Sydney Hammers
Chairperson: Rob Byrne
Founded: 2010 (by Simon Mann)
Based: The Madison Hotel, Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Twitter: @SydneyHammers
Facebook: Sydney Hammers
Instagram: @Sydney_Hammers
Website: sydneyhammers.com.au
How did your Supporters' Club begin?
A couple of Aussies and a couple of ex-pats created a Facebook page to try to meet other fans and see if anyone else was silly enough to be watching the games in the middle of the night!
Have your members always been West Ham supporters?
This is a really interesting question as it is quite an eclectic mix of supporters. We have members who are fans because they are born into it, but we also have some other fans with some really cool stories. For example, Paul was six when his Dad brought home a box of Shoot magazines and he cut out pictures of Bobby Moore and Clyde Best.
Jason grew up in the ‘70s playing for his local club who wore Claret and Blue, once he saw West Ham on TV he knew they were the team for him. Katrina has a funny story about being heavily pregnant in 2006 while watching the FA Cup final and was in a bad mood, so supported West Ham just to annoy all the Liverpool fans around her and has been hooked ever since!
Match of the Day was also responsible for a lot of West Ham fans Down Under as they would often show the Hammers games in a shortened version on black and white TV back in the day.
How do you follow the Hammers on a matchday?
We watch our live games in our own dedicated pub, The Madison Hotel, which is luckily open 24/7 so the difficult kick-off times don’t matter.
What is your matchday routine?
This is a tough one as some of the kick-off times are brutal for Aussies. If we are very lucky, we might get an 11pm or midnight kick off so we will meet in the evening and then try to stay awake for the late kick off! Last week kick off was 3.30am, so most of us went to bed early and got up at 2am then headed into The Madison Hotel. The game finished at 5.30am, so we have to be REALLY dedicated!
How can other supporters join your Supporters' Club?
Simple, just join our Facebook page. All our events and games are planned and discussed here so it’s the main point for everything Sydney Hammers. We are a friendly bunch so feel free to join, plus you don’t have to be based in Sydney to join and keep in touch! COYI!
