Gary Lineker’s Biggest Fan

Lynn Choo, Malaysia

Lynn Choo is President of the Everton Supporters Club of Malaysia. She has been supporting Everton since 1985 and lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I started watching football because my best friend’s elder sister was into football, although she was a Spurs supporter. I did not understand what was so appealing about the game, so I decided to watch it myself. I randomly picked a game to watch, and it happened to be Liverpool versus Everton.

I still remember it so well. I was actually on holiday in Singapore and watched the game in the hotel room. For some reason, I decided to go with 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 goal scoring 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!

I will always be very passionate about supporting Everton. I have a tattoo of Rupert Tower on my left arm, I avoid wearing anything red on match days, and since 2020 I am the current (and third) president of the Everton Supporters Club of Malaysia (ESCM).

The ESCM had its 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 officially registered as a club in 2016.

We currently have over 100 members on paper, 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 did not learn about the 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 meetups and the rest is history!

I was extremely happy to find some rare fellow Everton fans 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 80s or The Dogs of War 90s period.

We used to get together for almost every game that was televised early, but we haven’t been able to do so for quite a while now due to the pandemic. Our last game together was in August 2020.

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.

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 traveled 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. It is wonderful to have like-minded friends who can share the same interests, they have definitely expanded my social circle.

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