Team Affiliation

Here in Argentina you are born into a soccer team, you are a fan because your parents or grandparents support that team. Your favorite colors as a kid are formed through your exposure to “your” team. You grow up in the club participating in a variety of activities, meeting friends, and discussing the team. Form a very young age you develop loyalty, to the point that you are more of a proud sworn enemy of the rival team than you are a fan of your own. This has become so much the trend that there are people willing for their team to lose if it would prevent the success of their rival.
In the US you are devoted to two sets of teams, professional and collegiate. This extends also to individual sports and creates factions among fans many times over. There is a lost sense of community because the priority of their devotion varies for each fan. The primary influence of choosing allegiance to a team is the geographic location. You choose a team based on the city you live in, near, or have lived in the longest time. For me, both of my parents were born and grew up in the New England area. They are both Red Sox fans, but my brothers and I are Braves fans. We choose our city over the city and team of our parents. Though the soccer teams in Argentina were originally divided by neighborhood, there is much less emphasis on the location today. The intense generation pressure is seen more as a tradition and not a result of location.
As people move around the US, it is not uncommon for them to adopt a new team in a new location. This would be unheard of in Argentina. Argentines do not change affiliations based on winning seasons, player changes, coaching changes or player behavior. You are a part of that club. This reflects the entertainment aspect of sports in the US versus the community found in the soccer clubs in South America. Most people are driven to support a team because they have access to seeing them live, in the company of friends, and as social entertainment. For Argentina, it is a community in serious support of their soccer team that binds them together.