I have no problem at all with people who live in Perth, but still support their old province. If I moved to any other part of Australia, I'm still a Western Australian born and raised, and I'll still support WA State teams; I wouldn't be able to bring myself to barrack against them. If I had a problem with those supporters who are similar, then I'd be a hypocrite.
What I
am curious/irritated/befuddled about, is this situation:
I've had the same guys near me turn up to every Kiwi game for the last few years just to boo the Force. I have no idea which team they actually support, as we've been playing different NZ opposition each time. I'm curious as to whether the same situation exists in a place like Canberra, who more often beat the NZ teams on home soil, so do these types of supporters turn up at the equivalent Brumbies games? While we still draw larger crowds against Kiwi teams across the board, I have noticed that since we have a positive record against the Highlanders, we generally see less of these fans when they play here. Also, since the Chiefs turned themselves around and won a couple of titles, we have more Kiwis in attendance for their visits over the last few years; whereas originally it was mainly the Crusaders, then the Hurricanes and Blues who used to draw the bigger Kiwi crowds.
I have a mate from Southland, he used to call Aucklanders Jaffas, and hated their guts. He wasn't much of a fan of any North Island team either, but he would say that Auckland was always the worst of the worst in the whole of New Zealand. I must ask him what he thinks of Southland fans in Perth, whom I've seen in their Stags jerseys, turning up and supporting the Auckland Blues? Any thoughts from fellow New Zealanders on that?
As far as the Jaapies go, what I've noticed is that they are much more parochial to their province, and will turn up in droves to support that team in particular. They usually can't bear barracking for another SA team especially if it's one they hate (usually the Blue Bulls.) I've seen folks in Lions (Transvaal) jerseys and Western Province/Stormers jerseys turned up specifically to boo the Bulls. I remember a large contingent of them used to sit on the second level at Subi, behind the goal at the city end of the ground. About 90% of the most ardent Force fans I've sat with, are South Africans. The only time I've ever seen them waver, is when their home-town province came to Perth.
It's an interesting scenario, but in the long run, I suppose it can only truly be remedied by becoming winning brand (?)