• Fans of football, but not shirts

As spoiled as we are in America with multiple platforms to view Premier League matches, I get the distinct feeling that HD television viewing, as glorious as it can be, doesn’t come close to attending a match in person. Sure it’s nice to sit back, relax and watch football from the comfort of your own home, but the living and breathing action of the world’s game right in front of your eyes, live and in person is an event not to forget, regardless of how many matches you’ve attended in your life.

My opinions on the benefits attending live as opposed to watching on TV are simple assumptions based on my personal experiences attending live sporting events in the States. I’ve in fact never stepped foot in England and hope to one day change that, but until the Yankee dollar shapes up, I’ll have to make due with satellite television and the Internet.

We could spend all day weighing the positives and negatives of going to a match v watching from home, but the one irreplaceable and distinguishing factor between the two is without a doubt the atmosphere and more specifically the crowd songs that take place at a match. A proper football atmosphere would surely beat the couch, even if it’s the gloomy English weather accompanying you on match day instead of your significant other on the couch.

We’ve recently asked for a lot of feedback from EPL Talk readers concerning their match day rituals, football viewing company, and how may matches watched on TV per week, but in a way we almost neglect the punters, the actual paying customers who scratch and fight their way through traffic and trains to attend a match. Hopefully this post will give you a chance to have your say.

There are a variety of ways Americans are drawn to football. One of them that continually gets mentioned when I talk to new soccer fans is their fascination with the crowd songs. It could be the simplistic flipping of the channels only to end up on a match aired at an odd time on an odd channel. If the potential future footie fan stays for longer than a few seconds, it’s likely they grew up playing the sport as a youth. They know the rules, they know the purpose, but it’s possible they’ll stay a few additional seconds as their interests are peaked if and when they hear the crowd singing.

Close your eyes and imagine multiple thousands of supporters grouped together, standing and singing as one in full voice. It’s a powerful mental image and compelling moment when captured on TV and leaves a lasting impression on a potential newbie American soccer fan. Call it lost in translation or call it poor audio transfer, but the fantastically entertaining songs sung at football grounds are rarely discernible on TV. The combined efforts of the faithful singing few usually comes across as a melodic roar in unison. Audible, but often unclear.

I’ve always hoped either an FSC or Setanta (RIP) would run a ticker across the bottom of the screen as a sort of football subtitle of crowd songs so I can read, understand and even learn a few songs of my own. One can find a good deal of song lyrics and the melodies those songs are based on with a bit of research and just a few moments using Google, but it’s not the same as being able to understand the songs while watching the match.

The fan run websites are rarely updated and are sometimes of poor quality. The apps available in the official App Store that contain football chants and fan songs are mostly worthless and rarely even worth the pound or dollar spent.

So we turn to you, the football punter. You’ve spent half a weeks wages on a ticket, pre match meal or pint and transportation to the grounds only to sing so loud and so long you’re likely to lose your voice. What then are the songs you sing to your heroes? Which ones are the best, most creative, or worst?

As a Manchester United supporter, one of may favorites is the song sung about central defender Nemanja Vidic. It goes a little something like this:

Nemanja ohhhhh

Nemanja ohhhhh

He comes from Serbia

He’ll ****** murder Ya!

And although I don’t condone the threat of violence, every time I hear United fans sing it, I can’t help but to sing along and will often have the tune stuck in my head for the rest of the day. If one really pays attention, they can often form together bits and pieces of a song and come up with enough to sing along.

From what I’ve witnessed across the pond on a 42′ LCD HD TV, the songs at English grounds continue to drive the atmosphere and make the sport a thing of wonder. Songs have been sung well before my time and will continue on well after I’ve left the Earth as sacred traditions to supporters of English football. These cherished rituals will continue to be passed down from generation to generation as the football going public continue to show up and support their club with pride and full voice.

Use the comment section below to share your favorite, least favorite or most humorous song heard or sung at a match.

The football supporter is an interesting specie. The sheer amount of time we devote to our passion relegates us to individuals that can be described as borderline obsessive, half psycho, quite anxious and certainly neurotic. Such is the grasp that the beautiful game holds on the strings of our lives that our heads turn and our interests peak with every single match, update, tweet or highlight. These individual “tugs” can be quite time consuming as I assume you realize if you frequent this site.

In our continued efforts to dissect and analyze ourselves, the football supporter, this week we’ll take a look at how many football matches or how many hours of football we all watch in a week.

If you added up each and every hour of football you watched per week, what would it be? With outlets aplenty such as FSC, FSC+, Sky Sports, GolTV, ESPN, ESPN360.com and FoxSoccer.tv, there’s obviously a lot of football on offer and a variety of different ways to watch it.

Keep that number in mind and add to it time spent watching Match of the Day, Premier League Review Show, Fox Soccer Report or any other weekly highlight shows. Still with me? Now add that number to hours spent searching the web (and reading fine articles such as the ones from EPL Talk), checking Twitter feeds and listening to podcasts.

If you’re honest, what did you come up with? Do you notice certain trends in your football viewing? More specifically, after you view the Premier League, do you then switch to La Liga, the German Bundesliga or Serie A to continue your pursuit of the ultimate football fix?

If I’m being honest, the number of hours spent per week  immersing myself in football, football news and football culture beyond exceeds my normal 40 hour work week and in some cases will double it. Most of you are right there with me in feeling that “pull” towards football. I am a fan of other sports, but I don’t gravitate towards any other league or sport like I do Premier League football. Causal viewing of American sports is mostly all I can take, or I simply run out of time. There’s often not enough hours in a week to keep up with world football, much less other sports that can be just as time consuming.

I’ll also have to add into the mix the countless hours I spend writing per week and if it’s a post or article worth anything, I’ll also add in the time spent rewriting and proof reading until I get something I’m happy with that has a clear message.

We’ve touched on it before, but most of us have spouses or family members that allow us the time and money to pursue our passion. If you haven’t done it recently, take the time (between matches) this week to thank that family member for the time they allow each week. It’s definitely a balancing act of sorts, or if you don’t have a significant other you have to share time with, then consider yourself lucky (or lonely).

Feel free to share below with the rest of the EPL Talk community the number of matches you watch per week or number of hours spent watching football per week. Check the comments section throughout the day to see where you rank among other readers of EPL Talk and enjoy your football.

Last week EPL Talk asked the question, “Who Do You Watch Football With?” – and for the most part, got the variety of answers we were hoping for. It seems everyone from the “all alone football fan”, to the brave pub goers, to a few lucky ones who live with in walking distance of their beloved were all accounted for. One EPL Talk reader shared a fantastic and touching story of his time watching the beautiful game while serving in Iraq.

As we continue to bring you news and analysis of all things Premier League and England National team related, we also strive to take an in depth, fun and even humorous look at football culture in the UK, North America and any other country where EPL Talk readers reside. The EPL Talk community continues to thrive with healthy debate, lively chatter and witty comments. To all the readers of EPL Talk, thanks for your continued support and feedback.

For our next delve into football fan culture, we take a quick look at our superstitious friends and the ever important football ritual. In this post, I’ll attempt to outline some rituals that are common among American sports fans. As always, we look forward to your feedback as our little football community continues to grow in 2010.

• Preparation -

Almost important as who you watch football with is how you watch football and more specifically, how you prepare for match day. In America, we don’t always have time to prepare for a big match because of the time difference of UK kickoffs (the mid week Premier League or Champions League matches are usually smack in the middle of our 9 to 5′s). On the weekends, important preparation may be something as simple as your routine coffee, breakfast or even an hour or two in the gym that gets you ready for a match.

I myself like to get up way too early on a Saturday and watch the Premier League Preview show, read Randy Capps’ Premier League Preview and listen to any one of my six or seven favorite Premier League related podcasts. After my in depth preparation, I’ll know any side stories the British media are reporting on, which teams are playing and where, and be able to refresh my mind on the current league table. For me, this ritualistic preparation is almost important as the match itself.

In England and other parts of the UK, how do you prepare for a Cup final, local derby, or even a normal Premier League weekend?

• Anticipation -

You’ve got all the up to date news, stories, fixtures and even team sheets. In anticipation of your club and a full match day, it’s likely you’ve donned your lucky scarf, replica kit, or whatever piece of clothing or garb you’re comfortable in for the day. Without these simple memento’s of cloth and stitch, you’re viewing experience isn’t quite the same. I never wear my replica kits on match day, it’s almost like a reverse superstition of sorts. A football supporter has to be comfortable physically and mentally to be able to fully devote themselves to the full 90 minutes. Total concentration, and at times I’ll even believe I can effect the outcome of the match in my teams favor if I’m focused enough.

Most athletes listen to a particular piece of music in preparation and anticipation of a mach. Supporters are no different. It may be heavy metal or hard rock to get you pumped up or these match day tunes could just be your favorite band or something relaxing to calm your nerves (a little Radiohead or Arctic Monkeys never hurt anyone on match day). Music on match day has always been a great way to curb anxiety while awaiting kick off. If you’ve had success with a particular song or band and have implemented those sounds into your match day rituals, it’s likely you know a little about,…

• Superstition -

Massively analyzed, talked about and obsessed over in the States, the superstitious sports fan is almost as common as the replica kit and pre or post match pint (or both, depending on how thirsty you are). Got a lucky pair of socks that seem to bring your team 3 points when worn? Maybe it’s the same side seat on the couch as last week’s 2-0 win over your fiercest rival.

Regardless of how mundane it seems to the outsider, these mindless rituals we obsess over when conducted the right way can ease our mind and even empower your team’s central striker to a stoppage time winner (at least that’s what we tell ourselves). I’ve heard some incredibly odd superstitious rituals growing up stateside, everything from teeth brushing antics between innings in baseball to facial hair growth towards the end of a season to getting dressed the exact same way on game day. I’m sure there’s more oddities out there and I look forward to reading them in the comments below.

The game of football effects all of us in different ways. Whether we obsess over our preparation, anticipation or even silly superstitious rituals, we all share a similar passion. Sometimes I take a step back from all the madness and almost think my obsession isn’t much more than the simplistic chasing of a small round ball around a strip of grass by overpaid millionaires.

But of course it’s much more than that. Football is largely bigger than the 90 minutes of running, sweating or kicking. It’s the culture that surrounds the game that really draws me into it’s allure. It’s how I view the game, how I prepare for it, the songs, the chants, the talk, the debate, the off-the-field stories and so much more. It’s the whole package. Think of it as the old adage, the sum is greater than the parts. When we truly look at the surrounding variables of football, then, and only then will we start to realize it’s true power and ability to entertain, captivate and enrapture our senses.

Photo Credit: Coachie Ballgames

It’s the little things.

 I’ve been fully enamoured with the concept of the shirt swap since I first saw it in action. Mind you, I’m an American and a latecomer to world football, and we don’t have anything like this in American sports. I’ve never seen a baseball pitcher record the last strike of the last out of a playoff game and then trot to home plate, unbutton his shirt and give it to the batter. Or a hockey player tear off his helmet, throw his gloves to the ground… and strip off his sweater to hand it to the man who’d been trying to strangle him in a mid-game fight.

I first saw the shirt swap in the 2006 World Cup and was awed by this strange and wonderful ritual. In a game of grueling intensity, with outcome and advancement hinging on tight scorelines and endless pressure, I loved seeing players end the battle with this good-natured exchange. A show of mutual respect. A momento from the contest. A tangeable reminder that your rival was also your peer. It was saying, I just spent 90 minutes plotting your undoing, but now that it’s over: let’s be friends. A peace offering.

Imagine if this could translate to life’s other battles… Soldiers trading fatigues after a skirmish… Polititians exchanging dress-shirts after a debate… Barristers swapping wigs in the high court… Two drunks in a bar trading beer-soaked t-shirts after fisticuffs… Two sumo wrestlers exchanging… um… okay, you get the idea. (I did see a joke video once of two women tennis players trading shirts after a match. Granted, this might be enough to get me to actually watch tennis… woah now… I sound like I’ve been brainwashed by Sepp Blatter… ignore this bit.)

In any team sport, it is too easy to project our feelings as supporters onto the players. Though these athletes are paid professionals, we want them all to feel our same deep love and loyalty for the team, and, subsequently, we want them to take on the disdain, scorn and outright animosity we often feel toward the opposition.

In light of this unspoken assumption, those little moments of outright sportsmanship feel all the more refreshing. They allow us to suspend our animosity for a brief time and accept our enemy as a human being. From helping the victim back to his feet after a rough tackle to kicking the ball back to the other team after an injury stoppage, these moments of decency are a sweet pause: a reminder to supporters and players alike that we are all the same beneath our colors and loyalties and that, even in the heat of fierce rivalry, our basic decency needn’t completely evaporate. Supporters project this sentiment themselves when they applaud opposition players after a good performance or welcome home an old hero who now plays for the other side.

These moments are not specific to football, but because of the fierce, heightened tension that pervades football matches and the supporting culture, these instances of spiritual generosity provide a stark contrast and have a way of knocking me over.

Pele and Bobby Moore are credited with first bringing the shirt swap to widespread attention in the 1970 World Cup, I wonder how that scene struck people who had never seen it before… two living legends transcending the match context to greet each other as contemporaries. Though that was the instance that brought shirt-swapping to the broader culture, the phenomenon dates back to at least 1931, according to FIFA.com, when the French team asked for the English team’s shirts after a win. Now, an embedded tradition, we perhaps take the exchange for granted. But it remains a beautiful ritual. The epitome of what we mean when we talk about true class.

When I saw the Seattle Sounders exchange shirts with the Chelsea players after losing 2-0 on Saturday, my joke to a co-worker was: Well, that’s the high point of Seattle’s day… Of course, I know this isn’t true. Hosting Chelsea must have been a pure thrill for the fledgling MLS side from start to finish. The same as when a lower-league English side gets to face a Premier League giant in the FA Cup. Even in loss, the experience is momentous. But the shirt swap was the culmination of that feeling. Here is a symbol that on the day, some of the greatest players in the world were your peers. In a sense, when the players strip off their name and number and colors, they are briefly shedding their identity. For this moment, I’m not Frank Lampard, I’m not Cristiano Ronaldo, I’m not Pele… I’m not a Blue, a Red, English, Brazilian, American… no: I’m just like you. A man playing the game he loves.

It’s the little things.

What can I say? I’m a sucker for simplicity.

(Note: I incorrectly quoted a passage from the book that made it seem like the author had made light of a stabbing/slashing incident. It was my misreading of the passage. I’ve since re-written that section of the review. My sincerent apologies to Ian Hough and to you readers for my oversight.)

Perry Boys is a memoir written by Ian Hough and covers the ‘Casual’ gangs of Manchester and Salford. However, if you’re thinking that this is simply another book on hooligan culture, you’re quite wrong. Hough takes the reader on a journey into the subculture of fashion that defined many of the soccer gangs of the 80s as well as covering many other aspects of life in Britain at that time.

I’m not much of a fashion follower so this book was more than perhaps I had ever wanted to know about Fred Perry polo shirts (hence the Perry Boys name), Adidas runners (known in the UK as trainers) and all manner of hairstyles. At times I found it stupid that these “boys” would fight over what each other were wearing. I thanked my lucky stars that I grew up in a community where that did not happen. However, human nature being what it is, people always find something to disagree about so why not clothes?

Despite my lack of real interest in the fashion subject matter, Hough does a great job of keeping the book from droning on like a retro catalog or fashion mag. For example, Hough takes the reader on a hometown boy tour of the Greater Manchester area, giving an honest view of places like Salford, Oldham and Rochdale. He also gives some excellent background information on the cultural details behind the Manc-Scouse rivalry.

For me, the fashion was sort of a subplot (Manchester has a long history in the textile industry so it’s understandable that its citizens would be hyper-sensitive to fashion) and what keeps the core story (Perry Boy culture) going is not just the stories of drugs, or reminiscences of trips abroad to track down the latest designer duds but the fact that it became a movement and a cultural force.

Underneath the seeming shallow surface details of clothes and drugs, Hough reveals that a lot of the people involved in the Perry movement received a boost of self-confidence from creating their own scene rather than adopting something from TV. That aspect of the story I can and do respect.

Yes, let’s address what’s on your mind….there were gang/hooligan fights and Hough refers to “knockin about with nutters”.  Some hooligans started to carry utility knives (box cutters) and would slash up their opponents. Other weapons would also be used but Hough does not glamorize the subject or actions even if he does look back at that era with fondness. Hough addresses some of the stabbing/slashing incidents in more detail during an interview conducted by the Gaffer (EPL Talk Podcast 90).

Eventually, like a lot of cultural movements the Perry scene splintered and the people involved faded into normal lives though a number of them became gangsters or drug dealers that supplied the budding Manchester rave scene.

The book only uses football as a background color but it is a great read and I’d recommend it to anyone who has an interest in cultural movements or just wants to learn a bit more about the history of the Manchester area and some of its famous subculture.

For more information about Perrry Boys and to read extracts from the book visit the author’s blog at www.thenamelessthing.com