It ain't Football?

I have to say I'm not really surprised by the latest Football debacle and news of this European Super League, the club owners have got away with far too much for far too long so this has  been an opportunity waiting to happen.  I fell in love with football as a young whippersnapper before girls went to games let alone played, in junior school there was a boy I fancied that was a Celtic fan but he wasn't ready to be interested in girls, in fact he'd pull that face that little boys pull whenever girls are mentioned, the one that says "I'd rather eat worms than talk to you"  I'd watch  as he and the rest of the boys gathered to talk football on a Monday morning before class began and so I hatched a plan to follow Celtic too in the hope he'd like me, sadly it didn't work but having spent Saturday afternoons watching Football on TV with my Dad & Grandad  I  went on to follow my home team Watford (Graham Taylor will always be the best Manager Watford has ever had, he not only changed the club, he bought Community to Watford) I also supported Arsenal, I'll shout it until I've no breath left but back then Football was real Football played by men.

I feel excited just at the thought of reliving memories. Things that made Football Football, like when it rained, the pitch, made up of just good old earth and grass turned into a hippopotamus mud bath, if players went down they often slid the length of the pitch.

Games were played with such passion that it was common for players to crack heads, fans watching would do that thing where you suck in air and start to turn your head away, followed by "Ouch" even through a TV screen you felt it as though it had happened to you, sometimes the player would just play on, blood rushing down one side of their face until it  started running into their eyes and buggered up their ability to see and then they would reluctantly go off to get a bandage wrapped around their head like an Egyptian mummy  so that they could come back on and finish the game before getting stitches, others would get stitches and come on again later. By the end of a game the players were so exhausted having given everything they would often be lying on their backs, scattered all over the pitch, head to toe caked in mud, blood and sweat, raw and real, THAT was football.

You'd know every player in the team first and last name, the manager, the coach, and if anyone dare leave the club  and  not stay until retirement it was a crime  & the topic of conversation amongst fans for weeks, if they were in the championship league but got a place in the premier they were eventually forgiven  because you wanted them to do well, but if they moved to a club in the same league it was the ultimate betrayal  and they were seen as traitors for life, and then there was the testimonials, a match in honour of a player who had given long loyal service to a club.  I find it sad there will be many young football fans that wont even know what that is, because players rarely stay long enough to even get their wages at the end of the week these days let alone reach a testimonial.

The way in which Football has been allowed to change sickens me,  the owners of the clubs are to blame, selling out for greed time and time again until for me and I'm sure many others the game has become unrecognizable , no morals, no honour, no loyalty, no heart and soul, just money and pure greed, and that is why I fell out of love, football is no longer football in my humble opinion and this Super Europeon League is just another nail in the coffin.  But I don't think Football is alone, I've seen that same greed creep into many other things and I can't help but feel far far more frightened by this greed spreading throughout our society than I do about  Covid ? But I'm thankful I at least got to experience Football before it became a game of handbags, expensive handbags mind, but handbags all the same. Personally I think there will be an almighty backlash from the fans, and rightly so, will it be a little too little too late? Only time will tell over these coming days and weeks, but whatever happens I don't think football will ever be the same again, feel free to hit me up with your thoughts?

UPDATE: So after publishing I heard the good news that all clubs have withdrawn & the Super European League wont be going ahead, a much deserved win for the fans, fans who I think have been treated quite despicably over the years by some of the top clubs, call me a skeptic but I  have a feeling this will only be temporary?

 While I'm here  let me tell you about "Your Not Singing Anymore" from true Football fan and Folkstress Minnie Birch who took a collection of football songs and reworked them: " Football Chants  are one of the lasting oral traditions of our time, they are sung by hundreds of thousands of people who do not consider themselves ‘folkies’ ‘musicians’ ‘historians’ ‘social commentators’ but this is exactly what I think these people are."  If you fancy taken a listen and purchasing a copy head over  to her Bandcamp page.

                                               

                                       Til Next Time, Stay Blessed

                                              Back Before Elvis.