Cardiff city's super fan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 7:44 am
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=136878 
Tuesday 18th March 2014.
Cardiff City superfan Geoffrey Hewings won’t be at Saturday’s crunch match with Liverpool – but no-one is questioning his commitment.
Because since August the 71-year-old university professor has been flying thousands of miles from his US home each month to watch City compete in the Premier League.
And amazingly, he has missed just one match.
Season ticket holder Geoffrey, who lives in Chicago, has spent thousands of dollars on airfares, hotels and train tickets in order to watch matches at the Cardiff City Stadium after deciding he didn’t want to miss the club’s maiden Premier League season.
“Very few people follow their passions, which is what I’m doing right now,” said Geoffrey, who has supported Cardiff since he was six.
“How long I’m able to sustain this I don’t know but I’m really glad I did this. It has been a truly amazing experience.”
The dad of three, who spends up to £1,000 on each trip, which involves a weekend of travelling, told the Echo: “Nobody thinks I’m totally crazy but they do think I’m a little weird.
“It has been fun and I have managed to put together a lot of business activities and conferences around some of the games.
Geoffrey, who has two season tickets, often invites friends, family members of work associates to join him.
Cwmbran-born Geoffrey grew up in Harrow in North West London but spent every summer as a child in South Wales with his grandparents.
He watched his first match at Ninian Park in 1949 and names City legends John Toshack and Derek Tapscott as his favourite players.
“My father would take me at every opportunity that he could,” he said.
“In those days most kids followed the teams of their parents and I think these days kids choose them. It was almost as if my DNA was modified and I had no choice but to support Cardiff.”
“I probably went to three or four games a year and as I got a little older I would go by myself, usually at the end of my summer stay.”
As a student at University in Birmingham, Geoffrey, who is now married to Adrianna, says he would “sneak down” to watch Bluebirds matches but a move to America’s West Coast to complete his PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle meant he was unable to get to Ninian Park.
He eventually moved to Toronto, Canada, and then in 1974 to Chicago, where he has lectured at the University of Illinois ever since.
Geoffey has converted dozens of his students, some of whom are from countries such as Korea and China, into Premier League fans and he even held a party when Cardiff were promoted last year.
And the appetite for Premier League football in America is starting to grow, he says.
Geoffrey won’t be at Saturday’s match as he will be in Brazil but on City’s current survival struggle, he is hopeful.
“I think the talent is there,” he said.
“I think Solskjaer is finally getting his head around what it is to be a Premier League manager. “If we can win three or four games we could stay up but it’s going to be really tough.”
Tuesday 18th March 2014.
Cardiff City superfan Geoffrey Hewings won’t be at Saturday’s crunch match with Liverpool – but no-one is questioning his commitment.
Because since August the 71-year-old university professor has been flying thousands of miles from his US home each month to watch City compete in the Premier League.
And amazingly, he has missed just one match.
Season ticket holder Geoffrey, who lives in Chicago, has spent thousands of dollars on airfares, hotels and train tickets in order to watch matches at the Cardiff City Stadium after deciding he didn’t want to miss the club’s maiden Premier League season.
“Very few people follow their passions, which is what I’m doing right now,” said Geoffrey, who has supported Cardiff since he was six.
“How long I’m able to sustain this I don’t know but I’m really glad I did this. It has been a truly amazing experience.”
The dad of three, who spends up to £1,000 on each trip, which involves a weekend of travelling, told the Echo: “Nobody thinks I’m totally crazy but they do think I’m a little weird.
“It has been fun and I have managed to put together a lot of business activities and conferences around some of the games.
Geoffrey, who has two season tickets, often invites friends, family members of work associates to join him.
Cwmbran-born Geoffrey grew up in Harrow in North West London but spent every summer as a child in South Wales with his grandparents.
He watched his first match at Ninian Park in 1949 and names City legends John Toshack and Derek Tapscott as his favourite players.
“My father would take me at every opportunity that he could,” he said.
“In those days most kids followed the teams of their parents and I think these days kids choose them. It was almost as if my DNA was modified and I had no choice but to support Cardiff.”
“I probably went to three or four games a year and as I got a little older I would go by myself, usually at the end of my summer stay.”
As a student at University in Birmingham, Geoffrey, who is now married to Adrianna, says he would “sneak down” to watch Bluebirds matches but a move to America’s West Coast to complete his PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle meant he was unable to get to Ninian Park.
He eventually moved to Toronto, Canada, and then in 1974 to Chicago, where he has lectured at the University of Illinois ever since.
Geoffey has converted dozens of his students, some of whom are from countries such as Korea and China, into Premier League fans and he even held a party when Cardiff were promoted last year.
And the appetite for Premier League football in America is starting to grow, he says.
Geoffrey won’t be at Saturday’s match as he will be in Brazil but on City’s current survival struggle, he is hopeful.
“I think the talent is there,” he said.
“I think Solskjaer is finally getting his head around what it is to be a Premier League manager. “If we can win three or four games we could stay up but it’s going to be really tough.”
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:01 am
Superfan indeed
Geoffrey, I salute you!
Geoffrey, I salute you!
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:08 am
Nice one Prof! 
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:28 am
What a legend! Makes me feel lazy only being able to make a couple of games a year..
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:45 am
Nice one Prof. Geoffrey, still think your a plastic though for missing the game this weekend
We need more fans like this prosletysing abroad
We need more fans like this prosletysing abroad
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 1:21 pm
Legend!
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 2:41 pm
Fair play
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:49 pm
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:57 pm
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 6:58 pm
A super fan indeed! As a west coast bluebirds fan I can attest that the cost of flying back to the UK has now gone sky high ( no pun intended ) and to make the trip from Chicago every other weekend must cost him an arm and a leg. Those of us who live Stateside are passionate about our support for the team and the only game that I have not seen this year is the home game against Arsenal when I was in Wales (couldn't get a ticket). Last weekend I was the MC at a Rotary club event to raise funds for a soccer (football) field in our little isolated town. We raised $15,000 towards the projected cost of $60,000. As MC I wore my red CCFC jersey and explained to the 180 guests about how our identity as the Bluebirds was being stripped away by our rich billionaire Malaysian owner. Unfortunately most of the guests couldn't care less as they said he's the owner and he can do whatever he wants. He owns the team, he pays the wages, he buys the shirts etc.
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:01 pm
Plastic
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:38 am
Re: Cardiff city's super fan
Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:43 pm
He looks like Walter White!