Scottish Missionaries and the Perversion of their Faith

I support Liverpool FC. The reasons are slightly obscure. When I was a wee lad we had some Scottish neighbours who were fanatical Aberdeen fans. It must have been hard to a soccer/football fan in New Zealand then, in the days before our miracle qualification to the World Cup made playing soccer somewhat more acceptable in the rugby crazed nation that is NZ.

Like missionaries in the New World these Scottish soccer fans tried to convert anyone they could by any means they could. In my case they gave me a replica Aberdeen jersey.

This giving of a trinket to an impressionable native did the trick, I wanted to know more about this alternative religion to rugby. I'm sure my head priest, by which i mean my father, muttered something about blasphemy. There was a slight lack of Scottish soccer on New Zealand TV. In fact, there was none. Not a single game. Aberdeen would have to continue without my fan support.

There was soccer on New Zealand TV. We would get Match of The Day, all the way from England, and only a week or three out of date. Seriously, we got one match a week, and that had usually been played the previous month. I watched some games. It seemed boring. But then ... a team wearing red played.

Aberdeen have a red jersey. Liverpool also have a red jersey. I saw Liverpool play a three week old game and became a life-long fan.

So thanks to some Scottish Aberdeen supporters I support Liverpool. I care about Liverpool Football Club. I have taught my daughter to chant, "Come on you Reds!" I will get up early in the morning to watch them play. I have screamed for delight, howled in disgust, and even cried--all because of a bunch of overpaid men kicking a ball around. But I do still find soccer boring. That's the problem with converting the natives ... they just take the bits they like, and keep going back to their old ways when no-one is looking.