© The Fan Experience Company 2024
Winchester City fan visits 700 football grounds in 14 countries
Watching every English Football League team took him three years, travelling across the country every other Saturday, while working in a hotel.
Robert Conway gets to the ground early, he buys a scarf, finds his spot in the terrace, and for the next 90 minutes he passionately cheers for a team he has never seen before.
The football fanatic, from Eastleigh, has been to 1,923 matches in 14 countries and at 703 different stadiums.
This includes watching a match at all 92 English Football League clubs and the 56 German Football League grounds.
He says: “For those 90 minutes I will support that club as if it is my club – I’ll sing the songs, I’ll be happy if they win, I’ll be a bit disappointed if they lose but I do feel for that small 90 minutes, I’ll get as much out of it as I can.
“I’m probably not going to get back to half of these places ever again so I make the most of it while I’m there.”
Watching every English Football League team took him three years, travelling across the country every other Saturday, while working in a hotel.
In 2012, Mr Conway settled on Germany as his next challenge.
He says he was inspired by a match between Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City.
“I remember thinking Dortmund, ‘That’s a ground everyone talks about, I’d like to go there’,” he explains.
He booked cheap flights across the Channel and fell in love with German football culture.
The first game he watched in the country was not the most obvious choice.
“My favourite football club in Germany, not many people know them, is fourth tier Alemannia Aachen,” he admits.
“My first trip to Germany was when I went to see Dortmund – the game the night before I actually went to see them [Alemannia Aachen] and met so many fantastic people, so I decided to just keep coming back.”
He remembers a match when the club lost 4 – 3 and the loyal supporters continued to chant for their team.
He says: “It was at that moment I thought, this club is special.”
When his feet touched home soil in Hampshire, Mr Conway set up the English branch of the Alemannia Aachen supporters club on social media, which now has more than 2,000 followers.
Mr Conway says his love for German football has been helped by budget flights, train travel and accommodation he has been able to find.
He says: “It’s quite cheap in Germany… the tickets are affordable.”
He compares this to the Premier League which “has priced average people like me out of it”.
He now plans to visit every regional team in Germany which means attending another 87 grounds.
At his home in Eastleigh, he has converted his spare room into a shrine of memorabilia from his travels – surrounding himself with about 450 football shirts, 2,500 pin badges and a collage of memories.
Describing the room, Mr Conway says: “I have a wall in the corner with some of my favourite memories from my trips to Germany.
“I’ve got plenty of bits and pieces from my favourite English team, Winchester City, and the main focal point in my room is the shirt from when I completed the English 92 at Morecombe.”
He admits his wife “doesn’t like football in the slightest”.
But he says she is understanding of his football passion “as long as I don’t spend all of my time and money on it, she’s more than happy for me to go”.
Original article published 08.02.2024 on the BBC Sport website.
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