So this plan to play Premier League matches abroad - it makes me feel queasy, shocked and mainly repulsed at the greed, the arrogance, the desperate grab for bucks, and the total abandonment of community engagement.
I admit it, I have a nostalgic view of what a football club means to its local area. I come from a place with one team for miles around, a team that dominates local identity and is intimately tied with the perceived fortunes of the city. To me, a football club is nothing without its community - of course, there is a displaced diaspora who follow it too (like me) but we radiate from the original location and are drawn to a specific home where our dedication flows to. It’s a place of catharsis and worship. It’s a place. It’s not a concept.
So this makes me really sad - because it will happen, and the fans who live nearby will be ignored and the final source of community for our identikit urban areas will be destroyed. I’ve heard a lot of apocalyptic talk about this, and for once, we do need to be shrill. Society has been worn down over the last 50 years in this country. This is the latest kick to the balls.
And you see amazing scenes today at Old Trafford (I won’t digress to talk about the 0% chance of Leeds fans doing something as moving as that sadly) and you see right there on the screen what we’re losing. Our kids will look back and hate us for making them paranoid individuals, possessive apes, horrible beasts who suspect their neighbours.
Total irony too that the team who I hate for many reasons, one of which is their representation of all that’s wrong with hyper-Capitalist arrogance in football, can be responsible for a beautiful moment of tender community and respect at just the moment when fat men in suits want to kill such things in football.
What can I do to stop this? I mean, really, what can I do? Tell me, and I’ll do it.
