Arsenal. Chelsea. Liverpool. Manchester United. Ask the question, “Who do you support?” at any soccer bar in the United States and those will be your most common answers. Norwich City? Well, that would be a rarity.
The Canaries would be a more common selection if not for the lack of information readily available to the American fan. With extensive television coverage of the Premier League only recently becoming available, most Americans just do not know of the successful City teams of years gone by.
Instead Norwich is mainly viewed as a family club, without a lot of American supporters, due to the absence of recent success and star power – two things that are often appealing to someone without a club.
That isn’t to say that all American football fans are glory hunters, but they do tend to love a winner! If more Americans knew of the success Norwich had in the mid-nineties, more fans would probably be attracted to the club.
Even without their own on-field struggles, Fulham have a large following in the United States due to the number of Americans at Craven Cottage in the last decade. Everton also have a significant American fan base mostly because of Tim Howard (and his amazing beard) and also their ability to fight their way into the top half of the table with a less than sizeable budget.
It is, quite simply, a challenge for most American soccer fans to become enticed by Norwich City and to love a club that has been towards the bottom of the Premier League or in the Championship in recent memory.
However, the Norwich City fans that do reside on this side of the pond are some of the most passionate in America.
Watching Norwich from afar week in and week out gives them a different mentality than locally based Norwich supporters. The fans cherish every moment that they have to watch their beloved club play. Stateside supporters will be in the pub at 7:30 A.M. singing just as loud as those at Carrow Road for the 12:30 kick off.
Every moment of Norwich City football is special to these fans that aren’t in and around the club and culture every week and they will stop at nothing to watch their club.
American Norwich supporters area some of the most passionate fans there are, and while they are mostly bred through family, if the club continues to have ambition and can find a level of success, more fans will become interested.
With the United States getting out of their group at the World Cup, there is a large, untapped vein of newly found football supporters looking for a way to continue their fandom and if Norwich can have a successful season, they may just claim some of them.
