Aston Villa Football Club - California Supporters: July 2010

Friday, July 30, 2010

An American Supporter of an English Football Team

It is quite an interesting adventure to be an American supporter of an English football team. The Premiership is one of the most popular football leagues in the world, so as a football fan, one must choose an English Premier League team to support. Most Americans "support" teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, or Liverpool. These are the "big 4" and are well know internationally.

I many ways it is like have a long distance relationship with your significant other. You look at photos (read magazines, scour the internet, watch matches at insane hours of the day), your wear clothing or jewelry to remind you of them (football shirt, scarf), and you attempt to gather with others who are also in the same situation (others that support the same team).

But why Aston Villa? I chose to support AVFC for one reason - their relationship with Acorn's Children's Hospice. Of course, my support for the Villa has grown and expanded beyond this (I started an AVFC supporters branch in California for goodness sake), but it did all start with Acorns. I have been a volunteer and supporter of George Mark Children's House in San Leandro, CA - the first of its kind in the U.S. (free-standing facility focused on providing in-patient pediatric palliative and end-of-life care. Although Villa has returned to having a commercial shirt sponsor this year - their partnership with Acorn's will continue. I will proudly keep wearing my Villa shirts that have ACORNS inscribed across the chest.

I am getting excited for the upcoming Premiership season to start. Up the Villa!

Follow Paul Brown's Portugal Blog

Follow the Villa as they train in Portugal

Paul Brown's Portugal blog

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Some 2010/2011 Villa games on U.S. TV

The following are only a handful of Villa matches that are scheduled for U.S. television so far. I'll post a more complete calendar as new information is released. I believe these times are EST.

Sunday, August 22:            8:30am: Newcastle United v Aston Villa, Fox Soccer Plus
Sunday, August 29:            11am: Aston Villa v Everton, Fox Soccer Channel
Monday, September 13:     3pm: Stoke City v Aston Villa, TBD
Sunday, September 26:      9:05am: Wolves v Aston Villa, Fox Soccer Plus
Sunday, October 31:          7am: Aston Villa v Birmingham, Fox Soccer Plus
Saturday, November 13:    7:45am: Aston Villa v Manchester United, ESPN2
Saturday, November 27:   7:45am: Aston Villa v Arsenal, ESPN2

(Courtesy of: http://www.epltalk.com/premier-league-tv-schedule/)

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Pre-Season 2010

Some results from the first few pre-season matches.

Basinstoke is currently a Blue Square Conference South team (6th tier in the English FA system)
http://basingstoketown.net/

Basingstoke vs Aston Villa

	2 - 1
Date: 18/07/2010		Venue: The Camrose Ground
Attendance: 1,500


	Basingstoke	Aston Villa
Goals :	2	1
Possession :	0%	0%
Shots On Target :	0	0
Shots Off Target :	0	0
Corners :	0	0
Fouls :	0	0
Yellow Cards :	0	0
Red Cards :	0	0

Peterborough United is currently a nPower League 1 team (3rd tier in the English FA system)
http://www.theposh.com/page/Home/0,,10427,00.html

Peterborough vs Aston Villa

	2 - 3
Date: 19/07/2010		Venue: London Road (PET)


	Peterborough	Aston Villa
Goals :	2	3
Possession :	0%	0%
Shots On Target :	0	0
Shots Off Target :	0	0
Corners :	0	0
Fouls :	0	0
Yellow Cards :	0	0
Red Cards :	0	0

Bohemians FC is currently a Airtricity Premier League of Ireland team (1st tier in the League of Ireland system)
http://www.bohemians.ie/

Bohemians vs Aston Villa

	2 - 1
Date: 24/07/2010		Venue: Unknown


	Bohemians	Aston Villa
Goals :	2	1
Possession :	0%	0%
Shots On Target :	0	0
Shots Off Target :	0	0
Corners :	0	0
Fouls :	0	0
Yellow Cards :	0	0
Red Cards :	0	0

Monday, July 19, 2010

Supporting the Claret and Blue in the Middle of the Pacific

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Aiden McGeady?

Just heard some talk that MON is interested in this lad from Celtic. I don't know anything aboutt him, but this video montage was posted on the AVFC Lions Club discussion board. He looks like a winner and could be a great addition to the Villa midfield. We need a playmaker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN-nGDRIduE

Thursday, July 15, 2010

AVFC California Recruiting Trip?

ALOHA!

2010-2011 Kits Revealed

They are great looking... but I miss having Acrons on it. Maybe it can be added in the future - back collar, under team crest...somewhere.

Home (r) and Away (l)

Monday, July 12, 2010

How Do Americans View Football Now?

I know - referring to the Beautiful game as "football" just confuses Americans. The U.S. had a very good showing this year in South Africa - comebacks, excitement, "never give up" attitude. Has this year's World Cup had any positive impact on how Americans see football? I certainly hope so, but any change will be glacial. Where does the U.S. fan turn to after the World Cup (especially new fans)? MLS? Maybe - but quite a step down in terms of standard of play and energy at the stadium. I hope that some Americans do pickup on the MLS and give it a try. What I believe is the most important step for Americans to make is to start following international club football. Fans new to football during the World Cup will see familiar names in European club football and these fans may even begin to support a particular team (Recommendation: Aston Villa FC!!).

Only time will tell. Up the Villa!

Why Americans Don't Appreciate Football (Soccer)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Players Begin Training

Villa players are back and starting to practice. Here is a shot of the new training kit:

...I miss seeing "Acorns" already...

How Did You Become a Villa Supporter?

"I wonder how many fans are actually originally from Birmingham or surrounding area. I am and I'm always interested if someone isn't from near Villa Park, why did they pick Villa as the team to follow." .............................................................................................. "I like Rick's story, he picked Villa as they were 'sponsored' by Acorns Children's Hospice at the time, a cause close to Rick's heart."..................................................................................................................... "I was born in Solihull (12 miles south of Villa Park) and my older bro turned me into a Villa supporter"................................................................................................................ "I am originally from Vauxhall (Birmingham B7) and have followed the Villa since my dad took me to see a game at Villa Park on my 4th birthday. I was a season ticket holder at VP from 1968 until I moved over here twelve years ago."........................................................................................................................"I am from Halesowen which is right next to the black country. Which is tesco carrier bag territory. However my dad is from the city and he always took me and my brother to villa games. I was a season ticket holder in the holte untill 2007 when I moved out here."......................................................................................................................."So why do I support Villa if I've never been to Birmingham? That's a very good question that I've asked myself many times over the years. When I started following the league almost everyone was a Liverpool fan for the same reason almost everyone now is a United, City, or Chelsea fan. Not being someone who follows the crowd I wanted to support a team that was unique and different. When I was a kid, Andy Gray was one of my favorite players and I used to read his columns in Shoot magazine about playing for Villa and thought a lot of the things about the team were unique: the team name, colors, and specially the history."..................................................................................................................."Born just a couple of miles from Villa park, with my father, mother, grandparents and more than half of my extended family with claret and blue blood (you can work out who the rest of that motley crew supported SOTC) it was written in the stars that I was going to be Villa through and through."...................................................................................................................I was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. Played the game for 30 some odd years and have been a Villa fan all my life. I have seen 2 live games(both losses, but a great atmosphere none the less). My grandfather was a steward at Villa Park for many years. My father and brother are members of the Canadian Villa fan club in Toronto. I'm here in the central valley, and know of couple of villa fans here in Fresno................................................................................................................