As you may have read in previous issues of TNS, I love my football. Not quite as much as I love my punk rock, but I do love the beautiful game. But, as with many people, the nature of football these days really doesn’t sit well with me morally or socially. The capitalist nature of the greed driven, over commercial modern game surely cannot sit comfortably with the ethics of any punk fan? Football surely goes against everything we stand for in our music community yet for football we somehow seem to be able to turn a blind eye to it all.
The punk rock community prides itself on being self sufficient and trying to exist outside of the imposed systems and rules that capitalism gives us. We put on our own gigs, release our own records and fanzines and we have a community that reaches around the world. And what’s more, the vast majority of this is done on a not-for-profit basis. It’s an amazing thing. The community spirit and camaraderie associated with football really reminds me of what I experience at punk rock gigs; a feeling of unity and of friendship and of enjoying something exciting as a community.
But personally I can no longer feel this way about football. I can’t watch all the greed and lack of loyalty without cringing. I can’t watch people with no real interest in football taking over teams and running them into the ground, but I also hate the thought of people throwing money at their new play thing and demanding instant success. The modern game has no integrity and nothing to make someone with socialist values warm to it. I stopped paying to go to big games many years ago. I don’t want to put money in the pockets of these people. Of course boycotting games is only half the problem solved. The TV companies are just as bad, as are the newspapers.
However, here lies my problem; I miss it all. I want to support football, I want to go to games and I want to enjoy it again without feeling guilty. I like football.
So what are the options?
I’ll come to that shortly, but here is a little bit about my personal association with football to set the scene. I grew up in Stafford with neither of my parents really having an interest in the game. With no immediately obvious local team to follow, as an 8 year old just getting into the game, I (like many kids in my area) was always gonna go with Liverpool or Manchester United as my team. For me, influenced by a family member my particular choice of red ended up being that of Liverpool.
Obviously I went to games here and there but as with so many football fans once my team was decided my loyalty was hammered into me and remained even though I couldn’t really justify why.
When I reached about 14 years of age I started to go and watch my local team; the mighty Stafford Rangers. This presented a whole new experience to me. Going to regular games with school friends made me really appreciate why it was important to follow your home team even when they were a bit shit (I still today check for the Rangers scores). However, when I went to uni it became a choice between going to punk gigs or going to the football as I didn’t have too much money and I went to less and less games, but continued to watch Liverpool on TV because it was easy to do so. I also played Sunday League for many years so although I hardly went to games, football was still a big part of my life.
I relocated to Manchester about 10 years ago and have been here ever since. My allegiance to Liverpool remained throughout, but I only went every now and again and a few years ago decided that I didn’t want to spend any more of my cash on football as I was completely disheartened by the way it was going, but also because none of my friends supported them these days... I mean I was in Manchester... why would they? It all just took the fun out of it.
However, football is something that is ingrained into anyone who has ever been a fan. You can’t forget about it and obviously I have watched from a distance how it has deteriorated further and witnessed the destructive ways of the likes of the Glazers and of Hicks and Gillette. I realised the only way back for Liverpool was huge irresponsible injections of cash and just don’t like the idea. And although I check Stafford Rangers results I don’t see Stafford as home any more. Also would the Rangers really be any different with a bit of cash behind them? I really don’t know?
What I have written here became a regular pub discussion for myself and my immediate group of friends (3 of which had also relocated from the Midlands at a similar time - Villa, Stoke and Wolves fans) and a couple of disheartened United fans.We began to chat about Hamburgs St Pauli - a team widely respected by the punk rock community for their ethics. Their left leaning policies include not being owned by one particular owner giving power to the fans, anti racism/homophobia/sexism campaigns and a general anti capitalist agenda - it was punk rock football.
“Why can’t we have a team like this?” asked Bev, a Villa fan. Then I said the unthinkable (especially considering I am a Liverpool fan), “We have... FC United.”
FC United of Manchester is a community football club owned and democratically run by its members. They seek to change the way that football is owned and run, putting supporters at the heart of everything and to show how this can work in practice by creating something both sustainable and successful. Here are the clubs core principles taken from their site (fc-utd.co.uk):
1. The Board will be democratically elected by its members.
2. Decisions taken by the membership will be decided on a one member, one vote basis.
3. The club will develop strong links with the local community and strive to be accessible to all, discriminating against none.
4. The club will endeavour to make admission prices as affordable as possible, to as wide a constituency as possible.
5. The club will encourage young, local participation - playing and supporting - whenever possible.
6. The Board will strive wherever possible to avoid outright commercialism.
7. The club will remain a non-profit organisation.
FC United was formed in 2005 by Manchester United fans in protest to football being taken away from the fans through commercialisation, with the Glazer families leveraged buy-out being the final straw.
As a Liverpool fan, I do not like Manchester United. I don’t want them to win anything, but that said, I still wouldn’t wish the Glazers on anyone and their troubles were disappointing to see as it epitomised everything I believe to be wrong with the game and it was a shame to see a club with a proud history (like Liverpool) going this way.
But apart from the association with Manchester United, FC United seemed to be everything we were looking for: an ethical, anti-capitalist, not-for-profit football club, done for all the right reasons on our doorstep. Also, as a group of friends, this could be great; a local team who we could go and watch together. After 10 years in Manchester here was a team we could cheer on collectively, who also fitted in with our moral ideas.
So last week we went for the first time and it was fantastic. I wondered how difficult it would be for someone who is quite a loyal person to support a new team, but I was soon won over. It was great to be at a game again, especially with my mates and I enjoyed the style of football too. People talk about the difference in standard from the top leagues, but I grew up with non-league football so I can definitely assure people that FC play some good stuff!
I don’t expect us all to be fully fledged FC supporters immediately but I guess that’s part of the fun. I can’t disregard Liverpool just yet, but I definitely want to be at many more FC games.
I was worried about how FC fans would take to non-United fans coming (especially Liverpool fans) but chats in the pub after the game suggested that it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Despite our different starting points with football the people I chatted with shared common ground with regards to the state of the game. Most FC fans we spoke to saw FC as an individual club, which was what we wanted.
This is also my local team now. We’re all in Manchester for the long haul and I for one want my kids (should I have any) growing up watching a club with the moral message and standing of FC.
We shall see how it all goes, and at this point it’s too early to guarantee we’ll all become fanatical supporters (although I can see it happening) but for now I’m just excited about the ride. It’s great to be watching a relatively new club from early days. Personally I’d love FC to shake off any association to United and to be supported as a club in their own right, because that’s what FC deserves. Getting their own stadium could help this to happen and you can read more about their community shares scheme on their site.
Can FC and other such teams (AFC Wimbledon are now in the Conference) cause a football revolution? It will be hard to change the habits of footballs elite, that’s for sure, but what they are doing certainly needs backing by any football fans who share their principles. I for one am inspired by the fan power that has lead to this clubs existence.It could, just maybe be the start of a football revolution, but for now it’s certainly punk rock football! Come on the reds!
Andy
This article was written two weeks prior to the unbelievable FA Cup result away at Rochdale, which was one of the best matches I have ever been too. Fantastic atmospere and the sort of drama that makes football so amazing. I’ve been to a few games since writing this and I am loving it!
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