Boro fans of the world unite - with the Boro Fans Worldwide interactive fan map
Boro Fans Worldwide is a new website for fans and supporters of Middlesbrough FC to put their own mark on an interactive map and find other Boro fans across the globe.
Visitors are asked to ‘pin’ their location to an interactive world map and submit their own short, 140 character, ‘fan story’ of how they came to love the Boro.
Each fan’s pin then appears on the map along with their personalised Boro logo, first name and initial.
Loading up the map, one of the first things that strikes you is how far afield fans have spread - from Argentina to South Korea, we’re everywhere.
And fans who have moved away from the area are often keen to show off their Teesside credentials and love for the Boro.
For example Keith, pinned in London, wrote: “Teessider upon Thames, moved to London 5 years ago. Still say ‘Mam’ instead of ‘Mum’ and ‘Tea’ instead of ‘Dinner’,” while Peter V, pinned in Oslo, Norway, wrote: “Several children. A few wives. One football club! UTB!”
But it’s not just Teesside ex-pats who have pinned their colours to the map, it’s also interesting to see different trends among Boro fans from different countries.
In Scandinavia for example, many fans have written how they got the Boro bug back in the 1990s.
Fridtjof, who is pinned in Molde, Norway, wrote: “Became a fan when Jan Åge Fjørtoft played for the club. It’s been a rollercoaster ever since.”
And Torger H, pinned in Ålesund, Norway, wrote: “Got a friend who became a fan when Fjørtoft played in the end of the 90’s. So, I joined in some years later.”
Designed and developed by creative designer Peter Hinton, developer Peter Brock and SQL developer Greg Matthewson, the map’s creators have been delighted with the feedback they’ve received so far.
Former Nunthorpe School pupil Peter Hinton, 29, said: “The reaction so far has been great. We’ve had 4,200 visitors, 8,000 visits and 780 people added since we launched on Sunday. We didn’t expect it to have so many people on it so quickly.
“We were thinking about what we could do to help put Boro on the map and came up with the idea of the fan map. There’s one or two American football teams that have similar sites but, as far as we know, nobody’s done it yet with football.
“It seems to have really resonated with Boro fans, especially people living away from Teesside. There’s a real passion at the moment with Boro doing so well - there’s a lot of pride out there.
“We’re going to let the fans direct where the site goes in the future, possibly with more interactive features. We’ll wait to see what feedback we get.”
Pin your colours to thew map at www.borofanmap.com
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