I admit that it is a little silly to support a club in a different country, whose matchday I’ve never experienced and with a culture to which I have no connection beyond the one actively seek to create. So, then, why do I support Spurs?

Why have I latched onto a club that plays 3,500 miles from me?

Why do I wake up at 7:00am on a Saturday, still drunk from the last night, to watch an away loss?

Why do I spend 2 hours of my only day in London taking a tour of White Hart Lane?

Why do I take the time to consider and vote on Tottenham Supporters Trust initiatives?

Why insert myself into a North London-based community when I live in a very comparable New York City, with its own clubs?

Most importantly, how can my long-distance support of Spurs contribute something positive to the supporter community?

The simple answer is that, by its combination of culture, identity, quality, style of play, history and accessibility, Tottenham Hotspur embodies something unique to which I have developed a close connection. In this day and age, proximity is only one factor. My end of the bargain is that, like any supporter, I need to be an active contributor to the Spurs community.

Given the top-down relationship between American franchises and fans as well as the distance of clubs, location is relatively meaningless when it comes to sustained, dedicated support

For longtime Spurs fans from the London area, it may seem strange that fans may choose to support a club so far removed from their homes, but it really isn’t for many of us. Local, multigenerational support for one club is not extremely common in the United States and clubs treat fans more like consumers than supporters (and fans oblige).

For example, the local professional team I grew up supporting is the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. They moved to Sacramento when I was 4 years old and thus have a very short history in the city. Former owners credibly threatened relocation multiple times, almost moving to Southern California and Seattle over the past five years.

I get to see the Kings once or twice a year when they play in New York, but there is only a smattering of away fans. (Sacramento is 3,000 miles away from New York, almost equidistant as London is to New York; funny enough, there are certainly more Spurs supporters than Kings fans in NYC.) While I still wholeheartedly support the Kings and do actively participate in the community where I can, there is an unfortunate literal and figurative distance between the club and me. There is little space to create a substantial supporters culture.

Many sports fans in the United States have a similar dynamic with their teams. Given the top-down relationship between American franchises and fans as well as the distance of clubs, location is relatively meaningless when it comes to sustained, dedicated support. For such support, there must be a deeper connection, a connection that is frankly impossible with many American clubs.

Of course, a solution to a dearth of local fan culture in the United States is to create that culture ourselves, to cultivate a Spurs-like ethos in whatever clubs are nearby. This is true and many Spurs fans, including myself, have season tickets to local football clubs. Many fans also participate in local club’s supporters groups.

However, in the United States, the nature of Major League Soccer’s ownership structure, its short 20-year history, and the arms-length relationship many ownership groups have with fans, makes this difficult to achieve on any level comparable to what is in England. This does not excuse passive local participation, but it does explain why it’s not likely that non-local supporters can create a similar atmosphere for their hometown clubs.

The positive of Spurs’ international reach is that people with many different backgrounds can unify and support a wonderful club

Like many populist movements, English supporters culture matured in a different era with closer connections between supporters and clubs. Frankly, that is one of the reasons people around the world are enamored with Spurs and English football. We should still do what we can to achieve it locally, but also understand the limitations of the modern era.

That said, there are many football fans who couldn’t be bothered to attend local club matches in the United States because of the supposed lack of quality in those sides or, as they perceive it, the empty fan culture in the United States. I can’t speak for them, but I hope that they are at least doing something active to cultivate Spurs supporters culture and keep an open mind about attending local club matches.

For better or for worse, Spurs are a global brand and the Premier League has a global scope. Spurs receive a great deal of support from international sources – be it television money, merchandising, coaches or, most importantly, players. Without being a global presence, Spurs would not have its wealth or success; or rather, it would not operate at such a high caliber.

It is very reasonable to wish that the Premier League maintained much of the old trappings of the League – Rule 34 (search “Rule 34” online and you will find that it has an additional, racy meaning) and more robust international player restrictions – to limit profit-mindedness and increase the relevance of academy development.

Unfortunately, Spurs and the Premier League – as businesses – do not mind diluting the fanbase quality for increased worldwide market share. But that corporate attitude does not need to filter down to supporters who care deeply for the club and its community. The positive of Spurs’ international reach is that people with many different backgrounds can unify and support a wonderful club, but that privilege also comes with a responsibility to understand that the shirt (not selling shirts) comes first.

In an era that overvalues consumption over community in sports, it’s important not to forget that without active participation, supporter culture dies

Much like with local fans, there is a right and wrong way for non-local fans to interact with a club. This centers on respecting the players as competitors and actively contributing to the fan culture. A fan in Japan or Denver should prioritize player health over meaningless play and not demand excessive travel for a mere friendly. Part of being a long distance supporter is accepting the limitation of such distance, which means that you should expect to come to see the club play as opposed to the club traveling to see you.

It is equally important for long-distance supporters to not rely on other fans to be the active contributors to Spurs’ culture. Otherwise, we might contribute to diluting the very culture that attracted us to Spurs in the first place. To this end, I think that there is an excellent breadth of contributions – from city-specific supporters groups to international podcasts – that enriches the Spurs community (and one of the reasons why I started supporting Spurs).

Distance makes it easier to be a passive supporter who only sees their club as a product without giving back to the culture, but it does not fit within the ethos of the robust tradition that attracts many of us to English football – and specifically Spurs – in the first place. In an era that overvalues consumption over community in sports, it’s important not to forget that without active participation, supporter culture dies. This is true whether you live 1 or 3,500 miles away from White Hart Lane.