by Supporters of a football club are angry. And if not, it’s only a matter of time. Take a look at every men’s set in the UK and you’ll struggle to find a handful of fans who are perfectly happy with their lot as 2024 approaches. Football, once a smile-worthy tribal passion, inspires such angst and steam that new brands of medicine may be needed. “POED!” they bawl; giving a throw in. Judges are in constant fear of getting lamps.
Cliche suggests that social media is the root of all evil. Maybe it is. However, there is a level of accountability that football club owners and employees have to face because of the internet, which is undeniably a good thing. When this becomes a problem is when the personal abuse is sent to the head of recruitment, the boss or the chairman’s wife goes to the stand. This happens, continuously, because fans are on the edge between being happy with what their team is serving up and being Utterly FURIOS at what is happening. Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw a great goal that was even applauded by the opposition supporters? It used to happen. Now, the player who cracks a 25-yard volley home is instantly hailed as a “WANKER!” This is definitely a miserable life.
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There is always the danger of romanticizing the good old days of the platforms. The phrase about welcoming families “back to football” doesn’t add up when you consider pictures of the big crowds, for example, in the 1950s. The game was almost exclusively men at that time. However, what such imagery generally shows is that people enjoy it. Football gave a reason to smile, to enjoy a break from the tedium of work – or that family – and people seemed to enjoy the sense of escape. Faces were rarely contorted.
As times have changed. Football stadiums have never been safer, but the constant and baseless vitriol within them has never been. People throw themselves into a frenzy at every level from the grassroots upwards. It doesn’t have to be illegal to be cringeworthy. Attacks on buses outside grounds have become common, a precursor to the ranting and raving that ensues after the start. Anyone who doesn’t believe this phenomenon exists need only watch a group of even a dozen supporters for five minutes at the game of their choice. An eruption can occur at any time. The referee, the opposition, the board of directors, the steward, the announcer … no one is spared the wrath of the modern football fan. That’s not the same as supporting a team; it’s taking out pent-up frustration on someone, anyone else.
Jack Grealish turned around and told Luton supporters to “settle down” during a recent clash at Kenilworth Road. During a break in play, Grealish had the temerity to stand a few yards away from the middle-aged bloke in question. The point is not to pick on Luton, but rather that what Grealish is perfect is typical. Players, fragile types these days, often look at the screaming faces of paying customers with a quiz show. It is those on the field whose careers depend on games. In Scotland, Celtic fell to their first home defeat in 52 games as the stands broke into a “Sack the board” chorus. The chairman was politely ordered to “Leave”. This is a club that has 39 honors since the turn of the century.
It is also dangerous to generalize. It’s impossible to be delusional about a time when golf balls and darts were popular platform missiles. Racist and homophobic chants would have been much more common in the 70s, 80s and even the 90s than they are now, when incidents are highlighted and shown the disdain they deserve. The game itself has never been as cultured and supportive of skill as it has been in this era. It is not at all worth praising football in the past century. It’s just that attitudes have changed to the extent that the story is completely lost over something, anything, within 90 minutes of normalization. This cannot be healthy for the entire culture of the sport if, as it seems likely, it deteriorates.
This is not a sermon from an ivory press box. I have been able to burst blood vessels at somewhat controversial decisions made against my heartland, Midlothian before – quite recently – thinking about the purpose of attending football in reality. I came to the conclusion that this, whisper it, is supposed to be fun. It’s a hobby, not life or death.
Club affiliation is, of course, an integral part of hiking, and bad results should never stop you. No one is reasonably saying that football has to turn into the Henley regatta or, even worse, into rugby but it should not matter what it means in the grand scheme of life. A right back second option pass into the stand is not a valid use on Saturday afternoon. When the fun stops, stop.
This weekend, a series of managers will try hard to hang on to their jobs after a string of bad results. Players from Aberdeen to Aberystwyth will try to wow crowds. Football would be a better and friendlier place if it took time to step back and smell the roses. The beautiful game has a noisy, hostile background.
