I have been a football supporter for 13-ish years. I fell into my love of European football because of Michael Owen, and it has been a passion of mine since then. In the time since my first exposure to football, I have been a part of a lot of things. I've experienced the ecstasy associated with being a supporter of a club that has had a modicum of success, and I have experienced the agony of watching as my club underachieved. More than anything, I have experienced the politics and inanity that comes with football supporter groups.
I cut my teeth as a football supporter with Liverpool Football Club. I supported them from 2000-2009. I saw them win Europe. I saw them lose on a Pippo Inzaghi handball that went uncalled. I saw them fight so hard to win England, but consistently fall short. I saw the infamous Stevie G FA Cup final. At the same time, I was on the whiteboards, the message boards, and any supporter site that would take me. I saw the derision and animosity within the factions of the club while Tom Hicks and George Gillett were the club's owners. I saw unrest toward Rafa Benitez, as the club underachieved in the Premier League, yet flourished in Cup competitions. I spoke up, in those groups, wanting to support the manager. Wanting to support the club. Unfortunately, I was met with a lot of accusations of being a plastic. A term of derision used by football supporters to denote the genuineness, a perpetuation of a sort of hierarchy. I was told that there was no way I could be true supporter of the club, because I didn't grow up within walking distance of Anfield Road. It angered me at the time. I fought these accusations, and attempted to establish some sort of credentials with my peer supporters. As I have learned time and again when it comes to arguments based in textual medium; it was all a waste of time.
Around the time of all of this unrest, there was the big brouhaha over Steven Cohen. Cohen is a Chelsea supporting radio personality who had a few choice (read: derogatory, incendiary) comments about the Hillsborough Disaster, on his radio show. Cohen made baseless claims about the disaster, and incensed the Liverpool supporters into a frenzy. So, at this point in time, you have supporters turning against the owners. Turning against the manager. And now attacking a radio host. At the time, with the animosity I felt toward the other supporters for how they treated me, I felt justified in just wanting them to shut up about the owners, and the manager. And frankly, I just wanted them to shut up about Cohen. It was during this time, that I was fully exposed to a lot of the politics that define the football supporter culture. I got effectively ostracised by my peers, because I had opinions that were contrary to theirs. Eventually, I got so fed up with not having my opinions heard, that I just walked away. I just ended my association with Liverpool Football Club and its supporters.
It was around this time that one of my associates pushed me about "supporting a real club". He wanted me to stop supporting a losing club, as he saw it, and support a club of winners. It was through him that I crossed the divide that few ever venture. I transitioned into being a supporter of Manchester United at this point. I got welcomed with open arms by some supporters, and others met me with contempt. I was later dubbed as a plastic again, by a handful of the supporters, when Michael Owen signed for the club. It was something that infuriated me then, and when I think about it now, it still perturbs me just a bit. It was a rough lesson to learn that the Man United supporters are equally as ridiculous and as hierarchical as the Liverpool supporters were. And that lesson was only beginning.
During 2011, I was writing for a Man United blog called 7 Cantonas. It was a job that I loved, and was the main inspiration behind the blog you currently read this on. After one of their writers, Darren Jennings, posted an article about Steven Cohen, that was meant to inflame the Liverpool supporters who read the blog; it got me to thinking about my past. I wrote a lengthy missive on my history as a football supporter, where I first truly delved into the politics of the supporter culture. I discussed my history as a Liverpool supporter, and my history as a Man United supporter. It was also at this time that I was writing for a second site, one called Red Views, which was headed by David Hammons who blogged on the site The United Religion. This was a piece that was to be joint post on both sites, where I had hoped that supporters would heed my lessons. That ultimately failed. However, before I get into that, there was more going on at that point.
During that period, there was the infamous(ly failed) Green & Gold movement. The Manchester United Supporters Trust engaged in its war with the owners of the club, the Glazers. The MUST and its ranks were raging against the fact that the owners were accruing a sizable debt in the club's name. While I appreciated and respected the MUST, and its Green & Gold movement, especially about making the owners of the club accountable; as I learned about the tactics used to get that point across, I started to speak out against it. The MUST would berate, or in some cases physically attack, supporters who were stepping into the club megastore, or were wearing a modern shirt. I found myself in various flame wars, through Twitter and a few other sites, where my being critical of the supporters and their blind criticism of the ownership was found to be a great point for me to be ostracised. The supporters though wouldn't turn on Sir Alex Ferguson, he's as revered as Matt Busby to them. Well, that wasn't entirely true. A couple of years ago Fergie wrote an essay in one of the match programs, asking the supporters of the club to unify together with the club, and to support the Glazers. That put Fergie firmly in the crosshairs of the MUST. And that was something that annoyed me, and I spoke up about. And it got me called a plastic, yet again.
When I was writing for 7 Cantonas, I carried a very dim view of any Man United supporters who were aggressively tribalist. I hated seeing slogans like "The only good Scouser is a dead Scouser" or "We won it three times without killing anyone". I criticised the blogs who perpetuated that. Eventually, the pissing matches that were treated like feuds, got me into pariah status. David Hammons, especially making an example of out me. I got called a traitor. Compared to Benedict Arnold. And effectively had any credibility that I had as a Man United blogger, flushed out from under me. While I was never truly singled out for verbal abuse, I got ignored and cold shoulders from former associates. That, along with being made to feel like I'm not a true supporter because my life doesn't revolve around going to watch matches, proved to be the straw that broke me as a football supporter. As well as watching how the supporters were absolutely mutinous toward David Moyes. Because of this, I don't really align myself with any particular club anymore. I just want to watch football to watch football.
With the formation of a club in my hometown, I had hoped that my experience would be a bit better. Again my hope was let down. In my hometown, there is a semi-pro club, the Derby City Rovers. One which I had wished I had discovered sooner. I had learned of their existence as a part of the supporters group for the newly founded Louisville City Football Club. The group, The Coopers, had a very large role in convincing the new former Orlando City SC to relocate to my hometown. The group was ferociously active online, and through semi-regular meetings and events, geared toward building up the support. It's been a hell of a lot of fun, but recently, it has lost its luster.
The semi-pro club, in an effort to unify the football culture in Louisville, had extended invitations to the Coopers to establish a working relationship with them. As a way of extending the Coopers' profile, and to extend the brand of the Rovers. It should have been a wonderful relationship. Somehow, or somewhere though, the wheels fell off. The first home match of the season had a total of eight of us there. We were welcomed and treated amazingly. We were given our own specific section. It was great. However when the second match rolled around, we got no special treatment. What was our section was not marked as such. And we only had five people there, for the second match. None of the higher-ups in the group really bothered to make it. And of those who were there for the first match, one of our group was at work that night. So his absence was understandable. But where was everyone else? Apparently, they were on Facebook or Twitter bitching about proposed crest for the new Louisville City FC. A move that enraged myself, and one other member of our party. But this isn't the first time this has happened. Ever since the first big meeting, in January, the higher-ups in the group haven't really shown up for most of the other events. They can't seem to be bothered. But I'll be damned, if there is a photo op to make, those higher-ups are there. Shaking hands. Schmoozing. And generally acting like goodwill ambassadors. But they cannot be arsed to appear at these smaller events. Places where the profile of the group could be made or broken. And in a lot of ways, it's just another lesson about the politics of football supporter groups.
I've seen a lot of stuff online regarding the group and their distaste toward the proposed crest for the Louisville City. I've seen equally as many expressing displeasure at how the Coopers weren't consulted about any sort of proposals regarding the club. The group doesn't have ownership stake, as shares haven't been floated. Some of the group is angry about how they were only given approximately 40 minutes of time to get their season tickets first, before the rest of the public, after the announcement was made of the club's establishment. The politics at play could very easily get messy in this case, and in a lot of ways, it could alienate a lot of people. Present company included. So, for the time being, I am going to continue to support the Rovers. And when the time comes, I'll decide how much I'll allow myself to support Louisville City.
I have seen the politics of the football supporters groups firsthand. I've seen how divisive they can be. I have spoken out against them wherever I can, because football is supposed to be fun. Supporting a football club is supposed to be fun. It isn't supposed to be about this bullshit. It isn't supposed to be about dick-waving. It isn't supposed to be about feeling like the owners of the club are against the supporters, or vice versa. We are all supposed to be together, sharing in the joy and pain of loving our club. It isn't about only showing up when there are cameras present, it's about cultivating unity at all times. It's about celebrating football, and your club. It's about watching a game we love, with people who feel the same. Not about getting bogged down, or getting one's panties in a wad over minor details. Colors don't matter. Crests don't matter. The club matters. The players matter. The manager matters. The supporters matter. And too damn many people seem to forget that.
