Everton and technical partner hummel are proud to collaborate to present My Everton, a weekly series of first-hand accounts describing the most-treasured memories of fans, players, and staff both past and present.

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I started watching football because my best friend’s eldest sister was into football.

She was a Spurs supporter. I didn’t understand what was so appealing about the game, but one day I decided to watch it myself and I randomly picked a game to watch, which happened to be Liverpool against Everton. 

I still remember it so well.

For some reason, I was drawn to the blue team. I remember the first player who impressed me was Kevin Ratcliffe. 

After that, I started watching more football and one of my favourite memories is the excitement of walking to the local newsagent to buy my copies of Shoot! and Match magazine every weekend.

I became very impressed with Gary Lineker and his goalscoring abilities, and what made it even better was that there were several Everton players in the England team at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Lineker sadly left for Barcelona after winning the Golden Boot, but I wrote a letter to him and he sent me his autograph, with a little note on the back to thank me!

I will always be very passionate about supporting Everton. I have a tattoo of Rupert Tower on my left arm and, since 2020, I have been the president of the Everton Supporters’ Club of Malaysia (ESCM).

The ESCM had humble beginnings in 2002, when its founder, Ivan Jan, put a notice in the newspaper to look for other supporters to connect with. It started with a few people just gathering to watch matches and it continued to grow over the years. The club became an official Supporters’ Club in 2016. 

We currently have more than 100 active members, but there are many other supporters yet to be uncovered! We are dispersed all over Malaysia, with the majority concentrated in the capital of Kuala Lumpur and on the island of Penang. The members are mostly Malaysian, with only a few British expats.

I didn’t learn about the Supporters’ Club until 2012, when I discovered them on Facebook. I was a bit shy initially, but I plucked up the courage to attend one of the meet-ups and the rest is history! 

I was extremely happy to find fellow Evertonians in Malaysia. It was great to find other people I could share and discuss games with. The majority of the fans that I know in Malaysia also started supporting Everton in the 1980s or ‘The Dogs of War’ period in the 1990s. 

I have not only expanded my circle of friends in Malaysia, but I have also met Evertonians from other countries. 

Wherever I travel, I always make a point to try and meet the local Evertonians there. 

I have connected with many Evertonians from all over the world through social media and I have managed to meet some of them from Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Thailand and England. 

It’s a special connection, like no other.

When Evertonians from other countries come to Malaysia, they look us up and it is such a great way to make friends around the world. Before the pandemic, we would gather to watch a match at least once a month. We have travelled together a few times, going to Goodison Park, Singapore, and Thailand to watch the team play.

ESCM is my ‘support group’. We celebrate our victories together and we commiserate our losses together.

There is just an instant connection when you know the person is an Evertonian. 

By Lynn Choo, Evertonian and President of the Everton Supporters’ Club of Malaysia

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