only met one here in Canberra). Hopefully I've jumped on board just before I could be called an Everton Bandwagon Supporter Rick