eujin wrote:I'll take a stab at this one.
Continuity is important, but it's also important why you support a team. If your only reason is that they are the local team and they move to the other end of the country then that goes away. If you live on the other side of the world though, that might be less important. If you support them because your dad supported them, and your dad supported them while they were in another city, then maybe you carry on. Or if your third cousin still plays left-back. If you support them because of the way they are run, stick with the same manager for twenty years policy or their no-catholics, only players from the Basque country values, then there's probably some room to move about. If Rangers move to a new stadium in Coatbridge, most of their fans in Northern Ireland could probably live with that, because sectarianism transcends south Glasgow. If the club moves with you to a new place because Stalin has booted you all out then probably you start supporting them more. It probably matters a lot what your friends think. If they're all outraged, it's harder to keep going, whatever their reasons are.
There are also a bunch of reasons why you might give up supporting a team even if they don't move. We almost saw this with the Gyeongnam boys giving up on their team because they started fixing matches and running the club into the ground.
Don't disagree with any of this but it doesn't really go to the question about club identity. You can support who you like for whatever reason you like and I don't really buy into this snobbery of real fans and not real fans.
The Ansan boys have supported about four different clubs now but the team they suppprted moved and was replaced. What is the continuation there? Which one would an Ansan Otto stick with? Seems like he should move to support Asan. But that would seem a bit odd.